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isaiah 60.1-2
sunday, march 2, 2025
1Arise, shine; for thy light is come,
and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
2For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
and gross darkness the people:
but the LORD shall arise upon thee,
and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
In recent years, it has brought me no end of pleasure to see the look of delight that spreads over the face of my grandchildren when they see me, grandpa—whether I am visiting them or they are visiting me. While I am no great man in either appearance or stature or character, their faces seem almost aglow with the joy they feel in seeing me. It is difficult to describe the joy of watching them run to close the space between us and leap into my arms. I think of this every time I read this passage.
Unlike me, God is a Being of great, greater, the greatest appearance and stature and character. I hear the invitation to “Arise, shine, for thy light is come” as being directed at me. God, my light, is coming. He is always coming. He is always ready to enter our lives. The thought of His approach sets my heart to pounding with joy. My face glows with the pleasure of His presence. All darkness is chased away. All is light for “God is light and in him is no darkness at all.”[1]
However brightly my countenance glows at His approach and the prospects of His presence, when He is near, when He has arrived, when He is present, He magnifies the glow a thousand-fold until not only my face by my entire being is warmed and filled with joy beyond words. That is my truth. I hope it is yours too.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
[1] 1 John 1.5
and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
2For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
and gross darkness the people:
but the LORD shall arise upon thee,
and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
In recent years, it has brought me no end of pleasure to see the look of delight that spreads over the face of my grandchildren when they see me, grandpa—whether I am visiting them or they are visiting me. While I am no great man in either appearance or stature or character, their faces seem almost aglow with the joy they feel in seeing me. It is difficult to describe the joy of watching them run to close the space between us and leap into my arms. I think of this every time I read this passage.
Unlike me, God is a Being of great, greater, the greatest appearance and stature and character. I hear the invitation to “Arise, shine, for thy light is come” as being directed at me. God, my light, is coming. He is always coming. He is always ready to enter our lives. The thought of His approach sets my heart to pounding with joy. My face glows with the pleasure of His presence. All darkness is chased away. All is light for “God is light and in him is no darkness at all.”[1]
However brightly my countenance glows at His approach and the prospects of His presence, when He is near, when He has arrived, when He is present, He magnifies the glow a thousand-fold until not only my face by my entire being is warmed and filled with joy beyond words. That is my truth. I hope it is yours too.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
[1] 1 John 1.5
mark 1.15--meditation 3 (eighth in "jesus' first words" series)
sunday, february 23, 2025
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
“The time has come, and God’s kingdom is imminent. Transform your views and actively believe this positive proclamation” (author’s translation).
In our first two meditations on this passage, we suggested that in recording Jesus’ announcement of the imminent inauguration of the kingdom of God as Jesus first recorded words, Mark sought to reveal how central the message and inauguration of the kingdom was to Jesus and his mission as he understood it. We also suggested that when Jesus spoke of the imminence of the kingdom, he used the word in the plain sense as his audience would have used and understood it—this out of simple respect for his audience and his sincere desire to communicate intelligibly. In his announcement of the kingdom or the rule of God, Jesus held out hope for something that his audience could experience imminently, in their daily lives of the here and now. Finally, we suggested that the kingdom of God could not be forced upon those who heard his proclamation any more than healing could be forced upon those who encountered Jesus in their illness and possession. Those who would enter the kingdom of God or experience his rule and control in their lives must choose to do so. Jesus identified two things that his audience must do: “repent” and “believe.
In our previous meditation, we first explored the second stipulation. Jesus specifically stipulated that his audience must believe his “positive proclamation” (the gospel, or the good news) that “God’s kingdom is imminent.”
In this meditation, we explore Jesus’ first stipulation: “repent,” or, as we translate it, “transform your views.” In our previous meditation, we mentioned the baggage that the word, “gospel” often carries. As we turn our attention to the idea of “repentance,” we must repeat this observation. Repentance has been loaded down with all sorts of qualifiers, explanations, steps, demands, etc.
The Greek word traditionally translated as “repent” is metanoéō. It combines the Greek preposition, meta, “with Greek nous. The preposition can carry all sorts of connotations, including, “with,” “after,” “again,” “anew,” etc. The latter element, nous can mean, “mind,” “insight,” “thought,” “perception,” “understanding,” “judgment,” “disposition,” and even “desire.”
In calling for repentance, Jesus called for a change of mind, a change in perception, a change in desires, a change in the way one views the world and the things of this world that swirl about them every second of every day. When discussing repentance, we usually focus on action and behavior. But action and behavior do not change without there being some change in perspective, view, judgment. A bad behavior is not changed or abandoned until it is perceived as bad. A bad behavior is not changed or abandoned until there is change in desire and desire to change. The desire to change must proceed the change itself.
