Kingdom Principles

Kingdom Principles

had a concept of lordship (ownership). It had a king and a domain. It practiced colonization. Rome had such an influence that wher ever it advanced, that part of the world became like Rome. When God saw Rome, He said, “That’s exactly what I want.” When the time was right, the King of Heaven sent His Son to restore His Kingdom on earth. Paul of Tarsus stated it this way:

But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons (Galatians 4:4-5).

The fullness of time has nothing to do with clocks but every thing to do with seasons. When the season of history was right, when the Roman Empire had risen to serve as a living example, when everything was in place according to divine purpose, God sent His Son into the physical world with the message that the Kingdom of Heaven had arrived. What was His purpose in restoring the Kingdom? Not to give us a religion but to restore to us our “full rights” as sons and daughters of the King. The King of Heaven wants sons and daughters, not servants. Religion produces servants. It revels in the spirit of servitude. Please don’t misunderstand me. A servant heart is, as Jesus said, the key to greatness in the Kingdom of God (see Matt. 20:26-27). And He said that He Himself came to serve rather than to be served (see Matt. 20:28). But this kind of service should always proceed from the place of security in our knowledge that we are sons and daughters of the King and simply are following His example. Servanthood in the reli gious spirit, on the other hand, proceeds from a sense of false humil ity and self-deprecation where one sees oneself not as a son or daughter, but as a slave. Sons and daughters of the King see service as a privilege ; religious people see it as an obligation. And therein lies the difference. Sons and daughters serve willingly because they are sons and daughters. Religious people serve grudgingly because

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