Are You Seeing the Kingdom of God?

Romans 14:17 says that, " the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking (do's and don'ts), but righteousness (the right to stand before God) and peace (freedom from fear) and joy (fellowship) in the Holy Spirit."

In John 3:1-8, Jesus is speaking of the Kingdom of God as if it is present to anyone who has the fruit of Spirit. Without the Spiritual fruit, man is dead to the things of God and the Kingdom of God. Even though the Kingdom is being expressed all around him, he cannot see it because the things of the Kingdom of God must be spiritually discerned. How do we get this spiritual discernment? We get it by eating the right fruit. It has always been this way. Adam and Eve had a choice to eat the right fruit from the "Tree of Life" or the wrong fruit from the "Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil." The fruit that you eat will determine what you see.

In Genesis 3: 7-11, we can see man in the Garden (the Kingdom) naked before God (naked = inferior to God). He did not become naked after the transgression. He was not stripped of his clothing or become less than God. He was always naked or inferior to God. However, he did not become aware and ashamed of being naked until after the transgression. Until this time, Genesis 2:25 says, "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." What happened to cause the first couple to become ashamed of their nakedness? They choose the wrong fruit. The eating of the fruit caused them to see things differently. The Word says that their eyes were opened. Notice that God did not change when man transgressed. Man changed in his opinion of God.

When we say that someone has had their eyes opened, we are really saying that they have acquired a different understanding of things. And, normally we think of the opening of someone's eye as a good thing. But, in this situation it was not a good thing. Until this "eye opening", man enjoyed unbroken fellowship with God. He was always naked (or inferior to God) but he was not ashamed. He did not doubt God's love and care for him. He "walked with God". However, after he ate the fruit, he began to doubt God's intentions. He became unsure about God's love for him and he hid himself from God. He no longer saw God as only good. He now saw God as someone to be afraid of. At that time, man was thrust out of the Garden and he could no longer see the Kingdom. He began to doubt his righteousness (right to stand before God). And, as a result, he lost his peace (became fearful), and lost his Joy (his fellowship). He lost the ability to "See the Kingdom."

What Adam and Eve faced; we also face. Nothing has changed. There were two trees in the garden for Adam and Eve and there are still two trees. The tree of the knowledge of Good and evil (represented by the righteous requirements of the Law which ministered death by exposing our nakedness) and the Tree of Life (represented by the finished work of Jesus Christ which is the Law of the Spirit of Life, which has covered our nakedness and restored our righteousness - Romans 8:1-4) . We too are faced with a choice. And to "See the Kingdom", we must choose to eat from the Tree of Life, which is Jesus, who is our righteousness.