“Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Jesus spoke this to Nicodemus in John 3. It is, like every text, an important one. Jesus gives us a prerequisite, a sine qua non, a that without which for seeing the kingdom. As such it is quite reasonable that we would seek out an understanding of what this prerequisite is. I’m all in favor of thinking through with biblical care what it means to be born again. Many in the evangelical church make a foundational error here, looking at the rebirth as something we do, rather than something done to us. And the rest of us are quick to try to correct them on that.
What both sides tend to miss, however, is not the thing necessary, but the thing promised. We stop, stroke our beards, get out our lexical tools over “being born again” and skip lightly over “to see the Kingdom.” If we have been born again, if we have been moved from death to life, from darkness to light, we are able to see the kingdom. Which is nothing to yawn at.
What does it mean to see the kingdom? Well, first, and here I think we do just fine, it means being in it. I can see the kingdom of my office because I am in my office as I type. We have to be born again in order to be in, to be a part of the kingdom. True, vital and glorious indeed. Being in the kingdom, however, isn’t all there is to seeing it. We see it when the power of the King is made manifest. We who have been born again are blessed to see the hand of God at work, to see the wind that is the Spirit blow where He wills.
Better still, we are able to see the kingdom in our fellow citizens. The fellowship among the servants of the king, a fellowship that crosses over lines of socio-economic status, nationality, denomination is not just the blessing of the sense of unity, but the blessing of seeing God at work. When we give food to the least of these we not only see Jesus in the least, but we see Jesus in ourselves. We are Jesus, feeding Jesus. We are the kingdom at work.
I don’t know whether our low view of the church has birthed a low view of the kingdom, or a low view of the kingdom has birthed a low view of the church. I do know that both are far more vital than we tend to think. The kingdom isn’t just a waiting room for heaven. The church is not just a social club for those who have a ticket. Both are God at work, manifesting His glory, showing forth His reign, bringing in the elect from the four corners, setting the prisoner free, giving sight to the blind. Would that we would have eyes to see the Kingdom, that we might better glorify the King.