What Is the Kingdom of God, and Where Is It Located?
This morning, Theresa (my wife), Hawthorne (my dog), and I woke up in a Walmart in Virginia and hit the road. We arrived in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in the early afternoon, just in time to attend our granddaughter's piano recital this evening. That explains the delay in sending this newsletter.
I'll keep this short.
As I've been writing a book about the kingdom of God, I've been pondering what it is exactly. How best to define and its specific location.
The kingdom of God was one of Jesus' favorite topics. He spoke about it often, especially in the book of Matthew. But there hasn't been much written on the kingdom of God in recent years, by theologians or popular church pastors who write books. I wonder why.
Recently, I acquired the audiobook version of N.T. Wright's biography of the Apostle Paul. I listened to the first three chapters while driving this week. One of the things he drives home in that book is how Paul believed that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah of Israel and how that realization was not a departure from his Jewish ritualistic beliefs but a fulfillment of them. In fact, Wright spells out that Paul believed Jesus Christ brought heaven and earth together in one person.
That's a pretty good summation of the kingdom. It begins and ends with Jesus Christ. But at what point in time? Was it the historical Jesus of Nazareth who was born of a young woman named Mary in fist century Palestine? Or was it the Word who later became flesh who existed "in the beginning" and through whom all creation was made? Or perhaps it will be the second coming of Jesus when He returns to take His people to their true home? The answer may surprise you.
It's all of the above.
You see, the kingdom of God isn't so much a physical place, nor is a spiritual reality, but it is that place where heaven and earth intersect. That place is Jesus Christ, the king of all creation.
But not just that. It's also where His church, through whom He shows His most faithful expressions in this realm, does His work. Whenever you see men and women called of God performing the works He prepared for them beforehand, that's where you'll see the kingdom of God. As members of the body of Christ, we are His representation here and now. He is the king, we are His subjects, and under His Lordship we have the privilege of helping Him build His kingdom. That is the primary message of the New Testament Pauline letters.
I'll leave that for you to ponder for now. I'm off to write a chapter for my forthcoming book on this subject.
Allen Taylor is the author of I Am Not the King.
This post was first published by Author Allen Taylor at Paragraph. Image from Pexels.
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Hail, friend
I believe that the best answer we have for this is that it is a metaphysical simplification. The Kingdom of God, from what I understand from my readings so far, is a mixture of a series of concepts, such as a state of mind, a place and a participle of the divine nature. This is why the kingdom of God is wherever his subjects are, regardless of their location
Of course, this is just an opinion on the topic and something I thought of when reading your text, which I found extremely inspiring
See you later
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Thanks for the comment.
Neither Jesus nor the Apostle Paul spoke of the kingdom of God using the terms you use. I'm not sure I understand what you are saying, exactly.
"A mixture of a series of concepts" I can go along with, to an extent. There is a little vagueness and some ambiguity to the kingdom's constitution. "A state of mind" I have more of an issue with. I don't think it is a state of mind, at all. "A place and participle of the divine nature" requires a little more thought. I'm not sure what you mean by "place and participle" although it definitely is an extension of God's divine nature. The statement, "This is why the kingdom of God is wherever his subjects are, regardless of their location" certainly is on mark, IMHO.
Holy and blessed day, brother in Christ
According to Saint Augustine, evil does not exist as an essence, but rather as the absence of good. That is why Epicurus' paradox is falsifiable, since it starts from a false premise, therefore, all possible conclusions are false. Even non-Christian authors, such as Hermes Trismegistus, agree with Augustine's definition, as it solves the problem logically and rationally. Furthermore, there is still the Aristotelian answer regarding the essence, where it is impossible to change the essence of a being, even if it changes its external appearance, and we were created in the image and likeness of God, which opens up a series of intrinsic characteristics to nature. human, objectively speaking, which are immutable. That's why Christ says "is it not written 'you are gods'?" (Psalm 82:6, John 10:34). We are not gods in the paganized form, but rather we have essence and characteristics similar to the divine
Given this short introduction, we can conclude a few things objectively. The first of them is that one of the definitions for the state of heaven corresponds to the absolute presence of good, and, because God is eternal, immutable, omnipresent and omnipotent, this is everywhere, and, as, according to Augustinian philosophy, this is the highest good, it is possible to conclude that being in eternal friendship with God is a state of mind, and not merely a physical place where you have to be to enjoy paradise
The second thing we can conclude is the divinization of the human being, achieved through the participation of the divine nature, as exemplified in the second epistle of Saint Peter, in the first chapter. We do not possess divine powers and omnipotence on our own, however, through the participle of the divine nature, we become participants in the work and virtues of God himself, and, if we have faith and a strong friendship with God, we can perform miracles as great as the of the apostles. This state of friendship could also, in my opinion, be considered heaven, since, in addition to being independent of physical location and being predicted in scripture, it is also contained in our divine nature, and the complete absence of this friendship, which also it is a state of mind and it is also the denial of our own deified nature, it is something close to what I could call "hell" (although it is not exactly that)
Christ also speaks several times in concepts that do not depend on physical location, such as saying that "he who does the will of the Father is truly my brother", "where two or more are gathered in my name, I will be among them", and others of the type. Although this is not complete proof of anything, it still corresponds to what was initially said, that it is not something dependent solely on a physical or metaphysical location, but rather on the location where its servants are
Finally, there is the physical location, which is narrated in parables, throughout the Christian tradition and in some aspects of Judaism. Although Christ always used metaphors in his parables, when he used them, he explained them, and he did not rule out the existence or non-existence of Hell and Paradise as real, physical locations. This makes me believe that both exist, although they are not limited to being just local
I think this explains better what I wanted to say about the topic
The peace of Crist
Thanks for the clarification, @arthursiq5. This is beautiful.
I'm familiar with this quote, and agree. I think he makes a very fine point.
Okay, I understand better where you are coming from with this. I think I agree with it, but I'll have to meditate on it a little longer. Excellent argument, though.
This is also a beautiful argument, but it appears to conflate heaven with the kingdom of God. I don't think they're the same thing. That said, I know we are in heaven right now with Jesus. However, I consider this a foretaste of the eternal presence of God we will enjoy with His future second coming.
On our divine nature, we are created in the image of God (Imago dei). Being created in His image implies very sharply something about our basic spiritual nature. It certainly implies, in my opinion, that we contain some basic qualities that God Himself possesses, although in limited form. For instance, if God is sovereign, which He is, then we too have a level of sovereignty. That means we have the ability, as God does, to make decisions without needing to consult anyone else. Of course, we understand that wisdom dictates that we must sometimes seek the counsel of others (Proverbs 15:22). Still, we can choose to make all of our decisions without seeking advice and input from others, including God Himself. That's limited sovereignty whereas God's sovereignty is ultimate.
I think this is important to understand so that we don't get too full of ourselves. It's humbling to know that I possess God's quality by virtue of being created in His image, even if there are strict limitations on my ability to make use of those qualities. The great sin of the human race is to make use of those qualities as if we are ourselves little gods, able to achieve the ultimate by our own effort and through our own wills.
I'm not so sure about that. I don't think they are physical locations, but I do believe they exist as metaphysical realms. That said, they do have implications for the physical realm.
Again, thanks for the clarification. I do understand your point better and you've likely changed my mind on at least one thing. With your permission, I may want to borrow some of this (conceptually as opposed to linguistically) for a book I'm writing about the kingdom of God and its past, present, and future.
No problem, you can use it, just show me later, I'm curious
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No problem. You can be an alpha reader if you'd like. I'll need an email or a way to let you know how to acquire the file.
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