Smoodock's Blog

When Matthew began to give an account of Jesus’ public life, which he does in what we see as the first section or first ‘book’ of his testimony, he tells us that Jesus came announcing the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven (or the Kingdom of the Presence of God; Matthew 4:12-17). Remember, this isn’t a kingdom that one would be able to find on a map, it is the kingdom of God’s Presence. Just how would we be able to find that on a map? Jesus, the Presence of God in human form, came into public view, and began to tell folks that the Presence of God had returned to them, which mankind lost when he rebelled (Genesis 3:22-24). While mankind was still in the state of rebellion, Jesus (the Presence of God in human form) claimed he had come to say God had returned to his people, his creation, and in doing so, he (Jesus) was Light that manifested just how far man had fled from his Creator. The very Presence of God (Jesus) shed light on the sins and the corruption of mankind, and Jesus called upon men to repent (Matthew 4:17; cp, 2Corinthians 5:19-20).

After announcing the arrival of the Kingdom and physically healing the broken in body, Jesus then took his followers out to a mountain and taught them, telling them what it looks like to live in the Kingdom of God, or the Presence of God, where they would be healed in their spirits. Thus, we are able to discover why the ancient Jews rejected Jesus, as their Messiah and new Moses figure (the Prophet). Their conception of what life should be like in the new kingdom was completely different from what Jesus offered them. They missed the Messiah, because they were in love with their tradition and couldn’t conceive of something better (cp. John 3:19). The worldview, which they labored to produce and maintain, was not the worldview of God. In other words, they maintained that man, not God, decides what good and evil really is (cp. Genesis 2:16-17; cp. 3:5-6).

So, what would it really look like to live in the Kingdom of Heaven, vis-à-vis God’s Presence? If it is impossible to say the kingdom is ‘here’ or ‘there’ (Luke 17:20-21a) and can’t be located on a map, how can we enter such a kingdom? How can I see it, hear it, touch, feel or taste it, if it can’t be physically manifest, but is within men (Luke 17:21b)?

Jesus began teaching his disciples that it was the effect God’s Presence had upon men that was evidence of its Presence. Folks were **blessed** not because they were heroes or stars or movers and shakers of society or exercise authority over others (Matthew 20:25; cp. Luke 22:25). They were **blessed** because they recognized their great need for God to enable them, to strengthen and instruct them, etc. (Matthew 5:3). Folks were **blessed** because they actually recognized and mourned over the fallen condition of mankind, and looked to God (not men) to change things (Matthew 5:4). In the Kingdom of Heaven, it is actually those who patiently endure life’s challenges (the Lord’s Table) who will actually inherit the blessings (Matthew 5:5).

Jesus taught his disciples about what would appear to them (and all mankind) to be an “upside-down kingdom,” where folks who were hungry would be, in fact, filled, vis-à-vis hungered and thirsted after righteousness (Matthew 5:6). It was a place where those who became vulnerable to others, obtained the same mercy they offered, vis-à-vis in giving we receive (Matthew 5:7), it was a ‘place’ were God was seen only by those who were willing to see him (Matthew 5:8). The Kingdom of Heaven was filled with God’s children, children who strove to rectify contention and strife, who labored to end war and rebellion, who used what influence they had to reconcile men to God (Matthew 5:9; cp. 2Corinthians 5:19-20).

One knew he was in the Presence of God, when, for all his good intentions and efforts to reconcile men to God, men of the kingdoms of men rose up to persecute him for his righteous efforts. Misunderstanding, whether accidental or intentional, would follow the man of God, and he would suffer for the right to represent the Lord in the world that remained in the state of rebellion against God (Matthew 5:10).

Nevertheless, Jesus’ disciples, who chose such a life, instead of the life they could have had in the kingdoms of men, would not only be blessed, but would rejoice in the face of persecution, considering it a blessing to be mistreated, because men also persecuted the prophets and Christ (Matthew 5:11-12).