Sunday, December 11, 2005
PURITY OR STRUGGLE? POWER OR WEAKNESS?
HOW UNDERSTANDING THE TENSION OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD KEEPS US BALANCED
Are Christians meant to struggle with sin and be defeated by it their whole life? Or is there an experience of purity that we can have which will put all struggle with sin behind us? Should we expect God to heal each and every sickness and disease due to our faith? Or is the Christian life one of continual weakness, where we are taught holiness and patience through every disease and malady that comes our way? Must we only choose between these extremes, or does the Bible point us to something better?
Christians are prone to going to extremes just like everyone else. When it comes to the depth of our passion to live for Jesus, we should have a zeal that never wanes (Rom. 12:11). However, when it comes to formulating our beliefs "from the Bible," it is much better to seek to balance various biblical teachings, instead of focusing on one nugget of truth to the exclusion of others. I have been greatly helped in understanding the Bible through studying the theme of the kingdom of God.
What is the Kingdom of God?
The Gospels tell us that when Jesus began his ministry, he began by announcing that, "The kingdom of God is near" (Mark 1:15 , cf. Matthew 4:17). He said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God...because that is why I was sent" (Luke 4:43). He sends out seventy-two followers and instructs them to tell those who welcome them (and those who don't!) that "the kingdom of God is near" (Luke 10:8-12). He asserts that when He casts a demon out of a person "by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Matt 12:28). Clearly, the kingdom of God was of central importance to everything that Jesus said and did.
The “kingdom of God” refers firstly to God’s kingly power in action. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10 KJV). The kingdom or dominion of God has come when God’s will is being done, and wherever God is having His way is where the kingdom of God is being seen. We are to “seek first His kingdom” (Matthew 6:33). meaning that we should seek to have God be our Lord and King, and we should desire His will for our lives in all things before all other wants or desires.
“Kingdom” in the Bible (Hebrew “malkuth,“ Greek “basileia”) is not primarily the geographical place the King rules over (as in the United Kingdom), nor the people who are ruled over (the subjects of the king), but refers first of all to the actual right and authority to rule, along with the carrying out of such authority. This can be seen in the story when “A certain nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return” (Luke 19:12 NASB). The land and the people he was to rule over were where he was at, but he did not have the authority to rule until he went to a distant land to “receive a kingdom.” “For dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations” (Psalm 22:28). Once again (as in the Lord’s Prayer above) we see an example of Hebrew poetry where the second line redefines the first. His “dominion” is when He “rules,” just as His Kingdom has come when His will is done.
When will the Kingdom come?
God’s will was perfectly obeyed throughout all of creation until humanity decided that it didn’t like God being the boss of all, and promptly rebelled against Him (The “Fall of Humanity” is recorded in Genesis 3 ). Since then, all creation shows signs of the lack of God’s Presence. Evil, sin, suffering, sickness, death are all evidence of the lack of God’s ruling in our world. “All creation groans” (Romans 8:20-22).
In the midst of this earthly frustration, the Old Testament prophets looked forward to a time when the kingdom and glory of God would reassert itself all over the world “as the waters cover the sea“ (Isaiah 11:9). God will come in power and rule over all, and there will be no war, (Is. 11:6-9), deafness, blindness (Is. 35:5), or any of the other effects of the Fall, including death (Is. 25:8). Humanity will once again submit to the rule of God, and will receive a new heart and have God’s Spirit to live inside them (Ezekiel 35:26-27). All this will happen when the kingdom comes.
But through Jesus, the “kingdom of God has come upon you’ (Matthew 12:28). God wouldn’t wait for the “end of all things” (1 Peter 4:7), but is acting now to bring about the redemption of humanity. All those who make God their king in this life, who receive Jesus as their Savior, will “inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Even though the kingdom of God has not come in its fullness, as pictured in Daniel 2:44 (see the next question), Christ has come so that the kingdom of God may battle with Satan (1 John 3:7), to release us who are in darkness (Isaiah 9:2), so that we may taste the powers of the coming age of the kingdom (Hebrews 6:5).
