One of the ways I think about the reign of God in our world is kind of silly, but it makes sense in my own head.
Robin Hood.
See, Robin Hood lives in a land where an evil villain, Prince John, is ruling. He's taxing the the people ruthlessly, exploting them for his own purposes. Robin and his men reject the rule of that tyrant, on the grounds that he does not represent the wishes of the Richard, who is the true and rightful king. So they live ina state of rebellion against the false king out of loyalty to the true king, trusting that Richard will someday come and set things to rights. So they wait for an eventual time when the king will reign again, bt in a way, they already are living in his reign by fulfilling his will while he is gone.
And so it is with us. Now the metaphor isn't perfect, but you can still see the point, right? While we live by God's will, we represent his reign in the earth in our current time, but we also wait for his eventual return when his reign will be complete. So the kingdom of God (the reign of God) is here, but not completely.
But someday, the king will return. So we Christians hope.
2 comments:
Very nice metaphor, friend Steven. I wonder though, would you mind carrying it out for us and explaining who you identify in your life as being Little John? Or Friar Tuck? It's obvious who Marian is but I'm curious who you would identify as John or Tuck to your Robin Hood...
So isn't that why we pray "Thy kingdom come." Thanks, Steven.
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