Kingdom Principles: Characteristics of the Kingdom by Myles Munroe
What does God’s Kingdom look like?
The concept of a “kingdom” was not invented by mankind but was the first form of government introduced by the Creator.
This concept appears first in the Book of Genesis at the creation of man. Man’s original assignment from God was a Kingdom assignment: “Let them have dominion over… the earth.”
God’s plan for man was to extend His heavenly Kingdom (government) to the earth through the principle of colonization (more on colonization later).
Man’s assignment was to establish the influence and culture of heaven on earth by representing the nature, values, and morality of God on the earth.
In this way, God’s heavenly rule would manifest itself on earth through His extended image in mankind. This was the first Kingdom: Yahweh, the King, extending His heavenly Kingdom to earth through His offspring, man.
This is the wonderful story and message of the Bible—not a religion, but a royal family
What is Kingdom by Myles Munroe?
Myles Munroe defines a kingdom as the governing influence of a king over his territory, impacting it with his personal will, purpose, and intent, producing a culture, values, morals, and lifestyle that reflect the king’s desires and nature for his citizens.
God established only two priorities for mankind: the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of God (Matthew 6:33).
Kingdom refers to the governing influence of Heaven on Earth and righteousness refers to right alignment and positioning with that government authority.
Our highest priorities and greatest desires should be to enter the Kingdom of God and thirst for a right relationship with God’s heavenly government.
10 Characteristics of the Kingdom
For a kingdom to exist and function as a kingdom, it must possess these 10 characteristics. The Kingdom of God, therefore, also possesses these characteristics.
1. A King
By definition, we see that a kingdom is the influence of a king over a territory. If there is no king there can be no influence of the king.
The Kingdom of God, therefore, possesses a king and that King is God.
Being a king, unlike being a president, means He can’t be voted out of power, has the final authority and whatever He says becomes law.
2. A Territory
Every kingdom must have a territory. The essence of a kingdom is property or land. The word “kingdom” in fact is a fusion of two words— king and domain. A domain or territory over which a king rules.
In the governing influence of God, there are two territories we must understand: the kingdom of Heaven and the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of Heaven is where God resides and is King while the kingdom of God is every territory where God’s influence extends, not necessarily where God resides and is king.
Earth is under the Kingdom of God but it is not the kingdom of Heaven and God is not the king over the earth.
God has made man king over the earth and man has absolute authority over the earth. God wanted to extend his Kingdom (the kingdom of God) beyond the kingdom of Heaven so He sent man to colonize the earth (bring it under the influence of God) and make it the kingdom of God.
Just like Britain colonized Nigeria. Nigeria became Britain’s kingdom by influence and culture but it was not the actual physical location of Britain.
The colonial masters sent to Nigeria became the rulers of Nigeria on behalf and with the authority of the ruler in Britain.
3. Constitution
The third characteristic of a kingdom is a constitution. A constitution is a body of laws that guide the governance of the Kingdom.
Unlike the constitution of a republic that is the people’s desires of how their country should be governed, a kingdom constitution is the document that constitutes the king’s desire for his citizens.
It contains the responsibilities, laws, rights, and privileges of the people. It cannot be changed by the people and the king himself is subject to the dictates of the constitution.
The Bible is the constitution of the kingdom of God and it satisfies every criteria listed above.
4. Laws
We have seen that the constitution contains the laws of the Kingdom. Kingdom laws are not rules and regulations like we always think. They are not difficult codes aimed at subjecting everyone.
Instead, laws are simply statements of boundaries within which we are free to thrive, prosper, and reach our full potential.
What this means is that if you go outside the boundary of the law, because of how you have been designed, you won’t thrive.
The aim of the law is to guide you to maximise your design and potential. So when God says, “do not fornicate” what He is simply saying is, “based on how I designed you, if you fornicate you will do harm to yourself.”
Laws carry in themselves consequences. Meaning when you break a law, God doesn’t punish you but the law punishes you.
In fact, you can’t break laws. If you do things you aren’t to do, the consequences of the law come upon you. That way, you haven’t broken the law; you only incurred the negative part of the law.
The law is still fulfilled.
Whatever God (the king) says becomes law.
5. Citizens
Every kingdom must possess citizens. The king decides who is a citizen of the Kingdom and how anyone can become a citizen.
We enter the Kingdom of heaven through the process that Jesus called being “born again” (see John 3:3)— changing our mind and turning from our rebellion against God, placing our trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of our rebellion, and acknowledging Him as Lord (Owner) of our lives.
This “new birth” gets us into the Kingdom of Heaven and makes us citizens of the Kingdom of God.
The citizenship we receive through the new birth is citizenship by naturalisation because we are “born again” and born into the kingdom of God.
6. Rights and Privileges
Every kingdom has rights and privileges its citizens are entitled to. As citizens of the Kingdom of God, our rights and privileges are contained in the Bible (the constitution).
They are the promises God has made to and concerning us.
Remember, whatever God says is a law and the king is subject to the laws he creates. So, God is subject to His laws and of a necessity has to fulfill His promises to you.
If you aren’t seeing any of the rights and privileges manifesting in your life, you should place a petition in the courtroom of the kingdom of God through prayer. Learn how to pray as a kingdom citizen.
7. Army
Every kingdom must also possess an army. These are the forces that protect and defend the citizens of the Kingdom. It is great that we note that we are the citizens of God’s kingdom (the ones to be protected) and not the army.
The angels are the army in God’s kingdom. They are charged with the responsibility of guarding the citizens.
8. Commonwealth
Next, every kingdom has a Commonwealth. A righteous and benevolent king does not amass wealth for himself but for the welfare of his citizens.
This is why it is only in a kingdom we truly find commonwealth; that is, the wealth is common to all the people. In the kingdom of God, every citizen has equal access to the resources of God’s kingdom.
There are no special or preferred citizens.
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