His Kingdom & His Glory Will Cover The Earth
While watching the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament this past July, I saw the enactment of a powerful spiritual metaphor about the Kingdom of God.
Wimbledon has grass courts. So, when it starts to rain, in order to protect the playing surface, it is necessary to completely cover the court immediately. Well, it began raining during one of the televised matches. The players took refuge in the clubhouse, taking their equipment with them. The umpire climbed down from his chair perch. All the ball boys (and girls) sprang into action. Some lowered and carted away the net. Others removed the umpire’s chair. Then they all moved into position along one of the long sides of the court. Facing forward, their hands grabbed a section of a giant tarp behind their shoulders and, on some pre-arranged signal, they all began to run. No one looked anywhere but forward. No one carried anything other than the tarp. And so the grass was covered. It all happened in around 30 seconds.
Over and over in the Scriptures we read that the glory of the Lord will cover the earth “like the waters cover the sea.” His Kingdom is like the rock thrown at Nebuchadnezzar’s statue that shatters the statue before becoming the mountain that fills the whole earth that will bring the end to the kingdoms of this world and that will, itself, endure forever (Daniel 2). His Kingdom and His Glory are predestined to fill, cover, redeem, and re-create the earth. And we are the ones who have been designated, drilled, and pre-positioned to carry His Kingdom and His glory like a tarp until it is fully spread out. Unless we move as one body in response to His signal to pull the weight of His Kingdom’s Glory across the face of the earth it will not happen. It won’t work if we change our focus or let ourselves become distracted. It won’t happen if we have our hands full of anything else or if we keep them hidden away in our pockets. It doesn’t matter who is running next to us- we don’t have time to worry about that because we have to run forward at a set pace as soon as we hear the signal blast.
Are the clouds gathering? Is it beginning to rain? Let the power of the Lord come upon us as one body so that, tucking our cloaks into our belts we will be enabled to RUN like Elijah running before the storm ahead of the corrupted King Ahab. (1 Kings 18:45-46)
c. 2006 by Lesley Barker
Wimbledon has grass courts. So, when it starts to rain, in order to protect the playing surface, it is necessary to completely cover the court immediately. Well, it began raining during one of the televised matches. The players took refuge in the clubhouse, taking their equipment with them. The umpire climbed down from his chair perch. All the ball boys (and girls) sprang into action. Some lowered and carted away the net. Others removed the umpire’s chair. Then they all moved into position along one of the long sides of the court. Facing forward, their hands grabbed a section of a giant tarp behind their shoulders and, on some pre-arranged signal, they all began to run. No one looked anywhere but forward. No one carried anything other than the tarp. And so the grass was covered. It all happened in around 30 seconds.
Over and over in the Scriptures we read that the glory of the Lord will cover the earth “like the waters cover the sea.” His Kingdom is like the rock thrown at Nebuchadnezzar’s statue that shatters the statue before becoming the mountain that fills the whole earth that will bring the end to the kingdoms of this world and that will, itself, endure forever (Daniel 2). His Kingdom and His Glory are predestined to fill, cover, redeem, and re-create the earth. And we are the ones who have been designated, drilled, and pre-positioned to carry His Kingdom and His glory like a tarp until it is fully spread out. Unless we move as one body in response to His signal to pull the weight of His Kingdom’s Glory across the face of the earth it will not happen. It won’t work if we change our focus or let ourselves become distracted. It won’t happen if we have our hands full of anything else or if we keep them hidden away in our pockets. It doesn’t matter who is running next to us- we don’t have time to worry about that because we have to run forward at a set pace as soon as we hear the signal blast.
Are the clouds gathering? Is it beginning to rain? Let the power of the Lord come upon us as one body so that, tucking our cloaks into our belts we will be enabled to RUN like Elijah running before the storm ahead of the corrupted King Ahab. (1 Kings 18:45-46)
c. 2006 by Lesley Barker
posted by Lesley | 8:39 AM
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