I taught an adult education class recently at my church on the subject of the kingdom of God. I’ve never really studied this topic. In fact, I don’t normally think of myself being part of the kingdom of God. Most of us don’t. When we think of being a Christian, we don’t usually think that that means we are part of a kingdom. We may think of it secondarily, but it’s not the first thing that jumps into our mind. But oddly enough, that is the primary way that Jesus refers to what we call being a Christian. Jesus never calls people to “become Christians.” He calls people to be his disciples, to be his followers. But he calls them to follow him as the King. Matthew tells us that when Jesus began his ministry on earth, “he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom” (4:23).

We often think of being a Christian as a way of life, or maybe a spiritual transaction that has occurred, or a set of rules or a code of conduct by which we live, or at best a relationship with God. But at its root, being a Christian is being part of God’s kingdom.

The kingdom of God is the work of God, on our behalf, defeating our enemy and placing us under his rule. And the gospel is the good news of the kingdom. It is the good news that the King has come. The gospel is not simply a message about becoming a Christian. It is a message about the coming of the King, the King who will restore all things, who will make all things right, who will answer every injustice, who will put an end to sin and sorrow, disease and death, fear and failure.

It is about the restoration of all things, a restoration that begins in our soul. Note the words to the great Christmas carol Joy to the World.

Joy to the World, the Lord has come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.

It tells us to receive him, to prepare room for him, and to sing for joy, joining the song of praise and adoration of all of creation. It says this of a savior, yes, but also of a king. The King, the long-awaited King, has come.

Now, the obvious question is this. If the King has come, why doesn’t this world feel like King Jesus is reigning? Is Jesus really on his throne? Has the King truly come? He has, but he hasn’t come in the way that we would like or that we would expect. You see, the kingdom of God that we experience now is truly opposite from everything we expect a kingdom to be. But that should not surprise us, because the King is not who we want, or expect, him to be. You see, our King came humbly, inconspicuously. The only people that knew about his birth were night-shift shepherds and pagan astrologers. Bethlehem was only 6 miles from Jerusalem, and yet the religious elite were completely ignorant to his coming. Our King came as a baby in a manger, in a non-descript town and to a quite common couple. He didn’t come with a sword in his hand, but with a baby’s rattle. Jesus said that the kingdom we experience now is like a mustard seed—quite tiny, but producing a vine so large that the Bible calls it a tree large enough for birds to make a nest in it (Mt. 13:31-32). It is like a small amount of yeast that can affect a huge amount of dough. Jesus said the dough was “three measures of flour” (13:33), which would have made about 50 pounds of bread, enough to feed 100 people. The kingdom we experience now is somewhat invisible. It occurs in our hearts, as we daily follow the King in obedience, despite every rebellious desire. It occurs when we take a stand for what is right and God-honoring in the face of cultural pressure. It occurs when people come to faith in Christ, the King—individuals, one by one by one, all across the globe, repenting of their self-serving efforts and finding their only hope in the King, and doing so in the midst of a humanity that opposes the King at every turn. It occurs when husbands love their wives like Christ loved the church, when generosity and self-sacrifice are hallmarks of a community, when people love the things of heaven more than the things of this world. The kingdom we experience now is more spiritual than physical. The kingdom we experience now is quiet, secret, even unobtrusive. But, make no mistake; it is here, because the King is here, and he is at work, through his Spirit, making all things new.

We must be careful that we don’t demand that Jesus’ kingdom be our kingdom. We want a kingdom that is free of suffering and pain, and rightfully so. But that will come when our King comes the second time. At that time, the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord, and he will reign forever and ever (Rev. 11:15). Don’t be discouraged at the nature of the current kingdom. The King has come, and nothing will ever be the same. At the same time, long for the day when the King comes again to fully and finally establish his rule in every way.