And how can we understand the Kingdom of God?
Mark 40:30-32 ‘And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”‘
On our hike from Jericho to Jerusalem, we passed by several mustard trees. A mustard seed is the size of a pepper flake. The trees that the seeds grow in to are a little bit taller than an average sized man. This is the Kingdom of God. It began with Jesus, the first fruits, who came and conquered sin and death for all to increase the Kingdom of God from one into a nation of peoples from every tribe, tongue, and nation. One of my teachers sheds light on this idea often in pointing out that Jesus lived here in Israel. He died and he rose again in Israel and because of his work here in this small country, there are now students from Sweden, Oklahoma, California, and Ohio in Israel, studying the life and work of one man. This is the Kingdom of God. With beginnings as small as a mustard seed, the result is grand.
