The Kingdom of God Part 1

At all times, the kingdom of God has been at the center of much of the Christian teaching, and rightly so. This is especially true in 20. Century a dispute arose. Consensus is difficult to achieve due to the breadth and complexity of the biblical material and the many theological topics that overlap with it. There are also big differences in the spiritual attitude that guides scholars and pastors and leads them to the most varied conclusions.

In this 6 series, I will address the central questions concerning God's kingdom in order to strengthen our faith. In doing so, I will draw on the knowledge and perspective of others who share the same historically evidenced, conventional Christian faith that we profess in Grace Communion International, a faith based on Scripture and focused on Jesus Christ becomes. He is the one who guides us in our worship of the Triune God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This faith-centered incarnation and Trinity, with all the reliability, will not be able to directly answer any question that might be in the way of the kingdom of God. But it will provide a solid foundation and reliable guide that will allow us a biblically faithful understanding.

Over the past 100 years there has been increasing agreement among those Bible scholars who share the same fundamental theological mindset that is ours on key questions of faith. It is about the truthfulness and reliability of biblical revelation, a sound approach to biblical interpretation and the foundations of Christian understanding (doctrine) with regard to such questions as the divinity of Christ, the Trinity of God, the central importance of the work of grace of God, as described in Christ is fulfilled by the power of the Holy Spirit, and of God's redeeming work in the context of history, so that it may be completed with its God-given goal, the end.

If we could draw fruitfully from the doctrines of many scholars, two advisers seem to be particularly helpful in bringing the innumerable biblical testimonies regarding the kingdom of God into a (coherent) coherent whole: George Ladd, who writes from the perspective of biblical research, and Thomas F. Torrance, who represents the theological point of view with his contributions. Of course, these two scholars have learned from many others and refer to them in their thinking. You have viewed the extensive biblical and theological research material.

In doing so, they have placed the emphasis on those scriptures that correspond to the fundamental, biblical and theological premises already mentioned above and that reflect the most coherent, most understandable and most comprehensive arguments with regard to the kingdom of God. For my part, I will address the most important aspects of their results that will advance our growth and understanding of faith.

The central meaning of Jesus Christ

Ladd and Torrance have both been emphatic that biblical revelation unequivocally identifies the kingdom of God with the person and saving work of Jesus Christ. He himself embodies it and brings it about. Why? Because he is the king of all creation. In his spiritual work as a mediator between God and creation, his kingship is combined with priestly and prophetic elements. The kingdom of God is truly existent with and through Jesus Christ; for he reigns wherever he is. The kingdom of God is his kingdom. Jesus tells us, “And I will make your kingdom your own, even as my Father made it for me, to eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and to sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 2 Cor2,29-30).

At other times, Jesus declares that the kingdom of God is his. He says, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18,36). Thus, the kingdom of God cannot be understood separately from who Jesus is and what all of his salvation work is about. Any interpretation of the Holy Scriptures or any theological synopsis of the exegetical material that does not interpret the kingdom of God on the basis of the person and work of Jesus Christ moves away from the center of Christian teaching. It will inevitably come to different conclusions than one that operates from this center of life of Christian faith.

Starting from that center of life, how can we learn to understand what the kingdom of God is all about? First of all, we should note that it is Jesus himself who proclaims the coming of God's kingdom and makes this fact an all-embracing topic of his teaching (Mark 1,15). With Jesus the real existence of the kingdom begins; he not only brings the message on this point. The kingdom of God can be experienced wherever Jesus is; for he is the king. The kingdom of God truly exists in the living presence and action of King Jesus.

Starting from this starting point, everything that Jesus says and does conveys the character of his kingdom. The kingdom he wants to give us is identical in character to his own. He carries us a certain kind of empire to an empire that embodies its own character and destiny. Our conceptions of the kingdom of God must therefore be consistent with who Jesus is. You have to reflect it in all its facets. They should be carried in ways that point and remind us of Him with all our senses, so that we understand that this Kingdom is His. It belongs to him and has his signature everywhere. It follows that the kingdom of God is primarily about the reign or reign of Christ rather than, as some interpretations suggest, celestial realms or a spatial or geographical place. Wherever Christ's rule is at work according to His will and destiny, there is the kingdom of God.

