What Is the Kingdom of God?

The Kingdom of God is the realm of the active dominion of Christ.

It is not the church, for the church existed in the Old Covenant before Christ formally established His kingdom, though the church is included in the kingdom.

It is not the entire world, for though Christ has rights to the whole world, and His kingdom will in time include the entire world, yet now we pray for His kingdom to come.

The purport of the [fourth] commandment is, that being dead to our own affections and works, we meditate on the kingdom of God, and in order to such meditation, have recourse to the means which he has appointed.

-- John Calvin, Institutes II.VIII.xxviii

Modern Evangelicalism seems to operate on the assumption that any and all judgment is reserved solely until the Great Day. This is implicit deism. When Divine wrath is poured upon this nation for our manifold wickednesses - from sodomy to infanticide, from idolatry and narcissism to blasphemy and sacrilege - countless Evangelicals, who should know better, are going to be wringing their hands in shock and disbelief as if the unthinkable has happened.

John Calvin on Covenantal Election:

This the sacred history sometimes repeats that the secret grace of God may be more admirably displayed in that change. I admit that it was by their own fault Ishmael, Esau, and others, fell from their adoption; for the condition annexed was, that they should faithfully keep the covenant of God, whereas they perfidiously violated it. The singular kindness of God consisted in this, that he had been pleased to prefer them to other nations; as it is said in the psalm, "He has not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them," (Ps. 147:20). But I had good reason for saying that two steps are here to be observed; for in the election of the whole nation, God had already shown that in the exercise of his mere liberality he was under no law but was free, so that he was by no means to be restricted to an equal division of grace, its very inequality proving it to be gratuitous.

-- Institutes II.XXI,vi

All the duties of piety towards parents are here comprised, to which children are laid under obligation by natural reason itself; and these may be reduced to three heads, i e., 1) that they should regard them with reverence; 2) that they should obediently comply with their commands, and allow themselves to be governed by them; and 3) that they should endeavor to repay what they owe to them, and thus heartily devote to them themselves and their services.

-- John Calvin, Commentary on Exodus [20:12]

Westminster Larger Catechism 161:

Q. How do the sacraments become effectual means of salvation?

A. The sacraments become effectual means of salvation, not by any power in themselves, or any virtue derived from the piety or intention of him by whom they are administered; but only by the working of the Holy Ghost, and the blessing of Christ by whom they are instituted.

Belgic Confession

Article 33: The Sacraments

We believe that our good God, mindful of our crudeness and weakness, has ordained sacraments for us to seal his promises in us, to pledge his good will and grace toward us, and also to nourish and sustain our faith. He has added these to the Word of the gospel to represent better to our external senses both what he enables us to understand by his Word and what he does inwardly in our hearts, confirming in us the salvation he imparts to us. For they are visible signs and seals of something internal and invisible, by means of which God works in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. So they are not empty and hollow signs to fool and deceive us, for their truth is Jesus Christ, without whom they would be nothing. Moreover, we are satisfied with the number of sacraments that Christ our Master has ordained for us. There are only two: the sacrament of baptism and the Holy Supper of Jesus Christ.

This is an excellent talk you will benefit from regardless of your position on baptism.

https://youtu.be/cro_Wi8IyXE?si=skgRdUDuIziNJsjZ

A blessed Dobbs Rememberance Month to all -- May God continue to bless the church's faithful opposition to abortion.

Find a Faithful Church near You

Below are directories/locators for faithful, conservative denominations.

PCA - Presbyterian Church in America
OPC - Orthodox Presbyterian Church
CRC - Christian Reformed Church
URCNA - United Reformed Church in North America
RPCNA - Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America
CREC - Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches
RBN - Reformed Baptist Network
ACNA - Anglican Church in North America
LCMS - Lutheran Church Missouri Synod
WELS - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod

Please feel free to post further resources in the comments.

The Federal Vision is about recovering consistent historic Reformed Presbyterian doctrine and practice.

Phrased negatively, it is about digging up that root of Southern Baptistic bitterness and being done with its altar calls, introspection, pietism, decisionism, anti-natalism, individualism, and other traditions of men.

What Does the Rainbow Mean in the Bible?

It was a promise before it was a perversion. After punishing the world for its gross sin, and essentially recreating the world afresh,

God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. (Gen. 9:12-13).

The New Bible Commentary Revised observes:

My bow translates qeset, the usual meaning of which is the weapon. Thus, the recurring rainbow imposed on the retreating storm by the shining again of the sun is God's battle bow laid aside, a token of grace staying the lighting shafts of wrath.

There is also a self-malediction involved: the bow is stretched towards the heavens, towards God himself and away from us. God swears by His own name and ultimately bears the curse for us. As one medieval poem put it:

My bow between you and me
in the firmament shall be,
by true tokening that you may see
that such vengeance shall cease....

The string is turned towards you
and towards me is bent the bow,
that such weather shall never show
and this I promise thee.   

It should come as no surprise that the token of God's promise to limit his wrath is used as a way to further provoke it. But make no mistake; God will exact judgement as they store up wrath for the final day.

How should we as Christians view the rainbow? We should thank God for every appearance we see, and remember his faithfulness. St. Peter tells us baptism is the antitype of Noah's salvation through the flood, so we should also remember our baptism and our new washed life in Christ.

Ecclesiology from Ephesians:

1) Paul addresses the entire church as elect. Following him, our operating assumption should be that faithful members of the visible church are God's elect and not attempt to pry into God's secret decrees (Deut. 29:29, cf. Canons of Dort, Article 12; Heidelberg Cat., Q54).

2) Children are understood to be a part of the church, present and participating, as implied by Paul's adressing them specifically.

3) As the Nicene Creed affirms, the church is:

One: "There is one body and one Spirit... one hope... one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all" (4:4-6)
Holy: "Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him" (1:4)
Catholic: "So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (2:19)
Apostolic: "Built upon foundation of the apostles and prophets" (2:20)

The PCA General Assembly occurs this week. Regardless of your denominational membership, please take a moment to pray for conservative victories in what is by far the largest Reformed body in North America. Below is an article on some of the hot items at this year's GA.

https://americanreformer.org/2024/06/the-pcas-2024-general-assembly/

“How can Christian pastors hope to feed their flock on a well-balanced spiritual diet if they completely neglect the 39 books of Holy Scripture on which Christ and all the New Testament authors received their own spiritual nourishment?” - Gleason Archer (“A New Look at the Old Testament,” Decision, August 1972)