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Realizing the presence, promise, and power of the Kingdom of God.
The Scriptorium

Kingdom Rest

Jesus brings us to the Kingdom rest we seek. Matthew 11.1-30

Matthew 11: Taking the Kingdom by Force (7)

Pray Psalm 110.3, 4.
Your people shall be volunteers
In the day of Your power;
In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning,
You have the dew of Your youth.
The LORD has sworn
And will not relent,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”

Sing Psalm 110.3, 4.
(Aurelia: The Church’s One Foundation)
Filled with the Spirit’s power, in holy robes of love,
from early morning’s hour they serve their Lord above.
Christ reigns a priest forever, the King of Righteousness
and King of Peace who ever His chosen ones will bless.

Read and meditate on Matthew 11.1-30.

Prepare.
1. What do we learn in this chapter about the Kingdom of God?

2. Where can we find rest for our souls?

Meditate.
This chapter begins with violence – the hint of it in John’s situation, and the spiritual violence involved in entering the Kingdom of God – and ends in rest and peace. These are not opposing ideas where the Kingdom of God is concerned.

We must always bear in mind that spiritual forces of wickedness in high places are loath to yield ground to the advancing Kingdom of God. They will put up a fight at every turn to keep us from realizing more of the righteousness, peace, and joy of the Spirit that Christ has called us to in His Kingdom. We need to deal violently with them, recognizing their wiles, resisting their schemes and distractions, wielding all the weapons of our warfare (Eph. 6.10-20), and pressing on in the yoke with Jesus to plow new furrows for the Kingdom in our Personal Mission Field.

There will be resistance. People are reluctant to admit and repent from their sins, and they may not find our message or our lifestyle to their liking. But we don’t look to the approval of others or agreeable circumstances and conditions for the rest our souls desire. We look to Jesus. Walking with Him, sharing in His reconciling and restoring work, and basking in the sweet, clear light of His revelation, we find all the rest we need, rest that not even the devil and his minions nor the enemies of God in this world can keep us from enjoying.

Let us then in meekness and humility look to Jesus as the Coming One, Whose not-of-this-world Kingdom is bringing a new order of the ages to us and our world.

Reflect.
1. How should we make progress in realizing more of the presence, promise, and power of the Kingdom of God?

2. How can you make sure that you are repenting of all your sins?

3. How can we access more of the “hidden things” Jesus wants to give us?

The Father entrusts. The Son receives. What is entrusted? All things have been entrusted to the Son, but this does not mean cosmically heaven and earth and the elements and the rest of nature which God himself made and established. Rather, it refers personally to the people who have access to the Father through the Son and who were formerly rebellious but afterward began to know God. Jerome (347-420), Commentary on Matthew 2.11.27

Help me make progress in Your Kingdom, Lord, as I…

Pray Psalm 110.1-3, 5-7.
Pray that the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ will come more fully in your life, and through you, to all the people of your Personal Mission Field.

Sing Psalm 110.1-3, 5-7.
Psalm 110.1-3, 5-7 (Aurelia: The Church’s One Foundation)
“Sit by Me at My right hand,” the Lord says to my Lord,
“until I make Your foot stand on all who hate Your Word.”
From in His Church the Savior rules all His enemies;
while those who know His favor go forth the Lord to please.

The Lord at Your right hand, Lord, in wrath shall shatter kings,
when judgment by His strong Word He to the nations brings.
Then, all His foes defeated, He takes His hard-won rest,
in glorious triumph seated with us, redeemed and blessed!

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from
The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

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