Thy Kingdom Come (on earth?)

I have been thinking about the Kingdom of Heaven lately, especially as relates to the Sermon on the Mount. I believe that the language and considerations of the kingdom have been set aside thus shortening our ability to be the kingdom builders Christ has commanded. Our vision has become tiny even while the fields are yet white for the harvest. We are to be earnestly praying for the kingdom to come but we find ourselves hardly believing that this promised kingdom has anything to do with life in this world. We await a future hope but have no hope for any victory for the King or kingdom in our era. We have become not only men of no vision we have become men with no eyes. We are not like Simeon who, though full of days, was yet looking for the ‘consolation of Israel’ (Luke 2:25) or Anna who was looking for the ‘redemption of Jerusalem’ (Luke 2:38). We do not have an expectation that God will build His kingdom in our time and place. We act as if the saving of a few souls is all that can be expected at this supposedly late hour. We cannot envision the redemption of our cities or our nation. We read of the prophets and heroes but we do not carry their hope.

As I read through the Sermon on the Mount there was a rising understanding that this sermon was much more than I previously realized. For years I had read this Scripture as a disconnected string of high-minded platitudes. I understood them as disordered reminders of how we should live. They were poetic and a bit naïve (although I would not have used that word). Who actually believes that the “meek shall inherit the earth” for instance or that God’s will will be done “on earth as it is in heaven?” I would read these words and figure they must have some high spiritual meaning not really connected to anything around me. This is often the way of sin and doubt of course, we see no relation to God’s clear word in anything around us. We assume He was just using that high churchy language that has nothing directly to do with us. Maybe it was written for the scholars. Or, perhaps, our eyes are not seeing clearly due to our prevailing theology. Maybe our notions about what God’s purposes are and His direction for history and the kingdom are being misunderstood due to our philosophical rejection of His word and its implications.

Would it be too lofty for me to claim that the Sermon on the Mount is more that just a sermon? Is it better understood as the moral manifesto of the New Covenant People? Is it the re-giving of the moral law for us, the “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16)? I believe it is exactly that. Much of the language, particularly in the Beatitudes, is carried forward from the Old Testament, yet there is newness and a fresh power purposely structured into this sermon. And, the language of the kingdom pervades from the beginning, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3) to the closing phrases. This message circles around the building of the kingdom. There are assumptions and ideals concerning the kingdom that are framed into the sermon’s language. We miss them to our detriment, to the squandering of our energy on a shriveled vision.

Current theological fads teach us that the kingdom is something we will enter when we die. We labor for the kingdom but our labors are not for this world, only for the next. Evangelism may lead to some being saved but they are saved for future reward not for any building of the kingdom in the here and now. The kingdom is more a reward than it is a historical fact. It is for the future not for now. Yet, when we read the Sermon on the Mount we see a pervasive crossover in the kingdom promises and language. For instance Matthew 5:5 informs us that the meek shall inherit the earth. This is not an other-worldly promise. I believe if we carefully investigate the language and review every nuance we discover that what this promise means is, the meek shall inherit the EARTH. In about the middle of the Sermon (Matthew 6:9-13) Jesus instructs His disciples on how to pray telling them to request, ”Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on EARTH as it is in heaven.” So, Jesus connects the coming of the kingdom to His will being done on earth. He closes that prayer with another reference to the kingdom. In these places He is discussing the kingdom as if it is a current kingdom being built on earth. Yet elsewhere He talks as if the kingdom is a future place saying things like, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven…” It is from these kinds of usages that I have concluded that the kingdom of heaven is a real, historical kingdom that has begun its operations here and will conclude them in the eternal heaven. We are to be kingdom builders now and our work will in some real fashion extend into heaven. This is not heaven but we are within the ‘kingdom of heaven’.

Every kingdom has not only a king but lands (“The earth is mine” Exodus 19:5) and servants and armies. It has lands to defend, courts to dispense justice, law to enforce, and soldiers who will die with honor for the king. We are the Israel of God. We are the chosen people. We are a holy people and a chosen nation. We are the redeemed, chosen before the foundation of the world. We are to preach and live the message of the kingdom. We are the heralds of the New Covenant, the mercies of God, and eventually, the great living horde who stands before the throne. We are ambassadors for Christ. We represent the heavenly kingdom here and now and make its cause before the eyes of men. We seek the justice that God seeks in this world. We preach the mercy that God gives to the redeemed. We kill convicted murderers. We give help to the widows and orphans. We seek righteous government and a holy church. Our actions are not directed only to a future heaven. Our lives are expended in service of our King who rules both this world and the worlds to come. We are the people of the cross and of Christ. They will know us by our fruits. We can do all things through Him who strengthens us. We are not to abandon this world and wait only for heavenly rescue. We are to build Biblical civilization here, in our time as God allows. It is well past time to return to the work of building the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Nothing less will achieve the purposes of God.

For Christian Civilization,

Don Schanzenbach