Jesus is the Kingdom
Introduction
When Gary told me that he was about to spend six months on the topic of the kingdom of God I was both surprised at the length of the series but not the topic. Just a few weeks ago a pastor I mentor was telling me he was focussing on understanding this subject. When I quoted to him Jesus’ familiar words, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.””, as evidence that the kingdom builds the church and not vice versa, he was astonished at such a simple insight (Matt 16:18-19). (And I was surprised that he was surprised.) In recent decades interest in the kingdom of God as reflected in books, seminars, sermons etc. has grown immensely. This is both positive and potentially damaging. Let me explain my concern by beginning with an illustration.
When I was at university I read the highly influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Thomas Kuhn). In this book the author argues that science doesn’t simply move forward by the gradual accumulation of knowledge but experiences revolutions where a prevailing consensus about how the world works, a paradigm, is suddenly replaced by a shift to another paradigm which better explains the nature of reality. The classic example is the shift from an earth centred (geocentric) view of the solar system to a sun centred (heliocentric) perspective. What we have been witnessing for some time is thoughtful Christians searching for a new paradigm to replace the hierarchical forms of Church which have been dominating Western Christianity for centuries. In one way or other the house church movement, new monasticism, the emerging church and so on are all attempts to embody such a paradigm. Each of these is valuable in their own way, but they tend to remain church-centred and cannot satisfy the inner longing of believers born of the kingdom to live in its presence and power (John 3:3, 5). A kingdom centred approach to the Bible and spirituality is one increasingly influential way of laying a foundation for the church deeper than itself. My hesitation about all this is that given the generally self-centred and individualistic thinking of Western Christians most attempts to harness the kingdom on behalf of the Church will fail “the Jesus test.” The danger is that Jesus will be seen as the expression of the “principle” of the kingdom reign of God, rather than the substance of the kingdom. Hopefully what I am getting it will become progressively clearer.
Having this opportunity to speak on the kingdom of God has enabled me to reflect on a statement in Greek by the third century Church Father Origen, that Jesus is autobasilea, which means something like “kingdom in person”. Jesus is in every way the embodiment of the kingdom of God, he is the space where the Father’s rule in the Spirit is perfected. Jesus is the centre and circumference the beginning and the end of the kingdom of God (koG). In other words, any understanding of the koG must be approached from within an understanding of who Christ is (Christology). Jesus unhesitatingly described himself as “king” but what exactly did he mean by this (Matt 25:46; Luke 22:28-30 cf. 1:33)? The first place to try to unfold what this means is in Jesus own personal experience.
Jesus’ Self Understanding
Straight after Jesus was filled with the Spirit at his baptism and heard the words, ““You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased”” we read “The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.” (Mark 1:11-12). This tells us that the Father exercised his kingdom reign in/over Jesus through his Spirit. Similarly, when Christ stands up to first proclaim the kingdom he begins with, ““The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor….””, he is the subject of his own preaching (Luke 4:18-21). He is making a statement about God’s rule over his own life. The kingdom of God comes into the world because the Spirit of God exercises the rule of God through the perfectly ruled Son of God. To be at the centre of his Father’s action in restoring his just rule over the world is pivotal to the identity of Jesus.
Uncontroversially, the miracles Jesus performed are “signs of the kingdom”. One particular passage reveals Jesus’ own understanding of the meaning of his deeds of power, “if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Matt 12:28). This means that the authority with which Christ performed miracles was an outflow of his sense of own total dependence on the Father; e.g. “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself…. as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father”” (John 5:26; 6:57). Knowing the upholding presence of the Father’s power in his own life Jesus was able to depend upon the Father to act with power in the world. What people saw and heard from Jesus was first real in Jesus. Let me illustrate.
Last time I taught a discipleship series I used these words of Jesus as my basic text; ““If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” (John 15:10). Jesus could command the disciples to “obey all that I have commanded you” because he had first lived in submissive obedience to his Father’s commandments (Matt 28:19). As Paul says, Jesus was “obedient even unto death” (Phil 2:8). As a human being Jesus is under the authority of the Father, or, in kingdom terms, under the rule of his Father. This comes out clearly in an incident which drew out a strong response from the Lord. In seeking help from Jesus to heal his suffering servant a Roman centurion addressed Christ in this way; , “For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” (Luke 7:8-9). The centurion lived all his conscious hours under the authority of his Lord the emperor, and recognised in Jesus a life lived under the heavenly Lordship of God. As natural rebels we struggle with the implications of such complete submission, but we need to be reminded that for Jesus to be ruled did not mean to be conquered.
