343. Kingdom, Dominion, Greatness
Daniel 7:27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
“For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.” So we pray and so we believe. This means God’s kingdom is the only one that will last, and if we are in His kingdom we also will last. If you think about it, life doesn’t make any sense at all if it will end and that’s all there is. Life, real life, was never meant to be that way. Life was created to regenerate, renew, refresh, and continue growing and getting more interesting and vigorous without any thought of ending. “Eternal” life is the only life that can be called life. An eternal kingdom is the only true reality. Nothing else matters; nothing else lives; no other kingdom always exists. Life is not “that’s all there is.”
And life is not lived well, even for a short time, if it is not subject to and obedient to the One True Lord God of Creation. When God alone is allowed to rule and have His way everything in and around us will be perfect, wonderful, enjoyable, peaceful, prosperous, beautiful, refreshing, and enriching.This kind of kingdom, with it dominion and greatness, will be given to the people of the saints. So Jesus proclaimed: “The kingdom of God is at hand; the kingdom of God is within you.” And so Jesus finished the task of retaking the kingdom for God and for the saints. One peek at the end of history shows the perfect fulfillment of the promise. Once we call to conscious memory what it was once like in Adam before our Fall, we will never want to return to the sin-cursed world of death ever again,
The kingdom is real, the kingdom is forever, and the kingdom is now. We may turn our eyes from the present troubles of this world and enter the eternal kingdom within by repentance and faith in the Gospel. What Jesus did for us is present, it is real, it is now, and it is forever. The kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom is given to us. Hallelujah!