Repentance, then, involves a radical and internal transformation of thought, perception, understanding, and desire. The sort of repentance that gives entrance to the kingdom of God is one that involves a radical, internal, and complete transformation of one’s worldview. The world as it is, is seen anew, with new eyes and a new perspective. It is seen for what it is. The world is seen as filled with the values of individuals, societies, and nations that lead away from the kingdom of God. It is seen as a place of twisted and damning values that are diametrically opposed to the divine and progressive values of the kingdom of God. At the same time, the sort of repentance that gives entrance to the kingdom of God is one in which the possibilities of the kingdom are viewed anew, and become seen as desirable, real, and attainable.
Jesus’ two stipulations that his audience “repent” and “believe,” then, are two sides of the same coin. They come very close to being the same thing.
The new worldview and the new “kingdomview” bring about new judgements about both. They bring about changes in values, changes in perspective, changes in desires. Finally, they bring about new behavior and new actions. Everything looks different. The money we carry. The car we drive. The home we live in. The material possessions that surround us. More importantly, the people who surround us. The society we inhabit. Everything. Everything looks different through the eyes of the penitent believer.
Jesus did not and does not think small. He is looking for nothing short of wholesale transformation of the world as we think of it and as we know it. It isn’t only or even primarily because it is just wrong. It is dead wrong. The world and its citizens cannot endure as it is. It must be transformed into the kingdom of God or die a slow agonizing death. The signs of its death are everywhere. The possibilities of its endurance are seen in Jesus and his positive proclamation of the kingdom of God.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
“The time has come, and God’s kingdom is imminent. Transform your views and actively believe this positive proclamation” (author’s translation).
In our first two meditations on this passage, we suggested that in recording Jesus’ announcement of the imminent inauguration of the kingdom of God as Jesus first recorded words, Mark sought to reveal how central the message and inauguration of the kingdom was to Jesus and his mission as he understood it. We also suggested that when Jesus spoke of the imminence of the kingdom, he used the word in the plain sense as his audience would have used and understood it—this out of simple respect for his audience and his sincere desire to communicate intelligibly. In his announcement of the kingdom or the rule of God, Jesus held out hope for something that his audience could experience imminently, in their daily lives of the here and now. Finally, we suggested that the kingdom of God could not be forced upon those who heard his proclamation any more than healing could be forced upon those who encountered Jesus in their illness and possession. Those who would enter the kingdom of God or experience his rule and control in their lives must choose to do so. Jesus identified two things that his audience must do: “repent” and “believe.
In our previous meditation, we first explored the second stipulation. Jesus specifically stipulated that his audience must believe his “positive proclamation” (the gospel, or the good news) that “God’s kingdom is imminent.”
In this meditation, we explore Jesus’ first stipulation: “repent,” or, as we translate it, “transform your views.” In our previous meditation, we mentioned the baggage that the word, “gospel” often carries. As we turn our attention to the idea of “repentance,” we must repeat this observation. Repentance has been loaded down with all sorts of qualifiers, explanations, steps, demands, etc.
The Greek word traditionally translated as “repent” is metanoéō. It combines the Greek preposition, meta, “with Greek nous. The preposition can carry all sorts of connotations, including, “with,” “after,” “again,” “anew,” etc. The latter element, nous can mean, “mind,” “insight,” “thought,” “perception,” “understanding,” “judgment,” “disposition,” and even “desire.”
In calling for repentance, Jesus called for a change of mind, a change in perception, a change in desires, a change in the way one views the world and the things of this world that swirl about them every second of every day. When discussing repentance, we usually focus on action and behavior. But action and behavior do not change without there being some change in perspective, view, judgment. A bad behavior is not changed or abandoned until it is perceived as bad. A bad behavior is not changed or abandoned until there is change in desire and desire to change. The desire to change must proceed the change itself.
Repentance, then, involves a radical and internal transformation of thought, perception, understanding, and desire. The sort of repentance that gives entrance to the kingdom of God is one that involves a radical, internal, and complete transformation of one’s worldview. The world as it is, is seen anew, with new eyes and a new perspective. It is seen for what it is. The world is seen as filled with the values of individuals, societies, and nations that lead away from the kingdom of God. It is seen as a place of twisted and damning values that are diametrically opposed to the divine and progressive values of the kingdom of God. At the same time, the sort of repentance that gives entrance to the kingdom of God is one in which the possibilities of the kingdom are viewed anew, and become seen as desirable, real, and attainable.
Jesus’ two stipulations that his audience “repent” and “believe,” then, are two sides of the same coin. They come very close to being the same thing.
The new worldview and the new “kingdomview” bring about new judgements about both. They bring about changes in values, changes in perspective, changes in desires. Finally, they bring about new behavior and new actions. Everything looks different. The money we carry. The car we drive. The home we live in. The material possessions that surround us. More importantly, the people who surround us. The society we inhabit. Everything. Everything looks different through the eyes of the penitent believer.
Jesus did not and does not think small. He is looking for nothing short of wholesale transformation of the world as we think of it and as we know it. It isn’t only or even primarily because it is just wrong. It is dead wrong. The world and its citizens cannot endure as it is. It must be transformed into the kingdom of God or die a slow agonizing death. The signs of its death are everywhere. The possibilities of its endurance are seen in Jesus and his positive proclamation of the kingdom of God.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
mark 1.15--meditation 2 (seventh in "jesus' first words" series)
wednesday, february 19, 2025
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
“The time has come, and God’s kingdom is imminent. Transform your views and actively believe this positive proclamation” (author’s translation).
