Why a different kingdom?

I had always been gripped by the truth of God’s kingdom in the here and now. Not a place we go to when we die but a present and powerful reality in our world right now. A transforming reality in the hearts of people all over the globe. Not a political entity, but a spiritual power that was secretly at work influencing and impacting our world for good in numerous ways. Like life-filled seed growing secretly in the ground. Or transformative yeast spreading silently through the dough. I believed that one day all the kingdoms – the dominant powers – of this present world would give way to the kingdom of God, to the good rule and reign of Jesus Christ.

But what is this kingdom like? What is the character of this rule? What is the nature of its power? There came a time some years ago when I realised that my understanding of this was somewhat hazy at best. And at that time I read these words of Jesus in response to Pilate asking whether he was a king:

Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.’

(John 18:36)

For some reason I did not immediately grasp, this challenged me to the core. His kingdom was the opposite to the kingdoms of this world. It was of a completely different nature and spirit. It was from ‘another place.’ It was of heaven, not of earth. It was a different kingdom. A radically countercultural, alternative kingdom. And Jesus chose the idea of fighting to mark out the difference.

Fighting is what Jesus highlighted would characterise the kingdoms of this world, if that was the way his servants were to follow. But the followers of his kingdom were not to fight. This, of course, is why Jesus challenged the follower who did try to take up the sword. Jesus was going to show them that they were to take up a cross, not a sword. Rather than fight and kill his enemies, he was going to die for them. It was at Calvary where we would see the true nature of his different kingdom. The only way we can truly understand the kingdom of God is through the lens of the Cross. We see it most clearly on the hill where Jesus died for us in sacrifical love. While we were his enemies, he did not fight us. He died for us.

I saw that the resurrection shows us that the kingdom of God had come. But it was the crucifixion that showed us what the kingdom was like. This kingdom is characterised by laying our lives down in selfless, sacrifical love.

And I realised that despite my passionate belief in the kingdom of God, I still did too much fighting at times. Not physical violence. But fighting to get my own way, to win the argument, to push myself forward. I had to face the fact that I was still too full of anger, often trying to justify it as ‘righteous’ anger. There was too much of the spirit of judgment and contempt in me, willing to throw verbal stones at those Jesus died to save. There was still too much of the spirit of the fight in me, the dregs of the kingdoms of this world still staining my soul. This was not following the way of Jesus. This was not the way of his different kingdom.

I wish I could say that the moment of revelation became a moment of transformation. I have tried to follow the way of this different kingdom since but failed all too frequently. I stumble in this way more often than I’d like to admit. But I have seen enough of the true nature of this kingdom not to be able to make easy excuses. There is no other way for a Christian to follow. I am convinced that the way of Jesus, the way of his different kingdom, must be the way of the cross. It is the way of selfless, servant-like, sacrifical love. It is the way of dying to self, not fighting with our little egos to get our way.

When we begin to walk in this way, and reflect deeply on its nature, we realise that it is such love that demonstrates most powerfully the reality of God’s kingdom. And it is such love that has the greatest power to transform our world. As one writer explains:

‘…the kingdom Jesus established and modelled with his life, death, and resurrection…demonstrates the reign of God by manifesting the sacrificial character of God, and in the process, it reveals the most beautiful, dynamic, and transformative power in the universe.‘

Greg Boyd

This site is a resource hub to help people to follow the way of Jesus, the way of his different kingdom, in our world today.