In His model prayer, the Lord Jesus Christ gave the pattern of praying, "Thy kingdom come," an imperative of request. True believers will ask for God's kingdom to come. They want it.
The kingdom of God isn't some arbitrary kingdom like Vulgaria in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It is a particular, defined kingdom. Jesus is its king already. It's not subject to vote. He's already got the position and it is a lifetime appointment, which happens to be forever. If you want in that kingdom, you've got to accept His reign in advance. That means you like it. You desire it. You're asking for it already, can't wait until it gets here.
Christian girls who post themselves in their daisy dukes on instagram, I can tell you in advance, they won't like, they don't like, the kingdom of God. They want a different kingdom, not one where Jesus Christ reigns. Problem is that His is the only kingdom. The end of that model prayer reads: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever" (Luke 6:13), which is also a quotation of 1 Chronicles 29:11, the whole verse of which says:
Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.
I can see the moribund countenance of the professing Christian girl, who was just told she couldn't bring her shorts with her. When everyone else breaks into the grand chorus of praise, her lips are frozen. She can only sing if self-care or self-love are included, and then she would rock. At the prospect of the actual kingdom, she would ghost God if she could, because He won't let her dress like she wants in His kingdom. At last check, she still likes His air and food provision though.
One of the great losses of not praying like Jesus said is the absence of praying for the kingdom of God. Jesus is already reigning at the right hand of the Father in the midst of His enemies (Psalm 110:2). Everyone added to the kingdom in this era is giving in to that reign, which means submitting in a biblical church. It is an actual submission, not one like where you just put an X in the submission box, registering intellectual assent. Jesus threw the keys to the kingdom to the church, and you don't have to be in it. You can go ahead and take the temporal life you have as everything you're ever going to get.
I recognize that most churches today don't give the impression to people that they are already citizens of a kingdom, which means a rule is presently occurring. They are under a rule. This is why in the description of overseers or pastors, it says that they "rule" as the accurate, true verb of job description. Jesus is ruling, but they are carrying it on for Him as if it were Him.
Daisy Duke Christian imagines Vulgaria like the ink blot rorschach for the kingdom of God. Superimposed is "the grace of God." God's grace allows God's kingdom to be Vulgaria. Hey, I want in now! This is all fiction hatched in an imagination.
Daisy Duke Christian doesn't evangelize. She thinks by being "nice," that is evangelism. She's "nice" to everyone, while they die and go to Hell. They are in turn "nice" back to her, and everyone is a big nice happy family in the kingdom of Vulgaria. It is all a lie.
What I'm writing is also true of Nashville Profane Music Christian. None of these are going to be in the kingdom of God. They wouldn't even like it. If it showed up right now, they would reject it, unless they found out the alternative would be going to Hell. Then they would begrudgingly sign on to avoid that, hating every moment of it.
God won't take someone into His kingdom as a hostage with Stockholm syndrome. Actually, just the reverse is true. Daisy Duke Christian has developed a psychological affection for her captor, who happens to be the prince of this world. She's in bondage and she doesn't recognize that he is ruling over her. That's why she wants to stay, like Lot's wife looking yearningly toward her own vision of the kingdom, which identically matches the world system.
In one very true sense the kingdom has already started for actual kingdom citizens. They want to live now like they will for a thousand years after Jesus has made His enemies His footstool. They want to be with Him in church, His church, not the phantom church of pop Christianity, which not only allows but most often encourages daisy dukes. Those who don't like the actual kingdom of Jesus Christ now aren't real citizens. And there are no green cards. They will never get a temporary visa. Believing in Jesus does mean believing in Jesus, which its clear through the whole Bible means that you want Him as your King.
5 comments:
There were two comments on this post and I didn't publish them. I want to explain. The first is not out of fear or because I want someone to be nice. We've already explained that it is a Trinity issue first. There are a few other reasons we have explained, but let's just keep it there for now.
The second comment seems comes from an anonymous, who comments fairly regularly and I've posted a few of his comments, maybe a little less than half, because he is anonymous. Sometimes he uses foul language and I couldn't publish this one because of foul language. I'm pretty sure he doesn't think it was foul enough. He was also just trolling because half of what he wrote was untrue, it was misjudging motives (both of these putting it nicely), and he did not deal at all with the point of the post. This was about the nature of the kingdom of God. That isn't a chip on someone's shoulder. This is someone caring for people who will not be there, but are either deceived into thinking they are or they are just rebellious.
There were two more anonymous sarcastic comments, one of which talked about liking the post because Daisy Duke was bad because of the confederate flag on Duke car, and then forcing standards on people. No serious engagement of the point about the kingdom. Just red herrings.
August 28 a post is coming that will answer George. He will be able to comment.
Well, I thought this was a good article! It seems to me this would help wake up the mind and heart to think more carefully and more biblically in the ungodly times we are living in. I had just finished reading Leviticus through, slowly, thinking how wonderful God's kingdom will be. And then I read your article. So, Amen, Kent.
Thanks Priscilla!
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