Since 1914, twenty-four crowned heads of Europe have disappeared. Twenty-four kingdoms have gone! And nations who’ve kept a royal family have cut them off from ruling and have given them figurehead’s position. A number of constitutional monarchies prevail today throughout Europe.
 
With the exception to the Kingdom of Jordan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and several others, the world today is largely ignorant as to what a true kingdom is like. In the days of the Bible almost every nation, small and large, was a kingdom and therefore the Bible didn’t need to define the ‘Kingdom of God’. People of that time understood the meaning as they lived in one kingdom or another.
 
Friends, you can’t have a kingdom without a king… a king who rules and whose will is law and whose every wish binds his subjects to whatever he has willed. The other requirement to have a kingdom – a true kingdom – is to have subjects who obey their sovereign. And so, there are two parts that make up a true kingdom: a sovereign who rules, and subjects who are willing to be ruled. It’s only when you’ve got those two things do you have a kingdom.
 
In a true kingdom, the king is born to the throne – He is not elected by the people, nor is he empowered by a government. He cannot be challenged and he cannot be removed. A true kingdom is not democratically governed. There is no trace of democratic rule in the Bible! In most parts of the world today the idea of such a kingdom as the Kingdom of God is foreign to general understanding. 

Question: Is it possible for humanity to function-well and progress without a kingly figure in place to rule? No, it’s not possible. We need someone powerful, caring and competent in place to oversee and guide the many complexities of life in our fallen, out of control… fragmenting world.
 
Every member of the human race wants their own kingdom. Everyone wants to be the ruling monarch of their lives. Silently and proudly our spirits declare, ‘We’re not going to let God tell us what to do. We will determine for ourselves what’s good and bad.’ Friends, our major problem stems from the fact that we are prideful fruit of democratic thinking; not humble and submissive fruit of theocratic thinking. Yes, we need a king. We need a rightful king. We need Christ Jesus, ‘the’ King of all kings!

(Continuing Part 3 next week)

Best wishes
Bill