Reflections on the Kingdom of God

There is much misunderstanding regarding the central Gospel concept of the Kingdom of God. For most, the Kingdom of God is a static and future reality linked to the popular understanding of Heaven. In fact, St. Matthew's gospel does prefer the term Kingdom of Heaven, but as any parallel analysis of the usages of "the Kingdom of Heaven" in St. Matthew with "the Kingdom of God" in St. Mark and St. Luke demonstrates, these terms are synonymous. St. Matthew, who is is presumed wrote to a predominately Jewish audience, chose the Jewish practice of refraining from using the term "God" in favor of a euphemism, "Heaven". Dr. George Lamsa, the noted Aramaic scholar of the last century, has demonstrated convincingly that the writers of the Gospels intend us to understand the Kingdom of God in dynamic and immediate terms. Thus, the Kingdom of God is not just a future reality, but a present one as well, which of course, was the announcement by Jesus in the first place. (In Matthew 10:7, Jesus commissions his disciples to go and preach, "The Kingdom of Heaven has come near.". Further, many of Jesus' parables treated the reality of the coming Kingdom.) So, the Kingdom of God is not a place, but a reality waiting to be born--to overtake the present order of creation. Jesus indicates this in his famed words from Luke 17:20b-21 when he says, "The Kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There it is!' For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among [the word among is derived from the Greek word "entos" meaning within/inside/in the midst of]. This envisions the Kingdom of God as an inner, spiritual reality.
What we have established is that the Kingdom of God is a dynamic inner reality which, when properly apprehended, manifests outwardly in creation. At the same time, this reality reflects the fullness of God's sovereignty over creation and is also bearing down in human history from outside of it. These two pressures are being exerted simultaneously, which is what St. Paul meant when he said (Romans 8: 19) "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; . . ." Thus, the Kingdom of God manifests first and foremost within human consciousness, which gets at how it is that the kingdom of God is within, as Jesus indicated in Luke 17:20b-21 (which we previously saw). It is a living and Divine reality we become consciously aware of, which, at the same time, compells us toward transformational living. In short, we elect (as we are drawn by the Holy Spirit) to participate in the Kingdom of God in advance of its full revelation known as the return of Christ.
As to the posture of ourselves and the world to this living reality, one can liken it to magnetic forces. As we learn in childhood about magnets, we know that the same poles repell and the opposite poles of the magnet attract. So it is with the Kingdom of God. When we place ourselves as god in our lives and over our experience, we create a false, but similarly charged pole which finds itself repelled by the True God, who is the creator of all. Our "godness" can only be expressed in duality--that is to say, separateness. This false god of self is situated within the human ego and recreates a universe where it alone reigns in isolation and over an above all else. The difficulty is, not only that this false god of self is not true, but the ego leads us away from the true purpose for which we were created (to be in union with the Creator for eternity). Thus, these two poles, claiming the same charge repell one another. Jesus, perhaps, had this in mind when he said in St. John 3: 3, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above" [i.e., has experienced a spiritual transformation of consciousness which orients one toward the kingdom of God].
By contrast, when we recognize that while we bear the image of the Creator, we are not yet in perfect union with the Creator, therefore we become an opposite pole which is magnetically attracted to God. Thus, when the kingdom of God is brought to bear, we are drawn to it. We have, in essence, turned away from our false identity as God and separate from God, and have turned toward God and the God's Kingdom and ultimate Divine unity. This turning [in Hebrew, shub; and in Greek, metanoia-both of which are translated repent or repentance] is the very act of turning away from the false god of the ego toward the true God, who is the One Divine Creator of all. So, Christ's invitation to the Kingdom of God is still his call to all of us in our day to a level of authentic awareness and Higher Consciousness, as we seek to be in union with the purposes of God for Creation. Let us join with Christ in both working for and praying that God's "Kingdom may come and God's will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." Amen, indeed.