It is through being ruled by the Father that Jesus realises and receives the kingdom from the Father. Jesus consciousness of receiving the kingdom is reflected in his favourite way (80+ uses) of talking about himself as “the Son of Man”. In a manner that unfolds the essential nature of the dimensions of the kingdom of God Jesus speaks of himself as the Son of Man in three phases; his present ministry, e.g. “the Son of Man is lord, even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:10, 27, 28; Matt. 11:18-19; Luke 6:22 etc.), the Son of Man in humiliation, “‘the Son of Man must suffer and be rejected….’” (Mark 8:31; cf. 9:12, 31; 10:33, 34, 45) and the future Son of Man in glory, “‘You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven’” (Mark 14:62 cf. 8:38; 13:26-27; Matt 25:31-46; Luke 17:24). In this final apocalyptic statement Jesus makes it clear that the kingdom is only his because it is given him, as is specified in Daniel 7. “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” (Dan 7:13-14). The Father progressively hands the kingdom over to the Son through ministry, suffering and glorification.
One other Gospel passage is important to clarify our thinking. “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). When Jesus specifies, “the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” he means the reality of the kingdom is amongst them in his own presence as the one who perfectly acknowledges the rule of the Father in his own life.
Let me summarise where we have come so far by quoting from a book about Jesus, “Jesus himself is the Kingdom; the Kingdom is not a thing, it is not a geographical dominion like worldly kingdoms. It is a person; it is he. On this interpretation, the term “Kingdom of God” is itself a veiled Christology. By the way in which he speaks of the Kingdom of God, Jesus leads men to realize the overwhelming fact that in him God himself is present among them, that he is God’s presence.” (Pope Benedict, Jesus of Nazareth, p. 49). So far we have glanced at how Jesus spoke about and enacted the kingdom of God in the Gospels. What about the broader New Testament witness about the kingdom?
New Testament Witness
One of the important language shifts across the New Testament concerns the use of the language of the kingdom. Whereas the expression “koG” appears 67 times in the New Testament 53 of these are in the Gospels. In terms of the apostolic preaching after the ascension of Jesus there are only about six uses of “kingdom of God”. Whereas John the Baptist and Jesus preached the kingdom, the apostles tend to preach “Jesus” (Acts 5:42; 8:35; 11:20; 17:3) or by a variety of expressions teach “Jesus is Lord” (e.g. Acts 2:36-37; Rom 1:4, 10:9; 2 Cor 4:4-6; Phil 2:7-11). The apostles are not expounding a reality different from the Gospels, after all in the 40 days between resurrection and ascension Jesus was “speaking about the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3). To proclaim for example that Jesus is “Lord of all” is equivalent to saying in the language of the Gospels that Jesus is king of all (Acts 10:36 cf. 2:36). This dynamic equivalence between “Lord” and “king” seems particular reliant on the most quoted (messianic) psalm in the New Testament, Psalm 110, where God’s king is called “Lord”.
The Spirit was poured out at Pentecost to establish the kingdom of Jesus upon the earth; this kingdom has fully come in the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus himself. The new dimension of the kingdom that did not exist beforehand is that God’s rule has now been fully exerted in raising Jesus from the dead (Rom 1:4). To preach Christ as Lord is to preach the king who has come (and is coming) in the power of his kingdom so that those who have not yet submitted to his Lordship must repent and believe (Acts 20:21). For to be outside of the kingdom is to be outside of the resurrection power of eternal life in Christ. Since faith and repentance is now directed towards what God has done in the person of Christ it is much more focussed on Jesus himself than the kingdom message of the Gospels. Of particular significance to our thesis that Jesus is the autobasilea, the embodiment of the kingdom, is an eschatological (end-times) passage in 1 Corinthians 15.
