Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting.”
John 18:36
What kind of kingdom is Jesus building?
I’m thankful that “kingdom of God” is regularly working into my vocabulary as I see its importance streamed throughout the New Testament. It is an important concept to understand in order to understand what God is doing throughout the scriptures.
However, with that, it begs the question: What kind of kingdom is Jesus building?
Jesus, as he stands before Pilate, gives an indication of what kingdom he came to earth to build. I can imagine as he stands before the one who would condemn him to death, the passion in his heart for the kingdom he is building is throbbing.
It is there he explains to Pilate that if his kingdom were here, his servants would fight for him.
And so to the question of “What kind of kingdom is Jesus building?” the answer is this: A kingdom where his servants would fight for him.
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If you call yourself a Christian, you are a part of the kingdom of God. When you entered into it, Jesus’ goal was that his servants, upon opposition, would gladly lay down their lives to fight for the King’s honor and purposes.
Is that you? Are you a citizen who fights in Jesus’ kingdom?
This is not an appeal for physical war as if we’re fighting God’s war with AK47’s and pistols. It’s about the allegiance of the heart. That’s because the borders of the kingdom that Jesus is building is not physical (yet). He builds his kingdom on love.
And so his servants operate in radical love. And those citizens understand something important about the kingdom of God: that it is a kingdom worth fighting for because of the King who reigns over it.
For this reason, Jesus frequently comments on the type of servants that will not enter into his kingdom. Lazy, wicked, unfruitful, unjust are descriptions of those who Jesus warns will not enter into Kingdom even though they call themselves Christians in several parables in the gospels.
