he who has eyes...

“‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’” [Mark 1:15]

I’m part of a Vineyard church (the one in Evanston, Illinois at the moment). And as with Vineyard’s all across the world, we have a thing about focusing on the theology of the kingdom of God. It’s often taught in the Vineyard (quite correctly, I feel) that the kingdom of God was the thing Jesus was concerned with proclaiming and demonstrating with his ministry on earth. And so, as a church, we’re about to enter in to a series highlighting what the kingdom of God is and how it affects our lives. As a small group running parallel to these Sunday services, we’ve decided that our group should also focus on the kingdom of God during this season. To that end, I was charged with writing an introduction to the kingdom of God. This is nothing compared to the amazing job someone like Derek Morphew could do (check out his book Breakthrough). I can’t recommend enough going towards any resource he has on the subject. But, this can serve as a primer, if you’d like.

So, without further ado, here’s the theology of the kingdom of God in a nut-shell, as far as I see it, as well as why we care about it in the first place.

Jesus began his entire ministry proclaiming the approaching of the kingdom of God [Mark 1:14-15]. He continued on in this way throughout everything he did (see, e.g., Mark 4:11, Mark 4:26, Mark 4:30, Mark 9:1, Mark 9:47, Mark 10:14, Mark 10:15, Mark 10:23, Mark 10:24, Mark 10:25, Mark 12:34, Mark 14:25, Mark 15:43 — and yes, I just did a Bible Gateway search for “kingdom of God” and wrote down the Mark examples). Moreso, he both claims that proclaiming the kingdom of God is the very reason he was sent [Luke 4:43] and sends out his disciples to do the same [Luke 9:1-2]. So, all in all, Jesus saw the kingdom of God as a pretty big deal — the very reason he was sent (note: he doesn’t say that he was sent to die for the sins of the world or anything like that… just a thinking point).

Now, Jesus began his ministry with proclaiming the coming of the kingdom, but doesn’t bother to explain himself as to why that was or what the heck he was talking about. And the reason is that Jesus was speaking to a Jewish culture in eager anticipation of the promised coming of the kingdom of God. Their understanding of God reigning dates all the way back to the time of the Exodus where God exacts judgment on the gods of the Egyptians [Exodus 12:12], making a claim that He alone is the ruler of the world (with a great gauntlet-tossing statement of “I am the Lord” right after — you know He’s serious when He throws that one out there).

The story goes on. God eventually gives into the Israelites desire for an earthly kingship — a great example of the classic child-whining, “But, THEY get to have a king…” [1 Samuel 8], despite the fact that, you know, He is the Lord. This kingship was to be a shadow of the perfect heavenly kingship maintained by God. Of interesting note, the king of Israel is most often referred to as the “anointed one” — the Hebrew word Messiah. God promises to David that Israel will always be ruled over by his line [2 Samuel 7:1-17], and that the anointed one (that is, messiah) would come from his line.

Now, the Israelites, especially during the time of the exile, understood the idea that one day, a singular Anointed One (note the capitals) would rule over Israel forever (just read the book of Hebrews for this one). And so they waited. For hundreds of years. In eager anticipation.

And so when Jesus bursts on the scene, saying “I am he” (note the similarities to the “I am the Lord” — “I am” statements are very important in the Bible), he was speaking to a culture perfectly prepared for the coming of the messiah proclaiming the coming of the kingdom of God — where the rule and reign of God is maintained forever. This right here (along with the whole claiming to be the son of God thing) got Jesus immediate attention from almost everyone. In fact, the very reason he was arrested by Roman officials in the first place wasn’t because of his claiming to be God (which certainly was the thing that had the Pharisees in a tizzy — see, e.g., Mark 2:1-12), it was because he was claiming to be a king, opposed to Caesar [Luke 23:1-3].

So, what is this kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed anyway? The best definition for it is as stated above: it is the very rule and reign of God and everything that this encompasses. All of creation will eventually be under an unending reign of God where things are set back to how they were intended, before the fall of mankind and the introduction of sin to the world. The central consequence of sin is that death and decay has now entered the world [Genesis 3, Romans 6:23]. The intension of creation to be in perfect harmony has now been disrupted. Disease exists. Death exists. Evil exists.

And so, when Jesus proclaims the coming of the kingdom of God, he’s saying that the time is coming when there will be no more disease, no more death, no more evil [Revelation 21:4]. It’s an eschatological statement (which is just a big word for “end times”). In due time, God will re-perfect creation, and He will reign among the people [Revelation 21:3]. This time will come in totality one day, but it was first introduced in Jesus’ life and ministry.