Paul begins by quoting from Psalm 8:6 then develops it; “For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Cor 15:27-28). In a way which may seem remarkable to our sinful thinking Jesus’ final goal is not to personally rule over all things. This sort of individualistic self-glorifying lordship was the spectacle held out before him by Satan, “And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”” (Luke 4:5-6) Needy humanity has always sought this sort of a Messiah, emperor or dictator (John 6:15). But the true Son’s ambition is to subject himself to the rule of the Father (cf. Acts 1:7). When this goal is fully realised all creation will be filled with the glory of God as it has already been filled with the beauty of the Lord in the person of the submissive Son of God. This glorification will happen when at the End all things created in/for the kingdom of the beloved Son will fully participate in his loving subjection to the rule of the Father (Col 1:13, 16). Importantly, our key passage in 1 Corinthians 15, “the Son himself will also be subjected”, is the only place where the expression “the Son” is only used absolutely in Paul’s writings; compare with e.g. “the Son of God”, “his Son”. This means, to quote; “The Son in the absolute is the One who to the very limit gives God precedence (first place) which is His due.” (Delling). The glorious rule of the Father is the final goal of the koG (Mark 8:38; Phil 2:11). Or, to put the same thing in another way, the fullness of the fruit of the kingdom of God is the glorified Jesus himself.
This is a truly magnificent scenario and one in which we will all share in Christ, but it would be a false triumphalism to suggest that the koG progresses by the form of power we normally associate with kingly rule. The consummate kingship of Christ is the fruit of his life characterised by the reality of the struggle against evil over which he has triumphed and now rules. He is king and Lord by his victory over sin, Satan and death (Rom 14:8-11; 1 Cor 2:6-9; 15:24f, 55-56, Heb 2:14-15; Rev 17:14; 19:16). Jesus imparts this lordship to us so that in him we may also reign in life, here and hereafter (Rom 5:17; 14:8). But he does this according to the same manner as he attained it, through obedient suffering.
Suffering
Various prophetic passages in the Old Testament foretell a victory that will come to God’s appointed agent through suffering. “Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.” (Isa 53:12 cf. Ps 22). “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.” (Ps 118:22-23). This passage is of such importance in revealing Jesus’ identity that it is repeated multiple times in the New Testament including Jesus quoting it about himself (Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10-11; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; 1 Pet 2:5). Through the vicarious suffering of the Messiah King the koG is inaugurated for others. (Luke 2:34). Hebrews puts it in the ultimate terms of Jesus relationship with the Father; “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,” (Heb 5:8-9).
Perhaps the first indicator that Jesus understood the essential relationship between the victory of the koG and suffering is found in his words to John the Baptist, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”” (Matt 3:13-15). Since the baptism of John was an obedient response to a message of the imminent coming of the koG and its perils for sinners, and Jesus never sinned, it might seem strange that Jesus submitted to baptism. It must be the case that Jesus was baptised for sinners representatively (Mark 1:4-5; Heb 4:15). In other words Jesus submits himself to the message of the koG on our behalf. The righteousness which Jesus fulfils involves the coming of judgement deserved by sinners but taken on himself in a baptism of suffering (Mark 10:39). Christ’s authority to command, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matt 6:33) is drawn from his unlimited desire to see the koG come with power, and his faith that “all things” will in the End be given to him. The koG can come to us because Jesus is the one person who has truly sought the kingdom. If the deepest mystery of the kingdom is that Jesus desired to be ruled over by the Father the source of this desire is found in the love of God. That the Father was willing to sacrifice him was a revelation to the earthly Son of the infinite character of God’s love for humanity (John 3:16). Such unlimited love means an unlimited kingdom.
Jesus had a kingdom vision quite unlike the limited earth-bound vision of many church leaders today, his vision was of the reign of God manifested in the “resurrection of the just”; the creation of a body of true citizens of the kingdom just like himself (Luke 14:14; 24:15; Rom 8:29; Phil 3:20-21). The full extent of the righteous reign of the koG will be revealed at the End because it is revealed, consummated and perfected in the death and resurrection of Jesus himself in which we will then fully share. This is how Paul understands it; “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. ” (1 Cor 15:20-23). But there could be no resurrection without a crucifixion; “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”” (Luke 24:26).
