Part II: The Kingdom of God

In the last post we talked about the epic of God’s eternal purpose. These were the things that He desires and will accomplish in the fullness of time. We learned that we, as humans and as believers, are not his purpose, but we are central and critical to its fulfillment. Life is not about us, but we have a divine privilege in bringing about His purpose. We also mentioned that due to man’s decision to sin, a recovery plan was included in His plan. This was so that after the effects of sin were dealt with progress could again be made toward fulfilling the eternal purpose. This recovery phase takes up most of the Bible.

In this post we want to zoom in a little on this detour phase and view it as a broad operation. Jesus dying on the cross for our sins is certainly a huge part of it. This was a starting point. From that point forward, there was something more comprehensive and expansive going on in the recovery–namely the advance of the Kingdom of God.

I’m sure you’ve heard the question before… “What is the one thing that Jesus talked about more than anything else?”

Interestingly, I’ve heard several answers to this question. But I think that after you counted up the verses and weighed them all by emphasis, I think the Kingdom of God would be the focus of Jesus’ spoken ministry.

But exactly what is it and why did Jesus spend so much time talking about it?

The Kingdom from Parables

According to author Frank Viola, there are two prevailing views of the “Kingdom of God”. In the first view, many believers equivocate the Kingdom to heaven–the place where the faithful go after they die. (Likely perpetuated by Matthew’s use of the term “Kingdom of Heaven” due to the potential offense of the word ‘God’ to a largely Jewish audience.) Others see the Kingdom where people do things to “make the world a better place”. They talk about bringing “heaven to earth” by loving their neighbor, feeding the poor, and helping the homeless. While partly correct, both answers are woefully incomplete–the Kingdom is vastly more than either idea can express.

It’s interesting that, despite His numerous references, Jesus never provided a complete (or even adequate) explanation of His Kingdom. There are a couple of reasons.

First, to speak of another kingdom in the middle of an established Roman province would have meant sedition of the highest order–and potentially a premature end of Jesus’ message and ministry. He had to be careful. Jesus’ selection of words and phrases were intentionally vague and somewhat nuanced so that only those who had “ears to hear” would engage with the message.

A second, and probably bigger reason was that the Kingdom is so vast, enduring, and beautiful that words, descriptions, and explanations are simply inadequate to convey a full and proper understanding. So instead, we have to examine it from one principle at a time, delighting at what each view offers and whetting our interest for more.

Below are some parables on the Kingdom as taught by Jesus:

And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how.”
Mark 4:26-27 (ESV)

And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
Mark 4:30-32 (ESV)

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Matthew 13:45-46 (ESV)

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad.
Matthew 13:47-48 (ESV)

From these we can derive several things about the Kingdom:

First, there is mystery in how the Kingdom grows. We play a part in it, but its operation is not completely our responsibility.

It grows from something very small into something very large that provides benefit to others.
We learn that those who understand its value will cast all things aside to pursue it unhindered.
We also learn that the Kingdom gathers as it expands, but that there will be a reckoning and separation among those that it gathers.

While we lean principles of how the Kingdom operates, its exact substance remains a mystery. But we get a definite sense that something really big is beginning to unfold.

The Kingdom from Analogy

What do you think of when someone mentions a kingdom?

I’m reminded of a king sitting on their throne in a palatial castle, commanding their knights, overseeing their land, and gaining favor of the people under their rule. While this is the common medieval idea of a kingdom, similar arrangements can be found as far back as the book of Genesis. So when the “Kingdom of God” was first mentioned by John the Baptist in the New Testament, he was borrowing language for an idea that had already been around for several thousand years. One with which his audience was already familiar.

Regardless of the culture or historical context, any kingdom assumes three things:

A king;
the territory the king exercises sovereign dominion over; and
the people being ruled.

Of course, the people a king rules are within the geographic boundary of the territory he controls.

The Kingdom of God is no different. Christ is of course King. But what then marks the territory of God’s Kingdom? Who then does He rule over?

This is where the analogy gets a little less obvious. To better explain, I’ll first need to sort everything into one of two different “locations”. I’ll call the first place the realm of God (or the spiritual realm). I’ll call the second place the created realm.

The spiritual realm is as old as time. It includes the Triune God, charabium, seraphim, the Living Creatures, angels, etc. Some might describe this place as ‘heaven’. Since God has sovereign rule there, it’s safe to say that the Kingdom of God includes the spiritual realm.

