Kingdom of God

🕊️ Kingdom of God!? What is that?

📖 Introduction

Jesus spoke ceaselessly about the Kingdom of God. It was the center of his message, the axis of all the parables, the purpose of his miracles and the reason for his coming.

But… what exactly does kingdom mean? Is it heaven after death? A church? An earthly government? Or something much deeper, invisible, yet real?

👑 1. What the word "kingdom" really means

In Greek, the word Jesus used is "basileia", which means government, dominion, royal authority. It does not refer to a place, but to a way of governing. The Kingdom, therefore, is not a territory, but the act of reigning.

The Kingdom of God is the government of God, not over lands, temples or institutions, but over the human heart.

🌿 2. The Kingdom that cannot be seen

The Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom would come. He answered:

"The Kingdom of God does not come in a visible way, nor will it be said: 'Here it is,' or 'There it is'; because the Kingdom of God is within you." (Lk 17:20-21)

This statement changes everything. The Kingdom is not geographic, is not political, is not religious. It is spiritual, it is the government of God within man, leading him back to the obedience and communion lost in Eden.

🔥 3. The message of Jesus: the government of God has returned

From the beginning of his ministry, Jesus proclaimed:

"Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near." (Mt 4:17)

"Repent" means: change the way you think, because something new was arriving, the very government of God returning to act within the human being.

The Kingdom was "near" because the King had arrived, and with Him, the Holy Spirit, through whom the Father would reign again from the inside out.

🍞 4. The contrast between the Kingdom and human pursuits

People have always sought power and money, food and drink, things that sustain the body, but not the soul. But Jesus taught:

"Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Mt 6:33)

Whoever seeks the Kingdom does not lose what is necessary; he gains what is essential, the government of the Spirit within himself, which orders all other things in the right measure and at the right time.

🕊️ 5. The Kingdom is the opposite of the world

Jesus also revealed the nature of this Kingdom:

"In the world, rulers dominate. But among you it will not be so. Whoever wants to be the greatest, let him be the servant of all." (Mt 20:25-27)

The Kingdom of God is not about dominating, but about serving. It is not about power, but about love. It is not about imposing, but about manifesting.

In the Kingdom, the greatest is the one who serves, because power comes from the Spirit who produces love.

📜 6. Kingdom and priests: the people governed by the Spirit

In Revelation 1:6, we read:

"…and made us a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father."

Some translations say "kings and priests," but the Greek original is "kingdom" (basileian), that is, a people who are, in themselves, the Kingdom of God on Earth.

The focus is not on being "kings" over others, but on being the spiritual territory of God's government. A people inhabited, led and represented by the Spirit.

🌾 7. The Kingdom announced by Jesus and the Kingdom revealed in us

Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, the announcement that the Father's government would return to the Earth through the Spirit.

Paul, later, reveals the Gospel of Christ, showing how this Kingdom is fulfilled within us:

"Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Col 1:27)

This is the mystery of God, Christ,

"in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Col 2:3)

The Holy Spirit, who searches all things, even the depths of God (1 Cor 2:10), is the one who reveals these hidden treasures to us, by forming Christ in us.

The Kingdom preached by Jesus becomes Christ formed in us. It is the same Kingdom, now manifest in every child who lives by the Spirit.

✨ 8. The final purpose: until Christ is formed in us

"My children, I am again suffering labor pains until Christ is formed in you." (Gal 4:19)

Here is the ultimate meaning of the Kingdom: God does not want only to govern the world, He wants to govern man, until man becomes like the Son, revealing on Earth the glory of the Father.

🌅 Conclusion

The Kingdom of God is not a place we go to. It is a reality that comes to us, when the Holy Spirit begins to reign within our being.

Gospel of the Kingdom: the government of God returning to man.
Gospel of Christ: the government of God formed within man.

And so, the mystery is fulfilled: Christ in us, the hope of glory.

For the Kingdom of God is not food or drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Rom 14:17)

📘 Study note: about the word "kingdom"

The word translated as "kingdom" in the New Testament is the Greek term basileia (βασιλεία), which literally means government, dominion, royal authority, and not a territory or physical place.

In Revelation 1:6, the original text says that Christ "made us βασιλείαν (basileian)** and priests to God", an inflected form of the same word basileia, used here as the direct object of the verb "made."

Therefore, both basileia and basileian mean kingdom, indicating the act of reigning, the government in exercise.
The meaning, therefore, is not that we were made "kings," but that we were made a Kingdom, a people under the government of the Spirit of God.