Biblical selections: Kingdom of God

except where otherwise mentioned, source is New English Bible

RSV = Revised Standard Version

Judges 9:8-15 [Jotham’s parable]

Once upon a time the trees came to anoint a king, and they said to the olive-tree: Be king over us. But the olive-tree answered: What, leave my rich oil by which gods and men are honored, to come and hold sway over the trees? So the trees said to the fig-tree: Then will you come and be king over us? But the fig-tree answered: What, leave my good fruit and all its sweetness, to come and hold sway over the trees? So the trees said to the vine: Then will you come and be king over us? But the vine answered: What, leave my new wine which gladdens gods and men, to come and hold sway over the trees? Then all the trees said to the thorn-bush: Will you then be king over us? And the thorn said to the trees: If you really mean to anoint me, then come under the protection of my shadow; if not, fire shall come out of the thorn and burn up the cedars of Lebanon.

Judges 8:22-23

After this the Israelites said to Gideon, “You have saved us from the Midianites; now you be our ruler, you and your son and your grandson.” Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son; the LORD will rule over you.”

1 Samuel 8

So all the elders of Israel met, and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “You are now old and your sons do not follow in your footsteps; appoint us a king to govern us, like other nations.” But their request for a king to govern them displeased Samuel, and he prayed to the LORD. The LORD answered Samuel, “Listen to the people and all they are saying; they have not rejected you, it is I whom they’ve rejected, I whom they will not have to be their king. They are now doing to you just what they’ve done to me since I brought them up from Egypt; they have forsaken me and worshiped other gods. Hear what they have to say now, but give them a solemn warning and tell them what sort of king will govern them.” Samuel told the people who were asking him for a king all that the LORD had said to him. “This will be the sort of king who will govern you,” he said. “He will take your sons and make them serve in his chariots and with his cavalry, and will make them run before his chariot. Some he will appoint officers over units of a thousand and units of fifty. Others will plow his fields and reap his harvest; others again will make weapons of war and equipment for mounted troops…He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage to give to his eunuchs and lackeys…He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out against the king you have chosen; but it will be too late, the LORD will not answer you.” The people refused to listen to Samuel; “No,” they said, “We will have a king over us; then we shall be like other nations, with a king to govern us, to lead us out to war and fight our battles.”

Hosea 8:3-4, 10

But Israel is utterly loathsome;…They make kings, but not by my will; they set up officers, but without my knowledge;…I will now round them up, and they will soon abandon this setting up of kings and princes.

Hosea 13:10-11

Where now is your king that he may save you, or the rulers in all your cities for whom you asked me, begging for kings and princes? I gave you a king in my anger, and in my fury took him away.

Ezekiel 22:4, 6-8 [also 25, 27]

This is why I have exposed you [Jerusalem] to the contempt of the nations and the mockery of every country….In you the princes of Israel, one and all, have used their power to shed blood; men have treated their fathers and mothers with contempt, and they have oppressed the alien and ill-treated the orphan and the widow. You have disdained what is sacred to me and desecrated my sabbaths.

Isaiah 52:7, 13 [in the setting of the return from the Babylonian exile]

How lovely on the mountains are the feet of the herald who comes to proclaim prosperity and bring good news, the news of deliverance, calling to Zion, “Your God is king”…Behold, my servant [the agent who acts out the covenant] shall prosper, he shall be lifted up, exalted to the heights.

Isaiah 61:1-2 [again in setting of return from Babylonian exile]

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the humble, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and release to those in prison; to proclaim a year of the LORD’s favor

Zechariah 9:9-10

Rejoice, rejoice, daughter of Zion, shout aloud, daughter of Jerusalem, for see, your king is coming to you…humble and mounted on an ass…He shall banish chariots from Ephraim and war-horses from Jerusalem; the warrior’s bow shall be banished. He shall speak peaceably to every nation, and his rule shall extend from sea to sea

Matthew 4:1-10 [rejects materialistic as well as theocratic and imperial models of kingship]

Jesus was then led away by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. For forty days and night he fasted, and at the end of them he was famished. The tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “Scripture says, ‘Man cannot live on bread alone; he lives on every word that God utters.’” The devil then took him to the Holy City and set him on the parapet of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “He will put his angels in charge of you, and they will support you in their arms, for fear you should strike your foot against a stone.” Jesus answered him, “Scripture says again, ‘You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.’” Once again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. “All these,” he said, “I will give you, if you will only fall down and do me homage.” But Jesus said, “Begone, Satan! Scripture says, ‘You shall do homage to the Lord your God and worship him alone.’”