But you see, the catch is that Jesus not only proclaimed the kingdom of God, but he demonstrated it — he spoke of what was coming, and then he healed the sick, he raised the dead, and he overcame evil (see the gospels). The very action of miraculously healing was an example of the kingdom of God being made manifest in this world [Matthew 12:28]. In fact, Jesus flat-out promised that some people would actually SEE the kingdom of God come with power before they died [Mark 9:1]. Now, as far as I know, the final creation-perfecting events promised in Revelation have not yet come to pass — and those whom Jesus spoke to are certainly dead now. So, how was it that they would SEE the kingdom of God in their lifetimes?

When it gets down to it, what we began to see with Jesus’ ministry and the ministry he entrusted to his disciples was one of proclaiming the truths of the kingdom of God and demonstrating what life in this kingdom was intended to look like. Jesus was a kind of firstfruits, a down-payment, of everything we could expect once the kingdom was fully realized and God reigned among us. For example, we see that in the kingdom promise of the resurrection that Christ is in fact the firstfuits of the resurrection [1 Corinthians 15:20].

What we see in the life of Jesus Christ is what is referred to among the theology-types as an “inaugurated eschatology” — that is, the beginning examples of the final end-times events and their consequences.

Now, why this is important to us (other than the fact that it was the central reason Jesus came into the world) is that we as Christ’s followers have been entrusted with this very same ministry of proclaiming and demonstrating the kingdom of God. This is often referred to as an “enacted inaugurated eschatology” — that is, the continuation of the beginning examples of the final end-times events and their consequences. We today get to participate in the proclamation and demonstration of everything that Jesus did (after all, we will do “greater things” than Jesus did — John 14:12). We get to play a part in God’s enacting of the kingdom of God, even today.

And so currently, we live in a time obviously before the final eschatological events, but after they have been ushered into this world and inaugurated. We live in a time between the times — in the “already and not yet.” In these days, we get to eagerly anticipate the further in-breaking of the complete and total kingdom of God in individual instances (the healing of the sick, the raising of the dead, et cetera), while still not fully experiencing the totality of all that this means. Since we are pre-eschatology, the kingdom is not yet fully realized. So when we pray for the sick, they are not always healed. But, when they are, we get to see little examples of what life on the other side of perfection looks like. And we get to keep proclaiming this truth while demonstrating its power to further advance the message and ministry Jesus inaugurated with his life, death, and resurrection.

In short, we live in an “already and not yet” world, where the kingdom breaks into the present at times to demonstrate God’s glory, His love for the world, and His power. And as the central focus of God’s creation, we are actually ourselves examples of “already and not yet” creations.

Haven’t you seen this in your own lives? There are times when you are completely focused on God, filled with His joy and love, and it seems like nothing in the world could be wrong. And there are times (sometimes in the exact same day!) when you are completely depraved, consciously and willfully sinning and seeking nothing more than your own personal gain. And when you come to your senses, you think, “What kind of awful person I am! I can’t possibly actually believe in God, because if I did, I would truly hate my sin, not be bound up by it.”

And this thought is very biblical. We should hate our sin [Romans 12:9]. And yet, we are continually controlled by sin and do what we hate [Romans 7:15]. But the Bible also says that if we continue to sin, we don’t even know Christ [1 John 3:6]. And in the very same letter, it says that if we claim to be without sin, we are liars [1 John 1:8]. So what gives?

The helpful way I see all of this is that we are “already and not yet” people — every one of us. There are times in our lives when we are the fully realized worshipers that God created in the first place and longs to restore when His kingdom is fully realized. We are “already” people. But there are times when we continue to do what we do not want to do. We don’t quite get it. We are “not yet” people. Both are true statements.

In fact, you’ll see that the Bible refers to the act of salvation (that which forgives us of our sins and offers us a new way of life honoring God in everything we do) in many different tenses. We have been saved [Luke 7:50], we are being saved [1 Corinthians 1:18], and we will be saved [Mark 13:13].

Isn’t it refreshing to know that we are works in progress? I don’t think it would be if I were perfect and felt free from sin all the time. But I don’t. Far from it. More refreshing still is that we will always be works in progress, until God perfects us in the end. A life lived with consistent examples of sin is a poor example of a life, to be sure, but it’s also a life that is to be expected. We can strive towards triumphalism all we want in this life, but we’ll never achieve it. All we’ll achieve is the shame associated with continually failing. And we will continually fail, because we are still “not yet” people.

So, this is what I think about the kingdom of God. It’s important because Jesus saw it to be important. Its proclamation declares to the world all that it could be and will be. Its demonstration shows the world what it could and should look like. And in the mean time, we live in a time between the times, being used by God to further enact the coming kingdom of God, but still waiting for Jesus to return and usher in the final, ultimate rule and reign of God. Just as the Jews did in the time between the exile and the coming of Jesus. Let’s wait in eager anticipation for the day when Jesus can say again on this earth, “The kingdom of God is near!”