It was October 17, 1989. I was a freshman at San Jose State University when the Loma Prieta earthquake rocked the Greater Bay Area. The 7.1 magnitude quake collapsed freeway structures, damaged countless buildings, claimed dozens of lives, and left more than 12,000 people homeless.1 The shaking lasted less than 20 seconds, yet it was enough to trigger a tsunami off the coast of Monterey and halt game three of the World Series at Candlestick Park for ten days.2 The tremor sparked a total of 27 fires across the city of San Francisco,3 leaving an estimated $10 billion worth of damage.4 Who can forget when one section of the Bay Bridge suddenly gave way, crushing several cars underneath? I remember an eerie silence settling in over the Silicon Valley after the earthquake struck. I lived with my parents in the South Bay Area not far from the epicenter, and our house shook like an episode of Soul Train. My mother’s glass hutch crumpled, shattering all of her china. Our big-screen television landed on top of the dangling VCR, ruining the screen. In my room, books, clothes, trophies, frames, and lamps decided to play scrum, and I found them stacked in a pile on the floor like linemen scrambling for a loose ball. Throughout our neighborhood, several chimneys collapsed and two houses had to be evacuated and condemned.

Three years prior to the earthquake, my father purchased property in the hills of Los Altos and employed the help of my brother and me to build a house. This was the house I came home to that day. As we surveyed the damage to our home, amazingly the foundation was unmoved and the walls remained structurally sound. My father had wisely built upon solid rock.

The Crazy Glue of Life

The world in which we live is shaky—cars break down, stock markets crash, marriages fall apart, athletes get injured, politicians break their promises, and heroes disappoint. If that is not enough, life as we know it is precarious. We are only allotted a few determined revolutions around the sun before our trophy accomplishments and earthly possessions end up in a pile on the floor. The attrition of life eventually wears down our frame, and what we thought was unbreakable was in fact terribly unstable. Like a toppled chimney, we all eventually grow up, grow old, and are grown over.

But the human spirit is interminable and longs to build something that outlives itself: a company, a career, a dynasty, a technology, a medical breakthrough, or a timeless work of art. Man won’t be satisfied with a black box that melts or a wristwatch that stops ticking. King Solomon explained why, saying that God has “set eternity in the hearts of men” (Eccles. 3:11 NIV).

Our Inventor has placed deep within us a longing for prominence that can never be satisfied without a quest for permanence. Whenever God sets something in motion, it rolls timelessly, and no earthly function can arrest it. In other words, the Kingdom of God is eternal, and only that which is eternal can awaken our hearts. Society is madly searching for something unshakable to invest in. The world is unknowingly looking for a kingdom, and only in the Kingdom of God will their souls find the stability they crave.

The Kingdom of Heaven

The Kingdom of God awakens every poem the human heart longs to pen. It is the politician’s greatest dream, the scientist’s chief conclusion, and the painter’s crowning masterpiece. It trumps every philosophy, every society, and every religion known to humankind. To the spiritual vanguard it is the ultimate expedition, the final frontier of the unseen world. Every agency, activity, institution, and organization on earth is humanity’s attempt to find God and His reigning presence on earth.

Martin Luther King, Jr. caught a glimpse of this beautiful Kingdom. Quoting the prophets Isaiah and Amos, he prophesied about the Kingdom of God while preaching on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, saying:

I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream that one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”5

The dream he dreamt and the nation he envisioned encompassed more than just a free society or a liberated America. He saw a heavenly Kingdom and died a martyr for its cause.

God’s ruling commonwealth is the emancipation proclamation of our souls. It is a divine declaration of humanity’s independence from the clutches of tyranny and the cruelty of oppression. We are familiar with the regimes of the earth that have brought forth change and liberty, but we are largely ignorant of the enterprise of Heaven that has come to free our souls. While the kingdoms of this earth may have accomplished noble things, the Kingdom of Heaven is the only one to have conquered the great divide—the gap between God in Heaven and humanity on earth.

