A.W. Tozer wrote, “The happiness of
all moral creatures lies in the giving of obedience to God, the Creator. The angels in heaven find their complete
freedom and highest happiness in obeying the commandments of God. They do not find it tyranny – they find it a
delight! Here is something that we should know and realize: Heaven is a place
of surrender to the whole will of God, and it is heaven because it is such a
place.”
The Garden of Eden was a perfect
place. But when the surrender to the
whole will of God was broken there, darkness entered the souls of mankind, and
peace was lost to them. Sin ruled in
their hearts and they were evicted from the Garden. They found themselves
outside the presence of God. That sinful
state was passed on to us, the seed of Adam.
From that root
of sin in us, acts of sin spring up everywhere, like weeds multiplying at an
uncontrollable rate. We have no means to
remove it. A perfectly sinless sacrifice was the only way to save us from the
destruction set in motion by the devil, and that excluded all of us. We are completely helpless to save ourselves,
and hell was our destination until Jesus changed that for us at great cost to
Himself, the shedding of His blood. Why
did He take our place? Because He loves
us and He wants what is best for us. He wants us to have all that He planned
for us in the beginning. Adam brought
sin on us all. But Jesus brought
righteousness to all who will receive Him. “Therefore,
as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in
condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all
men, resulting in justification of life.
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one
Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:18-19,
NKJV)
We now have a
choice to enter the kingdom of God or remain rooted in this world. “God has made it plain that hell is a real
place, a final abode for people who do not want to love God and serve Him!”
(A.W. Tozer) God doesn’t force us to
live in His kingdom. He doesn’t force us to love Him or serve Him. If we so
choose, we can stay rooted right where we are in this world’s kingdom until we
face God in the judgment, at which time hell will become the “final abode”. We are free to reject Jesus’ sacrifice, but
we will never live free without Him.
Heaven is not
the home of those who reject Jesus Christ. However, we can choose to live in
the kingdom of God. If we do, our roots must to be taken out of the soil of the
world and transplanted into the good soil of God’s kingdom. From roots planted deep in the rich soil of
God’s kingdom, the fruit of righteousness will prevail.
Jesus always operated in the
realm of God’s kingdom while He walked in human flesh on this earth. That is
why He remained sinless and unmoved in the face of opposition, temptations,
danger or confusion. He was never swept
into camaraderie with this world. Nor was He caught up in the drama of
circumstances. He simply took charge of
them. Jesus stayed firmly rooted in the
kingdom of God. He was free to hear the
voice of the Father and obey Him. We can be, too.
A kingdom is “the territory subject
to the rule of a king.” We can submit
ourselves to Satan, the prince of this world’s kingdom, or we can be born again
into the kingdom of God, submitting to the King of kings. These two kingdoms
are diametrically opposed. We cannot
live in both.
The world as we know it is full of
evil and has a ruler, Satan. Yet Satan
has his boundaries that God will not allow him to exceed. Many people, some knowingly and others
unknowingly, listen to Satan and try to find fulfillment through other avenues
of spirituality, but they remain outside of God’s Kingdom. There is only one Truth, one way to God and
one way to receive eternal life. His
name is Jesus.
Satan comes to steal, kill and
destroy, but Jesus came into the world to “destroy the works of the devil” and
“to seek and to save that which was lost.” What was lost? Our right standing with God that allows us to
live, move and have our being in His kingdom. We, as Adam and Eve, were
standing outside the Garden. But when we enter a covenant with God through the
shed blood of Jesus Christ, we can move into the kingdom of God with the living
Word and the light of God’s Spirit within us to reveal the will of God. Our
part of the covenant is to “surrender to the whole will of God”. By His grace
we are free to surrender to His will and walk in the Spirit. There we will find freedom, power and wisdom
beyond anything this world has to offer.
It is a delight to walk in the will of God.
Jesus came preaching and teaching
the kingdom of God, inviting us to enter in.
“The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed or with a
visible display; nor will people say, “Look! Here it is!” For the kingdom of
God is among you [because of My presence].” (Luke 17:20b-21, Amplified Bible) The King James Version of the Bible says,
“the kingdom of God is within you.”
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, His presence, to live in us. He will not
reside in us if our hearts, minds and actions are still submitting to the
world.
We need to carefully comprehend
the words of Jesus when He said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord,
Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21) It is
very clear that insubordination to the will of God has no place in the kingdom
of God. Those who choose to reject His
will also reject His grace and salvation.
Recently I have felt God calling
His people to become more aware of His kingdom and more responsive to His
presence. He spoke to my heart one day
to ‘listen’ to Him, then repeated the message from two other sources. Since then, I have found that God is speaking
to many of His children to ‘listen’. Not
to listen to just any voice, but to listen exclusively to the Spirit of God. We
need to be attentive to the voice of the Holy Spirit to know the mind and will
of God. He has something significant to
say to us. When we hear what the Holy
Spirit is saying, we are being led by the
Spirit. As we follow what we hear
from Him, we are walking in the Spirit. In that way, we are living in the realm of
the kingdom of God although we are physically very much in this world. He may
speak to us about something in our lives that needs to change, a person we need
to speak to, or a place we need to go. I have found the more I listen, the more
He reveals to me of His Word, His will and Himself. There are times I feel overwhelmed in His
nearness.
The most precious part of the
kingdom of God is that the presence of the King is there. And that should be our greatest delight. There
is perfect peace and harmony in the presence of God, and in releasing our will
to His will. That is where Jesus found strength to completely humble Himself to
the will of the Father, even unto death – in the realm of God’s kingdom. There we have access to the throne through
prayer. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)
Jesus instructed His disciples to
pray differently than the long, showy public prayers offered by the Pharisees. They
were all performed so other people would see and hear them. Jesus told His
disciples when they prayed to ”go into your most private room, close the door
and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees [what is
done] in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6 Amplified Bible) What is our reward? The presence of God. He wants us to really know Him, to leave the
world behind and come close to Him. One on one.
Remember what God told
Abraham? “Fear not Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” God had promised Abraham a country and
descendents as the stars of the heavens and the sands of the sea. But the greatest reward Abraham received was
God Himself. How could Abraham stand in
God’s presence? Abraham “believed in
the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness.”
(Genesis 15:6) His faith led to
obedience. Obedience led him closer to God. Abraham made some mistakes, but he
believed God and acted accordingly, and he was called the friend of God.
To submit to the Word and will of
God is evidence of our belief in Him. Disobedience is evidence that we do not really
believe.
To those who believe, God has given
“exceeding great and precious promises.” But our greatest reward is to know Him
and to live now and forever in His presence.
“Heaven is a place of surrender
to the whole will of God,
and it is heaven because it is
such a place.”
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