The Kingdom Of God - What's the Immigration Policy?
Since the Kingdom of God was Jesus' favorite topic to speak on, we should take a look at how a person can actually get into this Kingdom. In the last article, we learned that a Kingdom is a domain under the ruler-ship of a King. We learned that Jesus came onto the scene saying that He was that King, the long awaited Messiah.
If Jesus is the King, we might expect Him to tell us how we can join His domain, the Kingdom of Heaven. In fact, He did! Jesus was approached by one of the Jewish religious leaders and He gave him the immigration policy. It's found in John Chapter 3, and I'm going to quote the whole encounter here, as I see it all as relevant.
Now a certain man, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, 2 came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time, can he?”
5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus replied, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I tell you the solemn truth, we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. 12 If I have told you people about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
16 For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 18 The one who believes in him is not condemned. The one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. 19 Now this is the basis for judging: that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. 21 But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God.
Scripture and/or notes quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET©) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2016 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Nicodemus was a little confused by what Jesus had to say, here. Jesus tells him he must be "born from above" to enter the Kingdom, and when Nicky asked for clarification, Jesus said he must be "born of water and the Spirit" to enter the Kingdom. What does that mean? Well, Nicodemus should have known immediately that Jesus was making a reference to Messianic prophecies where God promised to wash His people clean, and restore The Kingdom. Here's one:
Ezekiel 36:24-27 ESV
24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
For more on what the new heart means, see this post
Still confused, Nicky asks for for more clarification. Jesus goes on to say what is probably the most famous bible verse of all, John 3:16, where He tells Nicodemus that you must believe in Him, the Son of Man, to have eternal life. In John's gospel, eternal life is the same as entering the Kingdom of God. In fact, this is the only place where John uses "Kingdom of God."
Jesus then goes on to explain that those who reject Him will do evil because they hate the light, but those who practices truth will come to the Light. The Light is Jesus.
Thus, to enter the Kingdom, one must be "born again" by believing in Jesus. The Holy Spirit of God responds and gives you a new heart, so that you will want to do what Jesus did. By following His example, we are spreading the Kingdom's reign here on Earth.
If we choose to enter the Kingdom of God, then we need to submit to the authority of the King, Jesus. Just like an Earthly Kingdom, there's an expectation of conduct for citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom. Fortunately for us, the King didn't leave us in doubt as to what He expects of His loyal subjects. We'll explore that and other aspects of the Kingdom in future articles.
Thanks for reading, upvoting, and resteeming!
For my past bible posts:
Covenants in the Old Testament
Jesus is the Savior of the Whole World
The Kingdom of Heaven, The Kingdom of God - What is it, and When?