In our first meditation on this passage, we suggested that in recording Jesus’ announcement of the imminent inauguration of the kingdom of God as Jesus first recorded words Mark sought to reveal how central the message and inauguration of the kingdom was to Jesus and his mission as he understood it.
We also suggested that when Jesus spoke of the imminence of the kingdom, he used the word as his audience would have used and understood it. The kingdom or the rule of God was something that his audience could experience imminently; in their daily lives of the here and now. Like those out of whom Jesus cast uncontrollable forces (evil spirits, in New Testament parlance), thus introducing a sense of control into their life, and like those whom he healed of various physical ailments (blindness, leprosy, deafness, palsy, etc.), thus introducing control where there had been none, Jesus’ audiences could expect to experience God’s immediate control in their lives. Such healings were a form of proclamation of the kingdom of God.
However, like those whom Jesus healed of physical and emotional ailments, those who heard Jesus’ verbal proclamation of the kingdom had a choice to make. The kingdom could not be forced upon the audiences that heard his verbal proclamation any more than Jesus forced healing upon the distressed. Just as those healed were healed because they made a conscious choice to believe that Jesus could heal them and to ask for healing, those who would enter the kingdom could enter only if they believed and asked.
Thus, in his proclamation of the kingdom of God and its imminent arrival, Jesus stipulated two things that his audience must do to experience the kingdom or rule of God in their present lives. In the language of the KJV, those two things are “repent” and “believe.” We must have a closer look at these two stipulations.
In this meditation, we will explore the second: “believe the gospel,” or, as my translation reads, “believe this positive proclamation.” We can mean a lot of things when we say “gospel.” We can use the word to encompass an entire theological universe and every single principle God has revealed. This understanding is too big for Jesus’ statement as found here in Mark. Really? One must believe about eight hundred million principles to enter… just enter… let along abide in the Kingdom? This understanding would have been too big for Jesus’ audience as well. How many principles could they have even been aware of? Heck, this understanding is too big for any audience. It is certainly too big for me.
No, here it is best to think of “gospel” in its most basic sense: “good news,” “positive message,” “happy message.” Jesus encourages his audience to believe his positive message, his good news. But what good news does he have in mind as he addresses this particular audience. In the Gospels, we can find Jesus delivering a good bit of good news. In these initial moments of Jesus’ ministry does he expect his audience to latch onto and believe every single one of his future happy announcements? Remember, in Mark when Jesus asks this audience to “believe,” he has spoken only a handful of words: “The time has come, and God’s kingdom is imminent.”
This is the good news that his audience must believe if they are to enter the kingdom of God: “The time has come, and God’s kingdom is imminent.” This is the good news that all of us must believe if we are to enter the kingdom of God. We must believe that God is prepared to take control of our lives for the better. That delivering our lives over to Him can change our lives immediately.
It can be difficult to believe good news. It can be difficult to believe in a better future. To be sure, I am having trouble finding good in the world around me right now. I am having trouble seeing a future for this world that is anything but worse. I am having trouble seeing Jesus doing anything about the deteriorating situation in which we find ourselves. But Jesus asks his audience and asks us to believe just this: that he sees a better future, and that better future is not far off.
The world as it is, as it always has been, may not be ready for God’s rule. It may not be ready to yield control to Him. But we can be ready. I am ready. Perhaps while the kingdom is imminent it is not evident. Jesus also had this to say about the kingdom of God.
“The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”[1]
Yes, even this modified, more humble form of the kingdom of God can be hard to believe. But Jesus asks us to believe that God can transform and take control of our out-of-control lives. Jesus spent his life reasserting godly control in our-of-control lives in an attempt to demonstrate and prove it. I believe those demonstrations and proofs. I have experienced one or two myself. I have to believe that if enough people hand control of their lives over to God, God can change the world. I don’t know how many people it takes. I don’t know how vocal and exemplary they must be. But I know that he knows. And I choose to trust Him and do my small part in helping to transform the world into the sort of place that is the good news of kingdom of God.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
[1] Luke 17.20-21
“The time has come, and God’s kingdom is imminent. Transform your views and actively believe this positive proclamation” (author’s translation).
In our first meditation on this passage, we suggested that in recording Jesus’ announcement of the imminent inauguration of the kingdom of God as Jesus first recorded words Mark sought to reveal how central the message and inauguration of the kingdom was to Jesus and his mission as he understood it.
We also suggested that when Jesus spoke of the imminence of the kingdom, he used the word as his audience would have used and understood it. The kingdom or the rule of God was something that his audience could experience imminently; in their daily lives of the here and now. Like those out of whom Jesus cast uncontrollable forces (evil spirits, in New Testament parlance), thus introducing a sense of control into their life, and like those whom he healed of various physical ailments (blindness, leprosy, deafness, palsy, etc.), thus introducing control where there had been none, Jesus’ audiences could expect to experience God’s immediate control in their lives. Such healings were a form of proclamation of the kingdom of God.
