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God’s hidden kingdom
Text: Matthew 13:34-35
There is nothing in this world I can point to and prove to you that serving God will ensure that you’ll make this amount of money. Or that serving God will allow you to own property. Or that serving God will make you rich right now. The truth is the physical rewards for serving God are with Jesus Christ whom you can’t see. Faith is how you gain access to Jesus Christ’s coming kingdom. Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Do you know why you have to believe that about God? Because it can’t be obtained through your five senses. God’s Holy Spirit has described some of the hidden rewards God has in scripture. The only access anyone has ever had to this kingdom is by faith. That’s why Hebrews 11 has examples of people before the law, under the law, outside the law (Rahab), and the common denominator is faith.
God’s kingdom is hidden, it is in secret, it is a mystery, you can’t observe it and you can’t put your hands on it. Now, let’s read our text with this thought in mind. Matthew 13:34 deals with God’s hidden kingdom, hidden from those without faith to see it. See that phrase in verse 35? I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. The thing that has been kept secret since the foundation of the world in Genesis 3 is Jesus Christ’s kingdom. Look at Matthew 25:36. This is Jesus Christ’s kingdom spoken of all through the Bible and finally described in the book of Revelation.
With this in mind let’s remember last week. We explained that the parable of the leaven describes the main attribute of the kingdom of heaven (and kingdom of God in Luke’s gospel) is that it is HID, out of sight.
To further explain this Jesus Christ tells the parable of the treasure in the field. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure that a man finds on a piece of property then conceals the treasure until after he buys the field. Again the attribute of the kingdom is it’s HIDDEN, but in that parable the added attribute that it is not only HIDDEN but very valuable.
Matthew 13:10-17 (Luke 8:10) – When the Lord Jesus Christ becomes a man, now the central figure in this kingdom is no longer hidden, he can be handled and touched and heard. (This is why Jesus says what he does in Matthew 11:11-12 about the kingdom of heaven suffering violence. He is the one suffering violence. He is the one that is least in the kingdom of heaven because He’s made Himself a man and will subject Himself to death. Yet, He is greater than John the Baptist.)
BUT just because Jesus Christ was physically here, some people still didn’t believe. Proving once again that Jesus Christ’s kingdom can only be accessed by faith.
John 3:3-8
1 Corinthians 2:6-14 – the natural man is a man who uses his senses to discern. But I can’t touch Christ’s kingdom. I can’t smell Christ’s kingdom. I can’t see Christ’s kingdom. I can’t hear Christ’s kingdom. I can’t taste Christ’s kingdom. Your only access, my only access to this kingdom is what the Holy Spirit teaches about it.1 Corinthians 4:1-2
Kingdom of God is not meat or drink, and certainly right now it is not anything physical. But righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ’s kingdom is not natural, it has no color, shape, smell, sound, taste, etc., however, there is SPIRITUAL fruit that shows His kingdom has come to reside in the heart of the believer. Galatians 5:22-25
Ephesians 3:8-12 – unsearchable riches, hid in God, access is faith.
Colossians 1:25-27, 2:1-3, 3:1-4
1 Peter 1:9-11
So all through the Bible Jesus Christ’s kingdom is hidden, mystery, unseen, accessed by faith. Hidden through Genesis, hidden through Exodus, hidden through Leviticus, hidden through Numbers, hidden through Isaiah, hidden through Obadiah, hidden through Amos, hidden through Matthew, hidden through Romans, hidden through Colossians, hidden through James, hidden through Peter. BUT the last book of the Bible has a name. REVELATION. And there the kingdom is no longer hidden.
