Walking through this book on Wednesdays with some quotes from a favorite teacher/author on the Kingdom of God, Dallas Willard....
God's Kingdom
"Now God's own 'kingdom' or 'rule', is the range of his effective will, where what he wants done is done. The person of God himself and the action of his will are the organizing principles of his kingdom, but everything that obeys those principles, whether by nature or by choice, is within his kingdom."
"The kingdom of God cannot be shaken and is totally good. It has never been in trouble and never will be. It is not something that human beings produce or, ultimately, can hinder. We do have an invitation to be a part of it, but if we refuse we only hurt ourselves."
"Indeed, the social and political realm, along with the individual heart, is the only place in all creation where the kingdom of God, or his effective will, is currently permitted to be absent."
"Jesus's own gospel of the kingdom was not that the kingdom was about to come, or had recently come, into existence (the kingdom was already existent). If we attend to what he actually said, it becomes clear that his gospel concerned only the new accessibility of the kingdom to humanity through himself."
"Jesus came among us to show and teach the life for which we were made. He came very gently, opened access to the governance of God with him, and set afoot a conspiracy of freedom in truth among human beings. Having overcome death he remains among us."
"By relying on his word and presence we are enabled to reintegrate the little realm that makes up our life into the infinite rule of God. and that is the eternal kind of life. Caught up in his active rule, our deeds become an element in God's eternal history. They are what God and we do together, making us part of his life and him a part of ours."
"New Testament passages make plain that this kingdom is not something to be 'accepted' now and enjoyed later, but something to be entered now. It is something that already has flesh and blood citizens who have been transformed into it and are fellow workers in it."
"The apostle Paul on one occasion describes the Kingdom of God simply as 'righteousness and peace and joy' of a type that only occurs 'through the energizing of the Holy Spirit'. That it is not of, or not derived from, this world or 'here' does not mean that it is not real or that it is not in this world. It is, as Jesus said, constantly in the midst of human life. Indeed, it means that it is more real and more present than any human arrangement could ever possibly be."
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