Blumhardt on the Kingdom
As a precursor to a post I want to write about Sarah Palin, the Latter Rain, Dominionism, and the New Apostolic Revival: here's a take on the 'Kingdom of God' from the Blumhardts (probably Christoph, the son), one of the earliest healing revivals and precursors/parallels of the Pentecostal movement. The Blumhardts had experience of literal exorcisms and healings, and yet see how their theology differs from what is often touted today as straight-down-the-line Pentecostal values. Christoph was politically active but leaned significantly leftwards; and he took this political stance from his religion, not despite of it.
The work of the kingdom of God must stand under two laws. First, you dare never again be angry at anyone, for the kingdom of God is love for all men. Therefore, you may not belittle anyone, even the least. Indeed, you are a miserable fool if you vex or annoy one of these little ones, demean him, or treat him as nothing. Thus, we must always look with God’s evaluation upon what I like to call “the pennies of God’s capital investment.� They belong to God, of course, although the value lies in the persons themselves. As man, you are of value to God; yet, your value is not a hair greater than that of some little guy of no status, e.g., a day laborer. We always must bear in mind the worth God attributes to a small, low-ranked, despised human being; such people we must guard and protect.
The second law is that we remain slaves. Slaves we want to be; lords we want never to become. We would be slaves under God’s hand—yet, that I not be misunderstood: slaves of men we will never be!...If I serve God, then God will stand by me and men must give way to me. I shall not yield as much as a fingernail to any man. And if empires and kingdoms of men multiply until the very heavens and earth itself fall, yet shall I stand like a rock in the sea. I hold fast to God, I am his slave; and all must break itself to pieces upon me, because I serve God.
We should be priests, i.e., we who have become firm in grace should stand firm for others, praying for them and the world so that the whole might be filled with the glory and power and grace of God. If we are steadfast in this priestly sense, then we bear a kingly power. We can cooperate in overcoming the dark powers of this world...You are not to be priests for yourselves but for the world in which you live.
That world should move your heart; and if you see something of its misery and death, then you should protest against it, saying, “That cannot be; indeed, it must cease, because Jesus lives.