What is the Kingdom? (Romans 4:17)

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. - Romans 14:17

Jesus spent the bulk of His ministry teaching and preaching about the Kingdom of God. When describing the Kingdom, He always resorted to parable; He never directly defined what the Kingdom of God was.

Here is his letter to the Romans, Paul gives us the most direct "definition" of the Kingdom of God in all the Bible. He writes these words in the context of explaining to the Romans that holiness is not a matter of abstaining from certain foods or observing certain holidays, but rather is a matter of the heart and walking in righteousness before God.

This definition brilliantly captures the "now and not yet" paradox of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not something that has arrived in full yet on earth, yet it is also not something that we are simply waiting to die in order to get to. The Kingdom is available to each of us now in varying degrees depending upon our relationship with, and measure of abiding in, the Holy Spirit.

Imagine a radio that has the ability to tune in to hundreds of frequencies. Someday, after the return of Christ to the earth, every one of those frequencies will be redeemed and tuned to the frequency of the Kingdom. But today the vast majority of those frequencies lead only to destruction. There is only one frequency that currently attunes us to the Kingdom, and that is the frequency of Jesus Christ, the mediator between heaven and earth.

As we shift our attention, focus, and awareness to Him and Him alone, we will find ourselves moving through life with a certain rhythm. We will begin to feel that life is directing us a certain way. We will naturally find ourselves experiencing a joy and peace that transcend our circumstances and defy natural explanation.

This is the culture of the Kingdom of God, and someday we will experience it in a measure that our minds cannot currently comprehend. For now however, we have the privilege of daily manifesting His glorious Kingdom of light within the darkness of this world around us.

Seek the kingdom of God above all else

and live righteously

and he will give you

everything you need

Matt 6:33