Article 2018-01 Thy Kingdom Come
Chapter 40: Thy Kingdom Come
Introduction
According to Jesus’ prayer, God’s Kingdom will eventually be established on earth, visible for all. This only happens, when the last unreached people respond to the gospel. This means that reaching the unreached speeds up the return of Christ.
Scripture reference
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10)
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Matt. 24:14)
… before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb (Rev. 7:9)
The story
Shortly before Jesus died for the sins of the world, He walked with His disciples in the temple area, when they asked Him about future things. Jesus answered some of their questions, reminding them that He taught them to pray “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven…” and that the Kingdom of God is about reconciliation between God and man.
He had shown them signs and miracles to prove the validity of His claims and that this was how He established God’s Kingdom on earth. The disciples had seen it grow and understood where it was established first: in their own hearts. They had participated in establishing the Kingdom themselves.
He continued to teach about the end times, just prior to His return. He told them that after His death and resurrection He would go to the Father. But before He would come back, the good news had to be preached to all nations and that only then the end would come. He explained the clear connection between finishing the preaching of the gospel to the ends of the earth, and His return. He will not return before representatives of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues have been brought into His Kingdom. He had also explained, just before they went on their first short-term outreach, that to reach that goal, they had to pray that the Father would call and send laborers into His harvest.
Joseph told his brothers when they were to fetch Benjamin that they would not see his face again before they brought him in. Similarly, Jesus will not return – showing His face again – before the ‘youngest’ representative of the nations has been brought to Him.
Scripture reference
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come … So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him (Matt. 24:42,44)
A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return … He was made king … and returned home (Luke 19:12,15)
Comment
Jesus’ words to ‘be ready’ do not allow for a lack of vision for the coming King and His Kingdom. Those who do not expect Him will face judgment. We cannot afford to give most of our attention to temporary things.
When Jesus spoke about His second coming He referred to the days of Noah and of Lot. These believers were neither ignorant nor surprised when judgment came. They had been alerted in time to be saved. We may assume that when The Day approaches, most believers will, by revelation, have a collective awareness that the time is very near.
A remarkable aspect of Jesus’ parable of the minas is that He compared His going to heaven to be made King, with going to a distant land. His return to earth He calls ‘returning home’. It highlights His principle that where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. His heart is with us on earth to which He will return.
In addition to what is written in the other gospels, it becomes clear from Luke that the persecution that comes to the world, comes upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. The only escape Jesus offers is that of watching and praying. He says to His disciples – not to the crowds – that they must not be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, so that that day will close down on them unexpectedly, like a trap.
It would not have been necessary to say those words to the disciples concerning the end times, if they would already have been raptured. Jesus speaks about the great distress at the end of time and about the destruction of Jerusalem, that took place less than forty years after He spoke.
Is it not surprising, that so many of God’s children talk more about the rapture, than about the condition that needs to be met first? There will be no rapture and return of Christ before the gospel has reached the remotest corners of the earth, because Christ said that only then ‘the end will come’. Why do we talk more about the reward, than about the condition that needs to be met before the reward can be given?
Scripture reference
It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known … (Rom. 15:20)
You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming (2 Peter 3:11,12)
Comment, continued
Christ’s teaching that the Kingdom of God would reach total visibility on earth at His return, has always been inextricably linked with the execution of world missions. The coming Kingdom is one of our strongest mission motivators. By taking the gospel to places where it has not yet been preached, we extend the boundaries of the Kingdom and speed up Christ’s return. Once He has returned, together with His Church He will establish justice and peace on earth, and do away with wars, famines, natural disasters and sickness. Therefore, mobilizing the Church and recruiting mission workers, sending them to unreached people groups, brings Christ’s return closer. That ministry has such huge implications for the world’s well-being that we can only be amazed that it receives no more attention from the Church’s worldwide leadership, than it does at present.
Discussion & dialogue
- Discuss how churches can be taught to expect the coming Kingdom so much, that they will automatically start sending missionaries to unreached people groups
- Explain the connection between Matt. 9:37,38 & 24:14; how both are speeding up Christ’s return, and how they are tied up with Rev. 5:9 & 7:9
- List at least a dozen reasons (but rather more!) why Christ’s return will be the ultimate solution to all problems in the world
- Which 3 of the 10 themes feature in this chapter? How? (Answer: see Teacher’s Guide)
