The Nature of God's Kingdom

Exodus 19:3-8

Jim Davis

Friday morning I stopped at a Rally gas station to pick up a couple of 12 packs of Coke Cola that were on sale. When I went back to the car after my purchase my wife had gotten out of the car and locked the door. My keys were still in the ignition. So we called a locksmith and spent about forty minutes waiting. We have pulled this stunt a couple of times in the past. Each time before the locksmith came in a van. So we stood there looking for a van to pull into the gas station with the Pop-A-Lock printed on the side. We were reading the writing on every van pulling into the Rally station. We never saw locksmith pull into the parking lot in his small economical car with a very small sign on the side. We never recognized him until he walked up to us, and then we were a little startled as he was right in our face before we recognized him. We were so busy looking for the kind of van we thought he would be in that we overlooked him, although he drove up right in front of us. We didn't see him park in the second parking space from us. We were too busy looking for the kind of van we thought he would be in.

How many times have you been unable to see something you were searching for? You were looking for the right thing but the preconceived image in your mind of what you expected it to look like made you overlook what it was you were looking for. It was right in front of you, but you couldn't see it. 

How often does our worldview blind us to the spiritual realities of God? We often lose sight of the nature of God's kingdom as we thumb through the pages of the Old Testament. We see God leading Israel out of Egypt across the Jordan River to victory over the world. We see Israel conquering land and amassing wealth and we automatically think of Israel in a nationalistic sense. We see Israel building a tabernacle as a place that represents God's presence. We see the bloody sacrifices. We fail to realize that what was happening was the result of Israel allowing God to rule their hearts. It was a result of Israel obeying the words of God's covenant. They could only be the true kingdom of God as they allowed God to rule in their hearts. 

The Spiritual Kingdom of Israel

Over time the Jew’s nationalistic view of the kingdom of God blinded them to the true nature of God's kingdom. They sought to establish God's kingdom by tracing its borders on a map, but Jesus says the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20-21). They were looking for a worldly kingdom, when Jesus came he said, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). 

The Jews had such a worldly view of God's kingdom that they actually shut out those who sought God's kingdom (Matthew 23:13). Churches often blind side those seeking the kingdom today. As churches major in minors, those seeking God’s are blinded to the truth of God’s word.

Throughout Old Testament history Israel's biggest problems were the result of losing sight of how God desired to establish his rule in every heart. Failing to surrender to God's rule always brought problems. During the days of Jeremiah, God was judging Israel for her sin. Jeremiah issued this call to Israel. "Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done--burn with no one to quench it" (Jeremiah 4:3-4 NIV).

Israel was continually reminded of the nature of God's rule as they were told to circumcise their hearts (Deuteronomy 10:16-17). Paul reminds us, "A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God" (Romans 2:28-29 NIV).

God led the children of Abraham out of Egypt for the purpose of making Abraham's descendants into a kingdom of priests. They were to be God's holy nation; a nation devoted to fully obeying God as they kept his commandments. The first mention of God's plan for his holy nation, Israel, is found in the following verses, which record God's message to Israel about three months after their exodus from Egypt.

Exodus 19:3-6
"Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, 'This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites'" (NIV).

The strength of God's love as he carried Israel out of Egypt was a testimony to his desire to bring Israel unto a special relationship with Him. God called the Hebrews out of Egypt to care for them and to protect them. The eagle mentioned here is a symbol of God's care and protection for Israel. The eagle represents a beautiful picture of God's grace. 

Deuteronomy 32:10-12
"In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. The LORD alone led him; no foreign god was with him" (NIV).

It is easy to want lose sight of our responsibility while we enjoy the privileges of God’s grace. Becoming God's own possession was the greatest encouragement for Israel to accept her responsibility to obey God. God's grace had brought Israel out of bondage, but the privileges of God's grace also brought great responsibilities. Obedience to God's covenant laws was the basis for Israel to become the kingdom of God. 

The priesthood of all believers began in the Old Testament. Isaiah foretold that God would extend the promise of a kingly priesthood to all those who believed in Christ.

Isaiah 61:6
"And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast" (NIV)

God’s Spiritual Kingdom Today

What made Israel God’s people was her willingness to accept the terms of God’s contract. God told Moses what to tell Israel. 

Exodus 19:5-8
"Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.' 

"So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the LORD had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, "We will do everything the LORD has said." So Moses brought their answer back to the LORD" (NIV).

When Moses revealed the words of God to Israel, they accepted the covenant of God.
Moses couldn’t accept God’s covenant for them. They had to make a personal decision to follow the Lord. They had to do this before God could make them a kingdom of priest. “The people all responded together, ‘We will do everything the LORD has said.’ So Moses brought their answer back to the LORD."

God’s choosing is much like a contract. We may want to draw up a contract so as to enter into a contract with a second party, but the contract is not binding until the second party accepts it and signs it. When God makes a covenant, a second party must accept it before it is valid. 

Peter picks up on the same promise as it is extended to us through Christ. Peter seeks to encourage first century Christians, who are being persecuted, by reminding them that they are chosen by God. 