However, like those whom Jesus healed of physical and emotional ailments, those who heard Jesus’ verbal proclamation of the kingdom had a choice to make. The kingdom could not be forced upon the audiences that heard his verbal proclamation any more than Jesus forced healing upon the distressed. Just as those healed were healed because they made a conscious choice to believe that Jesus could heal them and to ask for healing, those who would enter the kingdom could enter only if they believed and asked.
Thus, in his proclamation of the kingdom of God and its imminent arrival, Jesus stipulated two things that his audience must do to experience the kingdom or rule of God in their present lives. In the language of the KJV, those two things are “repent” and “believe.” We must have a closer look at these two stipulations.
In this meditation, we will explore the second: “believe the gospel,” or, as my translation reads, “believe this positive proclamation.” We can mean a lot of things when we say “gospel.” We can use the word to encompass an entire theological universe and every single principle God has revealed. This understanding is too big for Jesus’ statement as found here in Mark. Really? One must believe about eight hundred million principles to enter… just enter… let along abide in the Kingdom? This understanding would have been too big for Jesus’ audience as well. How many principles could they have even been aware of? Heck, this understanding is too big for any audience. It is certainly too big for me.
No, here it is best to think of “gospel” in its most basic sense: “good news,” “positive message,” “happy message.” Jesus encourages his audience to believe his positive message, his good news. But what good news does he have in mind as he addresses this particular audience. In the Gospels, we can find Jesus delivering a good bit of good news. In these initial moments of Jesus’ ministry does he expect his audience to latch onto and believe every single one of his future happy announcements? Remember, in Mark when Jesus asks this audience to “believe,” he has spoken only a handful of words: “The time has come, and God’s kingdom is imminent.”
This is the good news that his audience must believe if they are to enter the kingdom of God: “The time has come, and God’s kingdom is imminent.” This is the good news that all of us must believe if we are to enter the kingdom of God. We must believe that God is prepared to take control of our lives for the better. That delivering our lives over to Him can change our lives immediately.
It can be difficult to believe good news. It can be difficult to believe in a better future. To be sure, I am having trouble finding good in the world around me right now. I am having trouble seeing a future for this world that is anything but worse. I am having trouble seeing Jesus doing anything about the deteriorating situation in which we find ourselves. But Jesus asks his audience and asks us to believe just this: that he sees a better future, and that better future is not far off.
The world as it is, as it always has been, may not be ready for God’s rule. It may not be ready to yield control to Him. But we can be ready. I am ready. Perhaps while the kingdom is imminent it is not evident. Jesus also had this to say about the kingdom of God.
“The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”[1]
Yes, even this modified, more humble form of the kingdom of God can be hard to believe. But Jesus asks us to believe that God can transform and take control of our out-of-control lives. Jesus spent his life reasserting godly control in our-of-control lives in an attempt to demonstrate and prove it. I believe those demonstrations and proofs. I have experienced one or two myself. I have to believe that if enough people hand control of their lives over to God, God can change the world. I don’t know how many people it takes. I don’t know how vocal and exemplary they must be. But I know that he knows. And I choose to trust Him and do my small part in helping to transform the world into the sort of place that is the good news of kingdom of God.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
[1] Luke 17.20-21
mark 1.15--meditation 1 (sixth in "jesus' first words" series)
sunday, february 16, 2025
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
“The time has come, and God’s kingdom is imminent. Transform your views and actively believe this positive proclamation” (author’s translation).
In our previous meditations in this series, we have used the first words of Jesus as recorded by each Gospel writer to glean insight into Jesus, his character, his thinking, his sense of mission and purpose, and the impact he can have in our lives. In Jesus’ first words as recorded in John, we found Jesus’ interest in human desire and his own desire to meet appropriate human desire. In his first words as recorded in Matthew, we found Jesus’ desire to please God and to bring others with him to a right standing with God. In Jesus’ first words as recorded in Luke, we found that Jesus’ first priority was to do his Father’s will.
In this meditation, we turn our attention to Jesus’ first words as Mark recorded them and what they tell us about Jesus, his character, his thinking, his sense of mission, and the impact he can have in our lives.
Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God some forty times in the Gospel of Matthew.[1] Matthew not only introduces the beginning of Jesus’ ministry as one focused on “the kingdom of heaven,” but says that “from that time Jesus began to preach… the kingdom of heaven.”[2] This suggests that the kingdom of God/heaven was a central feature of Jesus’ teachings and intentions throughout his ministry.
Jesus’ first words as Mark records them confirms this suggestion.
“The time has come, and God’s kingdom is imminent. Transform your views and actively believe this positive proclamation”
In making Jesus’ words about the kingdom God the first that he records Mark suggests that Jesus viewed the kingdom and its inauguration as the very purpose of his ministry. We wish to make several observations about Jesus’ initial and introductory proclamation about the kingdom of God.
