The Kingdom of God
“ Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”
Must be one of the most prayed but least enacted prayers of Christendom!
The Kingdom of God coming is the central organising principle of Jesus’ theology. If you visit any self respecting natural history museum, in pride of place you see the huge dinosaur skeleton. At once you can see that all the limbs and the head are connected and supported by its massive back bone – it holds the creature together. If we see the Christian life in terms of its Kingdom backbone, we find all the constituent parts fall into the right place.
For many years the theology of personal salvation has been allowed to over dominate in our thinking, at the expense of a more holistic desire to see the Kingdom of God come in every sphere of life. For Jesus, salvation is Kingdom shaped. In His first public ministry statement (Mk1:15) Jesus says that the good news is that the Kingdom has come near to his hearers. They are to repent of not living under the Kingdom’s rule and reign. As they align their thinking and change their mind about the Kingdom – God’s activity will touch the earth in them and around them and people will experi-ence a good news effect.
How is the Kingdom expressed through us? The Kingdom is expressed in our personal consciences. As we align with Jesus’ rule in our lives, ‘WWJD’ allows for Kingdom expression to come in choices and ethics, which causes a Christian alternative to secular values to look both powerful and attractive. The Kingdom is expressed in our practical activities. Feeding the poor, healing the sick, signs, wonders and miracles are designed to showcase heaven’s goodness to a desperate world.
Finally the Kingdom has a promised future. A day is coming when Jesus will rule on the earth and “the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea”. We have a future and a hope that exceeds the best that hu-manism offers. Someone said “the future belongs to those who have the best hope”. Surely our hope out shines them
all!
Andy Hall,
Director, Equipped to Live Network
Andy is leading a conference on this theme in October. For details contact: andy@equippedtolivenetwork.org