The Kingdom Has Come

There is a sentence, found in Luke 11.20 and Matthew 12.28, worth adding to the list of cool phrases:  “The kingdom of God has come upon you.”  It has the ring of a great Tolkien-like adventure.

The background story is familiar to many.  Jesus has been traveling Galilee, healing the sick and casting out demons.  After healing a mute man (who is also blind in the Matthew version) by casting out a demon, doubters dismissed the event as sorcery: “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”

Jesus pushes back with the famous line, echoed in an 1856 speech by Abraham Lincoln, that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.  If Jesus’ power is from Satan, and he is casting out Satan’s minions, then Satan’s house will be weakened.  He asks the doubters, “If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons (probably associates) cast out demons? “ And then he forces them to face the key question of Jesus’ true identify:

“But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

Like Jesus’ audacious claims to fulfill the scriptures (Luke 4.21), to forgive sins (Mark 2.5), to be the Son of God (Luke 22.70), this phrase sounded like blasphemy to many.  But, IF he is God, then he is simply teaching the truth, and doubters then and now  need to understand and listen to what Jesus  has to say.

Listen Carefully

Late one night a burglar broke into a house and while he was sneaking around he heard a voice say, “Jesús is watching you.” He looked around and saw nothing. He kept on creeping and again heard, “Jesús is watching you.” In a dark corner, he saw a cage with a parrot inside. The burglar asked the parrot, “Was it you who said Jesús is watching me” The parrot replied, “Yes.” Relieved, the burglar asked, “What is your name?” The parrot said, “Clarence.” The burglar said, “That’s a dumb name for a parrot. What idiot named you Clarence?” The parrot answered, “The same idiot that named the rottweiler Jesús.”

 

Bicycling on the Interstate

In the summer of ’72, my friend T.G. and I decided to ride our bikes from East Lansing to Battle Creek because he wanted to visit a camera store and purchase a new camera.  This is the same T.G. whose year long, very dirty, graduate research project involved trapping gasses at the top of Lansing’s tallest power plant chimneys.  He also had an M&M addiction and would regularly offer quotes like “It’s great to buy M&M’s at convenience stores because I love to get ripped off!”

We set off one Friday evening, cruising down Mount Hope as far west as we could and then angling south to Charlotte, stopping in the late evening at the local Dairy Queen.  This is the famous shar-LOT of central Michigan, not the more famous SHAR-lot in North Carolina.  As we talked with the workers and fellow soft serve connoisseurs  someone mentioned we could go a few blocks east and get on the new highway. The NEW highway?

It turned out that I-69 was under construction and soon to be open in their neighborhood.  The initial leg connected Lansing and I-96 to Marshall at I-94.  Since then, I-69 has extended south past Fort Wayne to Indianapolis, and east through Flint to Port Huron.  It is one of the few interstates that has a north-south part AND an east-west part.  And my brother in Bloomington, Indiana says they are hoping to extend it south to his town and beyond.

But on that night, all we found was a completed roadway with no traffic. What a ride! Fifteen miles of smooth concrete with no competition (except  for the police car that seemed to be doing a speed test on his vehicle and was surprised to find us on the road).  Even in the dark, it is easy to find your way on an interstate.

The pavement ended at Ainger Road, so we camped for the night.  The next morning we had to walk our bikes up the sandy ramp and found our way from there into Battle Creek.  I never found out how far north the unopened road extended at that time; T.G. and I rode home through Jackson to visit Diane, so we missed the opportunity of a return trip.  That Friday night was a once in a lifetime event!

Break In Pieces

The Babylonians were a bit too zealous in their role as the captors of Israel.  In particular, they destroyed the temple of God (Jeremiah 50.28).  So, God sends the Medes: “The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for his temple” (51.11).

Formerly, Babylon was God’s “hammer and weapon of war: with you I break nations in pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms” (51.20).  Now the Medes will do the same to Babylon, and the demolition will be colossal.  In Jeremiah 50.21-23 we see a long string of items devoted to destruction:

With you I break in pieces the horse and his rider;

                With you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer;

With you I break in pieces man and woman;

                With you I break in pieces the old man and the youth;

With you I break in pieces the young man and the young woman;

                With you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;

With you I break in pieces the farmer and his team;

                With you I break in pieces the governors and commanders.

Add Pictures

Often at our 7:00 AM Tuesday morning prayer meeting the leader will bring a handout with bible verses, lists of suggested prayer topics or needs, and a few instructions.  The last couple of weeks Laura added a new feature – pictures!

The general topic has been praying for leaders – government, university, corporate, church.  The handout contained more than titles – the names of the President, our Senators and Representatives, the Governor, Mayor, Supreme Court justices, pastors and other leaders were all named.  The bonus feature: there were pictures of some of the people we were praying for!  It added a human touch to the titles we learned in high school government classes.

Resolving Disputes

A husband and wife were driving through Louisiana. As they approached Natchitoches, they started arguing about the pronunciation of the town. They argued back and forth, then they stopped for lunch. At the counter, the husband asked the waitress, “Before we order, could you please settle an argument for us? Would you please pronounce where we are very slowly?” She leaned over the counter and said, “Burrr-gerrr Kiiing.”

 

Saying and Doing the Right Thing

Ever wonder how movie, book and TV characters always say the right words at the right time?  It’s because the screenwriters and authors have control of the situation.  Similarly, God has control of all real life situations where wise word and actions are needed.

The story of Solomon in 1 Kings 3.16-28 about two moms, one baby, and a sword is renowned throughout the world. The mothers both claimed the child was theirs.  Solomon threatened to use the sword to cut the child in two and give half to each.  The real mom revealed herself by giving the child away rather than having him killed.

Solomon had been given a great gift of wisdom by God, to be able to govern the people (1 Kings 3.9-12).  This adjudication is excellent for showing the depth of the gift.  The two women were described as prostitutes, a category of women that are not to be trusted according to Proverbs 1-9.  The case had reached the highest court of the land because there were no other witnesses.  Solomon was the final arbiter and his unorthodox decision in this difficult circumstance was so astute that “all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice” (1 Kings 3.28).

Even more than facts and knowledge, Solomon had the wisdom of God.  The parental dispute story sounds like the events in Luke 20 when Jesus confounds the Pharisees, Sadducees, and elders who are trying to discredit him.  He links his authority to John the Baptist, putting the scribes and elders in a tough spot (verses 1-8).  He famously stops tax questions with “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” (19-26).  And he blasts the Sadducees’ lack of faith and lack of understanding of the scriptures when they try to trap him in a long hypothetical story about divorce (27-39).

Amazingly, that same wisdom is available to us for the asking. “If any of you lacks wisdom let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.  For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” James 1.5-8. The faith required is trust in God that his plans are good and that my wisest choice is to follow Him wherever He leads.