Is the theme of God’s Kingdom taboo or do we want to discuss it?

Pavol Mikula

Views on the reality of accomplishing God’s kingdom on earth differ not only between different Christian denominations, but also within denominations, e.g.  the Catholic one. In my circle of friends I have noticed a certain distaste in discussing this, even though they are honest believers who read the Bible. But if a person does not face this problem, then he easily develops a false view of the type: “I have it all figured out.” To clarify this issues one must first find all the texts in the Old and New Testament which relate to question of the kingdom of God and think about them in context. At one lecture by the noted leader of our charismatic movement I heard that he would not want to make the same faux pas as the apostles did, in relation to the text in Acts 1, 6-7. However when I think about the preceding verse Acts 1,3, then it might not have been such a faux pas. I am not a theologian, but a natural scientist and in this article I will try to offer a view from a different angle. On the basis of some unsuccessful experiments I asked myself: “Why is it so, when many texts talk about the possibility of God’s kingdom on earth?”. I will put forth some arguments against, which of course are not exhaustive.

-If in the past there were attempts to realize God’s kingdom on earth, then they were unsuccessful. The problem is that that which has not yet been realized does not have to be unattainable, unless it is strictly proven to be unattainable such as in the case of “perpetuum mobile”. New inventions could otherwise not occur.

-It is evident that many prayers about the realization of God’s kingdom were not heard. The question is if they were prayers according to Jesus’ advice, such as prayers in the name of Jesus Christ. We can also ask whether the failure of these prayers was analyzed. It is a vey common thing not to analyze the causes as to why prayers were not successful. In John 16:23-24 Jesus says: “Amen, amen I tell you that whatever you ask of my Father in my name will be given to you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive so that your joy may be complete.” In this context in the analysis of unfulfilled prayers, but also in the case of other parts of the Gospel, we can show that there are things that are solely in the power of man to do and things that are only can be done by God. If we pray for things that are in our realm to fulfill then logically the prayer will not be answered. If a person is honest, he will admit it. Or he will lie to himself and he can explain the failure by, for example, saying that God needs his prayer for someone else. We can often observe such an attitude in the case of intercessions and pleas during a holy mass.

- A person accepts the interpretation of an authority and thinks that the problem is solved. But the authority does not official say that he does not understand Jesus properly. The proof of this is the hundreds of Christian churches. But the understanding of Jesus’ catechism is one of the conditions for God to be satisfied with us. Jesus said: “He who obeys my command loves me” and logically one can only obey him if one understands him fully. In many cases even Peter or Jesus’ beloved apostle did not understand Jesus. Which of the authorities would dare to say that they are better than Peter the apostle or John?

-A person is not interested in the kingdom of God for many reasons (ignorance, unwillingness to change, etc) or does not try to attain it. Then it is logical that God will not give it to him because God respects his liberty.

-A frequent argument is Jesus’ statement: “The kingdom of God is within you.” This statement is truthful, but since there are other statements in the Bible, the solution lies in the fact that God’s kingdom can have several levels and one of these is: “The kingdom of God lies within you.” That means in the soul of a person, a person has been anointed with grace. Another form can be the promised God’s kingdom here on earth and also in heaven after death. When we read the Bible thoroughly, we find that the Bible allows for example different levels of faith and different levels of Christianity. Faith is in the common sense of the word a type of belief about a certain fact. According to the Gospel the beginning of a belief or conviction can have several forms or levels: “You were sent to John and he has testified to the truth.” (John 5:33-34). Here we are talking about faith from an authority chosen by God. But then there was one “Church” and now we have hundreds. Another proof arises from the fact that a person can himself recognize according to Jesus’ statement: “How do you yourselves do not distinguish?” This is especially the case in things that occur regardless. Another type of faith is shown in the example: “The Father is in the Son…” (John 10, 37-38). Jesus again shows a person his deeds. A person learns how to perform the deeds and finds the teaching (according to the schema hypothesis-experiment-proven knowledge). He therefore does not blindly accept Jesus’ teaching, but he acknowledges what he sees, begins to search by himself, and he comes to the same knowledge as what Jesus said or he proves it to himself. We can see another type of conviction when Jesus forgives sins. This is not easily seen, at least not at first glance. Thus as proof that he has the power to forgive, he heals the sick on his sickbed (Matthew 9:1-6, Mark 2:1-11, Luke 5:18-25), through which Jesus shows his power to be legitimate. Then there can be a conviction of an innate type like the migration instinct of birds. This would correspond to the familiar saying: “Faith is a gift” that Jesus himself never said. On the contrary he gives us as an example the attitude of the centurion form Capharnaum (Matthew 8:5-10), the hemorrhaging woman (Matthew 9, 20-22) and the woman from Canaan (Matthew 15:28). One can also write about a made-up conviction, where we can put hope and fear of not being accepted, such as the fear before a “departure” from this earth.

