“My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place” (John 18:36).  

The kingdom over which Jesus is King, and of which we who believe are a part, is from another place; it is not of this world, but of heaven.  It is, as it revealed to us in Matthew’s Gospel, the kingdom of heaven.  Or, in the others, the kingdom of God.  

There is another kingdom–there are but two: the kingdom of darkness, and we know who is the king over that one.  Thanks be to God that we, the believers, have been transferred from the one to the other.  That makes us from another place as well.  

Christians ought recognize that their association with the Christ places them in a category outside the realm of this world.  The Lord, on the night He was betrayed, prayed thus concerning His disciples, “they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.” And again, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” 

Apparently, this slipped Peter’s mind as he drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant.  And no doubt when he denied the Lord three times, too.

Paul writes, “Our citizenship is in heaven.” That is to say, and this is my point, Christians are other-worldly.  We are not of this world, but have been redeemed out of this world. We now, every single one of us, belong to another realm. We should be conscious of this, and carry ourselves accordingly.  

Christ’s kingdom, being from another place, a heavenly one, is completely opposite to the earthly one.  They are as different as oil and water, as darkness from light. Whereas in some cultures where the leaven of the kingdom has had its effect, there is still some semblance of the heavenly rule in place.  But, as in the United States, it is quickly dissipating.  In Asia Minor it is gone, just as in most of Europe as well.  

Christ’s kingdom is the antitheses of Satan’s, and Satan is the one who rules the world of men (see 1 John 5:19).  Not for long, though!  

Christ’s kingdom, inaugurated at His first coming, is on the march.  Though it spread like wildfire at its onset, overtaking the entire known world in but a few centuries, it seemed to have diminished.  There were the dark ages.  Then came the resurgence.  There was the Reformation.  There were the great awakenings in England and America.  The Holy Spirit was poured out at Azusa Street. He moved mightily upon the youth in the 1960’s and 1970’s.  I understand that there are more people coming to Jesus now than at any point in the history of Christianity.  Daniels’s vision of a rock being cut out (but not with human hands) and becoming a huge mountain filling the earth is fully in play.  One day, soon, there will be one kingdom, not two; and one King, not two.  That is our hope and prayer.

The kingdom of Jesus Christ, not from here, has its own laws, its own ways, its own culture.  We have these embodied in the New Testament.  In what we call The Sermon on the Mount, for example, we have an overview of it.  With the balance of Jesus’ teachings, and those of the ones appointed by Him, we have all we need to live and walk in a completely different way. The Lord expects this of us.  

This kingdom is to take precedence over everything else.  Including our needs and wants. Jesus tells us to seek it first. To make it our priority, with other things common to men taking a back seat.  

Inasmuch as He is above, and we are there with Him (because we are united with Him in spirit), our lives should be characterized by a heavenly quality, just as His was.  There is something very different, and very attractive to the hungry soul, about a kingdom man or woman. That is why crowds were drawn to Jesus, and especially those who knew their need.  

No doubt I could say more, but the main point, I think, is to view ourselves as being from another place.  Not that we are better than the unredeemed, but that we are redeemed. How we think, speak, and act should reflect whose we are, and from whence we came.  Yes, we were born of the flesh; we are human beings just like everyone else.  But that is our only commonality. In reality, we are, by virtue of the new birth, sons and daughters of the Living God; heavenly ones, majestic ones (Psalm 16), revived spiritual beings, citizens of another realm.  From another place.