II Corinthians 5

“Therefore, we are ambassadors of Christ …; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (v20).  Paul and his friends were “ambassadors” because they belonged to the kingdom of God and spread God’s “word of reconciliation” on earth (v19).  God’s Spirit was their pledge, their first taste of the new life that awaited them in eternity (v5).  They experienced terrible persecution, “beyond our strength”, but took courage from the fact that one day they would be “at home with the Lord” (v6-8).

If we have been reconciled to God through Christ, we are citizens and ambassadors of His now-and-forever kingdom.