The Kingdom Of God
Jesus – The Church – The Pope – The Queen Mother
The meaning of ‘the kingdom of God’ has to be
understood at various levels. It must be borne in mind the kingdom of God is
both heavenly and earthly.
1. The kingdom of God is a
person.
Matthew 6:33 uses the word ‘his’ for the
kingdom of God. His refers to Jesus Christ. This scripture tells us to first abide
in Jesus and do things that please him and promises that all things needed will
be given to us.
2. The kingdom of God is an
experience
Romans 14:17 tells us that the kingdom of God
is an experience of righteousness (love) and joy and peace in the Holy Spirit.
An individual can be filled with the Holy Spirit only when one accepts Jesus as
one’s lord, God and saviour. Only this individual will enjoy the real
experience of love (ability to do things right) and joy (happiness of heart)
and peace (calmness of mind). However what we experience now is just a
foretaste. The fullness will be experienced only after the second coming of Jesus.
3. The kingdom of God is a
community
The community of believers in Jesus is called
the Church. The Church can be divided into 3 parts. The militant church
(community on earth), the suffering church (souls in purgatory) and the
triumphant church (saints in heaven).
In the Old Testament the kingdom of David was
the kingdom of God on earth. In the New Testament the Church is the kingdom of
God on earth. Certain things about the kingdom of the Old Testament were
applied to the kingdom of the New Testament by Jesus himself.
In the Old Testament the son of David sat on
the throne. The queen mother was provided a throne on the right side of the
King (1 Kings 2:19). She used to intercede on behalf of others (1 Kings 2:20). In
this kingdom 12 persons were appointed to provide food for the household (1
Kings 4:7). A person was appointed to take care of the daily affairs of the
kingdom (Isaiah 22:20-21). This person was to be a father figure to the people.
He was given special authority (keys) to make decisions on behalf of the king.
Jesus is the son of David in the New Testament.
One can easily conclude the position and role of Mary the mother of Jesus. Jesus appointed twelve apostles to cater to
the needs of the church (Mark 3:13-14). Jesus gave Peter charge of the daily
affairs of the Church. He was given authority (keys) to make decisions on
behalf of the king (Matthew 16:18-19). He is called the Pope or Holy Father as
he is called to be a father figure to the people. As the Church expanded to
other parts more apostles were needed (2 Timothy 1:6). As the Church continued
to exist successors were needed to be appointed to occupy the positions created
by Jesus. This is called apostolic succession.
During the first 3 centuries the Christians
were severely persecuted throughout the Roman Empire. However in the year 313
the Roman emperor Constantine inspired by his mother Helena who was a devout
Christian declared an edict to stop all persecutions of Christians.
The early church was based in four different
areas: Jerusalem in Israel, Alexandria in Egypt, Antioch in Syria and Ephesus
in Turkey. It is not very clear when and why the headquarters of the church
were shifted to Rome.
During the 7th and 8th
centuries the Muslims conquered major parts of west Asia and Africa. This was a
difficult period for the church. It was probably during this period that the
headquarters were shifted to Rome. The church was called the Roman Catholic
Church or just the Catholic Church (catholic means universal).
The purpose of this post is to learn the various ways of understanding the kingdom of God and how it is intrinsically connected to Jesus, the Church, the Pope and Mary the Queen Mother with scriptural references.
