{"id":19380,"date":"2014-04-30T00:20:24","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T04:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=19380"},"modified":"2014-04-29T23:54:44","modified_gmt":"2014-04-30T03:54:44","slug":"kingdom-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/30\/kingdom-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Kingdom of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Blessed are the\u00a0poor in spirit<\/span><\/em><\/strong>, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0those who mourn<\/span><\/strong><\/em>, for they shall be comforted. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0the meek<\/span>,<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0for they shall inherit the earth. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0those who hunger and thirst for righteousness<\/span><\/strong><\/em>, for they shall be satisfied. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0the mercifu<\/span><\/strong><\/em>l<\/span>, for they shall receive mercy. \u00a0Blessed are the\u00a0pure in heart<\/span><\/strong><\/em>,<\/span>\u00a0for they shall see God. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0the peacemakers<\/span><\/strong><\/em>,<\/span>\u00a0for they shall be called sons of God.\u00a0Blessed are\u00a0those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness<\/span><\/em><\/strong>, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0*<\/span><\/p>\n

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
\nfor theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
\nMatthew 5:10<\/p>\n

This simple petition carries a lot of meaning. \u00a0We have already seen in our meditations on the Beatitudes that Jesus often spoke of \u201cthe Kingdom of Heaven,\u201d or \u201cthe Kingdom of God.\u201d \u00a0For him, as for many Jews at that time, it was a future expectation, something to look forward to, a day when the reign of God would be complete, absolute, and apparent to every sentient creature on Earth. \u00a0It was a time when oppressed Jews would no longer be downtrodden, but be free to worship God whenever and wherever they pleased. \u00a0Their oppressors would be vanquished, and there would be a restoration of some form of theocratic government. \u00a0From this perspective, it makes sense that this petition would be coupled with the previous, \u201cMay [or “let”] Your name be held sacred.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, on the lips of Jesus, this petition means a lot more than just a change of governments. When Jesus teaches us to eagerly anticipate the coming of God\u2019s Kingdom, He appears to mean this on varying levels which we deduce from His teaching elsewhere.<\/p>\n

For Jesus, the Kingdom was something that will come at a future time (e.g., Matthew 5:19-20; Luke 21:31; 22:16) but also something that was a present reality. \u00a0He proclaimed that the Kingdom has \u201ccome near\u201d (e.g., Matthew 3:2 and 4:17) and indeed was the present possession of some (e.g., Matthew 5:3 and 10). \u00a0Jesus taught what the Kingdom of Heaven is like\u2014present tense (e.g., Matthew 13:24-53), and who may or may not enter it\u2014again, present tense (e.g., Matthew 19:14, 23; 23:13).<\/p>\n

From all that Jesus tells us, I think it\u2019s fair to say that God\u2019s Kingdom is not some kind of hoped for military take-over, as with previous revolts and theocratic kingdoms. Rather, God\u2019s Kingdom arrived with the coming of the Messiah, and the proclamation of the Gospel. Those who are Christians\u2014for whom Christ is Lord and Savior\u2014are citizens in the Kingdom of God, while being residents in this world (1 Peter 1:1 describes us as \u201cresident aliens\u201d\u2013a perfect description of Christians at present). But this is just a deposit\u2014a promissory note anticipating the full payment of the Kingdom in the end times.<\/p>\n

At some time in the future, God will call all men to final judgment and the events predicted in the Book of Revelation will come to pass, with Satan and his minions, along with hell, being cast into the lake of fire. \u00a0Then God\u2019s dominion will be established totally, with all people under His loving and gracious authority.<\/p>\n

You might ask: if God is sovereign, doesn\u2019t He already have absolute power and authority…so what are we asking for here? \u00a0I would respond by saying, yes, God is sovereign, and He has absolute power and authority. \u00a0He can do as He pleases whenever it pleases Him. \u00a0Which means that the state of affairs as they are right now, with the name of God slandered throughout society, and Christians being demeaned and, to varying degrees, persecuted, is part of His plan and is in accord with His timing. \u00a0When we pray this prayer, we are not asking for God to establish something that is not currently His, or to gain authority by conquest. \u00a0Rather, we are asking the Lord to hasten the day when He executes the final stage of His plan of redemption, when all His elect are called to Him, the present godless age is brought to an end, and He establishes His rule throughout the universe, with Satan, sin, and all that oppose Him set aside permanently.<\/p>\n

This means that when we pray for the salvation of our non-Christian friends and family members, we are asking God to extend His kingdom on Earth in this present age. \u00a0But we also pray that God will, indeed, shorten the time we have to endure this godless age, and bring about what we so long and hope for.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0*<\/span><\/p>\n

Father, we thank You for who You are in us and us in You! \u00a0And for Your unconditional love for us in Jesus\u2019 name, we say \u2018thank You!\u2019 Amen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blessed are the\u00a0poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0the meek,\u00a0for they shall inherit the earth. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. \u00a0Blessed are the\u00a0pure in heart,\u00a0for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[3188,127,3367,1287,425,5784,6210,1892,6184,6190,3174],"class_list":["post-19380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-ann-mwafulirwa","tag-beatitudes","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-jesus-speaking","tag-kingdom-of-heaven","tag-matthew-510","tag-persecuted","tag-persecution","tag-seeking-him-devotional","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-52A","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19380"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19383,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19380\/revisions\/19383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}