First, Jesus saw the inauguration of the kingdom of God as being imminent. Its time had come, and he was tasked with inaugurating it. When we contemplate the kingdom of God, we often associate it with an after-life existence, making it, essentially, synonymous with “heaven.” But Jesus has something imminent in mind; something to be had and lived in this world, in the here and now. It will not do to suggest that in taking of the kingdom as imminent Jesus was using a figure of speech in which he was viewing time and imminence as God views them— ‘one day is with the Lord as a thousand years.’”[3] I, at least, must believe that Jesus respected those who listened to him and spoke so as to be understood by them. In speaking of the imminence of the kingdom, Jesus used imminent as his listeners used it and could understand it. Imminent meant imminent, something that individuals could experience imminently, in the near future as they understood the near future.
If we think of the kingdom of God as something for the here and now, we often think of it in organizational or institutional terms. I am also suspicious of this understanding. Rather than thinking of the kingdom in either eternal or institutional terms, I suggest Jesus thought and spoke of it in terms of “dominance,” “rule;” “The Rule of God has arrived.” “God is taking control.”
Jesus served as the announcer and the agent of God’s control. In Jesus, God took control over things that had previously been out of control. Jesus reveals and exercises God’s control throughout his mission. As but one example, we can point to Jesus’ exorcisms—indeed, exorcism of “evil spirits” went hand in hand with the message and inauguration of the kingdom of God. In exorcising “evil spirits”—which I take generally to be the healing of emotional and psychological illnesses—Jesus transformed individuals from a life in which they had no control to a life of control; a life in which God was in control. Individuals so healed, experienced “the kingdom of God,” or the “rule of God” in their immediate life. As Jesus viewed it, such individuals entered the kingdom of God immediately upon their encounter with him.
Jesus also served as the announcer of the kingdom through the principles that he taught. Over and over again, Jesus taught that the principles, the values, and even the material resources that controlled and governed this world must be abandoned in favor of those principles and values that governed the kingdom of God. By doing so, we are transformed from this present evil world[4] into the kingdom of God.
It is clear that Jesus understood that the kingdom of God would grow into something immense and enduring—think, for example, of Jesus parable of the mustard seed.[5] Jesus was attempting to create a new kind of society that could endure. This required individuals who could live by principles that made an enduring society possible. This society must of necessity grow one person at a time as one individual after another experienced and accepted God’s rule in their life and so found themselves in control of forces previously uncontrollable. It grew one person at a time as one individual after another accepted and lived the principles of the kingdom as Jesus taught them.
Do we, each of us, inhabit the kingdom of God, here, today, now? Have we handed control of our lives over to God? Do He and the principles upon which the kingdom is based govern our attitudes, our thoughts, our desires, our motives, our actions? The choice is ours. We are stronger when united with others who, like us, have entered the kingdom of God. Our entrance into and our habitation of the kingdom can be enduring. But in Christ Jesus we can enter individually right now, right where we are.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
[1] Where the other Gospel writers speak of the “kingdom of God,” Matthew speaks of the “kingdom of heaven.” It is generally thought that Matthew speaks of the “kingdom of heaven” rather than the “kingdom of God” out of a disinclination to refer to God directly out of respect for God, much as Jews avoid speaking the name of Yahweh, replacing it with LORD. Therefore Matthew’s “kingdom of heaven” should be understood as being precisely the same as the “the kingdom of God” spoken of elsewhere.
[2] Matthew 4.17
[3] 2 Peter 3.8
[4] See, Galatians 1.4
[5] See, Matthew 13.31-32/ Mark 4.30-34/ Luke 13.18-19
“The time has come, and God’s kingdom is imminent. Transform your views and actively believe this positive proclamation” (author’s translation).
In our previous meditations in this series, we have used the first words of Jesus as recorded by each Gospel writer to glean insight into Jesus, his character, his thinking, his sense of mission and purpose, and the impact he can have in our lives. In Jesus’ first words as recorded in John, we found Jesus’ interest in human desire and his own desire to meet appropriate human desire. In his first words as recorded in Matthew, we found Jesus’ desire to please God and to bring others with him to a right standing with God. In Jesus’ first words as recorded in Luke, we found that Jesus’ first priority was to do his Father’s will.
In this meditation, we turn our attention to Jesus’ first words as Mark recorded them and what they tell us about Jesus, his character, his thinking, his sense of mission, and the impact he can have in our lives.
Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God some forty times in the Gospel of Matthew.[1] Matthew not only introduces the beginning of Jesus’ ministry as one focused on “the kingdom of heaven,” but says that “from that time Jesus began to preach… the kingdom of heaven.”[2] This suggests that the kingdom of God/heaven was a central feature of Jesus’ teachings and intentions throughout his ministry.
Jesus’ first words as Mark records them confirms this suggestion.
