BIBLE
DIGEST - Number 93 April
2000
THE GOSPEL
OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Part 1 - Old Testament Background
By Allon Maxwell
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When we talk about the Kingdom of God, there
are at least FOUR different aspects from which the Bible views the subject. So
first, a simple definition which might help us to avoid confusion about that. A kingdom needs a territory. So the Kingdom of
God is the place where God
is King! However it is also true that no kingdom can
exist without a people. So the Kingdom of
God is also comprised of the people
in whose minds and hearts God reigns! God willing, we hope to present a series of
short Bible Digest studies about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God,
in which we shall discover the location of the Kingdom, and the
true identity of its people. And for good measure, we shall
also discover that the Bible describes its “politics” and natural environment,
in considerable detail. THE CREATION PLAN
FOR THE KINGDOM From the very beginning of Creation, it has
always been God’s plan to establish a Kingdom through whose people His glory will
fill the whole earth. God confirmed that to Moses when He said: “As truly as I live, all the earth
shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.” (Numbers
14:21 KJV) It should be no surprise therefore to discover
that the first references in the Bible, to the Kingdom of God, and the people
of the Kingdom, are to be found in Genesis
Chapter 1. God said two things: “Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness”; and “let them have dominion
over ..... all the earth”. (Genesis 1:26) Three quite distinct stages in the development
of mankind are contained in that short verse. First the “image”; then the
“likeness”;
and finally, after that, “dominion”. Genesis 1:27 tells us that mankind was indeed created in the image
of God - in the physical form of the angels who were present at the creation and
are included in that plural “US”. (Job 38:7) However we note that the word “likeness” is carefully
omitted. The likeness of God here is His character - his moral attributes. And
as we learn from the story in Genesis
Chapters 2 & 3, that likeness could
only be learned through experience of the necessary lifelong free
will choices to love God and obey God! That was the temptation to which
Adam and Eve succumbed .... “your
eyes will be opened and you will be like God”. (Genesis
3:5) They tried to steal an impossible short
cut to the likeness of God. In Psalm 8:4-6, we are reminded of that original plan. “What is man that thou art mindful of him,
and the son of man that thou dost care for him? Yet thou hast made him little
less than God ..... Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands”. (Note
- “God” here is the Hebrew “elohim” - in Hebrews 2:7, that
same verse is translated as “lower than the “angels”. Man is “lower” than the
angels, firstly, because he is created mortal, and secondly, because he lacks
their moral likeness until he learns it through obedience. Even Jesus, who was
made like us in every respect,
had that need. (Hebrews 5:8) But in Hebrews 2:5, we are also told
that this “dominion” promise from Genesis
1:27 has not yet been fulfilled. It is reserved
for “the world to come”. It is reserved for Jesus, the Messiah,
the chosen ruler, on whose shoulders the government of the Kingdom of God will
rest, when it has finally been established ..... for ever. (Isaiah 9:6-7, Daniel
7:13-14) The dominion is to be over the future Kingdom
which will fulfil God’s grand creation plan, and answer that last question which
the disciples were able to ask Jesus, just before He was taken up into Heaven: “Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) THE EARTH God is the ultimate ruler over all the earth.