How is there a “tension” in the Kingdom of God?
The Bible is clear, however, that we don’t experience everything we can of the blessings of the kingdom at this time. When Jesus healed the sick, or cast out demons, He said that it was an example of the kingdom of God (the will of god) reasserting itself in the world (Matthew 12:28). Yet Jesus Himself did not heal everyone (Matthew 13:58). We are “saved,” but we may still fall away. God may heal our bodies, but we will still die, unless the Lord comes first and finally brings His kingdom in fullness. He may give us a new heart that is cleansed from impurity, but we are still free to wander from Him. The apostle Paul put it most eloquently when he said, “ When perfection comes, the imperfect disappears….Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:10,12). (And this “perfection” does not refer to a completed Bible: there is nothing in the context of the verse to warrant that idea, and 1 John 3:2-3 shows that the face to face that we shall see is the return of Christ.)
“The future condemnation which we all richly deserve has been transferred from the future into the past, having been borne by Christ (Romans 8:1-3). Thus we “have been saved” (Ephesians 2:28). But since our final salvation has not yet been fully realized, Paul can likewise speak of salvation as something presently in process (“we are being saved,” 1 Corinthians 1:18) and as yet to be consummated (“we shall be saved.” Romans 5:9). “Redemption” is both “already (Ephesians 1:7) and “not yet (Ephesians 4:30), as is our “adoption” (Romans 8:15 and 23)….
Many (perhaps most) New Testament doctrines can be seen to have this same structure. We get a glimpse of His glory now; we’ll see His full glory then. We see but a “poor reflection” now; we’ll see Him face to face then. Etc., etc., etc..
How does understanding the tension of the Kingdom of God keep us balanced?
Allowing for the tension of the Kingdom keeps us from going to the extremes in our theology. For example, because the Kingdom is here, we have access to the power of the Holy Spirit, as God testifies to His salvation “by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will” (Hebrews 2:4). But we understand that even Jesus “did not do many miracles” in certain places, and that Paul had to “left Trophimus sick in Miletus” (2 Timothy 4:20). Everyone will be healed…when the Kingdom comes in fullness at the return of Christ. Therefore the Christian life is both one lived in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9 “my power is made perfect in weakness.“) and yet can continually see the power of God pour forth, as Paul and Barnabas did, as the Lord “confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders” (Acts 14:3).
Another debate among Christians concerns whether a Christian can fall away. Calvinists would sometimes quote Hebrews 6:4, saying that such a person who would fall away was never saved, but had only “tasted the Lord.” Yet a look at the verse with our updated understanding shows differently:
HEB 6:4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
Such phrases as “sharing in the Holy Spirit” and “tasting the powers of the coming age” are different ways of referring to experiencing the Kingdom of God in this life. Any who fall away from these were most definitely Christians at one time. That might not fit with one's theology very well, but it's in the Bible, so perhaps some will need to change their theology.
Finally, the question of heart purity versus struggling with sin is impacted by our understanding of the Kingdom of God. For the verses that John Wesley emphasized in his teaching on "Christian Perfection" were prophecies of the coming Kingdom, particularly Ezekiel 3626-27:
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."
If we do not possess everything that was promised now, then surely a “sinless perfection” awaits the full coming of the Kingdom (which was why Wesley rejected the idea of a sinless perfection in this life, where it is impossible for a believer to sin).
Is this a new teaching?
In light of all this, doesn’t it seem odd that you don’t hear much explicit teaching about the kingdom of God in our churches? “The kingdom of God” has become something of a “religious term;” one we use when talking about God but not really a clearly defined term. It seems to mean only what we need it to mean at the moment, but is rarely connected with the grand ideas of the Kingdom that are spread all across the Bible.
