The ‘Kingdom of God’ is the framework on which hangs the whole of Scripture and History. Metaphors are commonly used by Jesus to illustrate the Kingdom of God so it is more than a metaphor; it is the central theme of the Bible. Jesus came to announce the Kingdom; he instructed us to announce the Kingdom and to pray for the Kingdom to come in its fullness. The central message of the apostles was the kingdom of God. Most of the names given to Jesus are royal titles. The ‘gospel’ itself is literally a ‘royal announcement’. Our vocation as followers of Messiah/King Jesus is to teach the Kingdom; celebrate and anticipate the Kingdom and live as a foretaste of the fullness of the Kingdom before a hungry world.
The King as Creator
The Bible begins and ends with a loving Sovereign Creator and a creation at peace under his dominion. Between we see corruption, crisis and conflict as humanity struggles to come to terms with its identity as subjects of this loving King. As they fall out from his dominion they self-destruct relationally, physically, emotionally and spiritually, but as they are drawn back under his dominion there is restoration and freedom.
At creation God is not yet known as ‘King’, yet his Kingship is unmistakable. In ‘The Drama of Scripture’; Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen say: “By causing the creation to come into being by his word of power, God establishes it as his own vast kingdom. He thus establishes himself as the great King over all creation, without limits of any kind, and worthy to receive all glory, honor, and power in the worship of what he has created.” In the first chapter of Genesis he exercises dominion as he speaks and all creation responds. He names what he creates. He pronounces blessings over his creation; all unmistakable acts of a monarch.
Relational authority
Yet his kingship is relational and loving as he walks with his subjects in the garden he has created. He invites them to participate in his ruler-ship over creation. In contrast to other ancient creation stories where humankind are essentially the slaves to lazy gods; this is more than creating servants, but of vice-regents, co-heirs, image-bearers and friends; concepts which will take on their full significance in the fullness of time.
Genesis 1:26 records: “Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." Thus a significant part of what it means to be image-bearers is that we have authority and a degree of autonomy to also rule. So in his book ‘Engaging God’s World – A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning and Living’; Cornelius Plantinga Jr says “…to some extent we are all rulers just because God has created us in his own image to have “responsible dominion”. What follows is that we all have a little kingdom.”
This authority was given so we would be God’s representatives or “sovereign emblem.” We are accountable for the creation’s good as commissioned. This authority is an essential part of our humanness and remains with us to be used for good if under God’s dominion or for potential great harm if exercised apart from the relationship we were created for. It seems that God was well aware of the potential for humankind to abuse their power. He made provision through his the sacrifice of his Jesus who is later called: “...the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8). His work on the cross is pictured even in the Garden as the ‘tree of life’.
Origins of evil
Within creation God had also given a degree of authority and autonomy to another class of beings to carry out his will but within the angelic class there was one who overstepped his God-given boundaries. The “…ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray…” (Revelation 12:9) desired to be like God also, and to usurp the authority over the earth that humans alone carry. (Ezekiel 28:11-19 seems to be a description of Satan as the tempting serpent in Eden.) His modus operandi is that of a scheming abuser. As he did in the garden with Eve he carefully grooms his victims then once the innocent have fallen their guilt and shame keeps them in his clutches. Afraid and confused they withdraw from each other and hide from God (Genesis 3:1-13).
The harmony of the Kingdom is shattered and the authority given the vice-regents becomes an instrument of destruction. The “dominion of darkness” has found its entrance into the Kingdom of Peace. Satan becomes the de facto “god of this age...” continuing to blind and enslave victims who are powerless to break out of the victimhood and abuse cycle. Plantinga says: “Victims victimise others, and even themselves. In this way sin gains momentum. Worse, all sinful lives intersect with other sinful lives....”
Kingdoms rise and fall
Now the Bible starts recording kingdoms which manifest fallen humanity. The perversion and cruelty of humankind under Satan’s influence prompts God to destroy the evil from the earth and start his reign over again lest creation be irreparably corrupted. All through the scriptures God allows evil as a consequence of the authority he has given to his creatures, but there are always bounds on evil where he does intervene to stop complete destruction of his creation. Judgement is never vindictive or arbitrary but for the eventual good of his creation.
Noah is a man who acknowledges his Kingship, so God rescues Noah and his family along with enough animals to repopulate the earth after the flood. God gives similar instructions to Noah that he gave to the first humans; to take responsible dominion. Yet the grip of sin and Satan is strong and destructive empires soon arise and kingdoms with self-interest at heart soon proliferate. Genesis 10:10 records Nimrod as King the first significant kingdom. Later James 4:1-10 elaborates on the origin of conflict and war as our unbridled ambition and selfish desire.
Covenant and Law
Yet God has a plan to restore the Kingdom. Just as he made covenants with Adam and Eve and later with Noah, he covenants with Abraham. Covenant making is a Kingly act where the subjects are bound by promise to certain conditions for the mutual benefits of the King and the covenant people. All subject people were under covenant. Even today our laws are essentially covenants between us and our rulers to ensure mutual benefit.
