What is "The Kingdom of God"?

In my last article I mentioned Jesus words that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the "kingdom of God" and I hope I made it clear that a rich man may not be the only person to encounter difficulty entering. In order to understand this more fully we need to first understand what the kingdom of God is; in short it is not a place but rather is a "state of being". Luke 17:20-21 puts it like this; 20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’[a] For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

Let's look at scripture from a historical perspective. When Jesus spoke of kings and kingdoms there were indeed kings and kingdoms in a literal sense. In those days kings were kind and benovolent only to their subjects and friends, therefore according to scripture there was a time or season when kings went out to war and usually not because of some political dispute but because they intended to conquer another nation and it's king and make them their subjects.

Now these kings had total dictatorial power over their subjects and on a whim could order a person to made very wealthy, or to have their head removed. This is the way it was in sovereign kingdoms. This is indeed the perspective from which Jesus spoke when He spoke of the kingdom of God. The only difference is that He spent the entire 3 years of His ministry trying to show us how His kingdom was benovelant and the decision to be in His kingdom was a personal one made by the prospective subject. But what must not be overlooked is the fact that to enter the kingdom one must be willing to "surrender all and be totally subject to His will" and if we are not willing we simply may not enter.
This was the case with the wealthy young ruler who asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus first told him to keep the commandments and he replied" I have done that since my childhood, Jesus said he lacked one thing and that was to sell all he had and give it to the poor. The young man walked away downcast because his riches were worth more to him than kingdom life. Sadly I believe there are many today that have never surrendered and therefore falsly believe that they have a place in His kingdom.
That is why so many "have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof" 2Timothy 3:5

Jesus promised that He would not leave us powerless but would send the Holy Spirit to teach and empower us to do His will but He will not enter a vessel that is not willing to submit to His will.

In my next article I will try to shed some light on the yoke Jesus spoke of in Matthew 11:28-30