The Great Domain

A kingdom is traditionally defined as a region that is subject to the reign of a king. It is a jurisdiction over which the influence of a king has full authority.6 The Greek word for kingdom is basileia, which means “royal power, dominion, and the right to rule.”7 This indicates that a king’s realm is not only a territory but a dominion. Simply put, a kingdom is a king’s domain.

Basileia comes from the root word basis which means foot or walking.8 The implication here is that every place a king walks is his jurisdiction and his domain. So we could easily say that the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of God is wherever the King treads His foot. Where the King manifests His presence, there His reign is firmly established. Where He exerts His authority, there is His sovereignty.

In addition, kings are historically the reigning lords of the land. A lord is not only the property owner but also the overseer. Spiritually speaking, the King of Heaven is the Lord and Owner of the planet we live, work, and play on. We are God’s property, and the appointed manager of the real estate called earth is Jesus Christ. The Kingdom comes to us when we acknowledge Him as our Lord.

God’s Elevator

The phrases the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are found almost ninety times in the gospels and well over a hundred times in the New Testament. They are used interchangeably as synonyms. Kingdom of Heaven is exclusive to the book of Matthew and is referenced nowhere else in the Bible. There is little, if any, distinction made between the two in Scripture.

Scripture indicates that the Kingdom of Heaven is God’s universal intention for the earth (see Matt. 6:10, Rev. 11:15). Think of it is an invisible world that blankets the visible. It is not confined to this galaxy, much less a building, a church, or a brilliant mind. Its headquarters are not found in a palace or a temple but in Heaven. It belongs to Heaven and originates in Heaven.

Heaven in Greek is the word ouranos and can be translated “the universe.”9 This demonstrates that the Kingdom of Heaven is more than an earthly kingdom; it is a universal one. It is far superior to any authority on earth, for it has a greater jurisdiction—the entire universe. Just as the earth is subject to the laws of the universe, so the governments of the earth are subject to the Kingdom of the universe. Every president, prime minister, and dictator technically rules under the jurisdiction of the King of Heaven. Christ is truly the King of all kings.

Ouranos is also rendered “an elevated sky,” revealing that this heavenly Kingdom always elevates.10 It elevates people out of obscurity, nations out of poverty, cultures out of depravity, and souls into prosperity. People thrive when the Kingdom of God arrives, for it introduces a higher way to live—a life governed by the Most High.

Heaven is a Kingdom

Heaven not only has a Kingdom, but the pattern of Heaven is a Kingdom. The highlight reel of Heaven captures more than Peter guarding the pearly gates or people dancing on streets of gold. The highest ecstasy of the afterlife is not playing a harp with angel friends on cloud nine in a continual state of bliss. The glory of Heaven is found in the throne room. This is where all of the action takes place. This is the place to be for eternity.

Heaven would not be a paradise without the presence of God, and all things were created from, revolve around, and will end before His sovereignty (see Rev. 22:1). The most honorable seats in Heaven are those closest to the Infinite One, and the “Who’s Who” of eternity can be found among that company.

To stand in the presence of a king is a great honor, but to stand before the King of kings is the greatest honor afforded any being. When Elijah stood before King Ahab, he proclaimed, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1). Elijah was not intimidated to stand before an earthly king because his life was lived standing before a heavenly One. Leonard Ravenhill once said, “A man who is intimate with God will never be intimidated by men.” When we live our lives before God, we will not be afraid to live our lives before men.

The Seven Angels

And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets (Revelation 8:2).

The book of Revelation is an action-packed sneak peek at the emerging Kingdom of Heaven. John reveals that seven angels stand around God’s throne day and night. They are not jealous of Gabriel’s job assignment, nor do they wish to be fighting some spiritual battle with Michael. They are not somewhere lost in the celestial Kingdom sweeping glory dust off the streets of gold. They stand before God continually. They have been afforded one of the greatest joys possible—to be in close proximity to the King. Scripture foretells that these nameless angels will one day sound a revolutionary trumpet that makes end-time history.

