This World Is Not Our Home

Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come.” In a spiritual sense, His Kingdom is already here in the hearts of all who know Christ as their Savior. But one day, in fulfillment of prophecy, Jesus will return from heaven and will set up His physical, literal Kingdom on this earth and will rule the whole earth forever in eternity. 

Paul writes in Philippines 3:20, “For our conversation is in heaven”. The word conversation means citizenship. The citizens of Philippi were under the authority of the Roman empire and were actually Roman citizens even though they didn’t actually live in Rome. They were colonized by the Romans and lived under Roman law even though they lived in Philippi. So, to the Christians living in Philippi, they understood well what Paul meant when he wrote about being citizens of heaven.

 What does Philippians 3:20 mean to you and me? It means that as the people of God, by faith in Jesus Christ, we are an earthly colony of the Kingdom of Heaven. Far from our home (heaven), we live here on earth amidst a godless and perverse generation. But we are a heavenly people with a heavenly citizenship. We represent our King here on earth. We are under divine rule, and are to carry out the will of our Sovereign God, until our King comes.

 As we live here on earth, let’s not forget our actual citizenship is in a far better place. “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:”

 

The Pastor’s Pocket

Pastor Bruce Freeman

 

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