If you type into any search engine the words “The rise and fall of…” then you will get a list of at least 100 books, films, songs, TV programs, etc. Possibly the most well-known is “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” which is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. The point being that despite the greatness and even seeming longevity of kingdoms such as, for example, the Roman, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, British, and others, they all eventually decline and lose power and influence in the world. Not so though, the Kingdom of God!
Psalm 145 speaks of this Kingdom and its King as follows:
1 I will exalt you, my God the King… 5 They [generation after generation] speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty…
10 All your works praise you, Lord;
your faithful people extol you.
11 They tell of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might,
12 so that all people may know of your mighty acts
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
It is significant that verse 13 are the same words used by the ruler of the great Babylonian kingdom after the Lord had humbled him. When his “sanity was restored” he said of God:
Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.
His dominion is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
35 All the peoples of the earth [including the kingdoms of the earth]
are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:34-36)
Wilcock comments:
“Significantly, the words [of Psalm 145:13] … are found on the lips of Nebuchadnezzar… in a book which, with the demise of the old Hebrew kingdoms, opens up an entirely new notion of what God’s kingdom really is – a dominion that is primarily spiritual, and not bound up with a literal throne in an earthly Jerusalem…” (# 5)
As we head towards Easter when we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus, this truth concerning the Kingdom of God is very relevant. Jesus himself spoke of the Kingdom of God often as he travelled around with his disciples preaching. Sadly, those who listened, often misunderstood, as if he was teaching about deliverance from the Romans and the physical restoration of Israel. No wonder the concept of a suffering servant/Messiah (Isaiah 53) was either ignored or explained away by many Jewish scholars.
In a book by a friend of mine, he writes: “When we speak of the kingdom of God in the New Testament, we are not referring to a physical realm somewhere on planet earth. Although the nation of Israel in the Old Testament was God’s nation on earth, in the teaching of Jesus the kingdom of God was a spiritual realm… During the trial of Jesus before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of the Roman province of Judah, Jesus is questioned about being a king. In his reply Jesus says, ‘My kingdom is not of this world… my kingdom is from another place’ (John 18:36) … The gospel account in all four gospels of the teaching of Jesus is focused on explaining to people the true reality of the spiritual realm of the kingdom.” (John Laughlin, Jesus and the Kingdom of God, Lulu Press, Inc. 2023)
Paul in his letter to the Corinthian church says, this world in its present form is passing away. (1 Corinthians 7:31) and that includes any so-called kingdoms/nations of this world – all passing away!
This Easter is a good time to prayerfully consider our own lives in the light of Jesus teaching on His kingdom and, as my friend John asks, “How confident are you that your life reflects the culture of those who live in the kingdom of God, and of those who serve the great king…?”
Jesus said: seek first [God’s] kingdom (Matt. 6:33) and This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. (6:9-10) Amen.
Worship and Wisdom - Psalms and Proverbs 