He promises to make from Abraham a great nation in their own land, and through whom all the peoples of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). The implication here is that God will be King, and that through this covenant people his Kingdom will bring restoration to the whole of creation. He reiterates this promise in Exodus after the descendants of Abraham are freed from slavery to the corrupt kingdom of Egypt. He says that they will be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). They will minister for God as King to the other nations as they learn to follow his ways and display his goodness. Bartholomew & Goheen say: “The ten commandments are good news. They tell Israel how to live so as to please God and display to the nations God’s creational purposes for humanity. Because the Lord is the creator, his instructions fit with the way he has made the world.”
As Israel (as they are now known) follow God’s ways they are truly blessed and successful. Deuteronomy chapter 28 is an example of the blessings God pronounces for following his ways and the consequences of neglecting his ways. These were both clearly fulfilled at different points in Israel’s history.
Prototype kings
Over time they develop their own governmental structures and appoint a King to head that government. In 1 Samuel 8, God warns through the prophet Samuel of the danger of a human king. This is later to be painfully fulfilled.
The difference between Israel’s king and those of the other nations however is that (theoretically) his power is not absolute; he is subject to the Law of God and to the word of the prophets. Bartholomew & Goheen say: “All the prophetic books in the Old Testament come from the time of the monarchy or after its demise. The prophetic office thus appears in Israel as a counterbalance to the powerful office of kingship.”
The pre-eminent King is David. His psalms and his conduct reflect his love for God’s law, his knowledge of God’s ways and respect for God’s prophets; for example when confronted by Nathan for his sin David humbly repents (2 Samuel 12). For a time all is well and the Kingdom experiences unparalleled blessings. Subsequently David is regarded as the prototype for another King who will come and restore Israel to her full calling (see Is 63:1-6).
Israel’s history from David’s time is one of gradual decline and eventual exile because the kings of Israel and Judah (civil war splits the kingdom into two parts) generally disregard God’s law, his ways and his prophets. As a result they are exiled, again under the cruel heel of ungodly kingdoms. Israel loses her calling to bless the nations, loses her distinctive kingdom and almost loses her identity. Yet within this time there come an intense yearning for a deliverer like Moses or a king like David. Again Bartholomew & Goheen say: “...there is a widespread expectation that...God is about to act – soon, suddenly and in love and wrath and great power - to renew his creation and restore his reign over the whole world.” The prophet Daniel had spoken from captivity of a time when “…the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 2:44)
The Promised King
The terms ‘Son of David’, ‘Son of Man’, ‘Anointed One’ (‘Messiah’ in Hebrew and ‘Christ’ in Greek) and ‘Son of God’ become shorthand for the ‘Expected One’ who will come to restore the Kingdom to Israel (In Acts 1:6 this is the first question they ask Jesus after his resurrection).
Some thought the Messiah to be a human warrior king, some though that he would be divine. Plantinga says: “By the time of Jesus’ birth, most of his contemporaries were looking more for a man than for God...they were looking for a man who could become their king...What they got was their King who had become man – God incarnate...”.
However the purpose of his coming was (in retrospect) misconstrued. The Israelites who remained in the land had been cruelly oppressed by the nations, and though they held different viewpoints over the nature and agenda of this King they were united by a hatred of the non-Jewish ‘Gentile’ nations. They had forgotten that the Kingdom of God was not firstly about them, but about redemption of the whole of creation beloved by God.
So at Jesus’ birth of the message of the angel: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end…" (Luke 1:32) leaves no doubt as to his identity. Jesus own announcement that: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel...” (Mark 1:15) is a bombshell. ‘Gospel’ or ‘Good News’ is “...the word commonly used in that culture for the kind of announcement that brings great joy. It might be the news of a wedding, the birth of a son, a military victory, or the enthronement of a new era of peace.” (Bartholomew & Goheen)
Jesus’ message is filled with relevance for the people of Israel as he calls them back to God’s ways. He offers forgiveness, and release from the shame which humankind has carried right from the garden. Yet the religious leaders are greatly offended at Jesus claiming to forgive sins as it is equivalent to claiming to be God. He tells stories which repeatedly reference the Kingdom of God as a place of refuge, healing and reconciliation (Luke 15 for example contains three such parables).
Demonstration of the Kingdom
He demonstrates the power of the Kingdom by healing the sick and casting out evil oppressive spirits (Luke 11:20). But it is his message of mercy to the Gentiles which offends his people. For example The Jewish establishment are enraged when Jesus quotes from Isaiah 61:1-2 in the synagogue announcing himself as the fulfilment of the ‘year of the Lord’s favour’, but stops short of pronouncing vengeance upon the enemies of Israel. He doesn’t take the warrior-king role they were expecting but instead reaches out in love and servant-hood to those who had treated his people badly and teaches his followers to do the same ( Matthew 5:38-48 for example).
