Episode 65 - The prefiguration of the kingdom

The kingdom (and its prefiguration) is connected to what the Chief Apostle said in the Pentecost Service: the Holy Spirit gives us the guarantee, the seal, and the pledge. The “pledge” is the “deposit” on eternal life with Jesus that we have through the gift of the Holy Spirit, by which we can begin to enjoy the kingdom of God already here on earth, when we allow the influence of the Holy Spirit to grow in us. When we say in the Lord’s Prayer, “Your kingdom come,” we pray not only for the future kingdom to come, but also that the Lord and His kingdom come to us now. This allows us to not grow weary of waiting for Him because His presence is near to us.

This foretaste of the kingdom happens in two ways: first, when our love for God and for one another grows — made possible because the Spirit of God has poured His love into our hearts (Romans 5:5) —, and second, when we grow in the attributes of Jesus Christ and these are evidenced in the congregation, that is, when we see in our congregation, through the activity of the Holy Spirit, what Jesus said to John the Baptist, “the blind see… the deaf hear” (Matthew 11:5). This is manifested when the communication is open, and the relationships grow deeper because each one accepts the other. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can accept one another by overcoming aggravating differences and realizing that it is good to have differences because they make us stronger as a unit, as a community.

By all of this, individually and as a congregation, we should experience and embrace that call to bring the kingdom now.