Matthew 6:25-34 - “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
I received an email last week from someone who logged on to my website. I was very thankful that he took the time to write. Many people may log on, but to get an email from someone is always exciting. Here is what they wrote:
The kindgom of God has already been established. At the last supper, Jesus said that we would not drink of the cup again until he drank it anew with his disciples in the kingdom.
If asked to describe the coming Kingdom of God, how would you describe it? Perhaps you would talk about the end of wars and violence. Peace on earth extending even to the animal kingdom as arch rivals - wolf and lamb playing and resting together. The capitol city of Jerusalem will be exalted over the other mountains and the other mountains will be lowers while the valleys are raised. The righteous will be given a new body of perfection and they will live forever. There will be no more sickness or death and sorrow and all tears will be a thing of the past. God and Christ will rule and dwell on the earth with the saints.
From the last post about the Earthly Kingdom, we recognize that the Kingdom is not here now. Yet the Kingdom has some influence today. I think the “already/not-yet” language used today doesn’t adequately describe the truth the Bible declares. This is because the Kingdom is not here, therefore it can not be “already”.
On a side-note, the Kingdom of God is not the universal sovereignty of God. Yes God is declared to be the King and Creator - but that is never in reference to the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is always viewed as an eschatalogical event in the NT. God’s sovereignty brings about the Kingdom.
As I’ve stated before, the nearness of God is expressed on more than a temporal scale:
In keeping with my posts titled “The Politics of the Message”, and with my series in Glad Tidings (A Vision of the Kingdom… Setting the Scene…) I would like to talk more about the Kingdom of God, and perhaps clarify our language when we speak about it. So, you could almost think of this as a catechism and defense.
- When we say the Kingdom is earthly, we mean it has dominion over the entire creation, from sea to sea. That it will take place on this earth. (Ps 2.8)
- When we say the Kingdom is heavenly, we mean it shares the qualities and attributes of heaven (Jn 6.58, Jam 1.17 - the manna which “came from heaven” appeared on the ground, it did not fall from the sky)
Apart from the active discussion on a previous post, I would like to specifically address the nature of the Kingdom of God/Kingdom of heaven (both meaning the same thing). I will pose the question of “What is the Kingdom of God” and in light of a few different verses ask that you see if your definition fits.
Most evangelicals today would give the answer that the Kingdom of God is the general body of believers today in the world doing the work of God.
Others would say that the Kingdom of God is the world in general, where God rules. God rules over the creation and everything is under him.
Sean and I were talking, and he was remarking about Bart Ehrman, and other liberal scholars. He was saying that it annoys him how they ’skirt’ the verses that oppose their viewpoint by undermining their authority by declaring them ‘un-historical’ or ‘un-authentic’. In some cases they absolutely do wield circular reasoning, something like; “This is invalid because it disagrees with my point, and my point is right!”. And he said one of the verses they do this with is Luke 17. And I said I think I have a pretty good defense, so he asked me to post it! And that is how we got here!