The Kingdom of God

We have looked recently at the Lord's Prayer from the Gospels. We know it so well but there is at least one part of it that can be confusing and unclear. 'Your kingdom come' is one of those phrases which is so well known but what does it mean? It must be important or Jesus would not have told us to pray it, however that doesn't mean that the meaning doesn't need a bit of a dig to discover.

In Matthew chapter 3 verse 1, we read the following:
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

Sometimes to understand a verse it is good to dissect it, look at the Greek or Hebrew, investigate where else in the Bible it is used. Other times it is good to step back and try to paint a picture; this is what has been attempted below, to try to explain what the coming of the Kingdom would mean.

Kingdom
Change your way of life, for there is something about to arrive that will make your current lifestyle unsustainable, invalid & irrelevant. An invasion from another world is about to change this planet for ever. Most things will still look the same but very soon everything will be utterly different.

Principals, ways of life, customs, religions, governments that have allowed a semblance of normality to prevail; will be demolished in a glance from a thirty year old Jew.Human history will be split by His birth, people would be either for Him or against Him, His kingdom would flatten all powers and principalities like a giant tsunami hitting a coastal community - nothing left would be recognisable, nothing else would stand

That which has been in God's heart for all eternity has just been thrown into the ring of human existance. The angelic audience take their seats, the great reversal is about to take centre stage

The seismic shift in the history of the world that the coming kingdom would bring, would spell the end for the Roman Empire, all the isms that mankind has manufactured, the Catholic Church, in fact all denominations, poverty, the European Union, AIDS, Microsoft, the USA, - only one kingdom would grow and fill the whole earth

This distruction of the ab-normal to be replaced by the normal, actually this will look to us as completely the opposite. Mankind has only seen a glimps of this coming kingdom, a shadow in the early morning midst

It would be in Christ himself that we would see the perfect example of the kingdom personified, lived out under the pressure of breathing, perspiring and moving. He would not be an individal who would work hard at perfecting the nuances of the kingdom, rather His life would be the result of His spirit, cells and emotions living in complete harmony with His Father. He would live the kingdom and still the world would not receive it.

The early church would became dynamite as the kingdom careered into first century Israel and the surrounding nations, and yet the kingdom would only be welcomed by the few

We have had glimpses over the next twenty centuries of the impact of the kingdom; limited and in the main, localised revivals have opened a door showing, in part, a demonstration of the new kingdom at work. However short lived, they have allowed men and women to see acted out on a world stage, the wonders of the great reversal.

The kingdom will only culminate when its king returns to earth as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. All knees will bow, rulers will abdicate, every ethnic group in every one of the planets languages will confess that there is only one rightful ruler for the only kingdom left standing.

What will the lamb do now? His reward is waiting. He will hand over the Kingdom to His Father and take the hand of His bride and they will both live happily ever after.

Deep-Spirited Friends?

In chapel on Sunday, Alison read Philippians 2:1-11 from The Message translation of the Bible. Hearing these well known verses in a new way was a real challenge to what we think about being in the body of Christ together. Do we just turn up at the same time, in the same place, to sing the same songs and hear the same preacher, or are we 'deep-spirited friends' sharing our lives together for the sake of Christ and his Kingdom?

Makes you think!


If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care — then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human ! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.

Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.

Welcome to Trinity Cheriton Blog

Welcome to Trinity Cheriton's new Blog

 

We hope to add interesting information about the life of the congregation that meets in Trinity Chapel as well as thoughts about the wider Christian community. We will also add random bits that you may find interesting and who knows, you may want to comment!