Assignment: Students will submit a 500-600 word
paper by April 16 titled, "The Kingdom of Heaven is..." This should
be a succinct articulation of the student's concept of the meaning of the
kingdom. This is not a research paper. Rather, it is a reflection of the
student's current understanding of the kingdom.
Response:
The Kingdom of Heaven is difficult
for me to describe. This is partially
due to the lack of teaching and preaching that I have heard on the Kingdom of
Heaven. In contrast, the little I have
heard about the Kingdom of Heaven from different pastors and professors has
been either ambiguous or contradictory to what others have told me. I, however, can best describe the Kingdom of
Heaven as an “already-not yet” reality.
The Kingdom of Heaven is, in a
sense, already a reality. On the other
hand, it has yet to come. The fullness
of the Kingdom has yet to be realized.
This “fullness” will come upon the return of Christ. Often times, it is this future sense of the
Kingdom that people most often refer to or understand “The Kingdom of Heaven”
to refer to.
In fact, many believe that we “usher
in” the Kingdom. Now I am no eschatology
expert, and I can’t even say that I have formed any opinion on what I believe
will happen or the timeline in which it will happen. I do not, however, believe that we bring in
the future Kingdom of God. I do believe
that the Kingdom of Heaven is a present reality. What we do on Earth does not speed the coming
of the Kingdom, but it does have eternal effect on the Kingdom.
When we pray “Your kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” I do not think that we are
praying for a future thing. We are
praying for God’s will, for God’s kingdom, to be a present reality on
earth. The passage of scripture that has
best helped me understand this present-future tension is Philippians 3. Paul explains that our citizenship is in
heaven. Paul’s argument though is about
the present life. Since our citizenship
is currently (not just in the future) in heaven, because the Kingdom of God is
our “commonwealth” rather than the earthly “kingdoms,” it should change the way
that we live our present lives.
There are two aspects to kingdom
living I think. First, personal holiness.
We must live our own lives as members of the Kingdom of God rather than the kingdoms
of this world. Second, as members of
Christ’s Kingdom we must act out social holiness. We must make our world look like the Kingdom
of God by acts of compassion and social justice. This is where we truly pray that God’s
Kingdom come – that the Kingdom with no more suffering or pain may be here
now. Though pain and suffering will not
entirely disappear until the fullness of Christ’s Kingdom is realized, we can make
an eternal impact in the Kingdom by making a difference in the lives of others
now.
The Kingdom of Heaven is
present. If that were all it was, it
would be a great disappointment. The
Kingdom of heaven is future. If it was
just in the future, we would have little purpose in life. Because the Kingdom of Heaven is both present
and future, it guides the way we live now and gives us great hope for the
future.
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