“Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” – Matthew 6:9-10
In one of my previous blogs “Seeking the Truth in a Sea of Voices”, I discussed how the importance of seeking Jesus is for all people on the face of the earth. As we continue to seek God, God Himself will begin to open our eyes to new and wondrous things. One of these things is the reality of two invisible Kingdoms that operate on a daily basis.
Two Kingdoms
On earth, a kingdom is generally a territory ruled by a king or queen. In our modern world, territories governed by actual kings and queens are in the minority. Most territories are now ruled by governments, with people elected or appointed through various political systems. Each of us lives in our own respective territories, such as India, Pakistan, Japan, China, the United States, Russia, etc., and we tend to identify with the kingdom we are in.
There are roughly over 190 nations (kingdoms) all across the world. The exact number seems to depend on how many countries recognize other ones as nations. Nevertheless, each nation has its own type of government and ruling party. Given the number of nations, we tend to see the world through this lens. On top of that, I have not even begun to count the number of nations that have existed since the beginning of recorded time or the number that has come and gone like the wind.
Now, all these nations represent the visible earthly kingdoms that we see with our eyes. I want to propose that although there may be over 190 visible kingdoms, only two real important Kingdoms operate at any given time: the Kingdom of God (also known as the Kingdom of Heaven) and the Kingdom of Satan. Most actions in this realm fall under only one of these two Kingdoms. This is an essential concept to grasp as we live in this world. We can easily observe wars, conflicts, political disagreements, and strife between earthly kingdoms, not to mention the internal conflicts within the same country. Countries war with each other, and people of the same country war against themselves. We often view these occurrences as differences among one another. Sometimes we carry the banner of opinion, but mostly, in heated disagreements, it is the banner of seeming fact, which is often colored with different motivations and less fact.
“Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” – Ephesians 6:11-12
Two Kingdoms at War
What is the state of these two invisible Kingdoms? If you are attuned to these worlds, you will find that they are in constant war. The Kingdom of Satan has been in rebellion against God for a very long time, and this war is ongoing. Many people on earth find it hard to understand all the evil and darkness that is present on the face of the earth. There is no easy answer to this, and there are multiple reasons why it is allowed, none of which is God’s desire. One way to view the current state is to use an earthly picture of war. If you and I were living in Ukraine at the moment and had to step out to get some food, would we just casually walk out and get this errand done? I would think not. More than likely, a Ukrainian in a besieged city would carefully plan their errands, knowing the dangers that lie in wait. They would put on some armor, make a battle plan with a planned route to the supply store, and perhaps even arm themselves if the need arose to defend themselves. Whereas, if I were in Switzerland at the same moment, I would not think twice about going outside to purchase my supplies.
See the difference between the two is one is at war and one is at peace. If the Swiss citizen came out fully armed it would look as ridiculous as the Ukrainian coming out of their home unarmed due to the state their present kingdoms are in. So if the 2 invisible Kingdoms are at war what would be the state of the world? I would suggest that we are looking at a war torn world not a world that is at peace. Broken families, distraught individuals, various injustices, increasing rebelliousness, senseless violence, untamed lusts, diminishing forgiveness, lack of self-control, and overwhelming sense of darkness is the result of Satan’s current grip of influence over the kingdoms of earth. Darkness and Light are at war and many of us get distracted by the individual flags that we stand under that have the guise of holiness. Make no mistake about this, the kingdoms of the earth are tightly influenced by Satan. That is what we are witnessing on a daily basis.
