The Kingdom

Series on the Lord’s Prayer – “your kingdom come”
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
John 3:1-21 

[Jesus taught his disciples to pray by saying, “Our Father in heaven”. This is the beginning of what we have come to call The Lord’s Prayer. In this series, we will take a deep dive into the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples and to learn what it means for us today.]

 

During the summer between my sophomore and junior year of college, a friend shared with me a gospel tract called the “Four Spiritual Laws”. The fourth law speaks about being born again which results in a personal relationship with Jesus. 

I had gone to church my whole life but never heard anything like this before. It made a lot of sense, so I invited Jesus to come into my life.

 

The term kingdom is used throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament the Lord told Moses that Israel would be a “kingdom of priests”. God promised David an “eternal kingdom”. Isaiah prophesied about a child that would “reign over David’s kingdom”.

 

Despite these promises, Israel had very little history of actually being a kingdom. In fact, of the 2000 years from Abraham to Jesus, they were a kingdom for only 120 years. By the first century, Israel was under Roman rule. There was no kingdom in sight. Despite this, Jesus often spoke of a kingdom. 

 

In the beginning, when he set out on his mission of redemption, he said that “the kingdom of heaven was near”. During the Sermon on the Mount, he spoke about the “kingdom of heaven” in the Beatitudes. He told many parables that started with the phrase “the kingdom of heaven is like…” He even taught his disciples to pray for it.

 

¹⁰ Your kingdom come.

Your will be done. 

On earth as it is in heaven.                  NKJV    Matthew 6

 

So, what is the kingdom? Many Jews believed that the Messiah would come as a political leader and free Israel from Rome. That he would set up a new kingdom. Even Jesus’ closest disciples seemed to believe this. However, Jesus corrected this misconception when Nicodemus met with him. 

 

Nicodemus was a prominent Jewish leader at the time. He was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin – the Jewish ruling council. Considering the hostilities between these two groups and Jesus, it’s somewhat surprising that Nicodemus sought him out. Although, it was during the dark of night.  

 

^2 “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” ³ Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”                  NLT

 

Nicodemus didn’t understand, so Jesus continued.

 

^5b “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.                        NLT

 

The Kingdom of God not only occurs for individuals who experience a spiritual rebirth as Jesus described to Nicodemus, but also, it’s the hope that we have when Jesus returns.

 

About 60 years following Jesus’ death, the Apostle John was sentenced to the island of Patmos because of his faith. While there, he had an apocalyptic vision from God. Although the following passage doesn’t specifically mention the Kingdom of God, what he describes certainly fits.

² And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.                   NLT   Revelation 21

 

So, what is the kingdom? It means living in God’s presence whether it be a spiritual rebirth here and now on earth, or in heaven when Jesus returns.

 

Copyright 2026 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

Oh, My Papa

Series on the Lord’s Prayer
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Matthew 6:5-15; Luke 11:1-13 

[Jesus taught his disciples to pray by saying, “Our Father in heaven”. This is the beginning of what we have come to call The Lord’s Prayer. In this series, we will take a deep dive into the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples and to learn what it means for us today.]

  

As a little boy, I desperately desired my Dad’s love. Although he wasn’t affectionate, he showed his love in other ways which I didn’t appreciate at the time.

 

For instance, he woke me up for school every day singing, “School days, school days, dear old golden rule days”. But he also put me to bed every night by reading a book to me and saying a prayer.

 

Despite this, I was still insecure about his love. Maybe that’s why I liked the song “Oh My Papa”. The wistful words and melancholic melody touched my heart.

Oh, my Papa, to me he was so wonderful
Oh, my Papa, to me he was so good

 

During the first century in Judea, religion and prayer were common experiences. They were an accepted part of the culture. It wasn’t unusual to observe someone praying in public – not just Jews, but pagans also.

 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus used the prayers of pagans and hypocritical Jews as examples of how not to pray. In contrast, he instructed his disciples to “go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father”.

 

However, he didn’t stop there. He continued by giving his disciples what we know as the Lord’s Prayer. The context of the passage in Luke, was when his disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray like John the Baptist had taught his disciples.

 

Here’s what Jesus told them.

 

⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,      NIV    Matthew 6

 

According to Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, God is referred to as Father only 15 times in the whole Old Testament. They suggest that the reason for this may be that the same metaphor was “frequently used in the ancient Near East in various fertility religions and carried heavy sexual overtones”. 

 

Whatever the case may be, because Jesus was the Son of God calling God his “Father” came naturally. In fact, according to Baker’s Dictionary, Jesus referred to God as his Father over 165 times in the Gospels. Jesus conveyed this same perspective of God as our Father in the Lord’s Prayer.

 

In the Luke passage, Jesus concluded by telling a parable about a man who persistently asked for bread from a friend. Finally, the friend gave in. Jesus’ conclusion was that if earthly fathers know how to give good gifts, then “how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him”.

 

Gone are the days when he could take me on his knee
And with a smile he'd change my tears to laughter

Oh, my Papa, to me he was so wonderful
Deep in my heart I miss him so today

 

Like the lyrics of the song, there are still times when I miss my Dad deeply. But my Heavenly Father is always with me and loves me unconditionally. In fact, when I pray to him, you could say that he’s holding me on his knee.

