The Kingdom of God on Trackback Thursday

This week’s trackback Thursday features The Kingdom of God by Martyn Lloyd-Jones (released in trade paperback this month).

A reminder of how Trackback Thursday works: Simply link to the blog post from your blog, leave a comment on Crossway’s Facebook Page, or re-tweet Trackback Thursday on Twitter @Crosswaybooks. Winners are picked on Friday morning.

A Kingdom Which Cannot Be Moved
(Excerpt from The Kingdom of God, pp 219).

And what in the next world? Well it is glory! It is to be with Him, it is to be like Him, it is to reign with Christ as kings and priests. “Know ye not,” says Paul to the Corinthians, “that the saints shall judge the world . . . Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” (1 Cor 6:2-3). Christian people do you realise these things? Nobody else realises them. Men and women are in the world today because they know nothing about the glory that is coming. City life! “What a thrill I get out of it!” the say, “the kicks, the enjoyment!” But they will soon by lying on their deathbed and they will not be able to enjoy it; they will be leaving it, and they will have nothing, it will all be shaken, and they will be shaken. And here is the glory that they have refused. That is why men and women are not Christians; they know nothing about this glory; being with God and being with Christ and reigning with Him, and triumphing with Him and enjoying Him to all eternity. The blessings of the Kingdom!

And then, there is the safety and the security of the kingdom: “We receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved.” Everything else can be removed; there is nothing stable in this world. People used to think the British Empire was stable—how much of it is left? Those everlasting mountains—stable? Of course they are not. They are moving the whole time and an earthquake can wreck them, a bomb can smash them. Nothing is stable. The whole world will be convulsed in a final cataclysm, nothing will remain. But here is a kingdom which cannot be moved.