THE KINGDOM OF GOD
(God's plan, purpose, authority and righteous rule)
(Jesus' systemic theology not systematic)
QUOTES ABOUT THE KINGDOM
Edward A. Steiner -(1910) "Against the Current" -- "This is clear to me: that Christ meant to bring together the alienated, to harmonize the discordant, to heal ancient wounds caused by the mere struggle for self, and that into the world's disorder He intended to bring a new order, which He called the Kingdom of Heaven. My most valuable possession is this conviction: The task is unfinished, the conflict is still on and it is my business to invest my life in such a way as to make true the dream of the Son of Man."
Tolstoy -- "The Kingdom of God must be within you, if you want to hasten its coming into the world. Give everything and ask for nothing in return. "Am I to set this world right?" No, not the world but myself." How shall I know that I am right?" "By living in obedience to the law of God? "Do not return evil for evil, Do not hate anybody, Maintain the dignity of your own personality, Love everyone even your enemies." You can't make this world right unless you are right." pp 204-9--&13
John Bright - "The Kingdom of God" -"Behind all earthly striving the Apocalyptic reveals the continuing combat between good and evil, light and darkness, the creator God and the destructive power of chaos, which summons men to take sides. There can be no neutrality. Whoever decides for the right, however humble he may be, has struck a blow for the Kingdom of God in a combat of decisive significance. .. There was an apocalyptic faith that strengthened thousands of little people to obedience unto death, confident that their reward was with God.
(Dan. 12: 1- 4) Let all who scoff ask themselves if their more polite religion does as much."
“There is in the Apocalyptic a very sound instinct which we ignore at our own peril, namely: the Kingdom of God is not man's creation, but God's. Perhaps the scorn of these eschatologists for what man can do was too total, even naive -- for God does use men. They bring us a needed reminder which we desperately need to hear: that we cannot simply take the Kingdom by the arm and "usher it in"; only God can do that. The Apocalyptic is, therefore a rebuke to the hubris of man forever seeking to produce a perfect world order by political maneuvering, social planning, and military preparation-- without reference to God. It is a rebuke to the blasphemous hubris of the church of God, which will just "win the world for Christ" bring in the Kingdom by preaching, conferences, and well-administered programs. The people of God are summoned to the side of God's Kingdom in the cosmic struggle, but they cannot produce the Kingdom in terms of their own activity. True the apocalyptic expectation that few would be saved may well seem harsh. Nevertheless, tolerance and good heartedness must not tempt us to blink the inexorable conclusion. "The Kingdom of God comes only for those who will be His people and obey Him. It can have no other citizens. "Truly the gate is narrow." (Matt. 7: 14)
Richard C. Halverson - "One explanation of the impotence of the Church is the separation of the gospel of salvation from the gospel of the Kingdom as if they were two separate and distinct matters. In the New Testament they are connected and inseparable. For many the Gospel is now and the Kingdom future -which makes it possible to believe the gospel and ignore the Kingdom's principles -enjoy your salvation without obeying the King." They demand Kingdom conditions - without Kingdom of God requirements. They want Kingdom benefits but they do not want to serve the King who makes the benefits possible. Wanting one's own way is anarchy- order and anarchy are mutually exclusive -anarchy and chaos are synonymous. Only God's order guarantees an ideal social environment and that is the Kingdom of God." (1978)
E. Stanley Jones - "The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person" "The Kingdom of God is God's total order expressed in rule and reign, in the individual and society; The nature of the Kingdom is social; the entrance is by a personal new birth. The character of the kingdom is seen in the character of Jesus - the Kingdom is Christ likeness universalized. It is a total order demanding total obedience and it brings total freedom." pp 75 (1972)
Weatherhead - "In Quest of a Kingdom " - (parable of the prodigal son) "So we see that the only man in real danger of remaining outside the kingdom is the man who thinks he is safely inside; that the most dangerous drug to take to deaden the pain of God's awakenings is a pseudo religion that is not Christianity, since it is not based first and last on a relationship with Christ; that the deepest dugout in which to hide from God is that of good deeds done to buy His favor and win a reward, while all the time you remain outside the love relationship and repudiate the obligation of the family, in both regard both to God and his other children." PP 99 (1945)
Pat Robertson - "The Secret Kingdom " Jesus immediately established the fact that an invisible world under girds, surrounds and interpenetrates the visible world in which we live.... The problem of the world, and too many Christians, is not simply refusing to acknowledge the possibility of such a Kingdom, but failing to perceive that it exists right now, not in some far-off place in the future. This is strange because Jesus spent virtually His entire earthly ministry telling people that the Kingdom of God had come and then explained its workings. Even we Christians miss it as we soaked up the good news of salvation, the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the fellowship of the Body of Christ and the future millennium." (1982)
George E. Ladd - "Crucial questions about the Kingdom of God" -- "Kingdom righteousness exceeds scribal righteousness by reaching to a man's motives, by requiring more than a proper outward conduct by demanding inner righteousness as well ... How can legalism control anger and lust? These are matters of the heart and of inner motive. The law, properly speaking, can control only one's actions. The new righteousness, the reign of God in a man's life, demands precisely an inner righteousness, a righteousness of heart. The will of God is concerned with what a man is as the source of what he does... A readiness to forgive is a proof that one has been forgiven.... only those who surrender their hearts to the newly manifested reign of God, who thereby come to posses the inner righteousness which the old law could not produce, will have access to the final glorious kingdom when it shall come. Others who have only an external, formal righteousness, who on this ground will claim a place in the kingdom, will be cast out." PP 126- 127 (1952)
Dr. Hebert Hoefer - The problem in India - "Lack of theology of the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is more than the Church, Local or Global. The work of God is bigger than the work of the Church. Protestants lack a theology of the Kingdom as the broader context for our theology of salvation. We would do well to learn from the ancient Churches." “The Burden of the Past.”
