Jesus tells me to seek first the kingdom of his Father (aka the Kingdom of Heaven). Jesus has mentioned the kingdom of God at least thirteen times before (4:43, 6:20, 7:28, 8:1, 10, 9:2, 11, 27, 62, etc.). The kingdom of God is mentioned over 1,300 times in the Bible.
Many of Jesus’ parables concern the Kingdom of God, especially in the coming chapters. Jesus stated that he “preached the good news of the Kingdom of God” from town to town. (Luke 4:43, 8:1, 9:11) Jesus sent out his disciples to preach about the Kingdom of God. (Luke 9:1) Jesus often told people, “The Kingdom of God is near you,” or at least something similar. (Matt. 12:28, Mark 1:15, Mark 12:34, Luke 10:9, 11, 20) When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, the second subject (after honoring God our Father) he told them to pray for was The Kingdom of God’s coming. “Thy kingdom come,” he taught his disciples to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
The question is often raised, or at least should be raised; what is Jesus asking us to seek when he said, “…seek his kingdom”? What was Jesus referring to when he spoke of the Kingdom of God? Is it a real place? Is it in this world? Is it the church (congregation)? Is it in heaven or is it heaven itself? Is it something yet to come? Is it some mystical realm in another dimension? Will it be on the moon or some other planet in a galaxy far away? Is it the same as the Kingdom of Heaven? Sadly most today including many modern Christians have either no idea or the wrong idea of the Kingdom of God because most, including modern believers, seldom take time to think about the Kingdom of God let alone talk about it and study what the Bible has to say about it.
More on the kingdom of God in the next BDBD.
