We are continuing to explore how Christ lived and served the Father.

In Mark 10:45, Jesus made a profound statement—a statement which would have been extremely confusing for the Jews who were looking for an earthy king: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

The Jews were waiting for a king who would restore the earthly throne of David. At one point, they even tried to take Jesus by force to make Him their king (John 6:15). Even Jesus’ twelve disciples did not understand at first that the kingdom Jesus was to build would be spiritual in nature. Matthew 20:20-21 records the mother of the sons of Zebedee (James and John) bringing them before Jesus with a request: “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.” This request showed their ignorance concerning the kingdom.

Peter’s ignorance of the kingdom is shown in his response to Jesus, after He taught His disciples that He would have to suffer many things, be rejected, and killed: “Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him” (Mark 8:32). Even after Jesus rebuked Peter with, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (Mark 8:33), Peter still did not understand the spiritual nature of the kingdom. When soldiers would later come to arrest Jesus, Peter drew his sword and cut off Malchus’ ear, still thinking that the kingdom was earthly in nature.

During His trial, Jesus would tell Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36). Pilate would show that he understood this statement better than the disciples, because his response was, “I find no fault in Him at all” (John 18:38). If Pilate thought Jesus was an earthly king, he would have had no choice but to find fault with Him, because, according to the Romans, Caesar was king.

Even after Jesus’ death and resurrection, His disciples were still having problems understanding the spiritual nature of Jesus’ reign. Just before His ascension into heaven, the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6b).

Today, we see people who are still struggling with the idea of a spiritual kingdom. There are those who say Jesus intended to set up His kingdom on earth but was thwarted by the Jews who did not receive Him and thus, He will have to return and reign for a thousand years, which would make the kingdom an earthly one. However, this neglects Jesus’ statement that He would build His church and give the keys of that kingdom to Peter (Matt. 16:18-19) who, in Acts chapter two, would use those keys to open the door to the spiritual kingdom. Peter preached the gospel to these people and showed them the unlocked door to the kingdom.

In Acts 2:37, they asked Peter how to enter that door: “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Peter answered them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Verse 41 declares that “those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.”

To what were they added? Verse 47 answers this question: “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” Paul would later tell us: “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love (the church), in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13-14).

Jesus lived and served the Father by setting up His kingdom, in which He now reigns at the right hand of the Father (Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20; Col. 3:1). Are you a part of that kingdom? If you have not been baptized into the kingdom (John 3:5), then you are just as confused about it as the disciples were. Just something to consider.