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Some Things About The Kingdom Of God
by John Moreland
© SEP 2002
The Church today must address this matter of the Kingdom of God. It is at the
heart of the summing up of all things in Christ. It was the gospel taught and
preached by our Lord Jesus. There really is no other gospel. There may be many
facets to it, but the Kingdom itself is the ground of all of them. Salvation is
fundamentally about the Kingdom. Deliverance is fundamentally about the Kingdom.
Maturing in Christ is fundamentally about the Kingdom. While there are several
scriptures at which we could look, one stands out in particular as we point this
out. (Mat 9:35 NASB) “And Jesus was going about all the cities and the villages,
teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and
healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.” All the facets of
redemption point to His Kingdom.
It is what Jesus taught the disciples to pray for that it might come on earth.
In Mark 12:32-34, when a certain Scribe with whom Jesus was talking answered Him
by quoting the two great commandments, Jesus reply was that
he ‘was not far from the Kingdom.’
The definition of the Kingdom is found in Matthew 6:10 when our Lord was
teaching the disciples about prayer. It is the phrase, “Thy kingdom come. Thy
will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” The Kingdom is defined here as the
will of God being done on earth as in heaven. It is the rule of God.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines culture as follows:
Culture: n. The totality of
socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all
other products of human work and thought.
While there are myriads of earthly cultures and sub-cultures, none of them can
be defined within the framework of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God has
its own government, social character and behavior, economic system and its own
identity.
The Kingdom of God is not, cannot be an amenity
to anything. It is not of this kosmos or world order. This was declared
to Pilate by our Lord when He told Pilate He was a King, but that His kingdom
was not of this world.
You cannot attach it to your culture, your denomination, your congregation’s
name, your ministry name, nor your particular doctrine’s name. It stands alone.
It is in itself it’s own domain. It is a culture all it’s own. It is that which
our Lord said we were to seek. It is the only entity in time and eternity which
can produce righteousness, peace and joy. It is what our Lord’s return will
fully establish on earth. It is what the Lord Jesus will deliver to the Father
when the end comes. It is that into which we have been brought and become fellow
citizens with all the saints. It is what making disciples is all about, raising
up subjects for the King and His Kingdom. It was the focus of Jesus’ life on
earth for Hebrews 10:7,9 declares, (7) “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume
of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. ...... (9) Then said
he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.”
One of the great problems in Christianity today is that we have developed a
Church theology rather than a Kingdom theology. While it is tremendously
important that we know who we are in Him, who He is in us, we must never lose
sight that the Kingdom is to be established through us. The Church, the Body of
Christ is the instrument through which God desires to establish His Kingdom. Our
testimony is the King and His Kingdom. We represent Him as ambassadors of His
Kingdom. It is the gospel which we must begin to teach, preach and live. The
first confession of our mouth on becoming a child of God is that we confess Him
as Lord. No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Jesus is
Lord, the King! 2 Peter 1:11 declares His Kingdom an eternal Kingdom.
May our Lord Jesus Christ grant to us, His ekklesia, His Church, once
more the revelation and grace to begin to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom of
God. It is the message, the good news of the King of Glory. Amen.
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