-Another reason can be the reading of the Bible with a “pre-filtered” mindset, without thinking on its quality. The reading of the Bible requires that a person’s thinking is in order, but not according to our views, but to Jesus’ views. That is also the reason why the first sermons of John the Baptist, Jesus, and the apostles he sent out ask us to change (Metanoia). The problem is that today we call for Metanoia, but we do not know how it is done. Some correlate it with fasting, with the multiplication of prayers, charity, etc., which all have their use; but this is not a change of thinking, or Metanoia as seen by Jesus. Here as a helpful example I can cite the experience of many natural scientists, who would not have discovered anything during their scientific career if they had not undergone a Metanoia in their thinking.

-Mark the Evangelist talks about the heavenly kingdom, and the other Evangelists about the kingdom of God; however in many cases originally this concerned identical statements by Jesus. Whoever does not notice this could develop the tendency to classify this all as the time after death. Here I can offer the thoughts of my spiritual adviser B. Bily that one must reconstruct Jesus’ catechism with the help of the Holy Spirit and have it ‘stamped” by God. Some may find this strange, but if one does not have the personal experience of being lead by the Holy Spirit, one will find it hard to understand.

-It is often argued that the Jews were wrong to expect a kingdom on earth. Their mistake however was to leave out parts of Moses and the prophets (e.g. “If you believed in Moses, you would believe in Me, for he wrote about Me.” – John 5:46) If the majority of the Jews had told themselves: “Jesus of Nazareth  is telling us that we are reading Moses and the prophets the wrong way, we must think about it” , maybe the temple in Jerusalem would still be standing today (see Matthew23:37-38, Luke20:41-44, Matthew24:2,, Mark13:2). Why are the pyramids still standing today and why are treasures still being found? Why couldn’t the temple in Jerusalem still be standing? It was prophesied that Solomon’s temple would be destroyed and it was destroyed. It was prophesied that the Jews would be enslaved and they were enslaved. It was prophesied that they would escape from their enslavement and they were able to escape. Therefore if in the course of history of the Jewish nation sad and joyous prophesied were fulfilled, why should we forget about Jesus’ promises? At that time they were tied to a change in thinking. And very probably our mistake is that we do not want to change and amend our attitudes. Our mistake is that we think of ourselves as good, and therefore we think that God is not fulfilling his promises and he will fulfill them after our death. The Jews were expecting the kingdom of God (in its fullest sense) but they forgot about uncomfortable passages in the Bible. Are we able to admit to ourselves that we committed similar mistakes and that we changed the meaning of the Bible? The existence of hundreds of Christian Churches should be a warning sign to us.

- We do not take Jesus’ promises seriously. There can be several reasons for this. The question of charismatic gifts was skipped over, even forgotten fro many centuries. One reads about them in the Bible, but they remain unnoticed (psychic blindness), before they can become a beacon for us. Or we believe some authority, which forgets about them. This all has to do with our level of faith.

- On the other hand I will try to put forward several opposing arguments (naturally in the books of the prophets, especially Isaiah and in the New Testament we can find many more) in favor of the possibility of achieving God’s kingdom, which is not much talked about, even if it is known.

- In the first case it is necessary to acknowledge that the problem of the fulfillment of God’s kingdom is not news. Another name for God’s kingdom is theocracy. However we must have a precise conception of theocracy; it was often confused with rule by clergy or monarchy. The Old Testament is not a law in the sense that we are used to, or a will, but it was written as an agreement. (Luke 22:20). According to the Book of Judges the Jews had a type of kingdom of God, in which God was their King with all the powers and duties that that entailed. The first political system in Israel was governed by an agreement. God did not show himself to everybody, but he chose judges, who “ruled” as representatives of God. They solved disputes and unusual situations and they waged wars. But the Jews wanted a human king and they gave God an ultimatum. (1 Samuel 8: 1-22: “They are not rejecting you, but me….Tell them….you will wail, but I will not hear you. You have a king.”) God granted their wish and tried to help them choose a worthy king. Most of the time ruling a nation does not end well.

- In Deuteronomy 30, God offers the chance to obtain peace, satisfaction, and respect with other nations: “It you do not fulfill my commands, God will curse you. If you repent and fulfill these commands, God will gather you, multiply you and lead you back, etc.” In the end he will “circumcise your heart” (Deuteronomy 28). Success in manufacturing, economics, and warfare depend on this; this is actually material well-being, peace, and political freedom. Isaiah also takes about taking off a “veil” and long life. The prophets already talked about God’s kingdom as a state formation. Let us also notice that many promises in Isaiah, not thought possible before, have recently been fulfilled. Disarmament began, but it has stopped. The Jews have their own state, Israel, (vz. “I will gather my people a second time…”), which is in constant danger and is severely threatened. It is likely that we are waiting for a better quality of Christianity and a “Elijah the corrector” (Matthew 17:11). In Romans 11 it is written: “When the pagans convert, then the Jews will convert”. Obviously pagan-Christians must show Jews the proper Christianity and not a half-hearted one.

