D o m i n i c R o s a t o

Taken from a WayForward training in 2025.

“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Col. 1:13-14

The Bible uses a rich variety of terms and images to describe the Kingdom, such as the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Kingdom of the beloved Son like in Colossians.

The kingdom was central in Jesus’ teaching. Matthew summarizes his ministry with “and Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom (Matt. 4:23). Luke equally records that Jesus said, “I must preach the good tidings of the kingdom of God…for that is why I was sent (Luke. 4:43). Jesus sent his twelve disciples out on preaching missions to announce the kingdom of heaven was at hand (Matt. 10:7). Jesus even sends 72 disciples out before him to proclaim, “the kingdom of God is come near to you” (Luke 10:9).

In Jesus, the Kingdom has come. Theologian G.E. Ladd summarizes this when he states: “the kingdom of God is the sovereign rule of God, manifested in the person and work of Christ, creating a people over whom he reigns, and issuing in a realm or realms in which the power of his reign is realized.” In summary, God’s Kingdom is his rule and reign recognized on earth. 

One can even interpret the meta-narrative of scripture through this lens. There is an OT sense that God is always and everywhere King. But by virtue of angels and humans falling, there is also a sense in which God’s reign is not fully actualized or realized in earthly history. God is not fully ruling and reigning through every human and all of creation. That is where the term “the already/not yet” comes into play. Jesus’s Kingdom effectively restores God’s reign in the world that has rebelled against him.

We can easily say, God’s will is not for sin to occur on earth. Sin continues every day in our world. So, we can conclude that God’s will is not done among humans when they are sinning or sinful. That is why we pray the Lord’s Prayer: your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

The kingdom will have ultimate accomplishment when Jesus returns but equally has immediate application today. The immediate application is the personnel realization of God’s reign within the believer’s life by which you are preparing to enter into the future kingdom. This is meant to be done in community, which is why we use the term Kingdom Communities to further describe this.

WayForward desires Kingdom Communities at every multi-family property we serve and we define that in the following way. A Kingdom Community are people gathering in apartments who are redeemed by Christ, living under His reign together, and embodying God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.

Today,  we pray God’s kingdom come and will be done in the people who live in WayForward multi-family properties and beyond. In Part II of Kingdom Communities, we will discuss how this practically gets played out on a weekly basis.