1 Peter 2:4-5
"As you come to him, the living Stone-rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (NIV).

1 Peter 2:9-10
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy" (NIV)

There is a necessity for us to recover this ideal of the priesthood for all believers today—not just for preachers—for members. We need to restore to the church a working sense of the priesthood—a sense of personal obedience—a sense of personal duty. Priesthood has to do with the service of each Christian.

The New Testament has a lot to say about the priesthood of Christians. Above all, it declares that there is never a believer who has no ministry. The purpose of ministers, elders and deacons is not to do all the ministering, but to enable the church to do the work of ministry. You see the first step to revitalizing this doctrine of the priesthood for each member is to involve each person in the actual doing of the church's work. 

The priesthood is not reserved for special people who can mediate between the people and God. Under the Old Testament the Levitical priest offered the animal sacrifices for the members of God’s priestly Israel. The whole sacrificial system of the Old Testament foreshadowed what Jesus accomplished by His death and resurrection. Today Christ has already made the necessary sacrifice for each of us. However, we are asked to make a personal sacrifice as priest in Christ’s priestly kingdom.

Romans 12:1-2
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will” (NIV).

Too often when we look at the old sacrificial system of the Old Testament we fail to see the true nature of God’s priestly kingdom. When we look beyond those sacrifices into the heart of God we can began to understand that the priesthood of both the Old Testament and New Testament are similar. Under both systems there is the necessity to accept God’s grace and renew one’s mind and life through obedience to God’s will. 

In the wilderness of Sinai God tells Moses to speak these words to the Hebrews: “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.” God had revealed to Israel what he could do for them as he led them on a three months wilderness journey.  Then the Hebrews were asking to enter into a covenant relationship with God. Then God told them “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:3-6)

You can’t enjoy God’s presence without walking in God’s ways. One of the most touching conversations between Moses and God takes place in the following verses. Moses reveals that he doesn’t merely want to enjoy God’s presence, but he wants God to teach him his ways.

Exodus 33:12-17
Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people." 

The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." 

Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" 

And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name." NIV

Moses begged to know God’s ways so that he could walk in them. The reason God was so pleased with Moses was because Moses not only desired God’s presence, but he wanted God to teach him his ways. Today we want to enjoy God’s protective presence, but do we want to know his will? Do we want God to cut the evil out of our lives? Do we want him to circumcise our lives in baptism? How many are crying for God’s protection, but have no desire to know God’s will?

The day of Pentecost was much like this time in which God spoke to Moses on Mt. Sinai. God had provided the sacrifice for deliverance from sin through Christ. Peter called upon the people to accept God’s gracious offer of pardon. 

Acts 2:38-41
Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off-for all whom the Lord our God will call." 

With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. (NIV)

There seems to be a paradox in the minds of many concerning salvation. We think that only God can save us, but Peter tells those on Pentecost "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Peter is telling them they must accept God’s covenant. That goes beyond accepting God’s grace, which also involves keeping god’s covenant. God’s covenant is extended to whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord. Those who call upon his name through obedience become a member of God's priestly kingdom today.

We accept God’s covenant in baptism. We allow God to circumcise our hearts by putting away the sinful deeds in our life as he extends forgiveness through the blood of Christ. It is then that God places his seal upon us as he marks us as he chosen ones. 

Colossians 2:9-12
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead (NIV).

Many are looking for the church or a priest to save them. I have attended a couple of funerals this year that left me disturbed. In those funerals, I witnessed those conducting the services seeking to grant entrance into heaven for the ones that had died. It disturbed me because I think both of the deceased might have been led to believe that someone could grant them entrance into heaven after they died. 

This was evident by what those conducting the deceased funerals were saying. I am not a judge of what the deceased believed, but I witnessed what those conducting their funerals believed. They spoke as though the deceased believed that those conducting the services could grant them entrance to heaven. That was something that only the deceased could do before death through accepting God’s conditions for salvation through Christ.

You can’t place the responsibility of your salvation upon the church. The church can’t save you. Many are seeking to place the responsibility upon the church to be what they think it ought to be without accepting personal responsibility for their personal lives. This concept of the church blinds us to what we are really about.

Conclusion:

Have we allowed what we are looking for in God's kingdom to blind us the true nature of the church? Are we expecting the church to do for us what only we can do for ourselves?

Have we allowed the world to blind us to the spiritual realities of being priests in God’s kingdom? Have we allowed the church to blind us to the true nature of our duties in God’s kingdom?

We can motivate ourselves to do God’s will by reminding ourselves how God has lifted us up in Christ. By reminding ourselves of God’s desire to bless us. The Israelites were constantly reminded of what God had done for them. 

Peter seeks to encourage Christians who were being persecuted to obey God by reminding them of how God has chosen them to be saved in Christ. 

1 Peter 1:18-21
“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God” (NIV).

1 Peter 2:9-10
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy" (NIV) 

These blessings we have in Christ must also motivate each of us to accept our responsibility to walk in God’s ways.