God's kingdom and heaven on earth

In the Book of Revelation it is talked about 144.000 people that are going to rule together with Jesus in from mount Zion over the earth. This is likely symbolic language. Jehovahs Witnesses for example, believe that these are people that will rule over the earth from heaven.

An interesting thought came to me with regards to this. And I’m not in any way saying that this is a matter of fact. But hear me out.

Many mystics, both within Christianity and other religious traditions that use Christian terminology, believe that heaven is an internal state and not an actual place. And there is some support for this in the Bible, in that it talks about heaven and paradise as if they were two different “places”. So, what if these 144.000 are actually people that have realized heaven within, i.e people that have reached some form of spiritual enlightenment. And what if these are people that are going to build the new kingdom, separate from the corrupt kingdoms of the earth. 

There are a few other details in this. But if we accept that even such passages in the Book of Revelation that on the surface seem literal, might also be symbolical, these become easier to swallow as well.

There is an obvious link between the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation and there is in the Book of Daniel a heavy emphasis on the corrupt kingdoms of the earth, that are finally to be replaced by the kingdom of God. 

Now, these 144.000 cannot rule until they have fully realized heaven within themselves. This means that until they have set aside all of the ego’s petty desires and wishes, they are not fit to rule.

History has seen few examples of enlightened rulers and in all likelihood none that have been totally enlightened. As a rule with very few exceptions, our rulers have been chosen among the biggest egos. But I believe that this, in one way or another, is coming to an end now. 

The end-goal, I believe, for all of humanity, is to live in total freedom, freely choosing obedience to the will of God. But before this can happen, ego-less rulers that are truly there to serve in total humility need to govern the masses. The choices are really simple. Love over hate. Good over evil. Humility over pride. Forgiveness over judgment. But until the veil is lifted so that one sees this choice clearly, one needs truly benevolent rulers. Rulers that cannot become corrupted by power.