Thy Kingdom Come

Hello Zeteo Community,

Have blessed Easter everyone! Travel safe to your various destinations, and enjoy this opportunity to spend time with family. Hope a few of you are planning on attending the Zeteo event tomorrow evening out at the Schoenfelders.

If you have any comments or anything to add, please feel free to contact me. I would love to hear feedback, or have the opportunity to incorporate some stories or wisdom from the Zeteo community.


Week 4: Thy Kingdom Come

We have all grown up saying the Our Father, and have probably grown accustomed to skimming over the phrases which we do not fully understand. One of the phrases that has puzzled me for years, and which Deacon Ken mentioned at the last Zeteo event, is thy Kingdom come.

First of all, watch this video, which explains the phrase so beautifully. Trust me, it is worth the five minutes.

Deacon Ken spoke of how God's kingdom was prophesied to King David, that God would build him a kingdom that would last forever. During the war of the Israelites, the Hebrew people were waiting for this kingdom, so that they could be united.

The first mention of Jesus' mission is found in the beginning of the new testament in Matthew 3:1-2 'In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."'

And this mention of the Kingdom of Heaven as Christ's mission is repeated many times throughout the duration of the New Testament.

‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel’ (Mark 1:13-14)

'But He [Jesus] said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose”' (Luke 4:43)

'And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people' (Matt. 4:23)

The Old Testament ends with expectation, with anticipation for the kingdom that was yet to come. The New Testament proclaims the good news - the triumphant coming of that kingdom which brought unity where sin had left chaos.

Jesus came to establish the Kingdom of God in all of us. He opened us up to an opportunity for an authentic relationship with Him, in which we make the choice to love. This choice that we make to love Him, extends from us into the world.

As the analogy in the video displays, we all start out like deflated balloons, with the potential for love in all of us. Each time we chose to love - forgiving people that are rude to us, swallowing hurtful words, seeing beyond judgement to the beauty beneath, we allow love to fill us. And as we are filled with love, we grow.

This growth is how we allow the Kingdom of God to come. We are the Kingdom of God, because we are the domain over which He reigns. Jesus is the solution to the chaos and darkness which covered the world: He established a new Kingdom of love and unity. He radically released us from the power of sin, defeated satan, and set us free to love again - but He left us with a choice.

To let Him be the ruler of our domain, or to make ourselves the ruler. This Easter season is the perfect time to contemplate this decision. Will we allow His Kingdom to come? Will we allow love to change us, and in changing us, affect the world?

Or will we refuse to enter His Kingdom and live in the chaos that Jesus came to destroy?

Peace,
Olivia Fischer