Week 45—Saturday Revelation 11:15-17
Week 45—SATURDAY
“THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN HAS BEEN
FORCING ITS WAY FORWARD”
We saw yesterday that the kingdom of God is God’s final order and has the final word. Whoever has the first or the intermediate word, the Kingdom has the final word. This passage is luminous: “Ever since the coming of John the Baptist the kingdom of Heaven has been subjected to violence and violent men are seizing it” (Matt. 11:12, NEB). A footnote gives an alternative translation: “The kingdom of Heaven has been forcing its way forward” by its own inherent truth and reality. But people of force try to use force to further it and violate the inner nature of the Kingdom ends.
When in Russia in 1934, I was shaken to see them building up a civilization without God. I needed reassurance. This verse “spoke to my condition” during my Quiet Time in Moscow: “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Heb. 12:28). Was the kingdom of God the one unshakable Kingdom? Everything within me answered Yes, and continues to answer, Yes, with increasing emphasis. I went to my Bible the next morning, and this verse arose authoritative: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever” (Heb. 13:8). Is Jesus Christ the unchanging Person, the same yesterday, today, and forever? Everything within me answered, Yes, and does so increasingly. I came out of Russia with an unshakable Kingdom and an unchanging Person—the Absolute Order and the Absolute Person. They were two then. Now they have become one—I see that the Absolute Order—the kingdom of God—is embodied in the Absolute Person—the Son of God. They are one. The Word of Final Authority has become flesh in Jesus Christ. In him is not only Absolute Goodness, but Absolute Authority. God not only redeems in Jesus—God rules in Jesus. So the Incarnation, seemingly the meekest and weakest, becomes the strongest. The Lamb is slain, but in the final scene, “the Lamb is on the throne.” Jesus is Lord!
O Blessed Lamb, slain since the foundation of the world—ever suffering and ever succeeding, ever crucified and ever upon the throne. We thank you that you, the Meek, the Terrible Meek, shall inherit the earth. We will rule with you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I shake but the unshakable Kingdom does not shake—the one solid Reality in a shaken world.