#i believe the piece i referenced this from is called the sacred heart of christ by martin von feuerstein

[phytsera]

the infernal engine of karlach cliffgate 🔥🫀⚙️

[dustydahlin]

Seeking the Kingdom - Matt. 6:33

Subject: Engaging a Deeper Relationship with God. This article will show how understanding the Kingdom of God helps believers have greater experiences in God’s grace!

            “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

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One of my favorite Scriptures is Matt. 6:33. It is just one of those passages that draw you in. I have found much encouragement, refuge, and refreshing in this Scripture. It declares as a promise, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” This is a Scripture of relationship with our Savior. It implies not only that we can have a relationship with God, but it instructs us to continuously press in – to continuously seek Him!  This is a command to be refreshed. It is a heavenly directive to touch the hem of Messiah’s garment and be healed! This passage pleads with the believer to seek and to find God! Every day, with each heartbeat.

Also, it is a scripture of great encouragement for both the rich and the poor. It is a promise! God has granted to us, by the seal of his Word, a promise for provision. As we “seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” God will provide for our needs. From a place of gratitude and love – from a place of relationship – we can know that as we pursue God, He will provide. As Yahweh ra'ah, He provides for the basic physical needs and the spiritual needs of His people. As we ask, seek, knock, and chase down the heart of our God, He provides for us “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:3). This is very similar to the promise of Matt. 7:7-11. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. … If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” While the pursuit of provision lands the individual upon the sands of discontentedness and unfulfillment, the pursuit of God lands the believer upon the shores of satisfaction and security. God will provide for His people!

That is how I used to understand this passage until I realized something incredible!

This is how I would have taught this passage until I thought to study why it specifically referenced the “kingdom of God.” I realized Jesus used the phrase “kingdom of God” because it would have brought something specific to the minds of those listening. At that time in history, they would have had a fuller understanding of kingdom than we.

Thankfully, the bible gives us many insights into how we are to understand the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God!

Firstly, when the Bible talks about “The Kingdom of God,” it discusses God’s kingdoms in two different ways. First, it talks about the kingdom of God as being something that will be established in the future. Some passages declare that the kingdom of God has YET to come (Mark 9:47; Matt. 8:11; Luke 21:29-33; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; 1 Cor. 15:50; etc…). And, there are other passages proclaim that the Kingdom of God has ALREADY come (Luke 11:20; Luke 17:20-21; Matt. 12:28; Mark 1:15; etc…).

 This is a highly theological/Biblical construct called the “already-and-not-yet.” … Like with so many things in the Bible, it should not surprise us to know that God presents his Kingdom in the same way… (George E. Ladd). 

Secondly, when it comes to the kingdom of God as being present already (as opposed to the future eschatological kingdom), the Bible grants many insights. (1) There are instances throughout the Bible where it describes a kingdom as a physical, geographical place. The buildings. The walls. The piece of ground upon which an empire is set (Num. 32:33; Duet. 3:4; Joshua 13:21; 13:27; 13:30; Ester 2:3; etc.). The concept of kingdom is understood another way, as well. (2) It is, more often than not, understood as being synonymous with the rule, reign, and authority of a king (Gen. 10:10; Ex. 19:6; 1 Sam. 11:14-15; 1 Sam. 13:13-14; 1 Sam. 28:17; 1 Chron. 10:14; etc…).

As Robert H. Stein states, “we should understand the term [kingdom of God] dynamically as referring to the rule or reign of a king.”

 Vine’s Expository Dictionary also says that the Kingdom of God “is primarily an abstract noun denoting sovereignty, royal power, dominion...  The Kingdom of God is (a) the sphere of God's rule, (b) the sphere in which, at any given time, His rule is acknowledged... [through] willing obedience. Henceforth God calls upon men everywhere, without distinction of race or nationality, to submit voluntarily to His rule.”

What does all this mean? This means that the kingdom of God (as it pertains to having already been established) can be interchanged with the rule of God. Historically and culturally, Jesus chose to select this phrase in Matthew 6:33 because it would have invoked the understanding of God’s rule – His kingly, sovereign reign. This is significant because it extracts information that we may have normally missed…

Seeking the Kingdom of God!

Seek the King! This imperative is birthed in relationship. It implies a personal relationship with God as our King! We are to seek our heavenly King. An earthly king would have been responsible for provision, protection, justice, and safe citizenship for his subjects. Likewise, when we require such things, we can run to our King. The King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is accessible, personal, and generous. From a place of relationship, we are to seek our King!

1 Tim. 1:17, “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Col. 1:13, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son”

Similarly, the directive to “seek the kingdom of God” is the command to seek to be ruled by God! It is not only that we have entered into a sacred relationship with King Yahweh, but we are to seek to be ruled by Him. We are to joyously seek every opportunity to submit to the rule over us. Seeking the kingdom of God is not a shiny, ethereal construct. It is not heroic and extraordinary. It is not enrobed in purple and gold. Seeking the rule of God our lives is messy. It is dirty servitude. It is the high calling of lowering your life into submission to the cross. It is feeding the leper and loving the unlovable. It is looking for opportunity to share the love of God with someone. It is maintaining a sensitivity to Holy Spirit that He may direct and lead our whole life. Seeking first the kingdom of God is sacred submission. We have, church, been called to seek to be ruled by our God!

James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God…”

1 Tim. 6:13-16, “I charge you in the presence of God… to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”

Additional Recommendations:

Gospel of the Kingdom

The Presence of the Future

Bakers Dictionary of Theology

Bibles

“Militant Thankfulness: An Essential Practice to Experiencing a Full Spiritual Life”