“The time has come, and God’s kingdom is imminent. Transform your views and actively believe this positive proclamation”
In making Jesus’ words about the kingdom God the first that he records Mark suggests that Jesus viewed the kingdom and its inauguration as the very purpose of his ministry. We wish to make several observations about Jesus’ initial and introductory proclamation about the kingdom of God.
First, Jesus saw the inauguration of the kingdom of God as being imminent. Its time had come, and he was tasked with inaugurating it. When we contemplate the kingdom of God, we often associate it with an after-life existence, making it, essentially, synonymous with “heaven.” But Jesus has something imminent in mind; something to be had and lived in this world, in the here and now. It will not do to suggest that in taking of the kingdom as imminent Jesus was using a figure of speech in which he was viewing time and imminence as God views them— ‘one day is with the Lord as a thousand years.’”[3] I, at least, must believe that Jesus respected those who listened to him and spoke so as to be understood by them. In speaking of the imminence of the kingdom, Jesus used imminent as his listeners used it and could understand it. Imminent meant imminent, something that individuals could experience imminently, in the near future as they understood the near future.
If we think of the kingdom of God as something for the here and now, we often think of it in organizational or institutional terms. I am also suspicious of this understanding. Rather than thinking of the kingdom in either eternal or institutional terms, I suggest Jesus thought and spoke of it in terms of “dominance,” “rule;” “The Rule of God has arrived.” “God is taking control.”
Jesus served as the announcer and the agent of God’s control. In Jesus, God took control over things that had previously been out of control. Jesus reveals and exercises God’s control throughout his mission. As but one example, we can point to Jesus’ exorcisms—indeed, exorcism of “evil spirits” went hand in hand with the message and inauguration of the kingdom of God. In exorcising “evil spirits”—which I take generally to be the healing of emotional and psychological illnesses—Jesus transformed individuals from a life in which they had no control to a life of control; a life in which God was in control. Individuals so healed, experienced “the kingdom of God,” or the “rule of God” in their immediate life. As Jesus viewed it, such individuals entered the kingdom of God immediately upon their encounter with him.
Jesus also served as the announcer of the kingdom through the principles that he taught. Over and over again, Jesus taught that the principles, the values, and even the material resources that controlled and governed this world must be abandoned in favor of those principles and values that governed the kingdom of God. By doing so, we are transformed from this present evil world[4] into the kingdom of God.
It is clear that Jesus understood that the kingdom of God would grow into something immense and enduring—think, for example, of Jesus parable of the mustard seed.[5] Jesus was attempting to create a new kind of society that could endure. This required individuals who could live by principles that made an enduring society possible. This society must of necessity grow one person at a time as one individual after another experienced and accepted God’s rule in their life and so found themselves in control of forces previously uncontrollable. It grew one person at a time as one individual after another accepted and lived the principles of the kingdom as Jesus taught them.
Do we, each of us, inhabit the kingdom of God, here, today, now? Have we handed control of our lives over to God? Do He and the principles upon which the kingdom is based govern our attitudes, our thoughts, our desires, our motives, our actions? The choice is ours. We are stronger when united with others who, like us, have entered the kingdom of God. Our entrance into and our habitation of the kingdom can be enduring. But in Christ Jesus we can enter individually right now, right where we are.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
[1] Where the other Gospel writers speak of the “kingdom of God,” Matthew speaks of the “kingdom of heaven.” It is generally thought that Matthew speaks of the “kingdom of heaven” rather than the “kingdom of God” out of a disinclination to refer to God directly out of respect for God, much as Jews avoid speaking the name of Yahweh, replacing it with LORD. Therefore Matthew’s “kingdom of heaven” should be understood as being precisely the same as the “the kingdom of God” spoken of elsewhere.
