The Kingdom Rising
In September of 2011, I received an email from a reader that placed against me the image of the false Christ standing far above my difficulty, expecting me to "rise above" myself in order to "prove" that I love Him. That email took me, in one moment, back into all the horror and darkness of hopelessness where I once lived under this false "super-Christ," hoping against hope to be found in Him, always imagining that I am ever falling short.When I am hit with such a challenge that cries against the foundations of my own trust in Christ, I must find my footing only in what God says in the New Testament. I have always been like this; I simply cannot trust anything or anyone else. That is the first thing I did when all the years of pain and confusion flung up against me by the email forced me to reach for the only thing I trust - the Lord Jesus Christ shown to me through Paul's words.
The first letter I wrote, a few days later, out of the wonder of finding Jesus, my Savior and my Life, in the midst of such a cauldron of horror was "Christ versus Superman I." That letter was soon followed by three more letters, through "The Mystery of the Holy," before the wrenching agony had passed and I knew the Lord as I had never known Him before. Even though I brought later letters forward to begin this series, the river of the knowledge of God changing inside of me began with chapter 4, "Christ versus Superman I."
The great importance of The Kingdom Rising is that, if I am successful, reading it will change your definition of God. Your definition of God MUST change. Augustine's definition must be shattered all through the core of your thinking, and Father must arise inside of you. The Kingdom of God CANNOT be defined by human and earthly kings and kingdoms. Human kings are metaphors of Satan, the “prince” of this world. God's kingdom is something entirely different. God's kingdom is Father walking this earth just being Himself.
Introduction
It is time for the weak, the lowly, the incapable to shake the counsels of the mighty, to bring down kingdoms, and to overturn the ages.
We live in perilous times. There is a knowing in the air that something must give, something must change, humanity on this earth cannot hold the present course. Certain ruin lies dead ahead. Most look for an answer in the wrong direction; that is to be expected. Human ambition is the cause, not the solution. Human leadership, human wisdom, human ability – if you don’t think these things have failed, just wait; the greatest names prove themselves unable and incompetent.
Mankind brings his own ruin upon his head. All human answers fail and are failing spectacularly. Yet there is an answer, an answer that confounds all, an answer that is utterly unexpected. The answer is found beneath of you; to find it, you must look down.
The Kingdom comes, but it is coming where everyone least expects it.
No one looks for a weak Christ, a human Christ, a Christ of flesh. No one expects a man, lowly and meek, without power or influence. No one considers the crippled or the blind. No one looks to the autistic or the down syndrome. No one follows a little child without pretense or strength.
Mankind hated Jesus specifically because He was weak and very, very killable. Christianity has done it’s best to turn God’s weak Messiah into something He is not. No one is looking for a God of weakness, found only in the inability of flesh.
Yet there is God, and there is the Kingdom.
The Kingdom is rising upon this earth and none can stop it or slow it down. No one will see it until it changes everything because all mankind have their eyes in the wrong place. This is intended. If Christians, if non-Christians, knew where the Kingdom really is, they would kill it before it is born. But they do not see it and they do not know it, and thus it arises from beneath them and swallows them up: In Love.
Where is the Kingdom?
What is the Kingdom?
In a land where all are blind, the man with one eye is put to death. In a land filled with humans pretending to be strong, a Christ of weakness is crucified.
There is no “power over.” The Kingdom is not “above” you. If God gives you grace, if God gives you an eye to see, look down, the Kingdom is rising from beneath of you.
The Kingdom carries you; the Kingdom has always carried you. The Kingdom is always coming up from beneath of you, catching you up in itself, and rising on high.
And you are inside of it.