Skip to main content

The Kingdom of God

             But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” (Luke 4:43)

 

            My goal is to spend some time considering the kingdom of God. The problem is that this is in “real-time,” like most of my blog posts, so it’s not my sharing the culmination of my findings after years of research. I may get distracted or bored and wander on to another topic, but that’s not my plan. In fact, the problem might be said to be that I don’t really have a plan.

            But, since I’m a definitional person, let’s begin there. We tend to think of a kingdom as a place ruled by a king or queen. It has borders, rules for citizenship, laws, taxes, and a spot on a map, just like any other country. This is the problem the Israelites had when Jesus came. The Messiah was supposed to set up the Kingdom of Israel to make Israel a powerful and possibly dominant nation among the nations.

            Dallas Willard pushes that idea aside to get at something more basic. A kingdom is where the king's rule is effective. If you aren’t in the kingdom, the king’s rules have no power over you. However, if the king’s rules have power over you, you are still in the kingdom, even if you are thousands of miles away from the king in question and in another country. And, even if you’re not physically in the kingdom, the kingdom is in you.

            Early in His ministry, Jesus said that He was sent to announce the kingdom of God. It wasn’t about saving our souls or dying on the cross to bring us salvation. As important as those were, they are like handing us our citizenship papers. They are necessary to bring us into the kingdom, but they are not the kingdom. They are not the goal. Living within the effective range of God’s will is. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more