Kingdom Pictures: 5 Ways to See the Kingdom of GodSýnishorn

The Kingdom of God Is Like the Rule of God

The word “kingdom” is not a word or concept we use a lot anymore. We no longer live in a kingdom, so the concept of the Kingdom of God does not mean much to us. For some of us, it might even bring up negative images. In German, the word for Kingdom is “Reich,” and everyone knows about the “Third Reich.”

So how can we understand the kingdom of God?

We all have our kingdom, our domain. Our kingdom is where we are truly in charge. We don't like it when people tell us what we have to do. We want to decide for ourselves. It is our life and our kingdom.

My brother is two years older than I am, and when we were younger, we always had the biggest wars in the back of the car. I had my kingdom, and he had his kingdom—clear boundaries and toys on each side. My brother did not enjoy living in times of peace. He could never keep his hands out of my kingdom and wanted to take my toys away from my domain. Strangely enough, always the toy I was playing with. A war broke out when he tried to take my toy, and I saw his hand reaching over. It was clear: If you enter my kingdom, I will smack your kingdom. My father, of course, did not believe we had any kingdoms because he had paid for the car. So I often heard the words (with a loving hand movement), “Be quiet now, or you'll both walk!“ This worked for a few minutes until I saw a little hand cross over the border into my kingdom again.

Your kingdom is the place where what you want to happen happens. Your kingdom is where you are in charge. When we talk about the kingdom of God, we are talking about the place or domain where God is in charge; where what God wants to happen actually happens.

If the kingdom of God is truly like the Rule of God, where what God wants to have happen actually happens, what observations can we make about the kingdom of God among us?