Conversely, the created realm includes the physical universe that the Father created at Genesis 1:1. This realm includes time, space, physical matter, energy, stars, galaxies, people, animals, strong nuclear forces, Mountain Dew, cat videos, Chinese take-out, and velcro. It’s the place where the laws of physics are generally observable and predictable.

It’s important to note that in the Garden of Eden (prior to sin and the Fall) there was no separation between the two realms. Both existed at the same place and time. For example, in Genesis 3:8 we observe God walking in the Garden–a purely spiritual being walking in the midst of the purely physical. At this time creation was under the sovereign rule of God (as there was no sin yet to defy His rule). Therefore the created realm would have been included in God’s Kingdom.

But sin entered creation when Adam defied the Lord’s command not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, fracturing creation in ways we can scarcely imagine. From that point God instituted a separation between his spiritual realm and the created realm. He continued His sovereign reign of the spiritual realm. However, He relinquished control of broken creation. It was now under the rule of the prince of this world (Lucifer).

This separation of realms continued for the next several thousand years. Of course the Lord and his angels would continue to interact with those in the created realm. During this time there would be points where the partition between the realms would become particularly thin. A good example was the Holy of Holies within the tabernacle which held the Ark of the Covenant. This place was a very special place where God, in spiritual form, physically resided. Priests were the only persons to visit this place. There they would minister to the Lord at certain times of the year. It was a dangerous job since one slip up in the presence of the Lord could mean instant death to the priest. As N.T. Wright has said, such places between the realms were historically dangerous places to be.

The term Kingdom of God was not formally mentioned until the New Testament at the beginning of the gospels. John the Baptist was preaching a baptism of repentance in preparation for the coming Kingdom, saying:

Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
Matthew 3:2 (ESV)

During his public ministry, Jesus similarly states:

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
Luke 17:20-21 (ESV)

John’s statement suggests imminent arrival of the Kingdom. But after Jesus initiated his public ministry, his statement suggests that the Kingdom was in a sense already operating, albeit covertly and asymmetrically.

So what happened?

The Self-Kingdom

Origen of Alexandria in the 2nd century first referred to Jesus as the autobasileia, or the “self-kingdom”. Leaving the spiritual realm Jesus entered the created realm as the incarnate Son of God. While there, He was the only person to occupy that realm fully committed to His Father’s sovereign reign. He existed as a person who had one foot planted in each realm. He was the bridge between both. He internalized the Kingdom by drawing from the spiritual realm His Father’s Life. He externalized the Kingdom in the created realm in His interactions with His disciples, religious leaders, and with perfect strangers in divine appointments. Wherever he trod the Kingdom existed in fullness. At that time in history Jesus was the place where the spiritual and created realm existed at the same time. And it was still a dangerous place to be. But it was all going down according to the plan that had been set in motion since before time.

In the end Jesus was crucified. But His resurrection demonstrated triumph over death itself. It was through His resurrection and victory over death that validated his inauguration as King of Kings. He was the only one worthy of the Kingdom’s crown.

By removing the enemy’s only weapon, Christ planted His standard solidly in enemy territory–the created realm. He declared it, by His own Name, to be His.

The Kingdom had returned to earth at last. This time for good.

The Gospel

A friend recently told me, “Looking at the state of the world, it sure doesn’t look like Jesus is King”. I understood what he meant. It certainly looks like a bad situation, but let me explain…

If you’ve spent any time in Sunday School, you’ll know that the “gospel” (Greek evangelion) means “good news”. What you may not know was that this was a term commonly used during the ancient Roman imperial expansion beyond the city of Rome and into the Mediterranean world.

When Rome would conquer a new territory they would declare the “good news” that the land had a new ruler–Caesar was now their Emperor. This occurred despite the fact that Caesar himself was physically back in Rome. Eventually, Caesar might visit their newly conquered land. But whether or not he ever did visit, the conquered territory was just as much part of the Roman Empire as it would have if Caesar himself delivered the news. Caesar’s kingdom simply expanded under his rule.

The New Testament writers adopted this language of the gospel when they declared Jesus to be the new King. He was King not just of the local city, the assimilated Roman province, or of the Mediterranean world, but of the entire created realm. Of course, declaring Jesus to be King of kings meant that Caesar was not. Such a declaration meant insurrection–an insurgency against Rome. That’s what it meant then and that’s what it means today.