My Personal Discovery
As you may have guessed, this idea of two Kingdoms is not mine, but rather what we find in the Bible as God’s description of the true state of our current world. When we are on our journey to seek God, He begins to reveal Himself in many ways, one of which is through the Bible. For those who have started their journey and have come to know that Jesus is not lying to them, they also come to realize that Jesus never condemns the Holy Scriptures that our Jewish brothers held and meticulously preserved. In fact, He upholds them throughout His teachings. So not only do I see Jesus Himself refer to these two Kingdoms, but I find references to them throughout the Bible. When Jesus was on earth, He spoke about the Kingdom of Heaven frequently, and the Kingdom of Satan is mentioned as well, as it is in other parts of the Bible.1 Paul also frequently refers to these two invisible worlds.2
The second way I came to the knowledge of two Kingdoms is by confirming it through my own experiences as I observed the world. When I discovered a particular truth about God, I had to be on the lookout for it as I walked in my daily life. Experientially, I needed to see these two Kingdoms in operation. It’s not enough that others tell me about the truth, or that I gain knowledge about the Truth from God’s Word. I need to see and live out this Truth in my own life. That is what starts to bolster our faith. From our own personal experiences, we quickly learn that God’s Word is true, His Spirit is alive, and our trust in the Bible and God Himself grows stronger. The reason this carries great weight is that we need God’s sight to see the world as it truly is.
“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” – Colossians 1:13
Our True Condition – Slavery to the Kingdom of darkness
To compound the problem of sight, not only do we fail to recognize the two kingdoms at war, but we are also additionally blocked from recognizing our true individual condition in this war and which side we are on. From birth, all of us are in spiritual slavery, which often goes unrecognized. We are born into slavery in the Kingdom of darkness, and right from the start, we unknowingly participate as slaves in this Kingdom.
The Kingdom of Satan does its best to keep us enslaved without us realizing it. But thanks to God, we have all been created to seek Him in order to find our way back to the Kingdom of God. You see, God realized that if we were left on our own, we would be forever enslaved by the Kingdom of Satan because we are powerless to recognize that we are actually captives and have no ability to escape our condition. In Jesus, God, in His abundant love for us, made a way out. Without this way, we would be trapped in the Kingdom of Satan.
Once we realize our condition and our lack of power in that condition, we then start to seek out ways for rescue from our captor. So God’s mission is to rescue us from the Kingdom of Satan into His Kingdom. This realization is only possible when in the process of seeking God, God Himself opens our eyes to these facts. But we cannot get to each maturing step if our search lacks the sincerity of heart it is due.
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” – Revelation 11:15
Why is this important?
You may wonder why it is relevant to acknowledge the reality of invisible Kingdoms. The world we see with our physical eyes is one type of reality, but when we fail to recognize another present reality, our perspective becomes distorted. In other words, if we have a vision problem with our physical eyes, we cannot see properly, which affects our daily judgment and decision-making. However, if we wear the proper lenses to correct our vision, it adjusts our eyesight and enables us to make correct judgments and choices.
When we see the devastation of this world, we have a tendency to blame people, systems, laws, socio economic disparities, racial inequality, cultural differences, and moral divides. Now I am not saying they do not exist. What I am saying is the world has the root cause of these issues misidentified. This misidentification leads to frustration and a never-ending cycle of activities that ultimately will lead to nowhere. A minority of activities do lead to surface level improvements, but these are just temporal in nature and they never address the root problem of our rebellion.
So many times, in our search for God we get easily hindered by what we see, what we feel, and what we have experienced in life. We think that is our present reality. If we only use this instrument as our only guide in our search for God, we would be hindered. There are many conflicts that happen in this world, from warring nations, warring political factions, warring social agendas, warring cultures, warring races, and warring moralities. We tend to take sides in some of these arenas. On the surface when we look at these conflicts, we may think it’s between people that differ in opinions that fiercely believe in their side and are willing to take to verbal arms for it. The reality, from the spiritual perspective, is that Satan is pitting man against man to distract man into thinking that certain people or issues are the problem. When you realize that Satan is pulling the strings to increase his own rebellion, then we can approach these conflicts differently.
This understanding of two kingdoms is pivotal in another sense in order to help us to recognize the many distractions Satan’s kingdom utilizes to influence our present reality to take us away from seeking God’s Kingdom. I am hoping to expound on this in another future article on “Seeking God in a Sea of Distractions”. Until then, keep seeking God without ceasing.
As always may God’s peace and undeserved kindness be upon all those who sincerely seek him, and may God’s mercy be upon those who have not yet found him.
1 Matthew 18:3, Mathew 4:26-29, Mathew 13:44-46, Luke 18:29-30, John 12:31, Matthew 12:26, Acts 26:18, 1 John 5:19, John 8:44, etc.
2 Colossians 1:13