King of what? The Roman authorities, egged on by the leaders of the Jews, asked Jesus after they arrested him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus’ answer of a kingdom from another place and another world (John 18:36) baffled them. Jesus did not bother to try to explain what the “other place” was. It is from heaven, of course. But neither Jews nor Romans could even begin to understand what He was talking about.


Things aren’t much different today. Some people mistakenly expect to see a visible kingdom of God on earth, something that looks like the familiar political or national kingdoms we know. One of the features of the kingdom of God is that it can be seen only by those who have “born-again eyes.” We see it in a glass of cold water given to the thirsty, a person forgiving another who harmed him, an unexpected gesture of kindness. We see it in the fellowships of believers numbering millions, in almost every culture, language and nation on the earth, all praising the Lamb of God who was slain.