Recently I begun to think differently about the kingdom of God, or of heaven. Previously I believed that the "kingdom" was for the earthly realm, for Israel and the nations that would someday flock to her. Whenever anyone brought up the kingdom, I turned down the volume. I thought, they do not understand scripture, they think we are the spiritual Israel or even that we are Israel. Even worse, when they said something like, 'we are bringing the kingdom in', oh my. So, what changed? I began to realize that the whole idea of living in God's kingdom meant much more to life than knowing something about the future of God's plan. It meant something for right now. Honestly, there was something missing from my view of what christian life was supposed to be. I found myself reading mainly Paul's epistles, rarely the gospels. The Old Testament was just history and prophecy. Because I believe that we are living in a time (age of grace) covered mainly by the Pauline epistles, this was my scope of life.
What began to really capture my attention was how the word "kingdom" seemed to brighten the eyes and attitudes of those proclaiming it. I decided to study this idea of kingdom life, which drew me into the gospels to a greater point than ever before.
Remember that the topic is the kingdom life, not a dispensational review. As I said, I am convinced that we live in an age which is covered more accurately by the apostle Paul, as revealed to him by God. But, Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews, he knew the Old Testament well. Acts 28:23-31 says that Paul was testifying the kingdom of God and of Christ using the law and the prophets. After the Jewish leaders reject his message, Paul then says that the Gentiles will listen, and for two years he proclaimed the kingdom of God to any who came to him, including Gentiles. According to blueletterbibile.org, Paul refers to the Old Testament 259 times; this includes Hebrew's 86 times. Beside Hebrews, such references are found in Romans, the book of the "Romans road to salvation", 74 times. So, to truly understand what the proclamation about the kingdom Paul gave from his home in Rome, we have to understand what Jesus said about the kingdom, and what the Old Testament writers had to say. Then we can see that what Paul wrote was not different, concerning the kingdom of God.
I have been giving a series of sermons titled, "The Kingdom Is Like...". I am having a fun time with this and would like to begin writing it all down. My hope is that you might find something of interest, even if you are way ahead of me! I am not sure how this will work out from here but I will be back, in less than a year-and-a-half! Until then, may you realize that God has already blessed you far beyond your expectations!
What began to really capture my attention was how the word "kingdom" seemed to brighten the eyes and attitudes of those proclaiming it. I decided to study this idea of kingdom life, which drew me into the gospels to a greater point than ever before.
Remember that the topic is the kingdom life, not a dispensational review. As I said, I am convinced that we live in an age which is covered more accurately by the apostle Paul, as revealed to him by God. But, Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews, he knew the Old Testament well. Acts 28:23-31 says that Paul was testifying the kingdom of God and of Christ using the law and the prophets. After the Jewish leaders reject his message, Paul then says that the Gentiles will listen, and for two years he proclaimed the kingdom of God to any who came to him, including Gentiles. According to blueletterbibile.org, Paul refers to the Old Testament 259 times; this includes Hebrew's 86 times. Beside Hebrews, such references are found in Romans, the book of the "Romans road to salvation", 74 times. So, to truly understand what the proclamation about the kingdom Paul gave from his home in Rome, we have to understand what Jesus said about the kingdom, and what the Old Testament writers had to say. Then we can see that what Paul wrote was not different, concerning the kingdom of God.
I have been giving a series of sermons titled, "The Kingdom Is Like...". I am having a fun time with this and would like to begin writing it all down. My hope is that you might find something of interest, even if you are way ahead of me! I am not sure how this will work out from here but I will be back, in less than a year-and-a-half! Until then, may you realize that God has already blessed you far beyond your expectations!
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