Matthew 6:33

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33 ESV). To seek is an attempt to find and implies action on our part, but what kind of action? Our first impression is that we are to go looking for something, but if we read the material that comes before this verse we find the context begs our action to be prayer with what we seek being given as a gift from God. To understand this verse, we need to go back to the beginning of chapter 5 where Jesus begins a major presentation to his disciples.

A quick review yields the following: Our potential blessings (5:3-12); We are salt and light (5:13-16); Our righteousness is to surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees (5:17-20); Required lifestyle (5:21-6:6); How to pray (6:7-15); How to fast (6:16-17); Additional behavior and attitude (6:18-34).

In 5:3, Jesus speaks of the kingdom of heaven, but here in our verse, he makes it more personal by speaking of the kingdom of God. But what is the kingdom of God? I have struggled for several days to form a simple definition. Here is my best for now: The kingdom of God is a great multitude of people chosen by God the Father and caused to be born again and placed under the loving care and rule of our savior, king and high priest and given a joint responsibility with Jesus of overseeing God’s creation. For additional notes on kingdom of God go here.

To seek the kingdom of God is to seek to be a Christian through belief in Jesus Christ and being born again. This is the first step. The second step according to our verse is to seek his righteousness. This is the process of sanctification; the process of working out our salvation. As we journey through life we are to become like Jesus.

In addition to seeking to become a member of God’s kingdom through belief in and surrender to Jesus Christ, we are to seek his righteousness. As we earnestly seek to become like Jesus and replace our righteousness with that of his, Jesus then promises that all these things will be given to us a gifts, but what are “these things”? These things are found in chapter 5 and 6 and include such things as: blessings, salt and light, ability to love our enemy, overcoming anger and lust, the ability to turn revenge over to God, desire to pray, desire to lay up treasure in heaven, overcoming anxiety by him meeting our needs. Walking with Jesus Christ is a life changing experience as we become a new creation with old things passing away.

Prayer

Father, I realize that I really didn't understand this verse when I first started to write about it, but after prayer and thinking about the context of the verse, an understanding began to form and I began to get excited over what I was learning. In the past I never connected salvation to seek and his righteousness as that which we receive from Jesus Christ through salvation. Then it became clear that those things pertain to what is available to us from our relationship with Jesus. Thank you for giving me this understanding. 

Matthew 6:33 Kingdom of God

Kingdom of God

The kingdom of God or kingdom of heaven is found many times in the New Testament, but it is not defined because any Israeli would know its meaning from the Old Testament. However, if you check you will not find the actual phrase “kingdom of God” used there, but the theme is. There God is presented as king over all of creation. He is also portrayed as king over Israel in a special way. To rule with him, God has appointed human kings a key role to play in his kingdom. This began with Adam when God established him as a king to rule the whole world under God as the true king over all creation. However, Adam fails and God initiates plan B.

God next turns to the nation of Israel that developed from the seed of Abraham.  God’s plan was to establish Israel as a great nation with a succession of kings who would rule over the entire world through his chosen means. Because of sin, if dominion over the earth was to be possible it would have to be a gift from God, which was to be given in the context of God’s saving redemption of a sinful people, which is why the sacrificial system became so central in Israel’s national life. Israel is saved through the Exodus in order to become a kingdom of priest and a holy nation, assigned the task of spreading the glory of God to everyone on earth and showing them the way of salvation. However, they failed to carry out their assignment and God had to turn to plan C, which comes out of a promise made to David that God would establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

With Israel in exile, God uses prophetic teaching to establish hope concerning the Kingdom of God. This teaching made it clear that the only hope for establishing an enduring and faithful kingdom would require a future work of God’s redemption. To accomplish this, God brings his people back from exile and sets up Israel again as a nation and makes a promise of a coming king in the role of Messiah. The Jews saw this as another earthly kingdom with Messiah as king. What they did not understand was that this was not a mere deliverance from their enemies, but an exodus of chosen people through spiritual birth who would establish the kingdom of God to inhabit God’s new creation. This coming Messiah that God was going to use to establish this Kingdom of God was his only Son who he sent and sacrificed as the person of Jesus.

What then is the Kingdom of God? It is a body of believers who have been born spiritually and have subjected themselves under the loving rule of Jesus Christ as their king. Together they will have dominion over the new creation.

An excellent source of information on the Kingdom of God is found at this location.