Kingdom Come

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven:

“The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,^[c]
    and he will reign forever and ever.”~ Revelation 11:5

The chronology of the prophecy is,  as I have stated previously,  very hard to track.

I have heard theorys saying that the whole of history is covered several times.
And then at what point do we determine whether numbers are used symbolically or literally?  I am pretty sure that both are used,  but trying to understand when and how is not a simple task.

Time is pretty messed up in Revelation.

And this proclamation that the world has now become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ,  does not seem to herald,  within the narrative,  any immediate perceptible change. 

In fact,  it all seems to kick off again.

Wars in heaven,  the dragon on earth,  the war-making beast from the sea drawing worship from all the people's on the earth. All following this proclamation. 

And yet,  we are told in this proclamation that the Kingdoms of this world have become his Kingdom.

Now there is a sense in which everywhere,  everyone and everything are his Kingdom,  and always have been.

But the Bible speaks of the Kingdom as now and not yet.

It is here,  and yet it is to be realised.

I live in a place called the United Kingdom.

It only really struck me for the first time, just a few days ago, that we do not live in a Republic but in a Kingdom and under a monarchy.

I was looking at Europe and realising that the vast majority of nations in the EU are democratic republics,  but we are a Kingdom.

The domain of a King.

Except of course,  we have a queen right now,  but presuming nothing changes we will have a King again,  in the not too distant future.

But why did that word  kingdom, in all my years as a subject of the same, not impress itself on me?

Because the reign of our Monarch is largely, if not entirely, a symbolic one.

 

She has no real power.
She passes no laws in person.

Her Kingdom is ineffectual and token. 

And the temptation is to,  subconsciously perhaps,  view the Kingdom of God in the same way. 

We see precious little of his influence on the Government's of the world,  we do not see his laws enforced,  we do not see him revered. 

He could,  if we look without the eyes of faith,  seem an ineffectual monarch. 

But we do not regularly acknowledge that it is his invisible power that sustains all life,  merely by the power of his word. 

This is truly his Kingdom. 

But yet it is not yet come in full. 

The devil has lost his place in heaven,  but one day he will lose his place on earth too. 

The 'God of this world' will be cast into the pit of hell for all eternity,  and the physical reign of Christ on earth will come. 

And not just for a while. 

No. 

Forever. 

And ever. 

And ever. 

My pastor uses this analogy of world war two to explain the situation of the Kingdom to come. 

From the moment of the D-day landings in Normandy,  the outcome of the war was determined. Hitler could not win. But the war dragged on until VE day.  The outcome was assured,  victory a tactical guarantee,  but it still had to be worked out.  

Battles were still to be fought.  Casualties were to be had on both sides.  But victory was coming. 

And The cross,  for us,  is our D-DAY. 

King Jesus is the rightful King. 

He conquered sin and death. 

Victory is assured. 

But it is still being worked out. 

That is why so much suffering presently continues...  

But one glorious day we will see it crushed once and for all,  and we will have a coronation ceremony the likes that has never been seen in all of history, when King Jesus takes his throne and every knee will bow and every tongue confess. 

Until then. We battle on,  bringing his Kingdom where we are. 

Make your today the domain of King Jesus. 

And your tomorrow. 

Amen.