The Kingdom Consciousness of God

In our modern conception, especially in its republican form, the institution of the state with its magistrate exists for the sake of the subjects. In the ancient state, this is different. Here the individual exists for the state, and in the oriental monarchy the state is centralized and summed up in the person of the ruler. It affords obviously the only point of view from which we can properly construe the fundamental relation between God and man. Because the kingdom is thus centered in God himself, it can be represented by our Lord as the supreme object of human pursuit. The closing words of the Lord's Prayer are the purest expression of this kingdom consciousness which Jesus desired to cultivate in the minds of