he Good News of the Kingdom is at the heart of the ministry of Christ

[Guest guest]

" On the lips of Jesus the term Kingdom of God unquestionably

summarized the very heart of His Message. " The Kingdom of God is the

central theme of the teaching of Jesus, and it involves His whole

understanding of His own person and work " (Theological Word Book of

the Bible, Alan Richardson, p. 119).

 

Yet the voluminous discussions of the meaning of the Kingdom of the

God, the heart of the Gospel preached by Jesus, and therefore the

Christian Gospel, continue to leave the impression that the subject

is complex in the extreme, indeed that the truth of the matter is

virtually beyond recovery. An enormous amount of scholarly energy has

gone into analyzing the biblical and non-biblical evidence in an

effort to explain what Jesus taught as His central theme. Can it

really be that our New Testament records provide no clear idea of

what Christ and the Apostles meant us to understand by the Kingdom of

God? Nothing less than the Gospel message of salvation is at stake.

 

Nearly all writers on this subject agree that the Kingdom has both a

present and a future reference in the teaching of the New Testament.

But it is the present reference which seems always to attract most

attention, the impression being given that Jesus insisted on the fact

that the Kingdom of God had arrived with His ministry. How deeply

that notion has been instilled in us can be tested by asking in a

variety of religious circles what is understood by the term Kingdom

of God. Almost invariably the reaction will be that it is a present

reality, a reign of God in the hearts of the believers, the Kingdom

thus being, in some sense, synonymous with the Church. Now that

emphasis might well appear convincing, were it not for a large number

of impressively simple New Testament passages which flatly contradict

the notion that the Kingdom was present, in the sense that the

Kingdom itself had come with Jesus. Surprisingly, these passages seem

to have escaped notice. Yet they provide the most obvious support for

the fact that the coming of the Kingdom is linked overwhelmingly in

the New Testament not with the ministry of Jesus in Palestine, but

with the Coming of the Messiah in the glory of His Kingdom at the end

of the age (popularly, but wrongly known as the end of the world). It

is essential, therefore, at the outset, to make a fundamental

distinction between the proclamation of the Good News of the Kingdom,

which is at the heart of the ministry of Christ and the Apostles, and

the future coming of the Kingdom which is consistently associated

with His Coming in glory at the end of the " present evil age " (Gal.

1:4). "

 

Anthony Buzzard, The Kingdom of God: Present or Future?

(www.mindspring.com/)

 

 

 

" This is the Last Judgment. Remember, God will not bow before you.

You have to accomplish Him in your own freedom. If you have not

achieved Him it is not His fault nor is it of Sahaja Yoga. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi