From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. -- Matthew 4:17
Before Jesus was baptized, His cousin, John the Baptist, came in the spirit and power of Elijah calling on his hearers to "repent for the kingdom heaven is at hand". After the resurrection, Jesus gave instructions to His disciples and "to them he presented himself alive after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3 -- emphasis added). Many of the parables we read relate to the kingdom, and Jesus spoke often about it, as if were vitally important.
If a person didn't know better, he might get the impression that the whole of history, the Incarnation, the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and the establishment of the Church was intimately related to the kingdom of God. Of course, that is silly since no one ever talks much about the kingdom. No, the important doctrines have to do with whether or not we can dance and drink beer. The kingdom is heaven or something. It's all in the sweet by-and-by -- or maybe the sweet buy-and-buy. Or maybe not.
A kingdom is a realm of dominion -- a place where a king has authority and rules by edict, statute and decree. A kingdom has subjects or citizens, those who are born into the realm and live under the king's rule. There is no better system of government than a monarchy -- provided, of course, that the monarch is wise and good. I believe I was first offended by a similar statement somewhere in Dune, but I have come to accept that it is true. The reason we have turned from monarchies is because anyone wise enough and good enough to do the job probably has sense enough not to want it. We are then left with the merely clever, the ambitious, the warped, the weak, the wicked, the greedy, the domineering, and the foolish -- but enough about Congress.
The first qualification for a king, having primacy even over wisdom and goodness, is that he love his kingdom and his subjects. Though a monarch be foolish and vile by nature, if he truly loves his people and his land, when the weight of responsibility is laid upon him, he will strive to become wise and good.
We are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. We travel through this strange land as pilgrims and adventurers, and, like Jake and Elwood, we are all on a mission from God because scattered across this world, sown like seeds upon the wind, there are others of the kingdom. They are our brothers and sisters, separated at the first birth, destined to be reunited in a second one. We all need to be found and told us who we are, to have the veil drawn back and to comprehend that our sense of unease and alienation makes sense for this world is not our home. Once we have come to recognize our citizenship in the kingdom, we realize that there are many more like ourselves to be found.
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opening and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. -- Mark 1:9-13
The Spirit immediately drove Him out into the wilderness. This happened to Jesus after He was baptized and declared to be the Son of God. Something similar happened to you and to me. God said, "I am going to plant this child of mine in the world." The Holy Spirit caught you up, and you were sown into a time and place, into a family and a situation that He chose for you. For many of us, it was a period of being lost in the boonies. It happens once in the flesh. But then we are awakened, and, like Jesus, it happens again as we are born of the Spirit.
I have been out here in the desolate places, harassed by the enemy and by the non-kingdom forces and entities that run wild in this world system. But there are those who come around, messengers from my Father, to remind me who I am, to assure me that I have a purpose, that this wilderness is merely a trial that I must pass through.
The desert places will cleanse our vision and open the doors of our perception to the realities of the kingdom, putting us back in touch with our Lord. And then we, too, become messengers, agents of awakening that the children of the kingdom might be born from above. Everything is about the kingdom, about the restoration of God's sovereign rule over His own chosen ones.
When the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ, how will that kingdom look and how will it operate?
9 comments:
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Again, what you said yesterday at OC™.
Lots to chew on. Thanks.
Nice post Mushroom. Yes, we have this real Kingdom behind the visible political structure and if push comes to shove we will reveal our true allegiance.
Not sure what the final form of His Kingdom will look like but I believe (and this isn't an original thought) that it has been the influence of Christ over the centuries that has given us our present form of government. Contrast what we now have against the brutal autocrat model which was the norm for most of history.
Anyhow, if this country loses that critial but unknown percentage of Christians* behaving like good Christians, it will all fall apart.
No better system than a monarchy? Hmmm, I suppose, I do see your point.
*Includes moral citizens of other faiths.
Julie is the one who pointed out to me that society benefits from a kind of residual Christianity. If your cultural is built on a Judeo-Christian foundation, it has a lot more resilience and you can get away with a lot more before everything goes boom.
It has been a long, long time since I read Dune, but I think that's where I saw it. The argument is that we can't make laws with enough nuance (I hate that word any more) to be adjusted for every potential exception. A Solomon-like monarch would embody the law and make sure that stupid things were not done under its cover.
Of course, that's what the purpose of the courts -- originally. Someone has apparently broken the law, but there may be circumstances to take into account. Now we have the laws so twisted and convoluted that everybody is a criminal, which I think is a line from Atlas Shrugged. And if people like Stalin didn't say it, they believed it.
Signs of the times? Tuba thefts on the rise.
This could be the last thing before Armageddon.
Before the Zombie Apocalypse, they start stealing vuvuzelas. Then it's really all over.
Maybe they were just hoping to make a joyful noise for Christmas...
Re. the critical percentage of Christians, it's much like having a significant proportion of the population vaccinated against disease. When enough people go off the rails and start refusing vaccines for flimsy reasons, they put not only themselves and their kids but the entire population at risk. So too, as we can clearly see, when enough people reject Christianity and its social mores, the very foundations of the nation begin to crumble. They have switched the rock for sand, and all of us are in the danger zone...
Tubas schmubas.
I didn't want to cause undue alarm but I have noticed the Food Lion has been out of frozen spinach one to many times in the last couple of weeks for it to be anything but the END TIMES!
You heard it here first.
I love that immunization analogy, but I can never remember it. Thank you for the reminder.
Popeye is deeply saddened.
"But there are those who come around, messengers from my Father, to remind me who I am, to assure me that I have a purpose, that this wilderness is merely a trial that I must pass through."
I knew you looked familiar, Mush. Thanks for lookin out for me when I'm gone like this.
It's the least I can do for all the looking out for me you've done.
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