Thy Kingdom Come

Mt. 6:10 Let your kingdom come. Let your pleasure be done,as in heaven, so on earth.


About what I wrote yesterday, I'd like to take it a little further. There are 119 references to the word 'kingdom' in a word search of the four Gospels.


A quote from yesterday's post:
"That particular experience in I Kings,is what I think of as the zenith of all historical earthly government. The zenith of all earth's history is the passage that describes the completion of Solomon's Temple, the symbolic significance being the final sacrifice offered by Jesus on the cross, and as history shows, the conclusion of temple sacrifice."


In my college days, the Western Civ. professor did not express a high view of the idea of 'theocracy'.I can't remember any specific objections that he made. But I do recall that he was not able to make a distinction between a theocracy like the Roman Empire or the Egyptian Pharaohs and the ancient Hebrews. It was puzzling tome. Because in the ancient hebrew theocracy the law of Moses was recognized as the standard of rule not just for the commoner, but across the board. As I recall,
the Roman Empire and the Pharaoh had a little more leeway.


There is rule by law, and there is rule by men. The pure notion of theocracy is rule by law -- a higher law. That's why I think of Solomon's kingdom as the zenith.It was rule by law, with an administration selected by the Lord, who sees the heart.
There is another high point in history.That point was so significant that even our modern calender recognizes it. That of course, is the birth of Jesus. So,when I say that 'the zenith of all earth's history is the passage that describes the completion of Solomon's Temple' it is the all time high point of earthly government. As if it needs further explanation:


1Kings 10:21 And all King Solomon's drinking-vessels were of gold,and all the vessels of the house of the Woods of Lebanon were of the best gold;not one was of silver, for no one gave a thought to silver in the days of King Solomon.


10:22 For the king had Tarshish-ships at sea with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the Tarshish-ships came with gold and silver and ivory and monkeys and peacocks.


10:23 And King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and in wisdom.


10:24 And from all over the earth they came to see Solomon and to give ear to his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.


10:25 And everyone took with him an offering, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and robes, and coats of metal,and spices, and horses, and beasts of transport, regularly year by year.


10:26 And Solomon got together war-carriages and horsemen; he had one thousand, four hundred carriages and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king at Jerusalem.


10:27 And the king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem and cedars like the sycamore-trees of the lowlands in number.


Sounds to me like the king did a fair job of caring for his kingdom. I was surprised to see that there are over 250 references to 'silver' in the Bible. In this passage,silver is used as a way to display the extreme wealth the nation enjoyed under the rule of the Lord's anointed theocrat.There was no shortage of anything here.


On the other hand, the Roman Empire was a litte less enlightened. We know how that story ends. And at the time of Christ,the nation of Israel was in disarray. The traditional preists were largely in exile.The sanhedrin and pharisees had hijacked the religious and civil positions. Read through the Gospels and you can almost feel the disgust that Jesus has for their insincerity and disregard for the nation and the true faith. It is not a situation that I think of as a high point.And only a few short years later Roman legions destroyed what was left of Israel. The nation had been sold out by it's own leadership.


But isn't that the sort of scenario that plays out when there is a regime change? The language of scripture went from hebrew to greek. The message changed from law to grace. The priesthood went from a select family group to all believers in Christ. The end of the sacrificial system bled and died on a Roman cross at Calvary, satisfying the exacting demands of the Law, and opening the door for Grace, available to all who believe. The dominion of sin was conquered, once and for all.