Hey...J had a great idea for a sermon series...take a closer look at the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is an often references item in the New Testament. Many of Jesus' parables teach us about the Kingdom. Paul also has some great things to say about it. Despite all this, the Kingdom is still somewhat of a mystery. What is it? Where is it? When is it? These are all great questions. We are going to take the next four weeks and investigate the beauty and the mystery of the Kingdom.
We will start by focusing on the history of Kingdom thinking. When Jesus taught about the Kingdom, He was often challenging people's ideas about what the Kingdom was or would be. Where did they get their ideas? A big part of their picture comes from the writings of Daniel. This Sunday we will take a closer look at Daniel 2 and 7, examining how these chapters helped form the Jewish idea of the Kingdom of God. What comes to your mind when you think about the Kingdom?
The new reading plan for all four weeks is posted at the church website.
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6 comments:
Any idea about what I just read in Daniel 7? After Daniel told the meaning of the dream, I am still not clear about it.
Without getting into too much detail, let's just say there are many interpretations. There seems to be a pretty firm parallel between the dream of chapter 2 and Daniel's vision in chapeter 7. The primary difference lies in the description of the fourth kingdom from Daniel's vision. Consensus says that the four beasts are Babylon, Mede-Persian, Greece and Rome. The ten horns and the little horn prove the largest point of contention. It shouldn't surprise us that this is also what perplexed (and troubled) Daniel. It is pretty clear that the ten horns are kings or kingdoms and the little horn arises form among them and proves more powerful. The little horn also sets himslef up against God. Depending on how you interpret it, the litte horn is...
Antiochus Epiphanes (a real bad dude who actually replaced God's alter in the Temple with an alter to Zues in 168 BC). This interpretation does not intepret the fourth beast as Rome, instead it is Greece.
Some think it refers to the papacy.
Others think it refers to the Antichrist (which may or may not be related to the papacy). This is probably the most widely held interpretation.
There are other opnions, but those are the prominent ones.
I tried to find Luke 38, but it was not there. Was that Luke 2:38?
I love how GOD revealed to two faithful servants that they would live to see Jesus. What a wonderful reward for a faithful life!
Also interesting that the religious bigwigs of the time were so busy looking for the Messiah according to their own desires that they totally missed the reality of who HE was. Yet GOD revealed the truth to these two humble servants, who were probably open to whatever GOD had in store for them. There's a wonderful lesson there!
Go to crosswalk.com and read the article" What I saw at the Islam raly." What I read, to me is scary.
Sorry for not getting a fresh post up for this week. I'm glad you went ahead and posted anyway. Yes Bob, it should be Luke 2:38.
Frankie, great thoughts.
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