25 Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more valuable than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” 32 For ater all these things the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6 (NKJV)
Jesus is speaking these words in what is called the Sermon of the Mount. In this sermon, He tells not to worry about anything except the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We are to be focused on God and only God. He will take care of us! He will provide the food, drink, clothes, and anything else we need. We just need to rely and focus of God alone,
God wants us to understand His Kingdom so that we can bring His Kingdom to earth. That is the secret to a fulfilled and purposeful life.
We are to seek, which means to pursue, explore, study, investigate, understand, learn, and consider. We are to do all of these things in regard to the Kingdom of Heaven. We are to diligently pursue and study the Kingdom in order to bring it to the earth. The Kingdom of Heaven must be pursued by us, studied, understood, learned, and then taught to others.
In Hebrew, the kingdom is mamlakah; in Genesis 1:26; in Greek, it is basileia. Both words mean dominion, sovereign rule, kingdom, reign, or royal power. The definition of a kingdom is the sovereign rule of a king over territory (domain), impacting it with his will, purpose, and intent. The Kingdom of Heaven, or God, refers to the sovereign rule of God over the earth, shaping it with His will, His purpose, and His intent since the beginning of Creation. Thus producing the culture, values, morals, and lifestyle that reflect God’s desires for us, His citizens.
Righteousness means right positioning or right standing. As believers in Jesus Christ, we are now in right alignment with God. We have the fellowship with our King, our God, because of the Blood of the Lamb Jesus. We can now stand in front of God and His authority because we are covered in the Blood.
In Genesis 1:26, the Lord God gives mankind the mandate of rulership and dominion over all the earth.
Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness: let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over th birds of the air, and the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. (NKJV)
Dominion here is the same Hebrew word mamlakah that we discussed a few paragraphs ago. Thus, we are to have rule, dominion, and reign over the earth and the creatures God created and placed here. We are to be God’s people with His authority to dominate the earth. Notice the Scripture says we are to dominate animals and the land but NOT the people living on the earth.
In Exodus 19:5, it says Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. In 1 Peter 2:5, it says, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ….9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light: 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
We are to obey the Lord and keep His laws so that we will be His treasured possession above all people. And we shall be a Kingdom of priests praising the Lord God with spiritual sacrifices. We are a holy nation of God’s people so that we can proclaim the praises of God Almighty, who is the King.
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” Matthew 4:17
Jesus preached the Kingdom. So are we as the royal priesthood.
Go back to Exodus 19:5. It states that the earth is God’s. So it is because He created it from nothing. Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void: and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. In Psalm 115:15. May you be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth. 16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men.
The Lord owns the earth by creative right, but He gave man the earth to be dominant over the earth and the animals. He gave mankind rulership and dominion but He did not give us ownership.
In Genesis 3, we have the fall of man. This fall was the turning of mankind against their Creator and God. They believed the deception that the devil, who was in the serpent, had said. They would be like God. The problem was that they were already like God, made in His image and likeness. Eve and Adam blamed others and did not take responsibility for their actions. This still happens today. God pronounced to the serpent that the woman Eve would have a Seed that would bruise the serpent’s head, but he would bruise His heel. This promise was fulfilled at the Cross of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
When Jesus stated Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, He meant that He was bringing back the Kingdom of Heaven to the earth. Only a King could restore the Kingdom! Only Jesus could restore the Kingdom from our rebellion against God. The only way that it could be dealt with was though the shedding of blood at the Cross. Jesus is our Redeemer!! He restored our full rights and priviledges as sons and daughters of the King of the Universe.
This is Kingdom Living: to think, talk, act, love, and live like Kingdom people as citizens with full rights.
To bring God’s Kingdom of Heaven to earth, we need to understand some Kingdom Principles. They are the concepts of kings, lords, territory, the constitution of the Kingdom, the law, the keys, citizenship, the Kingdom’s culture, and gifting the King.
We will discuss these individually in separate postings. You can access these postings below:
- Concept of Kings
- Concept of Lords
- Concept of Territory
- Concept of Constitution
- Concept of Law
- Concept of Keys
- Concept of Citizenship
- Concept of Culture
- Concept of Gifting the King