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

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
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