To bring about the Kingdom of Heaven, we must do it the Jesus way, which feels foreign to us. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7), the greatest message ever preached, Jesus gave us a glimpse of what Heaven looks like lived out on earth. Heavenly people are poor in spirit. They mourn. They’re meek. They hunger and thirst for righteousness. They’re merciful and pure in heart. They’re peacemakers. They’re persecuted for being righteous. They’re reviled and slandered like the prophets before them. They’re the light of the world. They’re recognized for their good works. They’re not violent or murderous, but quick to make amends with others. They avoid lust not just in their actions, but in their minds as well. They practice faithfulness and hold to their words so tightly that they don’t even need to make vows. They practice strategic pacifism instead of escalating violent situations. When people demean them, they serve them kindly. They love their enemies and pray for their persecutors. They give without acknowledgment or praise. They don’t try to move their way up in religion or attract attention to themselves by acting extra holy. They ask for Yahweh’s kingdom to come to earth as they live out his will. They forgive their debtors. They flee from temptation. They are not focused on the riches of this world, but make disadvantageous decisions in this age knowing such actions will be rewarded in the coming age. Light spills out of them. They don’t serve money. They learn to be content when life is hard, trusting God for provision instead of going into an anxious spiral. They don’t judge others, but after they’ve become self-aware of their own problems they go in humility to help others with theirs. They walk in faith. They do for others what they wish others would do for them. They take the hard path, not the easy one. They’re able to discern false prophets from real ones. They walk not only in the power of the Spirit, but also in his righteousness, recognizing that if they embrace spiritual power and lawlessness, they are back on Babel’s grounds and will be rejected from Heaven.
When we practice these politics of Heaven, we build the Kingdom of Heaven upon the foundation of Jesus. This is a completely different way of doing prophetic politics than most evangelicals; for many Christians desire to bring about the morality of the Kingdom of Heaven by implementing the tactics of the beast. We do not live out the beatitudes of Jesus, but the viciousness of Babel. We do not address the poor at the bottom of society, but in violence and hate, we try to overthrow things from the top and work our way down. We think that a Christian president is our messianic answer.
But we already have a messiah. We already have a prophet, a king, and a God, and his name is Jesus. He is not more of a king or more of a God based on who is sitting on the various thrones of earth. His throne is higher than any divine or human principality of Babel. He will not one day be higher than these other authorities—he’s already higher than them and always has been.
There are countless political dynamics worldwide, and Christians in every one of those dynamics have the same question to address: How do I bring about the Kingdom of Heaven in my part of the world in the most prophetic, Jesus way? This is the question at stake regardless of what our political model is or who has taken up residency in the White House.
This is an excerpt from my shortest book, Supernatural Justice.
Jamin Bradley 
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