Kingdom Principles

Kingdom Concept #7

He preached. He brought back to earth the Kingdom we lost at Eden and gave us access to it again. We enter the Kingdom of heaven through the process that Jesus called being “born again” (see John 3:3)—changing our mind and turning from our rebellion against God, placing our trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of our rebellion, and acknowledging Him as Lord (Owner) of our lives. This “new birth” gets us into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many believers call this “being saved,” but I think it is more help ful here to think of the new birth as the “naturalization” process by which we become Kingdom citizens. The new birth makes us natu ralized citizens of the Kingdom. It also “naturalizes” us in the sense that it returns us to our original “natural” state of authority and dominion over the earth as God intended from the start. When we become citizens of God’s Kingdom, it means that we voluntarily align ourselves with a new government and a new country, embrac ing its language, its ideals, and its values. The Kingdom constitution is explicit regarding our citizenship: Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household (Ephesians 2:19, emphasis added). But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body (Philippians 3:20, emphasis added). Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of dark ness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves (Colossians 1:12-13, emphasis added).

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