Looking Toward the Kingdom

Sunlight cascades into your bedroom, slowly awakening you from a restful night. As you rub your eyes, you think, What’s that beautiful sound?

Opening your blinds reveals a spectacular sight: Vibrant trees filled with countless, majestic, multicolored birds, chirping songs you have never heard before. Little animals frolicking on the ground. All around, parents walking with their children—the little ones taking in the sights, smiling and singing!

As you look, it hits you again—this is no ordinary day. It is Sabbath morning in the Kingdom of God.

The excitement is too much. You rush out of your room to join the bustling scene and take in the glorious sights yourself! Your parents greet you and remind you that the family will be going to your friend’s home for brunch.

On the way, you gaze at the lush gardens outside each home. One house has a fruit orchard to its side—people are freely picking from them while the owner sits at a table with guests. They wave at you as you pass by.

Another has a dazzling array of flowering shrubs, climbing vines and hanging plants—the sweet scent of roses fills the air. The homeowners, an elderly couple sitting on a porch, see you and also smile and wave.

You have never seen so many friendly, relaxed, genuinely happy faces. Everyone is paying attention to you and engaging in conversation! An almost surreal calm dominates the environment, as no one on Earth is going to work or school today.

As you turn your head back onto the road, you see something that startles you.

Whoa! Run! A pack of lions parades across the path in front of you.

But instead of panicking and running in the opposite direction, people are petting these giant cats. First, a sense of relief and then awe strikes you as you wonder how different these formerly territorial and vicious animals have become. Everything about this new world is so different!

You arrive at your friend’s house. The food served is exquisite, each bite is full of flavor. “These apples are the juiciest and sweetest I ever had,” you exclaim as you finish the last slices of fruit.

After a couple hours of delicious food and joyful discussion, it is time to walk to services.

Yes, walk.

Services are being held only a 15-minute stroll from your friend’s home. In fact, services are held within walking distance from every home!

As you begin singing the opening hymn, you look around. Everyone is attending—all your friends, all your relatives, all your teachers. Everyone you know is there.

Even loved ones who had died have been resurrected and are now standing next to you, singing out as excitedly as you are!

Suddenly, the entire group bows to the ground. Jesus Christ and God the Father enter the congregation. (As God said He would in Leviticus 26:12). You can see Them right at services and talk with Them afterward!

Tears of joy and expressions of awe fill the gathering.

This is the Kingdom of God. His Kingdom on Earth—God Himself will be directly ruling and walking this planet. There will be only one government: His. There will be only one religion: His. There will be only one right way to live that will lead to unity, abundance, unparalleled blessings, and peace: His.

That all sounds amazing, and you may believe it. But is it real to you?

It can be easy to lose sight of the most wonderful gift and promise God has for this Earth: the arrival of His Kingdom. To help, this article provides a glimpse of this amazing truth so you can know the special role God has just for you.

What Is a Kingdom?

You may already be familiar with the term “kingdom” from places such as the United Kingdom. Or you can think of fictional kingdoms such as Atlantis or Wakanda.

Mr. Pack’s booklet What Is the Kingdom of God? breaks down the term: “There are FOUR necessary components of any kingdom: (1) Land, property or territory—however large or small. In other words, one must have a specific and definite set of boundaries establishing the size of the kingdom, (2) a ruler, king, monarch or governor leading the government, (3) people or subjects living within the territory governed, and (4) a system of laws and rules and a basic structure of government.

“No kingdom is complete without all these basic elements.”

The Kingdom of God is no different. Its territory will be the entire planet, its ruler will be God, its subjects the world population, and its rules the Law of God.

Jesus Christ began His ministry “preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent you, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15).

The word “gospel” means good news. It is really good news because, unlike any other kingdom that has ever existed, this one is “of God.” That means God Himself—the Creator of all things including all rulers who were ever born—will be the King of kings!

Unique Future Role

No king ever rules a kingdom by himself. It would be utterly impractical for one person to have to “call all the shots” in an entire sovereignty. That would be like a school superintendent going into every classroom in every school within the school system he oversees and teaching every class himself, simultaneously.

While that would be possible for God (Matt. 19:26)—who is capable of reading all people’s thoughts and keeping perfect record of all people who have ever lived—He wants people to learn to be righteous leaders as He and His Son are. He knows well that people would feel more comfortable knowing that the God Beings working with them also started off as human beings.

So, it makes sense that God would want to raise others to lead under Him.

God built His Church to be a training ground for the leaders who will assist in establishing His Kingdom. The Bible refers to those future leaders as “the saints.” The prophet Daniel wrote of a time coming when the saints will “possess the kingdom” (7:22). Those saints are your parents and baptized individuals.

Yet God’s Plan does not exclude you! There is plenty said in the Bible about you as well. It includes a very special promise: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy…” (Acts 2:17, quoting Joel 2:28).

You just read about yourself in the Kingdom. You might want to insert your name right into Acts 2:17 to remind yourself.

Another meaning for the word saint is “holy.” Children in the Church are also called holy in I Corinthians 7:14. God knew exactly what He was doing when He called your parents: He also had you in mind.

A passage from the booklet Does the Bible Teach Predestination? can help you better understand the role God wants you (along with your parents) to fulfill in His coming Kingdom: “The Christian is in training to become a teacher in the world tomorrow. He or she is one who will guide, direct, rule and teach, starting with all those who are alive at Christ’s Return. Only at that time will all Israel [including the modern nations descendants of Israel, such as the United States and Britain] and, soon after, the rest of the world, begin to be saved.

