Recognizing the Kingdom

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“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”   Matthew 6:10

This morning as I prayed and was aligning my thoughts, or attempting to align my thoughts in order of what we know as the Lord’s Prayer,  as Jesus taught, I wondered as I prayed for His kingdom to come, how will I recognize that kingdom? Can I recognize it as the mere mortal I am? What is the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven as described in other scriptures? I know I have a divine aspect as a believer with the Holy Spirit but let’s face it, I am distracted. I came to my prayer time this morning with a lot of clanging thoughts ringing around in my head from yesterday and for the responsibility of today. I am sure my distraction about this world and its issues are not the kingdom Jesus spoke of. And even if I did not have the noise of this life in my head, could I recognize this kingdom?

I am currently reading through the book of Acts in the New Testament. I am in chapter 8 and I am reading about Philip going to Samaria and preaching to them the Christ. As he did, there were signs that accompanied this preaching: unclean spirits were leaving the humans they had inhabited ( these spirits were crying out with a loud voice as they departed!), people who were handicapped were being healed, and then there was this guy named Simon, a guy who practiced magic and was the toast of the town for doing so.

So to set the stage here, to purposely go to Samaria for a Jew, even a Hellenist as Philip was, was out of ordinary practice for that time, but Stephen, a Hellenist also, with his message that God was not bound to a people or a place, had been the motivation for Philip to go to Samaria. 

At that time the city of Samaria seemed to be caught up in the extraordinary works of Simon the magician. He had been practicing magic in the city claiming to be someone great. “They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest , saying, ‘This man is the power of God that is called Great.’” (Acts 8:10) But when Philip came and preached the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they (the city inhabitants) believed what he was saying and were baptized, even Simon. In fact, Simon was amazed at the signs and great miracles being done as Philip preached. 

When Peter and John got word of what was going on in Samaria - (which by-the-way is north of Jerusalem about 30 or so miles but the scripture states that they went “down” to Samaria. This is because in scripture the words down and up in relation to travel refer to elevation and topography) they came to Samaria. And I must point out that the purpose of their presence in Samaria was to pray for the people who had believed and were baptized so that these people would receive the Holy Spirit. In fact scripture states “...that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not fallen on any of them, but had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 8:..15-16). I can’t pass by this section of scripture without acknowledging that this one section is the source of endless debate of which I have no interest in trying to prove my take on this scripture in a theological sense, I can only say that my experience was two baptisms, actually three as I was baptized as a baby with water, at age 16 in water, then in the Holy Spirit shortly thereafter. Being baptized in the Holy Spirit actually happened, it was not a situation where I became delusional. How that fits with the theology of others is no concern of mine.

 Anyway, on with the story.

Continuing, when Simon saw this power that Peter and John had by the laying on of their hands and people were filled with the Holy Spirit, Simon wanted that. He offered money for that power and was severely rebuked by Peter. 

“May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter because your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” Acts 8:20-23  - Again, in verse 10, the people in regards to Simon were saying that “this man is the power of God that is called Great.” Did they observe the magic Simon performed and decide that it was something from a god? There was some observing of miracles and magic in that city. Magic from a magician with bitterness and iniquity and then miracles being demonstrated from the believers preaching Jesus Christ.

It’s been a few days since the writing of the paragraph above. I went in search of scripture to establish how we could see the kingdom of God. I have realized that I have written myself into a corner that has only one way out - through a door to a huge space regarding the kingdom of God. It won’t be answered here, not by me, but I do know is that it has to do with acceptance of Jesus Christ and a heart right with God.

I will leave with the following : the kingdom is like a good seed; it is like leaven in bread; it’s a treasure in a field; it is like a merchant searching for pearls; like a net thrown in the sea. It’s a hard place to enter for a rich man. It is shut in people’s faces by scribes and Pharisees. And it came to this earth at the arrival of Jesus Christ.