Though sunny outside, it was a dark and gloomy day. A nervous Roman leader entered his headquarters; a building called The Praetorium. Just that morning, his wife had shared with him a dream she had regarding a certain man. It had been a terrifying dream and she warned her husband to have nothing to do with this man that was destined to stand before him that day.
That’s why he had entered with hesitation. The man named Jesus was already there and the first words Pilate asked was, “Are You the King of the Jews?” (John 18:33). His expectation was an answer due his office, especially from a man on death row. Instead Jesus spoke as an equal saying, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?” (John 18:34).
Replying a bit more gruffly now because of what he perceived as lack of respect, Pilate came back with, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have you done?” (John 18:35). Jesus simply replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” (John 18:36). Reading between the lines, Pilate probably thought that He meant those twelve weak men who had scattered when He had been taken. Little did he know that he was in fact, speaking to the Son of God, and in actuality, the very God in the flesh. His servants were the armies of Heaven.
But Jesus confirmed that His kingdom was not what we think of on our weak planet. His kingdom will one day be a literal one, but for now, it occupies the hearts and lives of all those men and women who have believed on Him, accepting Him as Savior.
Some years earlier, when He gave His famous Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:3 records the beginning of that message that stretches across three chapters by saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
The book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ speaks of a coming kingdom yet future that will be a wonderful, glorious place beyond our imagination. While Jesus alluded to this future kingdom in the verse in Matthew, He was also speaking of the kingdom we can be a part of here and now.
The subjects of the kingdom of God are then, poor in spirit. Now, when we think in the natural, we immediately think of poor as being destitute of provision. We define being poor as not being able to afford the things of life that make us comfortable. But the words take on new meaning in the kingdom of God. You can be poor in spirit but rich in worldly goods. Being poor in spirit does not define a social position, or financial situation. Rather, it defines our souls. To be poor in spirit means that we have come to the conclusion that there is no way that we are good enough, or have enough spiritual fortitude in ourselves to save us from the curse of sin, death and the grave. We simply cannot.
Those who are poor in spirit have come to know that they are in a desperate situation. Without a savior we are doomed to eternal destruction in a lake of fire that was actually intended for the devil and his angels. It was never meant for mankind. But when the first man, Adam, made the decision that he could defy God and eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree – the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - he gave up the rich, spiritual position God had created him with, trading it for spiritual poverty. Thus we are all poor in spirit as sons of Adam. The poor in spirit indicates that each and every man, woman and child finds themselves one day in this deprived and hopeless situation.
While we can never change the fact that we are poor in spirit, we can move that poor man from being doomed to eternal death into a position of being found in eternal life. We do this with a simple decision. It is simple, yet eternally profound. That decision is to believe that Jesus died as the final sacrifice for sin so as to pay for our sinful nature and then that He arose from the dead to never die again, and that act makes us free from the curse of sin, death and the grave. Basically, true, heartfelt belief – belief that goes beyond words and translates into a changed life that reflects Christ – moves us from being eternally lost and eternally doomed to die forever, to being eternally found, eternally free, and eternally to live.
John wrote, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12). Paul penned, “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” (Romans 8:8-9).
Jesus Himself prayed, “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” (John 17:15-16).
We become a subject of the kingdom of God by realizing our spiritual poverty, then, not trying to change our poverty on our own, but by allowing the Spirit of Christ, that is not in poverty but in riches beyond human imagination, do the work in us. Nothing we can do will change our spiritual status. But by allowing Christ to work in us and for us, we become new creations. The old self dies and a new self is born. We are born again. And that’s how we become subjects of the Kingdom!
— Jerry D. Ousley is the author of “Soul Challenge”, “Soul Journey”, “Ordeal”, “The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional” and his first novel “The Shoe Tree.” Newer books include “Finality” and “Dividing God’s Church.” Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these.