Suffering for the kingdom is not a by product of the mission of Christ but its essence. It is a necessity, a “must” (Luke 22:37; 24:26, 44-46 etc.). Jesus repeatedly prophesied to his disciples that ““the Son of Man must suffer many things and on the third day rise again.”” (Mark 8:31; 9:31; Luke 9:22). If, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence” then the climax of the opposition of men and demonic powers to the coming of the kingdom is the cross (Matt 11:12). On the cross Christ suffered in our place betrayal, brutalisation, injustice and the onslaught of demonic forces in the fullness of their powerful reign over lost humanity. The climax of Jesus’ submission to the reign of the Father was obedience to his will under the conditions of being handed over to “the power of darkness” where it seems that the Father does not reign at all, ““My God…why have you forsaken me?”” (Mark 14:36; 15:34; Luke 22:53). The crisis of the cross is the seeming inability of the Son to submit to the Father because of the complete absence of God’s kingly power. In a manner hidden from mortal eyes Jesus obediently bearing the agony of rulerlessness reverses the dysfunction of sin, our longing to be rulers over our own lives. In his obedience to the reign of the Father, even under the wrath we deserve, Christ has conquered the reign of all evil (2 Cor 5:21). This is what is made manifest in Jesus resurrection from the dead.
Kingdom Living
As the koG is inwardly central to the identity of Jesus as God’s Son by way of his submission, then Jesus’ deep desire in sharing his reign with his disciples is a direct fruit of the kingdom. ““Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”” (Luke 12:32). This was clearly exemplified in the commission “proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.” (Matt 10:7-8). Likewise, the promise that his followers would fully share in his end time reign; “Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matt 19:28). Whilst the language is a little different, Jesus’ foundational self-declaration at the start of the Great Commission, “All authority has been given to me, go therefore….” (Matt 28:18) is a fulfilment of the prophecy of Daniel 7:13-14, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” To “make disciples” involves kingdom action. In response, all those who acknowledge the rule of God will recognise Jesus as king and follow him. ““These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7…and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”” (Acts 17:7-8).
To proclaim “Jesus is Lord” is to invite people into the kingdom of God. But since discipleship is submission to Jesus as Jesus was submitted to the Father this kingdom living is defined by a share in Christ’s sufferings. The kingdom is inaugurated in the life of a disciple of Jesus as they take up their cross and follow him (Matt 10:38; 16:24). The necessity to suffer for the sake of the koG characterises the life of faithful believers; Paul and Barnabas went “strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22). Suffering is a divine necessity, for the release of the rule of God is most intense through Christian lives when they suffer in obedient love for the coming of the koG in power (cf. Col 1:24; Phil 3:10 etc.). The people of God become a victorious community through obedient suffering; they enjoy the victory of Christ in suffering, not despite it (Rev 12:11). Such trials are a central part of the mystery of the kingdom. Through great tribulation we become aware of our present and future heavenly identity in the koG; Christ has “made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen…. by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they (shall) reign on the earth.”” (Rev 1:6; 5:9-10; 7:14).
Conclusion
God’s rule is fully realised in the person of Jesus; “Jesus Christ is Himself the established kingdom of God.” (Barth). This is not a mysterious matter but it is a mystery. The mystery of the kingdom of which Jesus spoke (Mark 4:11) is revealed in the manifestation of the gospel as the mystery of God’s plan in Christ (Rom 16:25 – 26; Eph 3:3 –6; Col 2:2). Since Jesus is the King (Matt 25:34; Luke 1:33; Rev 17:14; 19:16) he is the full and final key to the kingdom rule of God which has been completely exerted in his saving work. Jesus bears in himself the past, present and future dimensions of the kingdom (Rev 22:13). To receive Jesus is to receive salvation and the kingdom. The apostles consistently preach Christ because he is the substance of the kingdom which creates the Church. The imperative of the gospel, and so of the whole Christian life, is to receive the King in his kingdom.
The knowledge that the restoration, justice, reconciliation, peace and salvation that come with kingdom of God reflect the character of Christ should make this rule intensely desirable to believers. The dominance of all church-centred models in Christianity can be traced back, with all theological and spiritual distortions, to a sort of miniaturisation of Jesus, as if Jesus was someone who has come to satisfy our needs. Such a tiny self-centred paradigm cannot satisfy our hearts because the true identity of Church/Christian is those who have submitted themselves to God’s reign in Christ. Jesus desires to send the Spirit to us to intensify our longing for his rule in and through us, just as the outpoured Spirit magnified this longing in Christ himself and was given for the same purpose at Pentecost (Luke 3:22; Acts 1:2-3, 6). May the Lord’s Prayer “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” be the prayer we share with Jesus himself who fully knows how wonderful it is to be ruled by the Father (Matt 6:10).