Command 14 : Seek God's Kingdom | Day 93

Understand God's Kingdom!

A few years ago, I was in the Northwoods for my annual time of seeking the Lord, when my assistant expressed a problem that he was having. He had been a Christian for many years and had received a wealth of Biblical training, but somehow he wasn't experiencing the victory that he knew was possible in Christ. I told him that I was going to begin a study on the command to seek first God's kingdom and that we would talk further about his situation the next morning.

After he left, I realized that I did not fully comprehend the kingdom of God, nor could I picture it. Then I remembered that the commands of Christ have their foundations in the Old Testament and their applications in the New Testament. I decided to look for the Old Testament basis for this command and began to see a number of parallels between the nation of Israel and the kingdom of God that helped me better understand the command.

The founding and structure of the nation of Israel is a significant analogy to the kingdom of God within us.

The nation of Israel began with one man (Abraham) who had faith in God and entered into a blood covenant with Him. Similarly, the present kingdom of God also begins with one person who has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and who enters into a covenant relationship with Him. (See Ephesians 2:12-14.)

I also saw that the nation of Israel had laws given to them by God through Moses. The kingdom of God has commands given to us by God through Jesus Christ. Just as Israel's laws provided safety and guidance to the nation, so the commands of Christ give protection and direction for believers.

The analogies between the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David, and our old and new natures are abundant and profound. When Saul saw that David would be king, he tried to kill him. Similarly, our old nature carries on a continual warfare against our new nature. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Galatians 5:17).

Until our old nature, represented by Saul, is put to death, our new nature, represented by David, cannot reign.

The next morning, I shared what I had learned from God's Word with my assistant. When he understood the importance of putting his old nature to death in order to allow God's Spirit to reign, he was able to establish a deeper relationship and enjoy richer fellowship with the Lord than he had ever experienced before. In tomorrow's e-mail, I will explain what my assistant did.