Like these angels, you and I are beckoned to stand continually before God’s throne, ready for assignment. Though we may be nameless and faceless to the kings of this world, we have full access to God’s throne. We have no need to envy another person’s call, because we have been afforded the greatest honor. If the King wants to trumpet a message on earth, may we be close enough to be handed a horn. And if He never hands us an assignment, at least our lives are only better for being lived in the presence of God.

Life in the Kingdom is a life lived before God’s throne. His throne room is our courtroom and our refuge. When we become aware that the eyes of God are always upon us, we tend to live better and wiser. We are bolder in our witness, gentler with our tongues, more patient with our children, more tender with our spouses, more respectful of our parents, more diligent with our time, more obedient to traffic laws, more mindful of our thought life, and more selective of what entertains us.

Indestructible

The Kingdom of Heaven is truly out of this world. The curiosity that our culture has with UFOs and aliens is merely an inner cry for something from another world to invade ours. The Kingdom of Heaven is the fulfillment of that cry. It is a heavenly invasion coming literally from another world. The lost city is not Atlantis or some ancient civilization. It is the City of God. To taste and see it is to taste and see something divine.

Over three thousand years ago, King Nebuchadnezzar dreamt of a stone that struck the kingdoms of the world. This stone soon became a great mountain that stood forever and influenced the whole earth. Daniel interpreted this to mean that God is going to establish an everlasting Kingdom that will never be destroyed and will eclipse all other kingdoms on earth (see Dan. 2).

As ambassadors of Christ, our announcement to this world is that there is a foundation for living that is unseen and indestructible. Like my father’s house, our Heavenly Father is constructing a mansion for His family built upon an Eternal Rock. It will be the greatest house ever built. It is not a house of cards but a house of diehards, for its inhabitants take on its resilient nature. Even when disaster strikes trials will not destroy them, for life in this household eliminates all that is destructive—destructive behavior, destructive relationships, and destructive thinking.

Conclusion

There has never been a more appealing and dominant force on earth than the reigning presence of Heaven. A life built upon this foundation stands as a monument for generations to come. When all else goes down, it rises. When all is lost, it is triumphant. When everything is shifting, it is unshakable.

This magnificent Kingdom is approaching. Make way for the King. God’s economy is coming to shake every kingdom that is in rebellion to Heaven; but before it shakes the world, it wants to rock yours. You can either choose to fall upon the Rock now and be broken, or you will be crushed when it all comes crashing down. Regardless, we will all be shaken. But while the world is quaking, Heaven’s King will emerge glorious and victorious.

Endnotes

1. BBC, “1989: Earthquake hits San Francisco,” On This Day, http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/17/newsid_2491000/2491211.stm (accessed March 26, 2009).

2. Kenji Satake and Hiroo Kanamori, “The origin of the tsunami excited by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake,” Geophysical Research Letters 18, no. 4 (April 1991), http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1991GeoRL..18..637S (accessed March 26, 2009).

3. “San Francisco Earthquake History 1915-1989,” Museum of the City of San Francisco, http://www.sfmuseum.org/alm/quakes3.html (accessed March 26, 2009).

4. Dan Goldstein, “Earthquake Museum: 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake,” OlympusNet: First Internet Service Provider for the Olympic Peninsula, http://www.olympus.net/personal/gofamily/quake/famous/prieta.html (accessed March 26, 2009).

5. Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream” (speech, Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C., August 28, 1963).

6. Myles Monroe, Rediscovering The Kingdom (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 2004), 125.

7. Joseph Thayer, The Online Bible Thayer’s Greek Lexicon (Ontario, Canada: Woodside Bible Fellowship, 1993). 8.

James Strong, BibleSoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc., 1994).

9. Joseph Thayer, The Online Bible Thayer’s Greek Lexicon (Ontario, Canada: Woodside Bible Fellowship, 1993).

10. James Strong, BibleSoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc., 1994).