To declare Jesus as King is to proclaim the subservience of all other authority.

An Amphibious Assault

The analogy doesn’t end there. Through Rome’s military conquest, the newly conquered territory would undergo a process of romanization carried out by locally installed Roman governing authorities (and usually backed by a contingent military force). Over time, the newly conquered territory would assimilate into the empire, eventually becoming a miniaturized version of Rome–adopting its architecture, religion, and culture.

In the same way, the Kingdom of God expands its rule from the spiritual realm to the created realm by sending His Spirit from heaven to earth today through human beings to claim and declare all creation under the authority of the Lord. His Spirit indwells His people as a sign of His authority and source of their empowerment and direction. Together, they represent colonies of the Kingdom that live under the rule and reign of their sovereign King. Whenever they do, the partition between realms once again wears thin as they together manifest the Kingdom by their words and deeds.

Given all this, how would we succinctly define the Kingdom of God?

Viola offers what he would consider a sufficient but woefully inadequate definition. To him, Kingdom of God is best described as:

The manifestation of God’s ruling presence

But whereas Rome expanded through violence, fear, and the threat of death, the Kingdom of God expands through freedom, glory, and exemplifying the divine nature of God Himself. Whereas the once-great Rome is now a relic of history, the Kingdom of God will continue to expand. Whereas Caesar may not have ever visited a conquered territory, the community of God anticipates the parousia where the King Himself will one day return to the created realm to complete His work of making all things new.

The Kingdom of God was central to Jesus’ ministry because it would be the means by which the eternal purpose would be fulfilled.

Manifesting the Kingdom

So in one sense, the Kingdom is already here. In another sense the Kingdom has not yet come in fullness.

Today, the ships have launched. Colonies have been established on the rocky shores of creation and are declaring the gospel that the True Kingdom has arrived and Jesus is now their King. Despite being in a foreign land, these colonists live their lives as citizens of the Kingdom. While their King is not physically present, He lives in the spirits of these colonists as the means of directing and empowering them. The kingdom they declare is not another imperialistic pursuit to exploit and gain from the riches of the conquered territory. Instead, the colonists come to declare freedom and victory from the oppression under which the people suffer. These citizens know that they must remain in close community with one another lest they “go native” and assimilate the nature of the locals and be distracted by their culture. Community is essential–it’s the difference between life and death.

From their colonies they launch further and deeper into the countryside, showing the world what it looks like to live, work, and operate under the reign of the New King. In fact, it looks a lot like what it did when the King walked the earth: The sick are healed, oppression is ended, the world is mended, joy is given, peace is made, and dignity is restored. This not through the broken methods, techniques, and systems of the world which compromise the Kingdom message, but with the clear and unmistakable declaration that the King has made these things manifest.

One day our King will once again re-unify the two realms and complete the work of making all things new. This, among other things, encompasses our hope as believers. (We’ll discuss “hope” in more detail in a future post). But until then, we have been given the divine charge of participating in Christ’s work of making all things new here on earth as we declare the present and coming Kingdom. Viola refers to the idea of manifesting God’s presence by proclaiming, embodying, and demonstrating our hope today as a signpost to the present and coming Kingdom:

We proclaim the fact that Christ is King and He will return in fullness at His discretion. This proclamation is both internal and external. It’s internal to the church as we encourage one another with this living hope. It’s external to those outside the church as we declare the message to the world and its ruling authorities, principalities, and powers. We declare freedom from the tyranny of death and its methods for any who would call Christ King.

We embody the present Kingdom in our celebration of God and our fellowship with other believers. We recognize that we have been invited into the fellowship of the Godhead. Just as there was an exchange of life among the members of the Trinity since before time, we too exchange that same life among the members of each colony. Just as there was an overflow of life out of the Trinity, there is an overflow of life into the cracks and crevasses of society–into a world that so desperately needs to be filled.

We demonstrate our hope by our focus, actions, and effort as we show the world what it looks like where God reigns in His people. These are the “good works” that God has prepared in advance for us to do. They are not just the “churchy” things that seem right out of conventional wisdom. As our leader, Christ leads us. But this requires focus and attention onto our King to be led into His work. Unless His Life is in the mission, it will be of little effect.

This is what is meant by the Kingdom of God here at the “detour phase” of the eternal purpose. What this looks like exactly will be as diverse as creation itself. But I suspect where it’s done well, the world will see the image of our true and irresistible King.

First Things