If you had asked me 30 years ago what the Kingdom of God was about, I would have mentioned the future reign of Christ over the whole earth. I might have quoted Dan. 2:44 or Rev 11:15, as Herbert Armstrong did in his booklet on the subject.
In those days in the old Worldwide Church of God (WCG), we placed a lot of emphasis on that coming kingdom. We were adventists, and the reality of Jesus' second advent was very important to us. And so in reading Jesus' teachings about the Kingdom in the Gospels, we tended to emphasize some verses and read past some other ones.
Later, when WCG instituted doctrinal reforms in the 1990s, it began to present a more complete teaching that recognized the Kingdom as both a present and a future reality.
In chapter 13 of Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg give a wonderful summary of Jesus' multifaceted teaching about the Kingdom of God, enhanced by comparison with early rabbinic teaching.
Like the rabbis, Jesus seemed to see the Kingdom broadly in terms of God's reign. And so to pray "thy kingdom come" means not only to pray for Jesus' return, but also...
[More]
Tags:
lois tverberg, rabbi jesus, wcg
Posted at: 01:03 AM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
