Kingdom Living and lessons from Nuclear Physics!

I studued Physics at University and occasionally I like to read about that sphere of activities.

I have been reading an interesting, if somewhat grim book on the development of the first nuclear weapons. Unfortunately it was the weapons, rather than the reactors for peaceful power production, that were realised first. (The book is 'Atomic- The First War of Physics' by Jim Baggott).

The German scientist Otto Hahn and 2 colleagues discovered nuclear fission in Uranium in 1938. Huge amounts of energy were available for release. Some people believed that mind-boggling applications were likely in the near future, and some did not. It was the brink of World War 2. Fortunately, some notable German scientists, in particular Werner Heisenberg, were among those who felt 'practical' applications of nuclear fission were many years away. The Nazis did not seriously pursue the Bomb.

Meanwhile, scientists such as Frisch and Peierls in the UK and Oppenheimer in the US were confident that extraordinarily powerful bombs could actually be built. Eventually, Churchill and, pivotally, Roosevelt, were also convinced. The rest is history and the world was changed, perhaps not for the better.

The key to the release of nuclear energy had been given by Otto Hahn in 1938.  Some could not grasp or believe the implications. Some men of vision could however. (Hahn finally got a Nobel Prize for his discovery in 1946).

This made me think of spiritual parallels. Matthew ch 16v 17-19 tells us that the keys to the Kingdom are given to those who accept the revelation that Jesus is the Christ.

Just as a new day in energy and weaponry manifested to those with the foresight to apply the key, the same needs to happen with the Kingdom of God here on Earth. We need to see some more genuine realisation of the Kingdom.

We have been given the keys to the Kingdom. They are set out in Scripture. Do we believe they are sufficient, if we apply them, to usher in the rule of heaven on earth? The work has been done in Christ. The iimplications, the theory, have been set forth by the apostles. Are we going to wholeheartedly apply them? I side with those who believe that Jesus will not come for a weak church, but for one which has at least started to assert Kingdom values in this world. We should be seeing signs of Kingdom revolution against the prince of this world and his system of rule.