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"Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God." John 3:3
What does the Kingdom of Heaven mean?
Let us look at the Lord's Prayer for some clarity. There are two petitions side by side.
Thy Kingdom come:
They will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Traditionally, the Jewish style to say things twice was in order to amplify certain ideas and meanings. The Psalms are filled with examples.
I acknowledge my transgressions:
And my sin is ever before me. Psalm 51:3
See the double claim? The second mention explains and/or amplifies the first line. So if we apply this to the Lord's prayer what do we see? William Barclay in his commentary on John states it best.
"The Kingdom of Heaven is a society where God's will is as perfectly done on earth as it is in heaven. To be in the Kingdom of Heaven is therefore to lead a life in which we have completely and willingly submitted everything to the will of God; it is to have arrived at a stage when we fully, perfectly and completely accept the will of God."
But how are we to do this? Certainly not in our own strength or understanding. Nicodemus's conversation with Jesus in the middle of the night proves this. Here was a man who was one of the most educated, wealthy, and affluent men in all of the area and he expresses his doubt.
"Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?""" John 3:4
On the surface it looks as if Nicodemus took this conversation with a sort of crude literalism. But I wonder if there is more to his answer. Again, Barclay states it this way.
"In the heart of Nicodemus there as a great unsatisfied longing. It is as if he said with infinite, wistful yearning: "You talk about being born again; you talk about this radical, fundamental change which is so necessary. I know that it is necessary; but in my experience it is so impossible.""
We are all there at some point in our lives before conversion; before our own new birth into the eternal family of God. CS Lewis calls this yearning for something which cannot be satisfied in this world Sehnsucht.
Once we have accepted this new birth into our eternal family by the Spirit of adoption we are now sons/daughters of God (John 1:18). But the essence of sonship is love and the essence of love is obedience(John 14:21). We cannot say that we love someone and then do things which we know will hurt that person's heart. So, to be a child of God and to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven are one in the same. The child and the citizen are both the person who has surrendered completely and totally to the will of their Father and the King. Savior and Lord. Forever and ever, amen.
