How the Kingdom Comes - Christianity Today Magazine

How the Kingdom Comes - Christianity Today Magazine: "We begin with an essay by Michael S. Horton, professor of apologetics and theology at Westminster Seminary California and one of the leading voices in the contemporary revitalization of the Reformed tradition in America. He is editor of Modern Reformation magazine, host of a nationally syndicated radio broadcast, and author of a number of books, including the forthcoming Too Good to Be True (Zondervan) and God of Promise (Baker).
It was confusing to grow up singing both 'This World Is Not My Home' and 'This Is My Father's World.' Those hymns embody two common and seemingly contradictory Christian responses to culture. One sees this world as a wasteland of godlessness, with which the Christian should have as little as possible to do. The other regards cultural transformation as virtually identical to 'kingdom activity.'
Certainly the answer does not lie in any intrinsic opposition of heaven and earth. After all, Jesus taught us to pray, 'Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' Rather, the answer is to be sought in understanding the particular moment in redemptive history where God has placed us. We are not yet in the Promised Land, where the kingdom of God may be directly identified with earthly kingdoms and cultural pursuits. Yet we are no longer in Egypt. We are pilgrims in between, on the way.
In Babylon, God commanded the exiles to 'build houses and settle down,' pursuing the good of their conquering neighbors (Jer. 29). At the same time, he prophesied a new city, an everlasting empire, as the true homeland that would surpass anything Israel had experienced in Canaan.
So both of my childhood hymns tell the truth in their own way: We are pilgrims and strangers in this age, but we 'pass through' to the age to come (not some eth"