How can we see the kingdom of
God? What is the kingdom of God? It is what it is. What is not is not. How do
we know what it is and what it is not? What is real and what is unreal? What is
true and what is not? What is genuine and what is not? What is good and what is
bad? What is trustworthy and what is not? What is eternal and what is temporal?
What is invisible and what is visible? What is it that we really want in the
earth? Why are there many sighs, cries, yearnings, unfulfillments, hollowness,
emptiness, meaninglessness in the midst, even day to day? Why is that we simply
can forget or dismiss such a bothersome thought? Why is that those uninvited
enemies are coming and visiting at the very unwanted time and space always? Why
is that the dark side of lives are much greater than the opposite? Life is a
mystery. We don’t have all the answers, not even close. We’re far off from
knowing all the truths of our lives.
But there is someone who knows
all and is all in all because what has been made is not without being made. There
is no accident that what is seen is what it is by itself. It is simply and plainly
not possible for all the complexities and delicacies of humanity to exist what
it is all but on their own. Who can explain why our body functions, operates,
reacts, responds, heals, regenerates, grows, and ages this and that way? Who
can explain where winds, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, storms,
tornadoes, hurricanes, snows come from? Where does human cruelty come from?
Where does such a generous humanity come from? Why do we get depressed and
heavy laden even though we never want to be? Why do we so desire of love and
joy and peace? And at the same time, why do we envy and hate others? Who are
we? Who can answer our relentless questions? Who can embrace our roller-coaster
behavior? Who can understand our fears and anxieties suddenly and persistently
coming out of nowhere? Are there answers at all?
Yes, we have the answers. Jesus
Christ is. There is a God who dearly loves the world he made, especially
humanity made in his image and in his likeness. God is so compassionately and
mercifully caring and loving for humanity that he speaks and reasons through
the word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were
made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and
that life was the light of all mankind.” (John 1:1-4) The mystery of the word was
manifested and revealed in Christ Jesus who became a man by the Spirit. In the
old, God spoke through the prophets, but finally he spoke by his Son Jesus. “In
the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in
various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he
appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.” (Hebrews
1:1-2) Humanity has never left alone in knowing the truth on who they are and
why they are and how they are and what they are. The loving God has left traces
in volume if anyone wanted to seek and search. “Ask and it will be given to
you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For
everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks,
the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)
What humanity really wants to
know is the kingdom mystery, the invisible realm of heaven. We’re so much
accustomed to the visible world, the material universe. However, what is seen
is merely the reflection of what is unseen. We can’t see our face but what we
see is the refection of it through the mirror. It is only the physical level.
Humans have soul and mind and heart which are invisible, nor tangible but real.
The vast array of the visible material universe is then the refection of what
is hidden and invisible. It is the hand of God who made all things. In Jesus
Christ, all the deity and radiance of God is manifested and demonstrated in
beauty and glory and grandeur. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the
exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of
the Majesty in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:3) The kingdom of heaven is the invisible
realm where God rules and reigns in his infinite wisdom and power and glory and
knowledge. The Scriptures are written for us to teach and reveal the secrets of
the kingdom of God. The mystery of Christ was prophesied and foretold in the
past and finally fulfilled in these days by the Son Jesus. He spoke and taught
the kingdom mysteries, revealing and manifesting the invisible loving hand of
the Father through the compassionate acts of healing the sick and caring for
the poor. Especially, our Lord Jesus spoke dearly and kindly and most of all
truthfully on the deep things of the heaven and humanity. He repeatedly said one
phrase, “Those who have ears, let them hear.” Jesus Christ appealed and beseeched
the hearers to accept the greatest invitation call for entering the kingdom of
heaven by grace through the faith in him.
“Again he said, ‘What shall we
say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It
is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when
planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big
branches that the birds can perch in its shade. With many similar parables
Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say
anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own
disciples, he explained everything.” (Mark 4:30-34)
Here is a parable our Lord
Jesus tells, the parable of the mustard seed. The majority of Bible students believes
that this parable makes a case that the kingdom of heaven starts with smallness
like a mustard seed but when it grows it becomes like a huge plant (or tree
according to Matthew’s Gospel) where the birds can find shade in its branches.
Furthermore, they say the birds indicate the nations. It is true that in a
sense that the kingdom of God is growing and may be seen visibly to the eyes of
the world. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as
I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will
know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
However, it is growing in the heart of believers in the invisible realm to the
world. So, growing means that the kingdom of heaven is getting more real and
closer and the knowledge of God is getting deeper and higher and wider and
longer. It also includes voluntary obedience to the commandments of God just as
our Lord Jesus did to the Father, even to the point of death. So, it indicates
internal and invisible rather than outward and visible in size and appearance
to the world because the kingdom of heaven is hidden and invisible. If anyone
thinks that some big churches with tens of thousands of people coming on Sundays
are the image of this parable, they are wrong. Though the kingdom of heaven is
growing in power and glory it is still invisible to the world because it is in
our heart.
That’s what our Lord Jesus is
comparing the kingdom of heaven with a mustard seed. It is almost unnoticeably
small and tiny but very pungent and biting. That’s the main point of this
parable, being pungent. It means that the mustard seed is very small and yet
has an unforgettable impact like pungent and sharp taste when taken. Christians
are living in a hope hidden and invisible in heaven like a mustard seed. The
kingdom of heaven is full and bursting and crammed and packed in glory and
honor and power and might just like a mustard seed has such a powerful and
potent potential in itself.
“Earth's
crammed with heaven,
And every
common bush afire with God,
But only he
who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round and pluck
blackberries.” ― Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Apostle Paul describes the
ultimate characteristics of Christianity as more than conquerors through Christ.
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
(Romans 8:37) Also, the Apostle depicts Christians as men and women who are
always on the triumphal procession regardless of the situations they are put. “But
thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal
procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him
everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who
are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma
that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to
such a task?” (2 Corinthians 2:14-16) It is not true that Christ followers
would be honored and glowed from the world. Rather, they always remain humble
and lowly and small and almost invisible. They are like the scattered people,
exiles here and there with no renown, fame, popularity, or status. “Peter, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the
provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been
chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the
sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled
with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.” (1 Peter 1:1-2) Christians
remain as nobody in this earth to the end but not without any hope. The hope is
in heaven, which God has preserved for them. It’s imperishable, unshakable,
incorruptible, unfading, immortal, indestructible, and everlasting. It is a
true and eternal hope which never disappoints or fails us. This hope is not
from the earth but from the heaven. So, we live on with such an indestructible
hope in God! He put each of us in his infinite wisdom and strategy where we are
as salt and light.
It may be not much going on but
just the routine as usual in our daily lives. But the day of the Lord will soon
be coming like a thief in the middle of night just as he promised. We don’t
know when, but he will suddenly reveal himself. When he comes with the mighty
trumpet sound and the multitude of angels, we will see the glorious and holy
body of Christ well prepared as the bride for the Lamb because we will see the Lord
face to face. “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not
yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we
shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2) Until then, we continue to remain as the
lowly and humble to the eyes of the world. Jesus says that no man can be
greater than the teacher. He was persecuted and accused without any cause. He
died though he committed no sin. He forfeited all his rights and gave up his
life to the Father. So, we will be persecuted by the world as our Lord was. It
will not end until the Master returns. We will be remaining as a mustard seed
in this world like nobody. When we truly become nobody, God can begin his
mighty work in and through us with the resurrection power just as he raised the
Son from the dead in the barren cemetery. The dead doesn’t sin at all. In Christ,
we died to sin in order to live for God. That’s why our Lord says, “If anyone
would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and
follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his
life for my sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24)
June
17, 2018
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2018 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.
