When Jesus walked this earth, He revealed His Kingdom to us through His words and His actions. The secret to understanding the Kingdom and living as its citizens is found in the life of Christ. Jesus and the Kingdom are the same; He is the Kingdom embodied.
Jesus gave us the first hint into what His Kingdom is all about when He preached His first sermon in His hometown of Nazareth.
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,…the Kingdom includes love, grace, peace, and life with race equality, gender equality, health equality, and economic equality for all. Is this list of Kingdom attributes exhaustive? No, but it is a start, and it is based on the teachings and the life of Christ.
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:16-21).
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Restricted by a finite mind, and depending upon Scripture and the Holy Spirit's revelation, I must confess up front that there are many things about the Kingdom that I'm still learning. I'm convinced that we will always be learning, as we follow Christ until the conclusion of our journey, but there is one thing concerning the Kingdom that I'm certain of today—it's all about Jesus.
(The above is excerpted from the book, The Kingdom According to Jesus, by Gregory A. Johnson. Copyright © by Gregory A. Johnson. All rights reserved. Click here for a complete list of books, authored by Gregory A. Johnson)Beloved, as we follow Jesus on our journey from earth to glory, we will reveal his kingdom to a lost and dying world. Allow him to live his life through you. Allow him to touch others through you. Always be reminded that it’s all about Jesus.
Know that you are loved,
gaj