Jesus’ concept of Kingship again stands over against the competing empires that rely on political maneuvering and military intimidation. His attitudes and teaching undermine and subvert the assumption that ‘might is right’ (see Mark 10:42-43). The world-view he teaches his followers is to neither fear nor hate these empires, but merely to announce by word and deed that a new Kingdom is here, and allegiance to this new/old Kingdom is the way into true freedom and peace (see Matthew 10:28 for example). Evil is to be overcome by loving service. 1 Corinthians 13 is essentially Paul’s commentary on Jesus’ leadership style.
The King bears the curse
This confuses and enrages both Jewish and Gentile leadership. Satan’s reign of shame is broken (1 John 3:8). The Kingdoms of this world have been subverted from their high and lofty power-positions. To rid the world of this Messiah-King seems to be the only remedy. Jesus is accused by Jews of blasphemy (claiming to be the son of God– Luke 22:70) and by the Romans of treason (claiming to be King of the Jews – Luke 23:38). Crucifying Jesus seems to be the final blow to this new Kingdom movement.
Ironically in his death Jesus displays another Kingly attribute, sacrifice on behalf of his people (John 11:50-51). For Jesus to die on a cross confirms to the Jews that he could not be the Messiah as such a death was proof that he is under a curse (Deuteronomy 21:23). Yet as King he bears the punishment that rightfully should have been borne by not only the Jewish people who had rejected their King, but also all the nations who had built their own kingdoms separate from their creator. Isaiah records this incredible event before it happened: “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5). He is cursed – but not for his own sin (Galatians 3:13-14).
An ever-living King
The resurrection of Jesus is the decisive victory over evil. Jesus is at last the warrior-King who has destroyed the real enemy and opened the way for the everlasting Kingdom. Bartholomew & Goheen say: “In rising from the dead, he inaugurates the renewal of the whole creation, including the physical bodies on men and women…Jesus has lead the way into the age to come…we can enter that kingdom as we follow him – enter first in foretaste on this side of the completed kingdom and at last enter it fully on the new earth.”
The King has come and overcome the worst the world can offer. He has suffered and died on behalf of his lost people and redeemed them so they can return without shame to be willing subjects of his Kingdom; knowing the freedom and joy of being the people of God. The redeemed of the Lord from every nation once again taking the role of ‘responsible dominion’, caring for the world. Jesus’ ‘Great Commission’ of Matthew 28:18-20 is a restating of God’s call and promise to Abraham that all the nations would be blessed through Him. The goal of the Kingdom announcement is that all be reconciled and returned to a place of blessing from God. God’s domain is no longer territorial. The ‘land’ promises made to Abraham are replaced in the New Testament by the ‘world’ (Romans 4:13). The reign of the King is available to all who will receive in this age (John 1:12, 3:16).
The clashing kingdoms
Yet although the decisive victory is accomplished, the Kingdom is yet to appear in its fullness. The earth and its people are still suffering under the curse. The Bible speaks of a day still future when it is announced that: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever." (Revelation 11:15). In the meantime we live in a tension. The victory is won, Satan has been defeated, the prison doors are open, yet like victims of long-term abuse there is still an affinity with the abuser; a fatal attraction to what has enslaved fueled by ignorance or fear of the unknown; freedom feels too foreign.
So in his patience the King waits, trying to lure them out with foretastes of the goodness of his Kingdom. Bartholomew and Goheen compare this to showing the trailer of a movie so that people will like what they see and want to return to the theatre for the full feature, and to a taste of a banquet to attract guests to the full feast.
In this place of tension humankind still hold their authority which they are free to use for good or evil so evil kingdoms and empires continue to oppress and creation still groans waiting for the consummation of the ages when all the prisoners have all had opportunity to come to the final banquet and evil is finally purged from the earth (Romans 8:22-25).
How should we then live? Andy Croft and Mike Pilavachi in ‘Storylines’ say: “…if Jesus is our King we are to live to his standards. We are a people of the future Kingdom of God. We are to live lives of the future in the present. The challenge is that if it’s not good enough for the future Kingdom of God; it’s not good enough for the present.” We in the Western world at least no longer live under such obvious tyrants, but the challenge of “who is Lord?” is nonetheless very real as corporations, brands and philosophies compete for out devotion.
The Royal proclamation
In his book ‘What St Paul Really Said’ Tom Wright says: “The ‘gospel’ is for Paul, at its very heart, an announcement about the true God as opposed to false gods.” Our task is to live consistently and proclaim with relevance and clarity that Jesus the crucified and risen savior is Lord; and how that looks in a contemporary context.
Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat in ‘Colossians Remixed’ say: “...the primal responsibility of Christian proclamation is to empower the community to reimagine the world as if Christ, not the powers, were sovereign...Such proclamation...will always be a subversion to the dominant version of reality.”
Servants of the Servant King
As forgiven followers of the King we are blessed, yet we live in world still subject to the curse. We are in the world as ambassadors of Christ, ministers of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:19). Our model of service is Jesus, who although the rightful King of Kings took the place of the humble servant and entreats us to do likewise (Philippians 2:1-11). Like him we are to conquer though love not power. We are in the world but not part of the corrupt world system yet we are to love the world and its people; expressing what it means to be truly free, forgiven and using our God-given image-bearing authority and creativity under his loving Kingship.