The reasons for this are found way back in the first few hundred years after Pentecost. As the church changed from a mostly Jewish group of believers (who knew exactly what the phrase “kingdom of God” meant), to a mostly gentile group of believers spread across the Roman empire; the church began to drift away from its Jewish roots. It didn’t understand the Jewish elements of the bible as much anymore. For example, it became popular to read the Old Testament stories as allegories of Christ or the church, because they couldn’t see any immediate use in many of the stories they found there. These later Christians understood most of the basics of Christianity, but missed many of the details.
In the Middle Ages, the church became enmeshed in politics, and to “be a Christian” basically meant to be a citizen of a Christian country. The “kingdom of God” came to be seen as just another term for the church (which is the official Roman Catholic teaching for hundreds of years, going back to Augustine in the 5th century). At this point, the term had been totally divorced from its historical roots, with it only being a matter of time (1400 years to be exact) before the Kingdom of God was just redefined as the “brotherhood of man,” which was the old liberal idea that everyone was a child of God.
It was at this time that scholars, both believers and unbelievers, began to rediscover the real historical meaning of the Kingdom, as the Jews and Jesus understood it. But they could not reach an agreement over whether the Kingdom was altogether future (Albert Schweitzer, et al.) or altogether present (C.H.Dodd et al.). The future-only people were puzzled over the present Kingdom verses, and the present-only people had to ignore the future Kingdom verses. Therefore the debate never left the realm of the scholars, and the person in the pew had no idea that we were getting closer to Jesus’ meaning.
In the post- World War 2 years, a consensus emerged among some Evangelicals and others (George Ladd, Herman Ridderboss, etc.) that the Kingdom was BOTH present and future. This seemed to make a whole lot of sense, as it cleared up a lot of the confusion and seemed to explain both the present and future verses about the Kingdom, without twisting the meaning of either. Evangelicals began to learn about the Kingdom in seminary, and may even have mentioned it in church.
But there was one BIG problem. Virtually ALL of the existing denominations had their birth and defined their doctrines BEFORE the scholarly debate trickled down. Therefore, the Kingdom was always kept as a nice add-on, but nothing that would come and occupy an important place. Until the Vineyard movement of the 1980’s, that is.
Since Vineyard was brand new, they could place the Kingdom squarely in the middle of their beliefs, since there was no old tradition that had to move over to make room for it. However, the Vineyard usually only spoke about the Kingdom when talking about spiritual gifts or healing (which was not a bad thing). They did not go on and apply it to many other areas of theology, being rather content to stick with older theologies. (Most Vineyards are Reformed, with a few reportedly being Wesleyan-Arminian.)
The situation remains the same today. Lip service is paid to the Kingdom of God, even though it was Jesus’ favorite topic. But no one is brave enough to reexamine their theology and incorporate Jesus’ obsession with the Kingdom.
Are Christians meant to struggle with sin and be defeated by it their whole life? Or is there an experience of purity that we can have which will put all struggle with sin behind us? Should we expect God to heal each and every sickness and disease due to our faith? Or is the Christian life one of continual weakness, where we are taught holiness and patience through every disease and malady that comes our way? Must we only choose between these extremes, or does the Bible point us to something better?
Christians are prone to going to extremes just like everyone else. When it comes to the depth of our passion to live for Jesus, we should have a zeal that never wanes (Rom. 12:11). However, when it comes to formulating our beliefs "from the Bible," it is much better to seek to balance various biblical teachings, instead of focusing on one nugget of truth to the exclusion of others. I have been greatly helped in understanding the Bible through studying the theme of the kingdom of God.
What is the Kingdom of God?
The Gospels tell us that when Jesus began his ministry, he began by announcing that, "The kingdom of God is near" (Mark 1:15 , cf. Matthew 4:17). He said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God...because that is why I was sent" (Luke 4:43). He sends out seventy-two followers and instructs them to tell those who welcome them (and those who don't!) that "the kingdom of God is near" (Luke 10:8-12). He asserts that when He casts a demon out of a person "by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Matt 12:28). Clearly, the kingdom of God was of central importance to everything that Jesus said and did.