“In the meantime, Christians are themselves training to be those who will train others. They are being taught to be teachers. They are learning to receive direction from God in His Word and through His Church, so that they are later qualified to give direction. They are learning to be ruled by God now so that they can reign and rule with Christ later.”

If you are able to prophesy in the coming Kingdom, that means you will have an important role in assisting the saints in teaching the truth to others! When the time comes for your peers to learn God’s Way, you will be right there helping as part of the teaching team the prophet Isaiah wrote about: “…your eyes shall see your teachers: and your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk you in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left” (30:20-21).

Marvelous World Ahead

This article’s introduction offered a sneak peek of the coming Kingdom’s conditions. Our book Tomorrow’s Wonderful World – An Inside View! contains more: “There will be no more suffering. Smiles will shine on people’s faces. Crime will disappear. Mass healings will occur. Drugs and alcohol will no longer enslave people. Wars will be a thing of the past. No more threat of terrorism. The sound of children laughing will be heard in the streets. Poverty will be gone. Illiteracy will vanish. A pure language will help in re-educating the population. The Earth’s current polluted environment will finally be restored. Air will be clean. Pure drinking water will be abundant. Even the nature of animals will be changed. The lion will lay with the lamb. Peace and prosperity will exist for all.”

Think also of these scriptures:

• “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9)
• “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21:4)
• “But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams…For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us…And the inhabitant shall NOT say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity” (Isa. 33:21-22, 24).
• “Thus says the Lord of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets…and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof” (Zech. 8:4-5).
• “Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid” (Micah 4:3-4).

No hurting. No crying. No suffering. No death. No sickness. Peaceful animals. No fear of being injured in sports or a bully hurting others. No more abuse. No more poverty. No more kidnappings. No fear of losing a loved one ever again. All who have died coming back to life in good health. No broken households. No hunger.

All evils and ills will be replaced with simple joys such as being able to pet your very own giant panda and play with a dolphin while swimming at the beach. Children will play games in the streets safely—even after the sun goes down. The elderly will be treated with honor and respect. Everyone will have access to their own sources of food, with no one lacking.

That is the world the Bible says you and your parents are scheduled to live and rule in, under God the Father and Christ. This is what inspires your parents so much regarding this coming Kingdom.

The Ultimate Goal

So far you have seen that the Kingdom is a world-ruling government. But it is also something more than that.

Take in this quote from the book The Awesome Potential of Man: “Recall that God said that He made human beings in His ‘image’ and ‘likeness.’ This verse means what it says. God created you to become ‘like’ Him in every way. Through His Spirit entering the mind of each of His newly converted children, a literal, brand new spirit life is begotten. At that moment, a tiny spirit-begotten ‘embryo’ comes into existence, ready to grow and develop in overall spiritual appearance, in a sense we could say, first to ‘fetus,’ then to birth.

“Both the Old and New Testaments make this point absolutely plain! While many have some vague understanding that Christians might, in some way, be ‘sons of God,’ none ever consider this: ‘Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be LIKE Him; for we shall see Him as He is’ (I John 3:2). Comprehend this staggering knowledge, unknown to almost all who consider themselves Christian! We will one day have the very likeness of Jesus Christ. Romans 8:16 states that we are ‘children’ of God and ‘heirs’ with Christ.

“King David also understood this a thousand years earlier when he wrote, ‘As for me, I will behold Your face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with YOUR LIKENESS’ (Psa. 17:15)…So then, God is actually reproducing Himself in human beings who have received His Holy Spirit. He is creating children that will resemble Him in every way!”

This means God’s ultimate goal for mankind is for them to enter into His Family. Having His likeness means looking like Him. Today, you look like your parents. When you are born into God’s Family, you will look like God: “His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters” (Rev. 1:14-15).

Can you wrap your mind around this? Most people alive today have no clue that this is their ultimate potential!

Chosen Before Time

After reading everything the Bible has to say about your future, you may wonder, Why me? You may even think that you are unworthy.

You are not alone. Your parents have asked themselves the same question.

But the reason you were chosen is nothing short of breathtaking. Ephesians 1:4-12 states: “According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption [the original Greek word means sonship] of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will…In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will: that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ.”

The booklet Does the Bible Teach Predestination? explains that these “verses, coupled with II Timothy 1:9, make absolutely plain that God has predestinated certain people to the purpose of becoming sons of God!”

A very long time ago—Ephesians 1:4 says this actually happened “before the foundation of the world,” perhaps billions of years ago—God planned to make you personally one of His children.

This is why God made you! You or your parents did nothing to deserve it, yet it is an absolute honor you must hold on to and never allow yourself to lose sight of.

This is extraordinary, privileged knowledge—mysteries the Bible says even “angels desire to look into” (I Pet. 1:12) but cannot because the opportunity to be born in God’s Family has not been offered to them.

Talk about this incredible knowledge with your parents, with other teens in the Church, and with your minister. Ask questions about it. Spend time painting scenarios of what it will be like. Make it a goal to read all the literature referenced in this article.

Keep your eyes on God’s soon-to-come Kingdom, no matter how difficult or distracting the world around you becomes. The paradise of God’s future world may seem “afar off,” but it is as sure to come as God is real. He promised it would come.

Believe all of this wholeheartedly—prepare yourself for it—and one day soon you will wake up in it…