First and foremost, his kingdom must be associated with his destiny as the Savior and thus linked to his salvation through his incarnation, vicissitudes, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and second coming. This means that his reign as a king can not be understood as detached from his work as a revealer and mediator, to whom he was at once a prophet and a clergyman. All these three Old Testament functions, as embodied in Moses, Aaron, and David, are uniquely associated and realized in him.

His rule and his will are subject to the destiny of recommending his creation, his hat and goodness, that is, to include him in his allegiance, fellowship and participation, reconciling us to God through his crucifixion. Ultimately, if we go under his hat, we share in his reign and enjoy the participation in his kingdom. And his reign carries the features of God's love, which he brings to us in Christ and on the trust of the Holy Spirit working in us. In love for God and in charity, as she sees herself embodied in Jesus, this is our participation in his kingdom. The kingdom of God manifests itself in a community, a people, a church in covenant with God by virtue of Jesus Christ and thus also among one another in the Spirit of the Lord.

But such love experienced in community, as we partake of in Christ, springs from a lived trust (faith) in the redeeming, living God and his lordship, as it is exercised continually through Christ. Thus, belief in Jesus Christ is inextricably linked to integration into his kingdom. This is because Jesus not only proclaimed that with his approaching coming the kingdom of God would also draw near, but also called for faith and confidence. So we read: “But after John had been taken prisoner, Jesus came to Galilee and preached the gospel of God, saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1,14-15). Belief in the kingdom of God is inextricably linked with belief in Jesus Christ. To trust in him in faith means to rely on his rule or reign, his community-building kingdom.

To love Jesus and to love the Father with him is to love and trust in all the manifestations manifest in his kingdom.

The royal rule of Jesus Christ

Jesus is the ruling King of all kings over the entire universe. Not a single corner in the entire cosmos is spared from its redeeming power. And so he proclaims that all power in heaven as well as on earth has been given to him (Matthew 28,18), that is, over all of creation. Everything was created through him and for him, as the apostle Paul explains (Colossians 1,16).

Revisiting God's promises to Israel, Jesus Christ is "King of kings and Lord of lords" (Psalm 136,1-3; 1 Timothy 6,15; Rev. 19,16). He has precisely the power of domination that is worthy of him; he is the one through whom everything was created and who by virtue of his power and his life-giving will receives everything (Hebrews 1,2-3; Colossians 1,17).

It should be clear that this Jesus, the Lord of the Universe, knows no equal, no rival, neither in creation nor in the invaluable gift of salvation. While there were fellow warriors, pretenders and usurpers who had neither the power nor the will to create and give life, Jesus brought all the enemies who resisted his rule to their knees and downed them. As a mediator of his Father made flesh, the Son of God, by virtue of the Holy Ghost, opposes all that stands in the way of his well-made creation and of the Almighty destiny for all creature. To the extent that he opposes all those forces that threaten or destroy his well-done creation and deviate from his wonderful goals, he brings his love to this creation. If he did not fight those who want to destroy them, he would not be the Lord bound to love. This Jesus, with his Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit, relentlessly opposes all evil that destroys, distorts and destroys life and love-based communion-based relationships with him and, in turn, with one another and with creation. In order for his original, ultimate purpose to be fulfilled, all forces resisting his rule and right must subject him to repentance or be nullified. Evil has no future in the kingdom of God.

So Jesus sees himself, as he is also portrayed by the witnesses of the New Testament, as the victor who brings redemption, who frees his people from all evil and all enemies. He frees the prisoners (Luke 4,18; 2. Corinthians 2,14). He transfers us from the kingdom of darkness to his kingdom of light (Colossians 1,13). He "given himself up for our sins... to save us from this present wicked world, according to the will of God our Father" (Galatians 1,4). It is precisely in this sense that it is to be understood that Jesus "[...] overcame the world" (John 16,33). And with that he makes “all things new!” (Revelation 21,5; Matthew 19,28). The cosmic scope of his rule and the subjugation of all evil under his rule testify beyond our imagination to the miracle of his grace-borne royal rule.

by Gary Deddo

The Kingdom of God (part 1)