OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST SAID: “SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD…” [

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST SAID: "SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD…" [Matthew 6:33].

The Kingdom of God is the central theme of the Divine Teaching of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. He is calling us to be set free from anxiety about earthly cares, Jesus directs us to look to Heaven, to greater "country" which will be received at the Day of the Lord, secure in the faith that the Almighty God will provide "all things… to you" [Matthew 6:33].

Man’s salvation consists in the ACQUISITION OF ETERNAL LIFE IN GOD, in the Kingdom of Heaven. "But nothing unclean can enter the Kingdom of God" [Ephesians 5:5; Revelation 21:27]. God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him, and those who enter the Kingdom of God MUST THEMSELVES BE SONS OF THE Light. Therefore, entrance into it necessarily requires PURITY OF SOUL, A GARMENT OF "HOLINESS WHICH NO MAN SHALL SEE THE LORD" [Hebrews 12:14].

The Son of God came into the world in order "to open the path to mankind in its entirety for the personal salvation of each of us; and in order by this means to direct the hearts of people to the search, to the thirst for the Kingdom of God, and "to give help, to give power on this path of salvation for the acquirement of personal purity and sanctity." The first of these has been accomplished by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ ENTIRELY. The second DEPENDS UPON OURSELVES, ALTHOUGH IT IS ACCOMPLISHED BY THE "ACTIVITY OF THE GRACE OF CHRIST IN THE Holy Spirit.

"For the Orthodox Church, SALVATION is more than the pardon of sins and transgressions. It is more than being justified or acquitted for offences committed against God. According to Orthodox Teaching, SALVATION CERTAINLY INCLUDES FORGIVENESS AND JUSTIFICATION, BUT IS BY NO MEANS LIMITED TO THEM,. FOR THE HOLY FATHERS OF THE CHURCH SALVATION IS THE ACQUISITION OF THE GRACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. TO BE SAVED IS TO BE SANCTIFIED AND TO PARTICIPATE IN THE LIFE OF GOD-INDEED TO ‘BECOME PARTAKERS OF THE Divine Nature’ [2 Peter 1:4].

With the end of this age and the transformation of the world into A NEW and BETTER world, there is revealed the Eternal Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Glory.

Then will come to an end the Kingdom of Grace, the existence of the Church on earth, the Militant Church; it will enter into this Kingdom of Glory and will merge with the Heavenly Church. "Then comes THE END, when He delivers the Kingdom of God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed IS DEATH…now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him Who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all" [1 Corinthians 15:24-26, 28]. These words concerning the end of the Kingdom of Christ must be understood as the fulfillment of the Son’s MISSION, which He accepted from the Father, and which consists of the conducting of mankind to God through the Church. Then the Son will REIGN IN THE KINGDOM OF GLORY TOGETHER WIT THE FATHER AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, and "of His Kingdom there shall be no end," and the Archangel announced to the Virgin Mary [Luke 1:33], and as we read in the Symbol of Faith (The Creed): "And His Kingdom will have no end." Saint Cyril of Jerusalem says this: "For will not He Who reigned before overthrowing His enemies, reign all the more after He has conquered them."

DEATH will have no power in the Kingdom of Glory. "The last enemy that shall be DESTROYED IS DEATH…Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY" [1 Corinthians 15:26,54]. "There shall be TIME NO LONGER [Revelation 10:6].

The Eternal Blessed Life is presented vividly in the 24 chapter in the book of Revelation: "And I saw new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth WERE PASSED AWAY: AND THERE WAS NO MORE SEA" [Revelation 21:1]. In the future kingdom everything WILL BE SPIRITUALIZED, IMMORTAL, AND HOLY.

But the chief thing is that those who attain the future blessed life and become "partakers of the Divine Nature" [2 Peter 1:4] will be participants in the MOST PERFECT LIFE, whose source is in God alone. In particular, the future members of the Kingdom of God will be vouchsafed, like the Angels, to "SEE GOD" [Matthew 5:8], to behold His glory not as through a dark glass, not by means of conjectures, but face to face. And not only will they behold the glory, but they themselves will be "PARTAKERS" OF IT, shining like "the sun in the Kingdom of their Father" [Matthew 13:43]. being "fellow heirs" with Christ, sitting with Christ on a Throne and sharing with Him the Royal Grandeur [Revelation 3:21].

The Kingdom of God is an invisible, spiritual reality present "WITHIN." In Greek "entos hymon." The words "ento hymon" should be understood to mean "in your midst," or "among you." Thuss Jesus declares that the Kingdom of God was among those gathered around Him — He was "IN THEIR MIDST." Jesus Christ is God INCARNATE and King of Kings, and where He is, the Kingdom of God is found. Furthermore, the Kingdom of God is not observed. but IS ENCOUNTERED BY ACTIVE PARTICIPATION WHILE IN HIS PRESENCE. So, we have this question, where is Christ found where such participation takes place? The answer: the Church. In fact, the Divine Liturgy begins with this exclamation: "Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages." This is where those gathered around Christ encounter Him and participate in Him by the Divine Liturgy of the Church. As a matter of fact there is a verbal exchange among Orthodox Christians: Christ is in our midst!" The reply is, "He is and ever shall be!"

As is symbolically depicted in Revelation, "They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb Who is in the midst of the Throne will shepherd them and lead them to Living Fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" [Rev. 7:16-17]. "But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man. The things which God has prepared for those who love Him" [1 Corinthians 2:9]. [Source: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology]

__________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George