Kingdom of God

Day 29 of 49

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 

29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 

30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 

31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 

32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 

33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 

34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions. 

Mk 12:28–34.

Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God/Heaven wherever he went. He sent his disciples on trips two by two to declare the Kingdom of God. We generally think of this in the future tense, when Jesus Christ returns in all his glory. However, Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God in the present tense. 

But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 

 Lk 11:20.

The Kingdom of God is one of love of God and love of one another, righteousness, peace, and joy (Rom 14:17). Isaiah 9:7 tells us that the kingdom is upheld by justice and with righteousness, and that there will be no end of peace.

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, 

21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” 

Lk 17:20–21.

I like to watch Star Trek. One episode had Geordi and Ro out of phase with the crew of the Enterprise. They walked on the ship, they saw and heard the crew, but they could not be seen or heard without a special instrument. 

I see us that way with the Kingdom of Heaven. We are out of phase with the spiritual realm. It is all around us, it affects us, but we cannot sense it with our physical senses. 

Daniel and Elisha spoke of this disconnection. Isaiah and Ezekiel explained visions of heavenly places. Even John on Patmos had an out of this world experience. 

Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. 

13 The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, 

Da 10:12–13.

Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 

2 Ki 6:17.

Why is it important for us to have an awareness of God’s kingdom? Jesus declared it to the people in his day. Jesus taught his disciples to pray for his kingdom to come and for his will to be done. One day we will see it in all its glory, but today, we can behave as citizens of that city. We can declare it to the world by our words and actions. 

Over the next few days, we will look at the parables about the Kingdom.

Lord, open our eyes to see the truths about your kingdom. Guide us as we present to this world the eternal hope that we have because of who you are and what you have done.