The “kingdom of God” refers firstly to God’s kingly power in action. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10 KJV). The kingdom or dominion of God has come when God’s will is being done, and wherever God is having His way is where the kingdom of God is being seen. We are to “seek first His kingdom” (Matthew 6:33). meaning that we should seek to have God be our Lord and King, and we should desire His will for our lives in all things before all other wants or desires.
“Kingdom” in the Bible (Hebrew “malkuth,“ Greek “basileia”) is not primarily the geographical place the King rules over (as in the United Kingdom), nor the people who are ruled over (the subjects of the king), but refers first of all to the actual right and authority to rule, along with the carrying out of such authority. This can be seen in the story when “A certain nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return” (Luke 19:12 NASB). The land and the people he was to rule over were where he was at, but he did not have the authority to rule until he went to a distant land to “receive a kingdom.” “For dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations” (Psalm 22:28). Once again (as in the Lord’s Prayer above) we see an example of Hebrew poetry where the second line redefines the first. His “dominion” is when He “rules,” just as His Kingdom has come when His will is done.
When will the Kingdom come?
God’s will was perfectly obeyed throughout all of creation until humanity decided that it didn’t like God being the boss of all, and promptly rebelled against Him (The “Fall of Humanity” is recorded in Genesis 3 ). Since then, all creation shows signs of the lack of God’s Presence. Evil, sin, suffering, sickness, death are all evidence of the lack of God’s ruling in our world. “All creation groans” (Romans 8:20-22).
In the midst of this earthly frustration, the Old Testament prophets looked forward to a time when the kingdom and glory of God would reassert itself all over the world “as the waters cover the sea“ (Isaiah 11:9). God will come in power and rule over all, and there will be no war, (Is. 11:6-9), deafness, blindness (Is. 35:5), or any of the other effects of the Fall, including death (Is. 25:8). Humanity will once again submit to the rule of God, and will receive a new heart and have God’s Spirit to live inside them (Ezekiel 35:26-27). All this will happen when the kingdom comes.
But through Jesus, the “kingdom of God has come upon you’ (Matthew 12:28). God wouldn’t wait for the “end of all things” (1 Peter 4:7), but is acting now to bring about the redemption of humanity. All those who make God their king in this life, who receive Jesus as their Savior, will “inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Even though the kingdom of God has not come in its fullness, as pictured in Daniel 2:44 (see the next question), Christ has come so that the kingdom of God may battle with Satan (1 John 3:7), to release us who are in darkness (Isaiah 9:2), so that we may taste the powers of the coming age of the kingdom (Hebrews 6:5).
How is there a “tension” in the Kingdom of God?
The Bible is clear, however, that we don’t experience everything we can of the blessings of the kingdom at this time. When Jesus healed the sick, or cast out demons, He said that it was an example of the kingdom of God (the will of god) reasserting itself in the world (Matthew 12:28). Yet Jesus Himself did not heal everyone (Matthew 13:58). We are “saved,” but we may still fall away. God may heal our bodies, but we will still die, unless the Lord comes first and finally brings His kingdom in fullness. He may give us a new heart that is cleansed from impurity, but we are still free to wander from Him. The apostle Paul put it most eloquently when he said, “ When perfection comes, the imperfect disappears….Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:10,12). (And this “perfection” does not refer to a completed Bible: there is nothing in the context of the verse to warrant that idea, and 1 John 3:2-3 shows that the face to face that we shall see is the return of Christ.)
