Bible

[plugger]

OH ME !!....OK, I got back into this thing about the "kingdom of God." This morning I learned, what until just now I did not know. I am sure that I will screw this up royally, but I will give it a shot. Please feel free to set me straight....FIRST--ask yourself what the "kingdom of God is" in your mind. The question sounds simple, a few short words answer the question, yet "The Interpreter's Dictionary" takes 91/2 pages on the explanation of the "Kingdom Of God." NO WAY, can I in short form explain 91/2 pages of professional explanation, so I will try to cut to the chase, so to speak.

Kingdom---the Greek word is "basiliah" which comes from the Greek word--"basilios" which is "the foundation of power: sovereign----king------If we go back into the Old Testament, God had prophets who told the Hebrew children that the time was coming when He would write His will & laws in their hearts, His Spirit would dwell in them. At the time of the O.T the Holy Spirit did not dwell in the hearts of mankind, in the N.T. Jesus promised that after His resurrection He would send a comforter (Holy Spirit) to walk along beside us. From the O.T. to the N.T we read that along comes John, John the baptist and he said (Matth. 3:2) when he was announcing the coming of the Messiah---"The Kingdom of Heaven is near." Kingdom in human terms would be a geographical or political unit....such as the Kingdom of Judah or a divided kingdom. Theologically, the entire universe can be seen as God's Kingdom, under God's sovereign authority as explained in Scripture. John used the saying, "The Kingdom is near" but when Jesus began His ministry He went beyond John theme and said "The Kingdom of God has come upon you." Jesus's acts of healings were earlier predicted by the prophets that the coming king would bring peace and healing. The Jews were looking for a new political kingdom to be set up, but Jesus spoke and taught instead of a present, spiritual kingdom that had come near and a future time when the Son of Man would come with great power and glory. God's present kingdom is that sphere in which His authority is acknowledged by men and women who are committed to Him and committed to do His will.
We accept Jesus as our personal Savior we enter the Kingdom of God. The old, old saying--"I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together"----As christians we share God's kingdom to others by doing God's will---reckon that is "walking the walk" not just talking the talk.

Some will go with the idea that this is totally wrong, hey, that's OK.....there are more than one idea concerning this passage, notice that this passage of Scripture comes just before the transfiguration
Luke 9: 28-36---Peter, John, & James were with Jesus at this time and many say this was the experience where they saw the kingdom of God. There is more than one take on these thoughts, I always believe that when one reads the Scripture that they ask God to grant them knowledge and wisdom, and go with what God offers. Later in one's life the same Scripture may hold a different understanding, we all are at a different place in our Spiritual walk. Always consider what comes before and after a verse or 2 in Scripture.

I hope I did not state anything incorrectly here nor lead anyone down the wrong path. If one reads the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes from Matthew 5 and also check out Luke 6...these might help with understanding here.

God Bless