- The problem of charismata was forgotten for many centuries, until the Pentecostal movement began. However, charismata should be an ordinary part of true Christians (vz. the first Church in the Acts of the Apostles). Sadly, today the word charisma is devalued and anyone can be labeled a charismatic type. Could we imagine what a change in living standards it would be if we could cure the sick and raise the dead according to Jesus’ commandment? But we have “given up” the charismata, the gift of curing the sick, the gift of the multiplication of loaves, as if we did not need it. We know that Jesus chided the apostles when they failed. If we had charismata, then the situation would look totally different. Jesus tells us that it is necessary to act: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit” (John 15:8). “He who believes in me will do bigger acts than I did….” Or: “If I testify to myself, my testimony is not true…” We are used to believing according to authority, but Jesus said: “If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me” (John 10:37).

- The fulfillment of God’s kingdom can be conditional on the fulfillment of conditions which we are not meeting, are not respecting, or are not aware of yet. My experience in unsuccessful experiments is similar. If there are conditions attached that we are not seeking to find, we cannot find them. If we do not care about God’s kingdom, it is only natural that God will not give it to us.

- My experience is that brothers and sisters who believe know about the letters to the seven churches in Revelations 2-3, but they do not pay any attention to them. On careful reading one can find several noteworthy things. For example, it is prophesied to Smyrna that she will suffer and on the other hand Philadelphia will be spared “trials which must afflict the whole world”. Thyatira (those who let themselves be badly influenced by Jezebel and did not know the depth of Satan), if it wins and keeps doing what it should until the end, will obtain the power over nations and will “lead them out to pasture” with a steel whip. Ephesus, if it wins, can eat from the tree of life, which is in the middle of paradise. We see that these churches are praised and if they last and win, are prophesied different fates. Every letter ends with an appeal to “all churches”. Therefore each Christian denomination and fellowship can “find” itself, identify itself according to these parameters, and find its diagnosis or prognosis. Why this should be so is certainly worth a quality analysis. By comparing these letters we can deduce that understanding and adhering to Jesus’ teaching plays a big role and, in the case of Philadelphia, there is a special emphasis on recognizing false prophets and love. Ephesus is at the top based on its qualities and because of a lack of love there is a threat of degradation (“I will move your candlestick”). I think that for God’s kingdom to exist the society of the Church must be at least at the level of Thyatira, or better yet Ephesus.

- One thing that I consider crucial in my work and in my experience is how I react to the information I am given. Isaiah’s warning (Isaiah 6:9-10) pertains to this. Jesus show how important this is in the parable of the sower. Its importance is also illustrated in His answer to the apostles, who ask Him about its meaning: “You do not understand this parable? How then do you understand other parables?” (Mark 4:13) The problem of psychic blindness is closely linked to an understanding of the texts of the Bible. In the Church and in theology the problem of blindness is not factored in, as it is in the natural sciences and therefore in the interpretation of the Bible and in understanding Jesus it is necessary to realize that it exists (He Himself emphasizes this  and says that blindness may earn a “woe betide”).

- God’s Kingdom is also discussed in Revelations 20:4-6 as a thousand year kingdom, during which Satan will be tied up. That means that it should last long. If somebody should want to compare it to the era of Christianity, it would be hard to prove that Satan has been tied up in the present era. When believers will have a faith akin to a mustard seed and when they will be sufficiently equipped (vz. “tell a mountain/fig tree ‘get up and throw yourself into the sea’”, “whatever you will ask for in my name”, etc), it will not be a problem for them to unite. Even if there will only be a few of them, nobody will be able to overcome them and nobody will be able to hurt any of them. When they cam to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (John 18), Jesus answered them: “… It is I” and they all fell to the ground. Jesus then told the apostles to leave. Paul’s enemy was blinded on his command. Let us remember how Elijah could defend himself. Thus a few people with a sufficient level of faith can defend themselves. And it would be unreasonable for them not to unite. If God’s Kingdom should last a long time and Satan is to be bound, the question of its sustainability should be solved in order to avoid degradation.

- One can see that there are many questions about God’s Kingdom yet to be solved. In conclusion I would like to add, that the gift of tongues, which is relatively often given to the members of prayer groups, is not enough to solve the current state of the world. Saint Paul exhorts us to try for gifts of a higher category. The situation today is similar to the warning given in John 5:14: “Do not sin in order that nothing worse befalls you.” A person should think about the question of unanswered prayers without resorting to excuses.  Feedback loops, which are absolutely normal in everyday life, are not normal in the relationship of Christians to God. Jesus says that it is necessary to seek his kingdom and all these things will be added unto you (Luke 12:31). That is why it necessary to understand what God’s Kingdom entails and how to fulfill all its conditions. Otherwise what Samuel told the people (“You will pray, but I will not heed your prayers. You have a king.”) may be applied to us: “You are not repenting, you are not changing your thinking, I will not heed your prayers.” One cannot rule this out. I think that the amoun of unanswered prayers has really been innumerable.