[2] Matthew 4.17
[3] 2 Peter 3.8
[4] See, Galatians 1.4
[5] See, Matthew 13.31-32/ Mark 4.30-34/ Luke 13.18-19
meditation archives
OLD TESTAMENT
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| ot_genesis3_1-5_meditation.pdf |
genesis 4.9
| ot_genesis4_9_meditation.pdf |
genesis 6.5-6, 11-13
| ot_genesis6_5-6_11-13_meditation.pdf |
genesis 13.1, 5-12
| ot_genesis13_1_5-12_meditation.pdf |
genesis 29.15-30
| ot_genesis29_15-30_meditation.pdf |
genesis 31.43-55
| ot_genesis31_43-55_meditation.pdf |
exodus 13.3-10
| ot_exodus13_3-10_meditation.pdf |
leviticus 19.33-34
| ot_leviticus19_33-34_meditation.pdf |
2 samuel 21.1-14
| ot_2samuel21_1-14_meditation.pdf |
psalms introductory meditations
| ot_psalm0_introduction_meditation.pdf |
psalm 1 (16 meditations)
| ot_psalm1_meditations.pdf |
psalm 2 (9 meditations)
| ot_psalm2_meditations.pdf |
psalm 3 (6 meditations)
| ot_psalm3_meditations.pdf |
psalm 4 (5 meditations)
| ot_psalm4_meditations.pdf |
psalm 5 (11 meditations)
| ot_psalm5_meditations.pdf |
psalm 6 (4 meditations)
| ot_psalm6_meditations.pdf |
psalm 7 (5 meditations)
| ot_psalm7_meditation.pdf |
psalm 8 meditation
| ot_psalm8_meditation.pdf |
psalms 9 & 10 (15 meditations)
| ot_psalm9-10_meditations.pdf |
psalm 11 (3 meditations)
| ot_psalm11_meditations.pdf |
psalm 12 (3 meditations)
| ot_psalm12_meditations.pdf |
psalm 13 (3 meditations)
| ot_psalm13_meditations.pdf |
psalm 14 meditations (6 meditations)
| ot_psalm14_meditations.pdf |
psalm 15 meditations (6 meditations)
| ot_psalm15_meditations.pdf |
psalm 16 (11 meditations)
| ot_psalm16_meditations.pdf |
psalm 17 (7 meditations)
| ot_psalm17_meditation.pdf |
psalm 22 meditations (11 meditations)
| ot_psalm22_meditations.pdf |
psalm 46 (5 meditations)
| ot_psalm46_meditations.pdf |
psalm 119
| ot_psalm119_meditations.pdf |
all other psalm meditations
| 02_ot_meditations_psalms_24_05_15.pdf |
isaiah 1.21-23
| ot_isaiah1_21-23_meditation.pdf |
isaiah 3.4-8
| ot_isaiah3_4-8_meditation.pdf |
isaiah 3.9-11
| ot_isaiah3_9-11_meditation.pdf |
isaiah 9.3-7
| ot_isaiah9_3-7_meditation.pdf |
isaiah 40.1-2
| ot_isaiah40_1-2_meditation.pdf |
isaiah 60.1-2
| ot_isaiah60_1-2_meditation.pdf |
isaiah 61.1-3
| ot_isaiah61_1-3_meditation.pdf |
jeremiah 5 (7 meditations)
| ot_jeremiah5_meditation.pdf |
jeremiah 6.1-6
| ot_jeremiah6_1-5_meditation.pdf |
joel 2.12-14
| ot_joel2_12-14_meditation.pdf |
amos 5.10-13
| ot_amos5_10-13_meditation.pdf |
amos 6.3-6
| ot_amos6_3-6_meditation.pdf |
micah 7.18-20
| ot_micah7_18-20_meditation.pdf |
NEW TESTAMENT
matthew 2.1-3, 7-11
| nt_matthew2_1-3_7-11_meditation.pdf |
matthew 3.15 ("jesus' first words series)
| nt_matthew3_15_meditation.pdf |
matthew 5.23-28
| nt_matthew5_23-28_meditation.pdf |
matthew 6.9-13
| nt_matthew6_9-13_meditation.pdf |
matthew 6.24
| nt_matthew6_24_meditation.pdf |
matthew 11.28-30
| nt_matthew11_28-30_meditation.pdf |
matthew 20.25-28
| nt_matthew20_25-28_meditation.pdf |
matthew 21.1-11
| nt_matthew21_1-11_meditation.pdf |
matthew 21.12-16
| nt_matthew21_12-16_meditation.pdf |
matthew 22.34-40
| nt_matthew22_34-40_meditation.pdf |
matthew 24.42, 44, 46
| nt_matthew24_42_44_46_meditation.pdf |
matthew 26.26-46
| nt_matthew26_26-46_meditation.pdf |
mark 5.1-5
| nt_mark5_1-5_meditation.pdf |
mark 5.14-20
| nt_mark5_14-20_meditation.pdf |
mark 5.24-34
| nt_mark5_24-34_meditation.pdf |
mark 14.22-38
| nt_mark14.22-38_meditation.pdf |
luke 1
| nt_luke1_meditations.pdf |
luke 2
| nt_luke2_meditations.pdf |
luke 4.40-44
| nt_luke4_40-44_meditation.pdf |
luke 6
| nt_luke6_meditation.pdf |
luke 8.26-39
| nt_luke8_26-39_meditation.pdf |
luke 10.38-42
| nt_luke10_38-42_meditation.pdf |
luke 15.1-7
| nt_luke15_1-7_meditation.pdf |
luke 17.3-6
| nt_luke17_3-6_meditation.pdf |
luke 18.9-14
| nt_luke18_9-14_meditation.pdf |
