A friend of mine shared with me about a worship album he’d been listening to by a band called The Porter’s Gate - one song in particular has been speaking to me over and over. It’s called Wood and Nails. Toward the end of the song are these words...
The kingdom's come and built upon Wood and nails gripped with joyfulness So send me out, within Your ways Knowing that the task is finished The dead will rise and give You praise Wood and nails will not hold them down These wooden tombs, we'll break them soon And fashion them into flower beds The curse is done, the battle won Swords bent down into plowshares Your scar-borne hands, we'll join with them Serving at the table You've prepared
What I love about those words are how they reflect the truth that God’s kingdom brings something new - a new way of living, a new way of relating to one another, a new way of being in community, a new way to relate to enemies, a new way.
The other morning I went to the Manassas Battlefield for sunrise. I walked among the cannons on the field there and reflected on the thousands who died there during the Civil War. I did not intend for this picture to come out in this way but when I downloaded my pictures, I was struck by the contrast in this picture between the size of the sky and the sunrise and then the cannons on the battlefield - how small they are in comparison to what is all around them.
That’s what comes to mind for me when I think of the Kingdom of God - it is something that is so much bigger than we can even conceive of. The Kingdom way of life is something that is totally new and different and so much bigger and expansive than we can even wrap our minds and hearts around. Lord, show us your Kingdom ways of life.