The tension of the kingdom means that we can taste ALL of the blessings of the future kingdom now, but none of them are ours in as full a way as they will be when Christ returns and “hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power” (1 Corinthians 15:24). Gordon Fee provides some examples from the letters of Paul:
“The future condemnation which we all richly deserve has been transferred from the future into the past, having been borne by Christ (Romans 8:1-3). Thus we “have been saved” (Ephesians 2:28). But since our final salvation has not yet been fully realized, Paul can likewise speak of salvation as something presently in process (“we are being saved,” 1 Corinthians 1:18) and as yet to be consummated (“we shall be saved.” Romans 5:9). “Redemption” is both “already (Ephesians 1:7) and “not yet (Ephesians 4:30), as is our “adoption” (Romans 8:15 and 23)….
It is this understanding of salvation, as both “already” and “not yet,” that keeps Paul from being a triumphalist. Because we are “already,” we presently experience the power of Christ’s resurrection; but because we are “not yet,” we also presently participate in his sufferings (Philippians 3:10).” (God’s Empowering Presence, page 804).
Many (perhaps most) New Testament doctrines can be seen to have this same structure. We get a glimpse of His glory now; we’ll see His full glory then. We see but a “poor reflection” now; we’ll see Him face to face then. Etc., etc., etc..
How does understanding the tension of the Kingdom of God keep us balanced?
Allowing for the tension of the Kingdom keeps us from going to the extremes in our theology. For example, because the Kingdom is here, we have access to the power of the Holy Spirit, as God testifies to His salvation “by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will” (Hebrews 2:4). But we understand that even Jesus “did not do many miracles” in certain places, and that Paul had to “left Trophimus sick in Miletus” (2 Timothy 4:20). Everyone will be healed…when the Kingdom comes in fullness at the return of Christ. Therefore the Christian life is both one lived in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9 “my power is made perfect in weakness.“) and yet can continually see the power of God pour forth, as Paul and Barnabas did, as the Lord “confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders” (Acts 14:3).
Another debate among Christians concerns whether a Christian can fall away. Calvinists would sometimes quote Hebrews 6:4, saying that such a person who would fall away was never saved, but had only “tasted the Lord.” Yet a look at the verse with our updated understanding shows differently:
HEB 6:4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
Such phrases as “sharing in the Holy Spirit” and “tasting the powers of the coming age” are different ways of referring to experiencing the Kingdom of God in this life. Any who fall away from these were most definitely Christians at one time. That might not fit with one's theology very well, but it's in the Bible, so perhaps some will need to change their theology.
Finally, the question of heart purity versus struggling with sin is impacted by our understanding of the Kingdom of God. For the verses that John Wesley emphasized in his teaching on "Christian Perfection" were prophecies of the coming Kingdom, particularly Ezekiel 3626-27:
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."
If we do not possess everything that was promised now, then surely a “sinless perfection” awaits the full coming of the Kingdom (which was why Wesley rejected the idea of a sinless perfection in this life, where it is impossible for a believer to sin).
Yet neither would we affirm that we are powerless in the face of temptation. The Kingdom has come. “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:2). There is a fulfillment of the promises in Ezekiel that we can experience NOW. It is always possible to not sin (1 Cor 10:13). This was what Wesley was trying to say, what he termed “Christian Perfection,” or “Entire Sanctification.” A powerful defeat over sin enabling a real cleansing of one’s heart, but not a final defeat which would end all struggle in this lifetime and issue in a life of “sinless perfection.”
Is this a new teaching?
In light of all this, doesn’t it seem odd that you don’t hear much explicit teaching about the kingdom of God in our churches? “The kingdom of God” has become something of a “religious term;” one we use when talking about God but not really a clearly defined term. It seems to mean only what we need it to mean at the moment, but is rarely connected with the grand ideas of the Kingdom that are spread all across the Bible.
The reasons for this are found way back in the first few hundred years after Pentecost. As the church changed from a mostly Jewish group of believers (who knew exactly what the phrase “kingdom of God” meant), to a mostly gentile group of believers spread across the Roman empire; the church began to drift away from its Jewish roots. It didn’t understand the Jewish elements of the bible as much anymore. For example, it became popular to read the Old Testament stories as allegories of Christ or the church, because they couldn’t see any immediate use in many of the stories they found there. These later Christians understood most of the basics of Christianity, but missed many of the details.
