* Kingdom Love

Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, 

and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.  

Deuteronomy 11:1

From beginning of the bible until the end of it, we read of the love of God; His love for mankind and His requirement that we not only love Him but that we love our neighbors even as we love our self. There is no way we can make it in the kingdom not loving with the love of God; it is a kingdom requirement; a commandment of God.

There are two great Kingdom principles upon which all other principles hinge. When asked what were the greatest commandments, Jesus replied:

. . . Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.   Matthew 22:37-40

Mark recorded the same statement in the following way:

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.   Mark 12:29-31

Jesus stated the second commandment in another way:

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.   Matthew 7:12

 The beloved physician, Luke,  recorded it this way:

And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.   Luke 6:31

To summarize, the two greatest principles of God's Kingdom are:

√    Loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

√    Loving and doing to others as you love yourself and want others to do to you.

All other Kingdom principles are based upon these two key principles. Each Kingdom principle relates either to your relationship with God or others.

Peter encourages us to build on our faith in God by adding certain attributes, among them love:

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.  2 Peter 1:5-7

From the time of the introduction of the Kingdom, it was apparent that its structure was exactly opposite to the structure of the kingdoms of this world. Because love is exalted in the kingdom of God, we do not exalt our self according to the standards of the world.

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.   Philippians 2:3

After the angel appeared to the virgin Mary and proclaimed her to be the mother of the coming King, Mary praised God. The words of her worship were prophetic and revealed the new world order of the Kingdom of God:

For He that is mighty hath done to me great things: and holy is His name. And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with His arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.    Luke 1:49-53

The proud and mighty of the world were to be brought down, and those of low degree exalted. The hungry were to be filled, while the rich were to be sent away empty.

When John the Baptist introduced the Kingdom of God, he referred to the words of the prophet Isaiah  that this same order was to be revealed:

Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;  And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.    Luke 3:5-6

The kingdom of God is eternal but the world is not; the world has an expiration date.  We must put our faith and belief in the eternal.  We cannot compare the standards and the laws that govern the kingdom of God to the standards of the world.   The first miracle Jesus performed was turning water into wine. This illustrated that laws governing the Kingdom would be contrary to those of the natural kingdoms of the world.

The world loves its own but does not savor the things of God.  This is not the love the Kingdom of God seeks but rather a love of God, of self, of others and all things righteous.  We should not just seek God in our time of need but at all times, we seek His Kingdom in the direction of our life and all of our ways!

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;   Matthew 6:33

Biblical Studies

10/07/19

04/10/21