Matthew 10:7

Matthew 10:7

We learn from this passage how needful it is for us all to remember that the kingdom of God exists now in the world.

Consider

I. What this remembrance means. The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, may appear to many a man an obscure conception, a mere way of speaking, one of the old-fashioned, far-fetched expressions of Holy Scripture, belonging to the ecclesiastical style of former times, but meaning little to our modern culture. Yet it is not so. The Jews to whom it was first announced possessed the key to its meaning they expected the Messiah, that Divine King, who would establish the kingdom of God. Pity only that so many of them spoiled that key by intruding their own worldly and fleshly thoughts into the Divine revelation. St. Paul contradicted their views when he said, "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." The kingdom of heaven is among us, therefore heaven has come down to earth. God has come forth from His hidden place that we may know Him as a people knows its king, may have communion with Him, and may love Him, as a subject loves his sovereign. Our labour is from henceforth no longer earthly and perishable; it reaches on to heaven. Here with our poor labours we may gain for ourselves everlasting possessions, may hold fellowship with the everlasting God, and with all His saints. Each man labours, not for himself alone, but working together with all the forces of the kingdom of God. One reaches out his hand to another, not for things immediate and visible only, but for things eternal; we labour together for the kingdom of God, and thus our work is carried on in love and friendship.

II. Who are those that most need this reminder? (1) Those who are well satisfied with earth, who blindly live by the day, apparently oblivious even to the idea of a kingdom of God. (2) Those who by a spiritualizing of earthly things seek to transform the earth itself into the kingdom of heaven. To them I would say, The kingdom that you strive to raise is here already no realm of dreams, but a kingdom of glorious reality; break loose from your enchanted world, and believe in the truth which has appeared among us! (3) Those who think their own power sufficient to establish the kingdom of heaven. To them I would say, The heaven that is to fill you with joy and gladness must be high above yourself; it must be a rich and abundant heaven; it must come down from above. Receive it as a gift of grace. You cannot take it by force; become, then, as a little child, and receive it as the gift of love.

R. Rothe, Predigten,p. 52.

Reference: Matthew 10:7; Matthew 10:8. T. Spurgeon, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxvi., p. 152.