Heard This Before?

Matthew 6:33 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

Have you heard this before, or should I say "read it before?"Maybe we should look first at what it means.

We are to seek, before anything else, "the kingdom of God". There are many ideas what that is, but my own belief is that since God resides in heaven, and that Satan is Prince of this world, that the kingdom of God is the place where those dead, but alive in Christ go at their demise. It is described as heaven or paradise.

However, that's full citizenship. When we are "born-again" by faith we are promised citizenship in God's kingdom. That is our hope:

 Lamentations 3:26 "It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord."
1 Thessalonians 5:8 "But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."

When we are "born-again" it's "hope" that we receive.

 Romans 8:24 (ESV) "For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."

As such "hope" is our "visa"for entry into that kingdom: "is a conditional authorization granted by a country (kingdom) to enter and temporarily remain within, or to leave that country." (Wikipedia; parenthesis mine).

When people become residents of another country, they pledge to obey the laws of that country. With the kingdom of God, the Law is "righteousness". That's loving God (the King) and his subjects so well, that the resident endeavors to make no trespasses against them. (i.e, to live as free of sin as humanly possible). That's "righteousness".

Living within the kingdom and following the laws of the kingdom results in full privileges offered by the King. It's not a right,  but a privilege to obtain what the King has to offer. Its rewards are conditional, based on being faithful to the King.

Therein is the covenant the King makes with the born-again resident of this kingdom. "Seek to please me and I will prosper you!" says the King. Have you heard that before?

Genesis 12:1 (ESV)  "Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing."

"Let me rephrase this: "Go to my country which I show you, and I will bless you." Sound familiar? We find out later that this Abrahamic Covenant is conditional. The Hebrews were to have faith and trust in God and signify it by circumcision. That is righteousness!

God's "nation" is the kingdom of God of which Israel is symbolic. The faith of Abraham is God's righteousness and faith was accounted to Abraham by his works. The "blessings" which the citizens of that nation were to receive are "these things" to be added to them. They were to be blessed by receiving citizenship in the land of milk and honey, symbolic of Paradise.

It appears that the Abrahamic Covenant is symbolic of  "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

You see God had a plan! It was the same for Abraham as it is for us. Abraham understood what he was doing would come about because he had faith in what  The Word told him. The Abrahamic Covenant was spoken hundreds of years later on the mountain! Words spoken to Abraham is where you've heard it before!