![]() As the old song says, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.” To actualize that hope, to make it real, is to see the kingdom manifested all around us. And when that happens, then God’s kingdom shall come and His will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. When people are transformed, then the world can be transformed. In other words, God’s kingdom must first take root in our own hearts before it can ever be observed outside ourselves. God’s kingdom isn’t like the United Kingdom or Morocco or Saudi Arabia it is supra-national, extra-political, and essentially spiritual. When Jesus talked about the kingdom, as he did so often, he didn’t want anybody to conceptualize it as we conceptualize nations or states or geographical territories. There’s something else very important to know about God’s kingdom. Every human being must step aside and even step down if we want the kingdom to come, because only God may rule in His kingdom. And when the kingdom comes (as shall happen in eternity but also happens in temporality), it is God, and God alone, who is the sovereign. But when Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God, he was proclaiming an all-encompassing entity, something that shall exist in the future but which already exists in the present. Our responsive reading from Isaiah proclaims the kingdom of God in Isaiah’s unique and poetic fashion. That notion is suggested numerous times in the Hebrew Bible, especially in the Psalms. To be sure, Jesus was not the first person to imply that God was a king or that He is The King. Kingdoms were very real in those days, as were kings. That was because the Jews had had kings for centuries, and the entire Mediterranean world was held together by an imperial figure in the imperial city of Rome. However, an emperor was simply a king, writ very large.įrom the standpoint of both Jesus and those who heard him, the idea of “the kingdom of God” had more immediate meaning to them than it does to us. The Roman Empire was an enormous kingdom, except that it was ruled by an emperor, not a king. Monarchies were the universal name of the game in 1 st century statecraft. There were no democracies then, nor dictatorships as they emerged in the 20 th century. Virtually every nation in the world in the 1 st century of the Common Era was a monarchy of some variety. We can discover the kingdom here and now, in this world, if we open our eyes to see its evidence all around us.īefore we talk further about that, however, let us all come to an admission: The very concept of a kingdom, any kingdom, has less meaning to anyone who lives in a 21 st century democracy than it would have had to people in Jesus’ day. With minimal thought, anyone can create theological doggerel with the best of them). “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” There may be pie in the sky by and by (whatever that might connote), but God’s kingdom is unfurled in the world like lightning bolts hurled (whatever that also might connote. However, it is also evident when one reads the Gospel narratives, especially in Mark and Luke, that the kingdom of God as it was projected by Jesus has both a present and a future meaning. Not everyone believes it, but at least everyone understands that heaven represents only eternal life, and it cannot be a description of temporal life. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know everyone understands this. Furthermore, our entry into heaven is made possible only by our death. “The kingdom of heaven” inevitably implies a future reality, because by definition, we can experience heaven only in the future, specifically in eternity. #THY KINGDOM COME THY WILL BE DONE FULL#The reason I’m sure Jesus didn’t ever talk about “the kingdom of heaven” and instead always talked about “the kingdom of God” is because of our sermon text, which is the second full statement in the Lord’s Prayer. I am convinced Matthew was incorrect in his reporting of that phrase. In the Gospels of Mark and Luke, there are literally dozens of references to the three-word term, the “kingdom of God.” Only twice in John’s Gospel did Jesus use those particular words, and he did so only in conjunction with Nicodemus, the mysterious Pharisee who came to Jesus “by night.” According to Matthew, on the other hand, Jesus never once talked about “the kingdom of God.” Instead, says Matthew, he always talked about “the kingdom of heaven.” No doubt he perceived himself as the primary proclaimer of God’s kingdom. He devoted more time to describing God’s kingdom than he took in referring to any other one topic in all of his teachings. Jesus talked more about the kingdom of God than about any single subject, with the possible exception of money and wealth. Text – “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” – Matthew 6:9 (RSV) Hilton Head Island, SC – September 22, 2019 ![]()
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