In the Middle Ages, the church became enmeshed in politics, and to “be a Christian” basically meant to be a citizen of a Christian country. The “kingdom of God” came to be seen as just another term for the church (which is the official Roman Catholic teaching for hundreds of years, going back to Augustine in the 5th century). At this point, the term had been totally divorced from its historical roots, with it only being a matter of time (1400 years to be exact) before the Kingdom of God was just redefined as the “brotherhood of man,” which was the old liberal idea that everyone was a child of God.
It was at this time that scholars, both believers and unbelievers, began to rediscover the real historical meaning of the Kingdom, as the Jews and Jesus understood it. But they could not reach an agreement over whether the Kingdom was altogether future (Albert Schweitzer, et al.) or altogether present (C.H.Dodd et al.). The future-only people were puzzled over the present Kingdom verses, and the present-only people had to ignore the future Kingdom verses. Therefore the debate never left the realm of the scholars, and the person in the pew had no idea that we were getting closer to Jesus’ meaning.
In the post- World War 2 years, a consensus emerged among some Evangelicals and others (George Ladd, Herman Ridderboss, etc.) that the Kingdom was BOTH present and future. This seemed to make a whole lot of sense, as it cleared up a lot of the confusion and seemed to explain both the present and future verses about the Kingdom, without twisting the meaning of either. Evangelicals began to learn about the Kingdom in seminary, and may even have mentioned it in church.
But there was one BIG problem. Virtually ALL of the existing denominations had their birth and defined their doctrines BEFORE the scholarly debate trickled down. Therefore, the Kingdom was always kept as a nice add-on, but nothing that would come and occupy an important place. Until the Vineyard movement of the 1980’s, that is.
Since Vineyard was brand new, they could place the Kingdom squarely in the middle of their beliefs, since there was no old tradition that had to move over to make room for it. However, the Vineyard usually only spoke about the Kingdom when talking about spiritual gifts or healing (which was not a bad thing). They did not go on and apply it to many other areas of theology, being rather content to stick with older theologies. (Most Vineyards are Reformed, with a few reportedly being Wesleyan-Arminian.)
The situation remains the same today. Lip service is paid to the Kingdom of God, even though it was Jesus’ favorite topic. But no one is brave enough to reexamine their theology and incorporate Jesus’ obsession with the Kingdom.
Here is an example from my days at a Holiness Bible college. I have a Wesleyan-Holiness systematic theology book that actually talks about their doctrine of entire sanctification as a present blessing of the Kingdom of God, but the Holiness groups I have observed instead only want to argue the debates of the last century, such as whether or not entire sanctification is the “baptism of the Holy Spirit.”
In the midst of one such discussion at Circleville Bible College, I mentioned that maybe others outside of Holiness churches would listen to their teaching about holiness if they talked about it in the context of the Kingdom of God. Everyone stopped talking, apparently taken aback. Dr. Case replied by quoting a famous hymn, “Hmmn.. Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh what a FORETASTE of glory divine.” He seemed to be acknowledging that I had the theology right. The moment was fleeting, however. The next student raised his hand and went right back to the spirit baptism debate and it was forgotten. Once again the biblical teaching of the Kingdom was relegated to the side.
In the midst of one such discussion at Circleville Bible College, I mentioned that maybe others outside of Holiness churches would listen to their teaching about holiness if they talked about it in the context of the Kingdom of God. Everyone stopped talking, apparently taken aback. Dr. Case replied by quoting a famous hymn, “Hmmn.. Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh what a FORETASTE of glory divine.” He seemed to be acknowledging that I had the theology right. The moment was fleeting, however. The next student raised his hand and went right back to the spirit baptism debate and it was forgotten. Once again the biblical teaching of the Kingdom was relegated to the side.
