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This is part of the vision of John that was written down and preserved for us in the Book of Revelation:

“The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.’” 

Revelation 11:15 NIV

As believers, we accept that this vision was from God, and it relates to future events (events that would take place after John experience this vision). We don’t know the timing of this particular event, but I think it is safe to say it has not happened yet.

Many people have spent much energy and time trying to discern when Jesus is coming back. Jesus said we won’t know when he is coming, so I figure our time is not well spent trying to figure it out.

All I know is that we haven’t heard this trumpet yet. That means the Kingdom of the world is not yet under the lordship of Christ, and I believe our time is better spent determining what we should be doing about that reality until that trumpet sounds.

The kingdom of this world began when Adam and Eve stepped foot out of the garden, and it continues today. Revelation and other books in the Bible reveal that the kingdom of the world is under the sway of dark powers that rebel and go against God and his purposes. We do not live in a world that is presently in submission to God.

We also don’t live in a world that is controlled by us. We sometimes seem to think and act as if we do control it or that we can control it, and we sometimes act as if God wants us to seize control of it. But does He?

I don’t think so! I believe Jesus blew the lid off of that idea, which is the same belief the Hebrews had in the First Century. They thought that the Messiah would come and set up his throne, then and there. Instead, the Gospels reveal that God became man – the Messiah – and he subjected Himself to the dark forces that control the world by giving up his life to them.

This is the upside down “wisdom” of God. Turn the other cheek; love your enemies; lay down your life for others: this is what Jesus taught us to do, and this is what he did! He taught us to do the same thing when he said:.

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

Matthew 16:24-25

Jesus doesn’t qualify these things. He doesn’t say that we should live this way, providing that the world is good. He knew precisely how bad it was, and it still is.

He also didn’t tell us to go out into the desert and wall ourselves off from the world. Jesus went right into the heart of the world.

He walked its dusty roads and littered streets. He met people where they were. He stood before its corrupt leaders, religious and civil, and he preached the good news of God’s kingdom – a kingdom that is available to the believer right now, the ultimate establishment on earth of which is yet to come.

Notice that John in his vision refers to the kingdom of the world in the singular. We tend to divide nations into good and bad. We tend to think that some nations are good and and others not so much. We tend to think our own nation is on the good side of the ledger.

I have news for you! There are only two kingdoms: the Kingdom of God, and the kingdom of the world. The kingdom that rules this earth right now is the kingdom of the world.

Furthermore, the kingdom of this world consists of many different iterations. The kingdom of this world includes China, Russian, Iran, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, the United Stated and even Israel. The kingdom of this world includes all the various states, provinces, regions, cities, and governmental and civic organizations that exist.

That fact hits home with me today as I consider the words of John, the Revelator, that the kingdom of the world will become the “Kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah” in the day when that seventh trumpet sounds. That facts hits home especially hard as I think about the fact that the seventh trumpet has not sounded. Yet

Of course, God is working out his purposes in our time and throughout all of history. He is working all things together for the good and for His purposes, but that does not mean that all things are working with God to achieve those purposes.

God is working out his purposes despite the powers and principalities that work against him, despite the kingdom of this world that is controlled by those powers and principalities, despite the sinfulness and the waywardness of humankind. God is working out His purposes despite even the sin and unfaithfulness of God’s own people.

John refers to the kingdom of the world, singular, as a monolith. Though there are many nations and many fractions, all of them are aligned to varying degrees (perhaps) with the powers and principalities of this world. That means none of them are particularly aligned with God, not even our beloved United states of America.

Though we recite, “one nation under God”, the truth is that the United States is actually one of many divisions of the kingdom of the world. We know this because the kingdom of the world has not yet become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah.

That realization is important to Christians who follow Christ. It should inform how we conduct ourselves in this world. It should inform how we involve ourselves in the kingdom of this world, including in the United States, which is a part of that kingdom.

We should not be naïve. We should be gentle as doves and as wise as serpents.

We should not deign to align ourselves with any of the fractions of the kingdom of this world above our loyalty to Christ and him crucified. I dare say that any of us who find ourselves aligning in every respect with one political faction of this world have ceded our loyalty to the kingdom of this world.

It doesn’t matter which faction, because all the various factions of the world are part and parcel of the kingdom of this world.

If we would follow Christ as he instructed us to follow him, we are not going to walk in alignment with any of the various factions of the world. We may find ourselves in agreement with some point or another that any (or even all) of the factions of this world may hold, but we should be fundamentally out of step with all factions of the kingdoms of this world if we are in step with Christ.

We are also not going to conduct ourselves and walk in the ways of the kingdom of this world or of any of its various factions if we are following Christ. If we are to follow Christ, we will be guided by the upside down principles he emphasized and demonstrated for us – starting with loving God above all things and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

All of our neighbors.

And even our enemies.