The Keys to Living in the Kingdom by John Corin - HTML preview

PREFACE

Writing this book has not been easy; shaping the text into a readable if somewhat prosaic treatise has taken more than ten years. Yet the main difficulty has been elsewhere; I have not been allowed to write without the subject becoming ‘flesh’ in my life and this has meant several ‘time-outs’ to wrestle with the issues brought to my attention. Even long recesses to apply the precepts it highlights.

‘W isdom has built her house…hewn out seven pillars’ (Prov 9:1). Several options for what these seven pillars could be have been proposed. I, however, identify them with the pillars of wisdom the Beatitudes (seven of the eight ‘fit the bill’) provide to form the important foundation for the Sermon on the Mount’. The fundamental truths highlighted in the Beatitudes are what the tenets in this discourse all rest upon.

Now, I left the Beatitudes alone for many years, like others, afraid to tackle what these seven plus one ‘blessings’ could mean for believers today. I dismissed them either as too enigmatic, radical, or dangerous, certainly too difficult to apply in practice. (Some even teach the sermon was for the Jews and not for new covenant believers!) However, some ten years ago these Beatitudes were forcefully brought to my attention. I could not get them out of my mind (even if I wanted to) and 3

made not only to grapple with their meaning for today but also with the consequences of failing to embrace them.

By delivering this ‘Sermon on the Mount’, scholars point to it as an opportunity for Jesus to portray Himself as the new Moses—the promised prophet (Deut 18.15)—and give advance notice of the ‘laws’ to govern the soon-to-be-inaugurated Kingdom of God. The Beatitudes are the important preamble to the tenets of this new realm. That is, as the ‘Ten Commandments’ provide the prologue to the Mosaic Law, the

‘laws’ of this new spiritual Kingdom rest upon the precepts in these seven (plus one) ‘blessings’. Believers failing to embrace these fundamental principles disqualify themselves from enjoying the Kingdom’s life. By contrast, each Beatitude promises much to those willing to fulfill the conditions.

Though seemingly random, each ‘blessing’ inter-connects with the others to build the edifice of repentance; each a building block with the insight to walk in this biblical discipline. Together, offering sorely needed truth for the millions of believers today with only a vague idea about repentance after it went out of fashion as a sermon topic. But even when seen as still in force, it is mostly regarded as an easy stroll, and then, not very relevant. The Beatitudes prove otherwise to reveal it requires more than a simple understanding of repentance to enjoy the life of the Kingdom.

Now, if you have difficulty accepting this link between repentance and the Beatitudes, please read through my book before making a final judgment. By then, I believe you will be persuaded the tenets in the Beatitudes are critical to enjoying Kingdom life. Walking in repentance is the key to enjoying its, ‘righteousness, peace and 4

joy’ (Rom 14.17 ). In the final chapter I point to why the last Beatitude is much different from the rest.

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CHAPTER 1