The Kingdom

Tonight is the premiere of the top motion picture marketed out there for this weekend, "The Kingdom." It stars some Oscar-winning actors and it looks like it has a lot of brave-looking people firing weapons at terrorists of some stripe. I imagine the intended effect is to get all who watch it to shout with Homer Simpson, "U-S-A! U-S-A!"

It has received rather tepid reviews so far. I'm paying attention to it simply because of the title of the film and the massive campaign to sell it. I've seen ads for the thing everywhere. Again, I'm just curious because certainly some are going to get some impression about what "The Kingdom" is, whether or not that is actually true.

"The Kingdom" in this sense refers to the country of Saudi Arabia, which considers itself a kingdom. It has a king, princes, a royal family, all exerting great power in an oil-rich and terrorist-harboring region. It seems the movie has some intrigue and thrills, but from what I've read most of it is just a lot of typical shoot-em-up action.

Since it doesn't seem to show much promise as any blockbuster, it may not leave the mark its producers hoped it would. I would like to see people come away from seeing those words "The Kingdom" and ask themselves, "What is that, really?"

Sure, our fairy tales tell us that palaces and royalty and chivalry all make up a "kingdom," but in reality the one Kingdom that is worth anything is the one the King reigns over.

Yes. That monarch is The King, God Himself.

And the way Jesus spoke of this place, it is way different from those in the fairy tales or boffo Hollywood productions. Take a listen...

"Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people."

That's from Matthew 4:23. Not going to go into all of it here, but if you read a few of His words around that, you'd find out what The Kingdom is. If somewhat intrepid you might peek at all of His words around that, and you'd really see it.

You may be amazed how much it not only isn't fairy tales or Hollywood spectacle, it also isn't the World.

For a bit more explanation of this distinction from the author of this blog, go here.

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