“Thus says the LORD: ‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.’” (Isaiah
66:1, Acts 7:49) It has always been so. It is so now. And it
will be so for ever. That was the great lesson learned by King
Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of Babylon, when God dealt with him to break his pride,
until he knew the real source of his dominion over his world empire. “He was driven from among men,
..... until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of men, and sets over it whom he will.” (Daniel
5:21) That is how it is still, amongst the kingdoms
of the earth. In past centuries it has been traditional for kings to maintain
authority (and often abuse it) by appealing to what they used to call “The divine
right of rulership”. Paul tells us that claim is valid. (Romans 13:1) However it is also true that God is still the ultimate
ruler! And dominion over the kingdoms of men is still awarded to men, “to whosoever God wills”. (Daniel
5:21) ISRAEL The real focus of this earthly rule of God
is not simply “the earth”. Nor is it Babylon and its successors. Rather, it has
always been the people of the nation of Israel,
descended from Abraham - not just the flesh and blood descendants, however, but
especially those “spiritual descendants” who share his faith in the Gospel promises
which God gave to him. “In
Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were
baptized into Christ have put on Christ ..... And if you are Christ's, then you
are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians
3:26-29) When Israel first became a nation, God
was their King. They were meant to be a kingdom of priests, under
God “Thus the LORD became king in Jeshurun,
when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together.” (Deuteronomy
33:5) and “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”. (Exodus
19:6) This continued for about 400 years, until
the elders in Israel came to the prophet Samuel and demanded a human king, like
all the other nations. It would seem that at first Samuel must have taken this
as a personal rejection. But God quickly made it clear to Samuel, that the real
issue was Israel’s rejection of the Divine King, by whose mighty power they had
become a nation! “They
have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.” (1 Samuel
8:7) However, even then God did not abandon them.
Whether they acknowledged Him or not, whether they obeyed or disobeyed, .....
for the sake of their ancestors to whom God had made the Gospel promises, He continued
His invisible rulership, speaking to them through prophets, calling them back
to obedience, blessing them when they were obedient to His laws, and inflicting
punishment, when they disobeyed and turned away to worship the idols of the other
nations. This continued until eventually their wickedness
became so great that God brought an invading army from Babylon. Their temple was
destroyed, and the king and the people were taken into exile as captives. “Prince of Israel, whose day has
come, the time of your final punishment, thus says the Lord GOD: Remove the turban,
and take off the crown; things shall not remain as they are; exalt that which
is low and abase that which is high. A ruin, ruin, ruin I will make it; there
shall not be even a trace of it until he comes whose right it is; and to him I
will give it.” (Ezekiel 21:25-27) It took about another 700 years for Ezekiel’s
prophecy of destruction to come to its final completion, but eventually in AD130,
Jewish occupation of Jerusalem was completely ended by the invading Roman armies,
and its people were scattered to the four corners of the earth. But that is not the end of
the matter! (Jeremiah 30:11, Jeremiah
30:18-22) God is faithful to His word. And that guarantees
the certainty that His covenants with the Jewish fathers will still be kept. (Jeremiah 33:25-26) And that also guarantees the resurrection,
without which those promises cannot be kept for the Jewish Fathers! THE PRESENT STATUS
OF THE KINGDOM Jesus likens the Kingdom in its present
condition, to a field with a crop of good seed growing until it
is ready to harvest; to a field again, this time containing a crop of both wheat
and tares, growing side by side; to a net in which are gathered good fish and
bad; to a mustard tree in whose shade even the birds of the air (the devil’s agents)
find shelter. The Kingdom will remain in this condition
until the “end of the age”, when finally the angels will come to separate the
evil from the righteous, gathering out and destroying all causes of sin and all
evildoers. (Read the Kingdom parables in Matthew 13) THE FUTURE KINGDOM “In the days of those kings, (the
last of this world’s rulers over the earthly remnants of Babylonian style kingdoms)
the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall
its sovereignty be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these
kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand for ever.” (Daniel
2:44) In future issues of HOUSMAIL, it is planned
to discuss just how vitally important all of this background is to a ripe understanding
of what is offered in the “Gospel
of the Kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ”. (Acts 8:12) It is important because no one can ever truly believe
what they have never heard! (Romans
10:14-17) This future Kingdom of God on Earth is an
essential non-negotiable element of the Gospel preached by Jesus. It is the promised
inheritance of believers in Jesus. (Matthew
5:3, Matthew
5:6, Galatians
3:26-29) It is the Kingdom of Israel restored, just
as Ezekiel prophesied. It now awaits the return from Heaven, of the one whose
right it is to sit on the throne of David for ever. (Luke 1:32-33, Acts 1:11, Acts 3:21) |