Edward A. Steiner -(1910) "Against the Current" -- "This is clear to me: that Christ meant to bring together the alienated, to harmonize the discordant, to heal ancient wounds caused by the mere struggle for self, and that into the world's disorder He intended to bring a new order, which He called the Kingdom of Heaven. My most valuable possession is this conviction: The task is unfinished, the conflict is still on and it is my business to invest my life in such a way as to make true the dream of the Son of Man."
Tolstoy -- "The Kingdom of God must be within you, if you want to hasten its coming into the world. Give everything and ask for nothing in return. "Am I to set this world right?" No, not the world but myself." How shall I know that I am right?" "By living in obedience to the law of God? "Do not return evil for evil, Do not hate anybody, Maintain the dignity of your own personality, Love everyone even your enemies." You can't make this world right unless you are right." pp 204-9--&13
John Bright - "The Kingdom of God" -"Behind all earthly striving the Apocalyptic reveals the continuing combat between good and evil, light and darkness, the creator God and the destructive power of chaos, which summons men to take sides. There can be no neutrality. Whoever decides for the right, however humble he may be, has struck a blow for the Kingdom of God in a combat of decisive significance. .. There was an apocalyptic faith that strengthened thousands of little people to obedience unto death, confident that their reward was with God.
(Dan. 12: 1- 4) Let all who scoff ask themselves if their more polite religion does as much."
“There is in the Apocalyptic a very sound instinct which we ignore at our own peril, namely: the Kingdom of God is not man's creation, but God's. Perhaps the scorn of these eschatologists for what man can do was too total, even naive -- for God does use men. They bring us a needed reminder which we desperately need to hear: that we cannot simply take the Kingdom by the arm and "usher it in"; only God can do that. The Apocalyptic is, therefore a rebuke to the hubris of man forever seeking to produce a perfect world order by political maneuvering, social planning, and military preparation-- without reference to God. It is a rebuke to the blasphemous hubris of the church of God, which will just "win the world for Christ" bring in the Kingdom by preaching, conferences, and well-administered programs. The people of God are summoned to the side of God's Kingdom in the cosmic struggle, but they cannot produce the Kingdom in terms of their own activity. True the apocalyptic expectation that few would be saved may well seem harsh. Nevertheless, tolerance and good heartedness must not tempt us to blink the inexorable conclusion. "The Kingdom of God comes only for those who will be His people and obey Him. It can have no other citizens. "Truly the gate is narrow." (Matt. 7: 14)
Richard C. Halverson - "One explanation of the impotence of the Church is the separation of the gospel of salvation from the gospel of the Kingdom as if they were two separate and distinct matters. In the New Testament they are connected and inseparable. For many the Gospel is now and the Kingdom future -which makes it possible to believe the gospel and ignore the Kingdom's principles -enjoy your salvation without obeying the King." They demand Kingdom conditions - without Kingdom of God requirements. They want Kingdom benefits but they do not want to serve the King who makes the benefits possible. Wanting one's own way is anarchy- order and anarchy are mutually exclusive -anarchy and chaos are synonymous. Only God's order guarantees an ideal social environment and that is the Kingdom of God." (1978)
E. Stanley Jones - "The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person" "The Kingdom of God is God's total order expressed in rule and reign, in the individual and society; The nature of the Kingdom is social; the entrance is by a personal new birth. The character of the kingdom is seen in the character of Jesus - the Kingdom is Christ likeness universalized. It is a total order demanding total obedience and it brings total freedom." pp 75 (1972)
Weatherhead - "In Quest of a Kingdom " - (parable of the prodigal son) "So we see that the only man in real danger of remaining outside the kingdom is the man who thinks he is safely inside; that the most dangerous drug to take to deaden the pain of God's awakenings is a pseudo religion that is not Christianity, since it is not based first and last on a relationship with Christ; that the deepest dugout in which to hide from God is that of good deeds done to buy His favor and win a reward, while all the time you remain outside the love relationship and repudiate the obligation of the family, in both regard both to God and his other children." PP 99 (1945)
Pat Robertson - "The Secret Kingdom " Jesus immediately established the fact that an invisible world under girds, surrounds and interpenetrates the visible world in which we live.... The problem of the world, and too many Christians, is not simply refusing to acknowledge the possibility of such a Kingdom, but failing to perceive that it exists right now, not in some far-off place in the future. This is strange because Jesus spent virtually His entire earthly ministry telling people that the Kingdom of God had come and then explained its workings. Even we Christians miss it as we soaked up the good news of salvation, the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the fellowship of the Body of Christ and the future millennium." (1982)
George E. Ladd - "Crucial questions about the Kingdom of God" -- "Kingdom righteousness exceeds scribal righteousness by reaching to a man's motives, by requiring more than a proper outward conduct by demanding inner righteousness as well ... How can legalism control anger and lust? These are matters of the heart and of inner motive. The law, properly speaking, can control only one's actions. The new righteousness, the reign of God in a man's life, demands precisely an inner righteousness, a righteousness of heart. The will of God is concerned with what a man is as the source of what he does... A readiness to forgive is a proof that one has been forgiven.... only those who surrender their hearts to the newly manifested reign of God, who thereby come to posses the inner righteousness which the old law could not produce, will have access to the final glorious kingdom when it shall come. Others who have only an external, formal righteousness, who on this ground will claim a place in the kingdom, will be cast out." PP 126- 127 (1952)
Dr. Hebert Hoefer - The problem in India - "Lack of theology of the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is more than the Church, Local or Global. The work of God is bigger than the work of the Church. Protestants lack a theology of the Kingdom as the broader context for our theology of salvation. We would do well to learn from the ancient Churches." “The Burden of the Past.”
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