Kingdom
Most of us read the Bible in fragments. We all have our favorite verses and passages that we come back to time and time again. A typical sermon may explore a few verses, a daily devotional reading may involve a whole chapter, but rarely do we step back and get a sense of the whole arc of Scripture. When we read the Bible in pieces, we miss out on the beautiful ways in which the Old Testament connects to the New Testament. We miss out on some of the themes that weave throughout Scripture. We miss out on the incredible story that God is telling us.
The Bible is a single story, a cohesive whole. It has a plot, taking us from the creation of the world to the tragedy of the fall to God’s work to redeem His people and His creation. It is a story about God’s love for those who are lost, about redemption that comes by following the way of Jesus, and about how God is making all things new. It is a story about God’s people – and how they get to participate in the work that God is doing in the world.
If we step back and look at Scripture from this perspective, we begin to see some remarkable things. We see that from Genesis through Revelation, from Abraham through Jesus and to the church, God is inviting people to be a part of His work in the world. We begin to understand what Jesus meant when he talked about the Kingdom of God, and we start to see the contours of what this Kingdom looks like. We realize that Christian faith is about far more than a ‘personal relationship with God’ – it is about being people who are transformed by Jesus so that we can live in ways that reflect God’s Kingdom.
Let’s look at some examples that will help us connect the dots and see what this really means:
We begin all the way back at Genesis 12 - the story of God calling Abraham. After we read about creation, the fall, and the flood, this is the point where God begins the incredible journey to bring redemption to the world. It begins with a promise to one man named Abraham. God tells Abraham that he and his descendents will be blessed. But there is an important phrase that we often miss. God says that Abraham will be a blessing to all nations (Genesis 12:2).
Here, at the very beginning of the story, we see an important theme. God’s people are to be a blessing to the world. God has revealed Himself to people so that these people can show the world what God is like. God’s people are supposed to reflect God’s character. God’s people are supposed to live in ways that reflect God’s Kingdom. As missionary Lesslie Newbigin says, the church is to be a “sign, instrument, and foretaste of God’s Kingdom”.
What does this mean? If we go to the very end of the story (the book of Revelation), we catch a glimpse of what God’s Kingdom is going to look like. It will be a Kingdom of justice, there will be no suffering and sorrow, and God will reign in power. It will be a place where we live in right relationship with God and with one another. It is a Kingdom where everything works the way God intended – as it did before sin entered the world.
As we move ahead in the story, we come to the book of Leviticus. In this book, God outlines the rules and laws that His people are to follow. One of the most interesting is the ‘Year of Jubilee’.
During the Year of Jubilee (which happened once every 50 years), land was returned to its original owners. If someone had lost their land, it was returned to them. Slaves were set free, and debts were canceled. This meant that it was impossible for one tribe or family to become increasingly wealthy at the expense of others. Every 50 years, the playing field was leveled. There were to be no rich and poor among God’s people.
We see these same themes repeated in the prophetic books of the Old Testament. Isaiah 61 describes God’s Kingdom once again – a Kingdom where the poor are comforted, the prisoners are set free, and the blind see. In Micah, God tells His people to ‘do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God’. The prophet Amos condemns those who obtain wealth through oppression. Through the prophets, God is reminding His people that they must live in a way that is different from the world.
Jesus reiterated many of these same themes. In his first public sermon, Jesus quoted from the prophet Isaiah, reciting those beautiful verses that describe the Kingdom of God. And then Jesus told his listeners, “Today, in your presence, this prophecy is fulfilled.” Jesus embodied the Kingdom of God, caring for the poor, outcast, and downtrodden. He showed us what the Kingdom of God looks like. And through his death and resurrection, he has empowered us to live out God’s Kingdom in our own lives.
The early church did this. The book of Acts describes how new Christians would sell everything that they had and live together in community. It is reminiscent of the way that God called Israel to live – there were no rich and poor, just a community of people trying to live out their calling to ‘Love God and love your neighbor’.
The same can be true of us today. In the midst of a consumer culture that tells us that we deserve everything that we can get, our job as Christians is to show the world glimpses of God’s beautiful coming Kingdom. When we see injustice, we are to stand against it. Where we see suffering, we are to help. Where we see poverty, we are to give generously. When our culture tells us to look out for ourselves, we choose to invest in others.
Our faith in Jesus is about far more than where we go when we die. Of course, we rejoice that our faith in Jesus means that we will spend eternity with Him. But we are also to think about how we are to live the years that we are here on earth. We have an opportunity to escape the meaninglessness of our culture of consuming and live in a way that shows others the beauty of God’s Kingdom.
There is only one description of ‘Judgment Day’ in Scripture. It is in Matthew 25. In this passage, we see that it is those who have cared for the poor, who have loved and served the least that are called God’s children and are welcomed into God’s eternal Kingdom. This does not mean that our salvation is based on works. But it does mean that a natural outflow of our faith in Jesus should be a heart to care for the poor.
We were created to live in God’s story. He has invited us to join Him in this remarkable thing that He is doing in the world. He is inviting us to escape the petty worries that we have about what we will eat, drink, and wear. He is telling us that life is about more than the pursuit of a bigger house or a nicer car. He is inviting us to be a part of His movement in the world. He is calling us to say no to the pursuit of wealth and comfort – for this story is far too small for us. He is inviting us into the Big Story of the Kingdom of God.