 

Copyright 2026 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

Under the Radar

Series on Old Testament Festivals and Sacred Days – Feast of Trumpets
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Leviticus 23:23-25

[Many of the festivals and sacred days from the Old Testament don’t seem to be relevant for us today. In this series, we’re going to take a closer look at them to learn what the significance was for the people of Israel at the time. And to learn what the significance is for us today.]

When I was growing up in St. Louis, Michigan, a loud whistle blew every weekday at 7:55am, 8am, noon and 5pm. It came from the Michigan Chemical Company who were letting their employees know what time it was. You could set your watch by it.

 

In fact, we did. My Dad worked at the Chemical and he would drop me off at school on his way to work. We left the house as the 8:00 am whistle was blowing.

 

If you’re like me, you probably never thought much about trumpets, or ram’s horn as they are often called in the Bible. For the most part, they’re under the radar; they kind of blend into the narrative. On the other hand, they appear in some very significant stories.

 

One such story takes place at Mount Sinai. The Lord told Moses to prepare the people to meet him outside of the camp. Here’s what happened next.

 

¹⁶ On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram’s horn, and all the people trembled. ¹⁹ As the blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply.               NLT   Exodus 19

 

Another story was when Israel was entering Canaan. Jericho was a walled town, and the gates were securely locked. But the Lord promised Joshua that he would give him the town. The Israelites were to march around the walls for six days. Then on the seventh, here’s what he said would happen next.

 

⁴ Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. ⁵ When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.”        NLT   Joshua 6

 

Although not as dramatic as the previous stories, but certainly just as significant, the Feast of Trumpets also included trumpet blasts.

 

²³ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁴ “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts.            NIV    Leviticus 23

 

Like the whistle from the Chemical plant, trumpet blasts were to get your attention and to make sure you were aware of something significant that was about to happen.

 

There’s one more trumpet blast that believers in Christ can look forward to. Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the resurrection of the body. Here is what he revealed to them… and to us.

 

⁵¹ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵² in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.  NIV 1 Corinthians 15

 

Wow! “In the twinkling of an eye” we will be transformed from perishable to imperishable. I bet that won’t happen under the radar.

 

Copyright 2026 Joseph B Williams

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www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

The Straight and Narrow

A Series on Old Testament Festivals and Sacred Days – Festival of Tabernacles

(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Leviticus 23:33-44

[Many of the festivals and sacred days from the Old Testament don’t seem to be relevant for us today. In this series, we’re going to take a closer look at them to learn what the significance was for the people of Israel at the time. And to learn what the significance is for us today.]

  

During the summer of 1969, while I was washing dishes at a Jerry’s Restaurant in Morehead, Kentucky, a historic festival called Woodstock attracted between 450,000 - 500,000 young people. The organizers had planned on 50,000! Needless to say, they weren’t prepared for the crowds.

 

Despite heavy rain, traffic jams, and a lack of food and adequate sanitation, the festival went on. People camped out wherever they could. Many had tents, some had sleeping bags, others a blanket. But lots of people just laid out in the open air.

 

The Lord chose Israel to be his people. It started with the Lord’s covenant with Abraham and continued through his son Isaac, followed by his son Jacob. During a famine, Israel moved to Egypt only to be enslaved later. After 400 years the Lord freed them, but he needed to prepare them for the Promised Land.

 

This would present many new challenges for Israel. The Canaanites, who already lived there, worshipped pagan gods who they believed blessed their farming. On the other hand, the Israelites had never owned land, let alone farmed it. It would be a monumental change for Israel, filled with temptations to disobey the Lord.

 

That’s why at Mount Sinai, in addition to the Law, the Lord gave Moses festivals and sacred days for Israel to observe. These would give them a spiritual infrastructure, so to speak, that would help keep them on the straight and narrow with the Lord.

³³ The Lord said to Moses, ³⁴ “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord’s Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days.                         NIV

The Festival of Tabernacles was one of three pilgrimage festivals where every Jewish man was to travel to the tabernacle in order to be in the presence of the Lord. It was a seven-day festival that followed the fall harvest to give thanks for God’s provision. But it also served a third purpose.

 

Like the people who attended Woodstock, the Israelites who came to the Festival of Tabernacles were to live in temporary housing. Here’s why.

⁴² You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, ⁴³ that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’”                                                                                           NKJV     

  

The tabernacle was the dwelling place of God providing Israel with the Lord’s presence as they wandered through the desert. A booth was a temporary shelter where Israelites would stay during the Festival of Tabernacles when they would be in the presence of God. Both words point to being in the presence of the Lord.

 

The world we live in is not so different from the world that Israel was about to enter. Today, there are still many gods to tempt us to disobey the Lord. As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” 

 

The Lord provided the Festival of Tabernacles to help keep the people of Israel on the straight and narrow. We also need to find ways to keep on the straight and narrow; to live in the Lord’s presence.

 

Copyright 2026 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com