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Kingdoms Collide

Live leaf in the midst of the dead
How great are his signs,
   how mighty his wonders!
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
   and his dominion endures from generation to generation. - Daniel 4:3 ESV
I am reading through Jeremiah right now. It is about a prophet who is called by God to proclaim repentance to His people that have turned from the ways of God yet again. His people refuse the plead of Jeremiah over and over again, eventually imprisoning him (Jer 37:11) and forcing him into exile to prevent him from proclaiming God's words (Jer 38). His people would not listen. So God brings them to their knees through suffering in exile themselves, just like in the desert on the way into the promised land. God allows Babylon to forcefully take over His people and rule over them (Jer 39). Yet he will still shows mercy on them:
“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. - Jeremiah 29:10-12 ESV
Because of the stubbornness of Israel, they would need to be ruled by a kingdom that violently took over their land, destroying the wall and killing and enslaving His people for 70 years. And it is all for our good and His glory. He desires to bring a future and hope to them even if the people who were denying God will never see it. I bet you will think of Jeremiah 29:11 differently now.

God loves all His people, and desires all them to see God as King of King, Lord of Lords. This goes for all the kingdoms and people in this world, even Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. Look back at the introduction verse in Daniel 4:3. These were Nebuchadnezzar's words, not Israel's. God's Kingdom is everlasting, all others will crumble and fall at His feet. That is what happens when the Kingdom of God invades the heart, even one as ruthless as Nebuchadnezzar.

God brings His glory in a way that most people cannot comprehend. I have heard people use the term "Backward Kingdom" many times, and that is very true. Even when Jesus came into this world, 600 years after Jeremiah, the Jewish people were looking for a different kind of King to arrive. They were looking for a King that would take back their lands with strength and force, but that is not what the human heart needs.

The issue is not power, but position. We do not deserve to be saved from our sin but we rightfully take the blame for our rebellion because we refuse to submit to Him. God does not rescue those who are not aware of what they have done and our need to regret our rebellious state. Nothing speaks to this more than what was happening during the time when Jeremiah as God was calling Israel to repent. We need to be awoken from our darkness.

So when Jesus began His ministry, it was to fulfil the prophet Isaiah's words:
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
   the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people dwelling in darkness
   have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
   on them a light has dawned.” - Matt 4:15-16 (Is 9:1-2, 42:6-7)
God comes to His people like a light coming into the shadow of death. He awakens the soul with His Spirit because Jesus has defeated death and sin. For so long God repeatedly called to His people to come home, waiting for their return like the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. But like the parable He can only run to those whose heart is prepared to return to Him. This brokenness is what drives a sinner to God's grace, and is the opposite of what the world strives to be:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matt 5:3-11 ESV)
How backwards does it sound to us when we hear that the Lord of all the earth saves the least of these? When the King of King invades, he does not call the strong and mighty, the wealthy, the prideful, or those that have it all together. Jesus calls the ones who can depend on nothing, fall back on nothing, have nowhere to go. In one sense it sounds crazy. If you want representatives for your country, most do not look for the weakest, but the strongest to speak for your cause. The best speaker, most dynamic witness, most popular, a mighty warrior.

In another way, it makes perfect sense.

In my last post I talked about what the Kingdom of God looked like in it's purest form, a place where God and God alone is glorified. God calls a people who want to do nothing but fall at the feet of the King and worship Him. They cannot point to the greatness within themselves, the knowledge they learned, the money they have, or the law that they followed. They brought nothing to the table when God saved them. God wants us to be attractive in a way different than the world.

Where the world wants anger and violence, God’s people want peace. Where the world wants to fill their heart with pursuits of money, status, and the pleasures of life, people of God can only see them as vanity. When the world seeks to lift up humanity (people) to restore the world, we can only see God through Jesus as being the one who can rescue our weary and broken hearts. Instead of seeing this world as the enemy, we see it (and ourselves sometimes) as a people in need of a Savior, and the ones who we need to love and serve.

This is distasteful to the world. They want to hold onto what they own, how they feel, what they pursue, who (or what) they love. Imagine someone who fully understands that everything is a gift from God and temporal. The world would consider that cruel and unloving. Imagine loosing your house, your children, your livelihood and praising God for it. How awful you are!!! God disagrees. He even inspired a whole book about that called Job. Yet when this happens he can think of nothing but of the goodness of God, to the point of his wife even mocking and leaving him.

In this world, that does not make sense. God desires to provide, so he would not take away. Right? Either this is true, which Job would not make any sense if it was, or maybe we are defining "provision" incorrectly. Would God want us to sell all we have to serve the poor? To love our enemies? Do good to those who persecute us? If you are trying to defend yourself right now, you are thinking of the wrong kingdom.

These are two kingdoms, polar opposites, coming together, the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of man. There is no room for both, and both cannot live in the same time and space. Those who do not desire to be with God, worshiping Him forever, will not be there to do so in the end. Not a god that we made up, or a god that we agree with, but the God who restores sinners like us. If the kingdoms collide today, how many people would run to God through Jesus, and how many would run to this world?

God is meant to be worshiped, so those who desire to do so will be there with Him in the end and not cast into the outer darkness. God is not looking to be worshiped for the home they will receive, or the people that will be there, or the streets of gold, or the food they will eat, none of that will be important. The only thing worth worshiping is God on His throne, and everything points towards Him. That is God's Kingdom. But if that was really true... if nothing else would exist or matter but God alone... would YOU still want to be there?

That is the Kingdom of God...
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