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On Earth as It Is In Heaven: The Kingdom Parables

On Earth as It Is In Heaven: The Kingdom Parables

Most of us are familiar with the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it in heaven. When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, this was his first desire: for God’s Name, God’s Kingdom and God’s Will to become more a reality on this earth, as it already is in heaven. If this is Jesus’ great desire, then it must be ours as well. And in order to join God in the work of seeing more of this good kingdom come, we need to understand what exactly it is.

 

It turns out, Jesus talked a lot about God’s kingdom in his life and ministry. When he first launches his ministry—on Jesus’ Day One in the job, if you will—he declares this announcement: The Kingdom of God is here! (Mt 4:17,  Mk 1:15). The people in Jesus’ day were longing for God’s kingdom. They were eagerly anticipating the day when God would set the world right—free people from all wrong-doing and usher in God’s rule of love and justice and peace. Jesus’ announcement that this new reign had begun with his arrival changed everything! It meant this kingdom is not just a future reality, but also a present reality! 

 

But that understanding didn’t quite match the reality or expectations of Jesus’ contemporaries. If God’s kingdom was finally here, where exactly was it? Why weren’t Israel’s enemies being overturned, why wasn’t Jesus mobilizing a mighty military, why was evil and injustice still permitted? Jesus had to repeatedly explain—in various ways with various tools—how God’s kingdom is different from what they expected. In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a series of parables about the kingdom to do just that. In this short mini-series, we’ll look a four aspects to God’s kingdom to help us enter into its reality more fully. The first two weeks focus on Jesus correcting unrealistic expectations about God’s kingdom. The second two weeks focus on Jesus’ invitation to respond to such a kingdom. The ultimate aim is to recognize God’s kingdom and choose to more fully participate in it, so that God’s good rule will become more and more a reality on this earth, as it already is in heaven. May it be so!

180 | Be the Revolution

180 | Be the Revolution

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