Jesus taught people to pray (hmm – another Sacred Echo – see 8/24 “Put on your “Amor of God” Every Day – LET’S PRAY!” and “Papa – Your Name is Holy” on 8/23) “Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10).
The author of this study, Nancy Guthrie, asks, “How do you think his will is done in heaven? In his heavenly throne room all creatures serve him with a glad yes, yes, yes. There is no pause to determine whether his command suits their preferences, or will fit in their busy schedules. (OUCH!!! Added by Judi – not the author).
She continues by saying, “Throughout his earthly ministry Jesus was constantly pulling back the curtain to reveal what the kingdom of God will be like when his kingdom comes in all of its glorious fullness. He healed those with diseases, showing that sickness and disease have no place in his kingdom. He commanded the demons to depart, because nothing evil will have its way forever in his kingdom. He stilled the sea, showing that all nature submits to his command in his kingdom. He fed multitudes, revealing the abundant satisfaction to be found in his kingdom. He raised Lazarus to life, previewing the day when the bodies of all his kingdom subjects will be raised to resurrection life.”
WOWOWOW!!! – I don’t know about you – but this is so awe inspiring. ONE of my favorite Scriptures is Matthew 8:27 “The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!")
“Through his sin-atoning death, Jesus proved that sin and death no longer get the last word in his kingdom. In his resurrection he previewed the future hope of those who will populate his kingdom. And in his ascension he entered into the current realm of his kingdom.
I LOVE what she wrote next . . . “Jesus came telling us exactly how we should respond to his kingdom at hand. He did not say, “Follow my example; try real hard to live like me.” Instead he said, “Repent and believe in the gospel.” What does that mean? To repent is much more than shedding tears over your past. It is to identify your sin and sinfulness and turn your back on it so that you can pursue Christ. It is to turn away from greed and toward gospel-empowered generosity. It is to turn from always giving in to lust without a thought and toward battling against it through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is to turn from your determination to run your own life the way you please to saying “Jesus is Lord” and to really mean it. That’s repentance.
To believe is, first to know the content of the gospel, than anyone can be right with God – acquitted, forgiven, restored, adopted – through trusting faith in Jesus’s atoning death and victorious resurrection. But to believe is more than just knowing this. It is to come under it, to rest in it, to take it into the very center of your life.
Jesus comes to us as our true King, saying to each of us: “Repent and believe the gospel.” So I have to ask you, as we get started in this study, have you ever come to repentance? Life in the kingdom is not about self-improvement, trying to become a better person or a more spiritual person. To be in the king of God is to recognize that your sin is an offense to the king and to choose to abandon it so that you might pursue and please the king. Have you believed – going beyond just knowledge about Christ to putting your whole confidence in him? If you walk away having learned everything there is to know about the history books of the Old Testament (Joshua -> Esther), yet you never turn toward the King in repentance and belief, all the time you spent increasing your knowledge will serve only to make you even more responsible for your defiant rebellion or your informed apathy toward the King.
So if you want to know how to enter the kingdom of God, it is to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done in my life, in my heart, on this earth, in the same way that your will is gladly done by all of the angels in heaven.” It is to say “Jesus is Lord – Lord over my choices, Lord over my finances, Lord over my future.” . . . We don’t receive Christ as Savior and then at some later point, as it suits us, make him Lord. Jesus is Lord . . . It is never anything less than that, because he is never anything less than the true King. What saves people is the grace of the King who reigns over them . . . it makes no sense that someone who has truly come under the loving rule of King Jesus would continue to live a life of pursuing ongoing rebellion against the ways of the King and the kingdom. But we must also admit that we all have territory in our lives, in our hearts that we have yet to cede to the rule of our King, areas about which we say to our King: “Everything else in my life you can have your way with, but not this. This, I will continue to manage and control.”
We have all loved the first two books - The Promised One (Genesis) and The Lamb of God (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy).
This study covers the history books of the Old Testament - Joshua to Esther.
Come join us!!! May you be blessed as you bless others.