luke 22
| nt_luke22_meditation.pdf |
luke 23
| nt_luke23_meditation.pdf |
luke 24
| nt_luke24_meditation.pdf |
john 1
| nt_john1_meditations.pdf |
john 4
| nt_john4_meditations.pdf |
john 10
| nt_john10_meditations.pdf |
john 13.36-38
| nt_john13_36-38_meditations.pdf |
john 14.16-21, 23
| nt_john14_16-21_23_meditations.pdf |
john 15.4-5
| nt_john15_4-5_meditations.pdf |
john 18
| nt_john18_meditations.pdf |
acts 2.14-21
| nt_acts2_14-21_meditations.pdf |
acts 3.12-18
| nt_acts3_12-18_meditations.pdf |
acts 5.29-32
| nt_acts5_29-32_meditations.pdf |
acts 7.2-8
| nt_acts7_2-8_meditations.pdf |
romans 1.18-23
| nt_romans1_18-23_meditation.pdf |
romans 5.6-11
| nt_romans5_6-11_meditation.pdf |
romans 8.31-34
| nt_romans8_31-34_meditation.pdf |
romans 8.35-39
| nt_romans8_35-39_meditation.pdf |
1 corinthians 1.1-3
| nt_1corinthians1_1-3_meditation.pdf |
corinthians1.4-9
| nt_1corinthians1_4-9_meditation.pdf |
1 corinthians 12.14-27
| nt_1corinthians12_14-27_meditation.pdf |
galatians 3.24
| nt_galatians3_24_meditations.pdf |
philippians 2.5-11
| nt_philippians2_5-11_meditation.pdf |
colossians 1.12-20
| nt_colossians1_12-20_meditation.pdf |
colossians 2.1-5
| nt_colossians2_1-5_meditation.pdf |
colossians 2.13-19
| nt_colossians2_13-19_meditation.pdf |
colossians 3.1-4
| nt_colossians3_1-4_meditation.pdf |
hebrews 13.1-2
| nt_hebrews13_1-2_meditations.pdf |
1 john 1.1-5
| nt_1john1_1-5_meditations.pdf |
1 john 1.8-10
| nt_1john1_8-10_meditations.pdf |
1 john 3.16-19
| nt_1john3_16-19_meditations.pdf |
1 john 5.9-13
| nt_1john5_9-13_meditations.pdf |
revelation 21.3-7
| nt_revelation21_3-7_meditations.pdf |
"jesus' first words (new testament series)
| nt_jesus_first_words_meditation_series.pdf |
BOOK OF MORMON
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| bm_1nepi11-14_meditation.pdf |
1 nephi 19.23
| bm_1nephi19_23_meditation.pdf |
1 nephi 25.23, 26-27
| bm_2nephi25_23_26-27_meditation.pdf |
jacob 1.8
| bm_jacob1_8_meditation.pdf |
jacob 2.17
| bm_jacob2_17_meditation.pdf |
mosiah 4.26-27
| bm_mosiah4_26-27_meditation.pdf |
mosiah 15
| bm_mosiah15_meditation.pdf |
mosiah 16.3-7
| bm_mosiah16_3-7_meditation.pdf |
mosiah 29.17, 21-23
| bm_mosiah29_17_21-23_meditation.pdf |
alma 7.7
| bm__alma7_7_meditation.pdf |
alma 26.16
| bm__alma26.16_meditation.pdf |
alma 31.24-28
| bm__alma31_24-28_meditation.pdf |
alma 31.27-29
| bm__alma31_27-29_meditation.pdf |
alma 33
| bm__alma33_meditation.pdf |
alma 34.15-18
| bm_alma34_15-18_meditation.pdf |
alms 37.9
| bm_alma37.9_meditation.pdf |
alma 39.8-9
| bm_alma39_8-9_meditation.pdf |
3 nephi 1.13-14
| bm_3nephi1_13-14_meditation.pdf |
3 nephi 6.10-12, 14
| bm_3nephi6_10-12_14.pdf |
3 nephi 11.9-11
| bm_3nephi11_9-11_meditation.pdf |
3 nephi 17.11-18
| bm_3nephi17_11-18_meditation.pdf |
3 nephi 27.30-32
| bm_3nephi27_30-32_meditation.pdf |
ether 3.2
| bm_ether3_2_meditation.pdf |
ether 12.32-34, 41
| bm_ether12_32-24_41_meditation.pdf |
DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS / PEARL OF GREAT PRICE
dc 3
| dc3_meditation.pdf |
dc 10
| dc10_meditation.pdf |
dc 20
| dc20_meditation.pdf |
dc 37
| dc37_meditation.pdf |
dc 38.23-27
| dc38_23-27_meditation.pdf |
dc 49.5-7
| dc49_5-7_meditation.pdf |
dc 49.20
| dc49_20_meditation.pdf |
dc 76.1-4
| dc76_1-4_meditation.pdf |
dc 76.5-10
| dc76_5-10_meditation.pdf |
dc 84.112
| dc84_112_meditation.pdf |
dc 88.123
| dc88_123_meditation.pdf |
dc 101.37-38
| dc101_37-38_meditation.pdf |
dc 101.46-51
| dc101_46-51_meditation.pdf |
dc 128.22-23
| dc128_22-23_meditation.pdf |
dc 138.11-12, 15-16, 18-19
| dc138_11-12_15-16_18-19_meditation.pdf |
moses 7.18
| pgp_moses7_18_meditation.pdf |
Hymn #72
| hymn_72_meditation.pdf |
MEDITATION SERIES
Jjesus' first words
| nt_jesus_first_words_meditation_series.pdf |