The phrase The Kingdom of God is representative
of the whole New Testament. No phrase is used more often in prayer and in the preaching and teaching of Scripture. It is important that we should be clear
as to what it means.
It is obvious that the Kingdom of God was
central to the message of Jesus. The first appearance of Jesus on the scene of
history was when he came into Galilee preaching the good news of the Kingdom of
God (Mk 1:14). Jesus himself said that the preaching of the kingdom was an obligation laid upon him: "I must
preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was
sent for this purpose" (Lk 4:43; Mk 1:38). Luke's description of Jesus'
activity is that he went through every city and village preaching and showing
the good news of the Kingdom of God (Lk 8:1). Clearly the meaning of the
Kingdom of God is something which we should
try to understand.
We also ses that Jesus spoke of the Kingdom in
three different ways. He spoke of the Kingdom as existing in the past. He said
that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets were in the Kingdom (Lk
13:28; Matt 8:11). Clearly therefore the Kingdom goes far back into history. He
spoke of the Kingdom as present. "The Kingdom of God," he said,
"is in the midst of you" (Lk 17:21). The Kingdom of God is therefore
a present reality here and now. He spoke of the Kingdom of God as future, he
taught men to pray for the coming of the Kingdom in this prayer. See
you Sunday! www.ibcatinyokern.com
No comments:
Post a Comment