Shining Rays of the Eternal Kingdom

Recently I had the opportunity to teach about the coming Kingdom of God as it is presented in the parables of Mark 4. There are a few positions that people hold concerning the subject, one being that the Kingdom is presently here in a spiritual sense in the life of each individual believer. This view equates the "Kingdom of God" with the "Church" and the two are often used synonymous of each other. However, I believe when we boldly claim that the Kingdom is something that is merely spiritual, that it is present now, and that it is synonymous with the church we will run into some problems when we read the Scriptures. 1) Revelation 20-21 seems to imply that there will be a literal Kingdom set up after Satan, his Angels, and everyone who is not found in the book of life are judged and cast into the Lake of Fire. Besides this I know of no where in Scripture that says that the Kingdom is spiritual. 2) If the Kingdom were here in this present age why are we still considered strangers in this world? This world is just as much our home as a snake pit is to a mouse. Why would would we say that God has the submission of everyone and everything in this kingdom, Satan and the unbelievers included? I know people who hold this view wouldn't say this, but they probably should to be consistent. It's obvious that evil, unbelievers, and that wretched serpant that has been tempting man from the very beginning are still free to roam the earth, so by the definition of surrender it's clear that these haven't done so before God. 3) To see the Kingdom as synonymous with the church is to misinterpret the passages in Scripture that speaks of the Kingdom as being something future. Besides that if God's Kingdom was already set up and present now, why is Ephesians 2 still at work? Why is Satan still roaming around seeking whom he may devour? Why are there still sons of disobedience? Why is evil still in the world? There is a Kingdom of man and a Kingdom of God which are at hand and we must make the distinction between the two. The Kingdom of God is when all things will be under His authority, the unbelievers will be judged, God's enemies will be put away, and there will be a return to Eden. A sanctified, eternal, and good Kingdom, where God reigns and because of His grace and the imputed righteousness of Christ, we will reign with Him. This is a day when all things will exist in perfect submission to King Jesus, the Alpha and Omega!

So what is our role as citizens of the coming kingdom as we trod through this kingdom that is not our home? 1 John says that we are the light of this Kingdom. Therefore, we are the lights in this world that shine forth the rays of the coming Kingdom. John reminds us that the cares of this age are passing away. Today marked the second anniversary of my Grandpa's death. The dash of his life in which he crawled, played, worked, and died lasted a mere 76 years and as he passed away he mirrored forth exactly what will come to us all should Jesus tarry. "The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:17). In contrast to this fleeting thing we call natural existence, which John calls "darkness," there is a "true light that is already shinning." That true light is the church and herein lies our task as citizens of the kingdom God in the kingdom of man.

Imagine you are on the east coast early in the morning before night has ended and the day has begun. You are sitting on the sand looking over the waters; that in itself makes you feel a little small. Just before Dawn you see the rays of the sun peaking over the horizon. Finally, the day is coming and the night is coming to an end. This is our job. Let us shine the light of the coming kingdom in the night of darkness we are now in, so that others can see the hope of the better day that is coming. This is a day which will never pass away. The sun they will see is the Son of the Most High. So, lest we be caught unprepared let us kiss the Son and not perish for the kingdom of God comes as a thief in the night. "Watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour" (Matt 25:13).

Morning Prayer for the Young and the Restless!

Well, it's 7:10 AM on Tuesday Morning and I have been up for about an hour and a half! For most people getting up at 5:45 is somewhat normal, but me, I usually don't go to bed until about 1:00, so that's kind of early! Oh, well, thank God my roommate works at Starbucks and get a pound of coffee a week, so I don't have to pay $2 for a cup.

Tuesday mornings a group of us usually get together to pray, which is very rewarding despite the fact that we have to get up a whole hour and a half earlier than we normally would to meet with each other. This may be the reason we usually have only about 4 who meet, or 3 to be more specific about today. First we prayed for our mission trip this summer; 1) that God would give us the ability to function efficiently and effectively in a culture much different from here in Raleigh, NC. After all, $2,700 is a lot of money to fly to Asia and be discombobulated. We might as well go to East Tennessee if we want to be that way. 2)We then prayed for God to grant us all that we need to even make this trip (safe plane tickets to get us there and back, money to go, etc.). 3.) We then prayed for God allow us to lay a few bricks for the Church that Jesus is building and this spring boarded us into praying for our own city, specifically for people we know, like my new friend from Chennai, India. What a great guy! We trust God with all these things and it is truly a good thing to do so.

We also thanked God for His promises to Himself. We actually benefit from God's faithfulness to His own word. I'm glad He's not like man that He should lie! Jesus promised to build His church; God the Spirit promised to bring people to Himself; Jesus promised that God the Spirit would dwell in the faithful; and Jesus promised that all of the power that had been given to Him from the Father would be given to us to fulfill our Great Commission! Maybe we should drop the definite article and take a little more ownership in the GC and make it a little more personal!

All in all, it was a good morning. We got to talk to God; we were able to reflect on His goodness; we were encouraged by the promises He's initiated; and we got to start our day of in the fellowship of the Spirit. Thank God for morning prayer. I'm still restless, my day is about to be spring boarded into another 12 hours shift, and my coffee maker just cut off (it's been keeping my coffee hot for two hours, you know)! Oh well, I'm young so I can handle it. Better go get my last cup of coffee before it gets cold!