Our culture is the middle of a shift. It isn’t completely new, but as usual, it looks a little new in a different context. This shift is away from the absolutes of a Judeo-Christian worldview to a more humanistic one, which means that we are continually accepting that the new absolute reality is that we each define our own reality, and that is a good thing. We can define ourselves, determine our own truths, and all of it is seen as heroic and intrinsic to our rights as human beings. Of course, since this must, by nature, deny the reality espoused by Christianity and the Bible.
Like I said, this is nothing new. The Bible is the history, from Creation on, of God revealing himself to people for their good and then they either accept it and live or they run towards destruction. Since the ultimate reality is one that is unseen by our physical eyes, revelation is key.
Faith is key. And faith is not based on a wish despite a lack of evidence, as many like to suppose. Faith is a confidence based on spiritual revelation and therefore, an eternal, spiritual perspective. Our spiritual senses must be awakened to see that which is more powerful than what we do not.
The Kingdom of God is “not of this world.” And yet we have the prophecy from Daniel about how this Kingdom from Heaven will enter our material world and crush all other kingdoms to dust.
Because of the nature of the Heavenly Kingdom, no earthly power or kingdom can change it, cannot corrupt it. It is eternal and indestructible. It is the only good. When that Kingdom comes into contact with the kingdoms and powers (i.e. the individual “realities”), not only do they not compare, but the Heavenly will destroy the others.
What we do not see, what is unseen, has greater impact than what is seen. As Paul says, what is unseen is eternal and never goes away, what is seen is only temporary.
So to step away from that eternal reality to our own, self-manufactured reality, is an eternal tragedy. For someone to believe something that is not real is a form of insanity. If a young Asian woman believes she is, in fact, Napoleon, then she is insane. We are moving closer and closer, in our modern progressive culture, to saying, “Who are we to tell her she’s NOT Napoleon? Maybe she’s been reincarnated or something. We cannot know for sure, therefore, it is hateful to tell her she is not, in fact, the French dictator that tried to become the Emperor of Europe.”
And to declare that there is a reality that transcends any and all personal reality, that dominates and rules over them all, to declare the Kingdom, our culture will more and more call us the insane, the madmen, the hateful, even though it is a message of love.
Everyone who comes to faith in Christ, everyone who sees and moves by faith to enter the Kingdom, must deny their own reality to participate in the true reality. Even those of us who were raised “in church,” we have had to come to grips with our own selfish nature and self-manufactured reality that we may have only given a Christian name to.
The Heavenly Kingdom is the reality from which everything that was created was created. What was created was corrupted and so everything will eventually return to the Kingdom, the consensual rule and reign of God. What was of the corruption, not of the absolute reality of the Kingdom, will pass away so that what is eternal will be all in all again. That is redemption. Corruption cannot coexist with redemption. And it will not.
The Gospel, therefore, is first that a non-corrupted Kingdom exists. And second, that you have the opportunity to be a part of one whose purpose is eternal good and cannot be lost or changed or destroyed.
“Repent, for the Kingdom of God is here.” That’s what Jesus preached. He came from that pure reality into our corrupted one to say THAT. He was sent by the Father to do so. Literally gave his life for it, knowing there is no way he can lose.
And for those of us who have been born of the Father and entered the Kingdom, the true reality, then that is our message, as well. It is a message of love that leads to life and peace. We give our lives for it, knowing there is no way we can lose.
Peace.
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