Antichrist

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

…the Day of the Lord…cannot come before the final rebellion against God, when wickedness will be revealed in human form, the form doomed to perdition. He is the Enemy. He…even takes his seat in the temple of God claiming to be a god himself….the coming of that wicked man is the work of Satan. It will be attended by all the powerful signs and miracles of the Lie, and all the deception that sinfulness can impose on those doomed to destruction. Destroyed they shall be, because they did not open their minds to love of the truth, so as to find salvation. Therefore God puts them under a delusion, which works upon them to believe the lie, so that they may all be brought to judgment, all who do not believe the truth but make sinfulness their deliberate choice.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

You must face the fact: the final age of this world is to be a time of troubles. Men will love nothing but money and self; they will be arrogant, boastful, and abusive; with no respect for parents, no gratitude, no piety, no natural affection; they will be implacable in their hatreds,…, intemperate and fierce,…, swollen with self-importance. They will be men who put pleasure in the place of God, men who preserve the outward form of religion, but are a standing denial of its reality. Keep clear of men like these.

false prophets

2 Peter 2:1-3

But Israel had false prophets as well as true; and you likewise will have false teachers among you….They will gain many adherents to their dissolute practice, through whom the true way will be brought into disrepute. In their greed for money they will trade on your credulity with sheer fabrications.

leadership in the kingdom

Matthew 18:1-4

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?” He called a child, set him in front of them, and said, “I tell you this: unless you turn round and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. Let a man humble himself till he is like this child, and he will be the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven…” [children are open, inquisitive, ready to learn]

Matthew 19:30

But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Matthew 20:25-28

You know that in the world, rulers lord it over their subjects, and their great men make them feel the weight of authority; but it shall not be so with you. Among you, whoever wants to be great must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the willing slave of all—like the Son of Man;…

Matthew 23:11-12

The greatest among you must be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled; and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

John 13:5, 12-17

Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel….After washing their feet and taking his garments again, he sat down. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked. “You call me ‘Master’ and ‘Lord’, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Then if I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example: you are to do as I have done for you.”

kingdom of God vs. kingdom of the emperor and other earthly rulers

Matthew 22:15-22

Then the Pharisees went away and agreed on a plan to trap him in his own words. Some of their followers were sent to him in company with men of Herod’s party. They said, “…Give us your ruling on this: are we or are we not to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor?” Jesus was aware of their malicious intention and said to them, “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to catch me out? Show me the money in which the tax is paid.” They handed him a silver piece. Jesus asked, “whose head is this, and whose inscription?” “Caesar’s”, they replied. He said to them, “Then pay Caesar what is due to Caesar, and pay God what is due to God.” This answer took them by surprise, and they went away and left him alone.

[Psalms 24:1 “The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it, the world and those who dwell therein.”]

[Psalms 47:7-9 “God is king of all the earth…God reigns over the nations…for the mighty ones of earth belong to God, and he is raised above them all”]

[Psalms 50:12 “…the world and all that is in it are mine.”]

Eph 1:19-21

…the resources of his power…are measured by his strength and the might which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead, when he enthroned him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all government and authority, all power and dominion, and any title of sovereignty that can be named, not only in this age but in the age to come.

new citizenship

Eph 2:19-22, 4:16

Thus you are no longer aliens in a foreign land, but fellow-citizens with God’s people, members of God’s household. You are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, and Christ Jesus himself is the foundation-stone. In him the whole [structure is joined (RSV)] together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you too are being built with all the rest into a spiritual dwelling for God….Bonded and knit together by every constituent joint, the whole frame grows through the due activity of each part, and builds itself up in love.

participation in the kingdom

Matthew 5:13-16

You are salt to the world. And if salt becomes tasteless, how is its saltiness to be restored? It is now good for nothing but to be thrown away and trodden underfoot. You are light for all the world. A town that stands on a hill cannot be hidden. When a lamp is lit, it is not put under the meal-tub, but on the lamp-stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. And you, like the lamp, must shed light among your fellows, so that, when they see the good you do, they may give praise to your Father in heaven.

sons of God

Romans 8:14-17, 19-21, 29

For all who are moved by the Spirit of God are sons of God. The Spirit you have received is not a spirit of slavery leading you back into a life of fear, but a spirit that makes us sons, enabling us to cry “Abba! Father!” In that cry the Spirit of God joins with our spirit in testifying that we are God’s children; and if children, then heirs. We are God’s heirs and Christ’s fellow-heirs, if we share his sufferings now in order to share his splendor hereafter…. For the created universe waits with eager expectation for God’s sons to be revealed. It was made the victim of frustration, not by its own choice, but because of him who made it so; yet always there was hope, because the universe itself is to be freed from the shackles of mortality and enter upon the liberty and splendor of the children of God….that they should be shaped to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the eldest among a large family of brothers…

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