Kingdom, Power, Glory. Forever!

January 24, 2017

Kingdom, Power, Glory. Forever!

“For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

Matthew 6:13

Early on, the New Testament church took the words of Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 and incorporated them into the liturgy of worship services. The phrase, “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” was added to the liturgy and eventually those words were inserted in some later manuscripts of Matthew’s Gospel. The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah truly waxed eloquent when he affirmed this same nature of God: “Surely Yahweh's mercies are not over, his deeds of faithful love not exhausted; every morning they are renewed; great is his faithfulness!” (Lamentations 3:22-23 NJB). I find much comfort in these affirmations of the eternal nature of God.

I was born into the Baby Boom era, and I have lived through the post WWII era, the Korean and Viet Nam war era, Camelot, Watergate, recessions and periods of inflation and the post 9-11 eras. There have been periods of history when we sang “happy days are here again” and hoped they would never end; but they did. There have been periods of history that seemed intolerable; but they too passed. The truest proverb of all time is this too shall pass. Everything has its season; everything will pass except the Kingdom of God. Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension ushered in the eternal new era of God’s Kingdom. Just as God’s mercies are renewed every morning, so also His Kingdom is born anew with each new birth of a follower of Jesus. “For yours is the kingdom forever.” Hallelujah.

“For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power” (1 Corinthians 4:20). God’s power is eternal; therefore “I am certain that God, who began the good work within (me), will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns” (Philippians 1:6). “For yours is the power forever. Hallelujah!

The very essence of God is goodness, mercy, holiness and love. The Glory of God is the revelation of God’s essence. This glory is revealed through the presence of God. God, as a burning bush to Moses, and as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night for the Israelites during the exodus, are examples of God’s Glory. The ultimate expression of God’s Glory is in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord, Christ Jesus, and his glory is everlasting. “For yours is the glory forever. Amen.” Hallelujah!

Now all glory to God,

who is able to keep you from falling away

and will bring you with great joy

into his glorious presence

without a single fault.

All glory to him who alone is God,

our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord.

All glory, majesty, power, and authority

are his before all time,

and in the present,

and beyond all time!

Amen.

Jude 1:24-25

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.