History is largely a record of revolutions. The storming of the Bastille in France, the American War of Independence, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, to name just a few. Revolutions are about change; usually big change. Oppression and injustice stir unrest, and a movement is launched to bring about shifts in power and/or organizational structure. Like seismic upheavals, revolutions crumble the status quo, and usher in reform, either benevolent and malevolent. Little is left in its wake that resembles that which existed pre-revolution.
The English word, “revolution”, comes from a Latin word meaning, “to turn around”. Revolutions surround us innocently in the form of moving clock hands, and turning wheels and mechanisms, which we measure in revolutions per minute. On a far grander scale, the universe we live in is also measured in revolutions. The moon revolves around the earth at the rate of approximately one revolution per thirty days, while the earth revolves around the sun every three hundred sixty-five days. The planets revolve around the sun at varying rates and distances, the solar system within the Milky Way galaxy, and the countless galaxies all are in orbit within the vast universe. We literally live in a universe of revolution.
There have been revolutions of thought concerning revolutions. The earth was once considered the center of the universe, with everything revolving around it. Science has proven otherwise. And yet, there is an earthly revolution that the entire universe does revolve around. It is a revolution as far-reaching as the vast universe itself; all-encompassing in its scope. It is a revolution destined to completely restructure and reshape the very fabric of the universe that we now know; and along with it, every human life. This inescapable, all-encompassing revolution is worth knowing something about; indeed, it is worth knowing EVERYTHING about. Such a revolution of cosmic proportions demands the ultimate in knowledge and preparation, yet strangely it has been largely ignored and misunderstood.
While this ultimate revolution has been announced and echoed often throughout history, it found fresh voice in a rugged survivalist named John, over two thousand years ago. With a ring of authority that generated an electrifying response, this wilderness man boldly declared, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”. (Matthew 3:2). As clarified through his own words, John appeared on the scene as the advance man for the true revolutionary who would similarly declare, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)
But, wait; how did we go from the ultimate revolution to words about “kingdom of God” and “gospel”? The dynamic element of revolution seems lost in these words, more the language of churches than revolutions. Until we truly grasp the pregnant meaning of this innocent-sounding phrase, “kingdom of God”, then we have lost the sense of revolution. If we relegate “kingdom” to the realm of medieval castles and modern monarchies, then we have robbed it of the electrifying revolutionary energy that it carried when spoken two thousand years ago. There was little doubt then that “kingdom” meant “revolution”.
The Roman ruler, Herod, knew full well the implications of a kingdom. “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ’Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.’ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” (Matthew 2:1-3) The birth of a Jewish king meant but one thing to this egotistical Roman ruler: a power play was in the offing, and his job was on the line. Seeking to pre-empt a revolution before it ever started, Herod ordered genocide of all Jewish male babies two-years old and younger.
The idea of revolution was ever-present during the activities and teachings of Jesus during His three and one-half years of public work. This was the expectation of the Jewish Messiah – that he would be the ultimate revolutionary, overthrowing all earthly governments and rule, and establishing a perfect world-wide government. And this socio-political expectation reached fever-pitch when Jesus ultimately chose that which He previously avoided: to enter the capital city of Jerusalem. Fully aware of expectations, as well as events about to unfold before Him, “Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.” (Luke 19:11) There was no doubt in the expectation of the crowds, or in the mind of Jesus, that Messiah implied political action.
That which the Roman ruler, Herod, had feared over thirty years before became full-blown threat to another Roman ruler, Pontius Pilate. Face to face with the Jewish Messiah, the din of the fomenting crowds rising from below, Pilate directs a point-blank question: “Are You the King of the Jews?” (John 18:33) The response of Jesus has puzzled students of the Bible for centuries, and left many with a mistaken notion about the real nature of his dominion: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm …”You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” (John 18:35, 37). A kingdom of truth; a revolution of truth. Yet, have we truly heard His voice – the voice of truth – when we remove the realm of His authority from political and worldly systems and relegate it to the realm of a kingdom of the heart? To do so is to ignore the many politically-charged statements that Jesus personally made, and that were made thousands of years about Him prior to His earthly appearance. Such statements demand careful further study.