Someone once said that if we love Jesus Christ and his appearing, the time of his coming will be relatively unimportant. There is a theoretical interest in the Lord’s return prevalent among the saints that somehow has little to do with practical Christianity.
Controversy among us as to the precise chronological order of events preceding the appearance of our Lord tends to lessen the joy and constructive relevance of his return.
His coming is not for the purpose of proving our theories to be correct. In fact, we may have our eyes opened by the Lord to see that our theories, supported only by a dogmatic insistence on their correctness, are as shaky as the scanty theories of evolution propounded by inquisitive amateur biologists. Where have we gone wrong? Why aren’t prophecies being fulfilled the way we expect? Perhaps we need to look again at our basic textbook of truth, the Bible.
Israel’s Golden Age began with the consolidation of the State by David. In one short generation Israel emerged from being a tribal agrarian State fighting for its existence, to a commercial society with a solid foundation. The “promised” land was no longer a vision, but a tangible reality. It must have seemed to many that God’s promise to Abraham that “I will make of you a great nation”[1] had at last come true.
The establishment of the kingdom in an era of peace and security would never be forgotten. Despite David’s faults, he is remembered as a man after God’s own heart whose house was to rule forever.[2] This intense respect and fanatical religious fervour increased during the reign of Solomon, but the people did not see his State as the fulfilment of Israel’s destiny.
Prevalent amongst the administrative hierarchy and the populus as a whole, was the notion that the State need not fear, for it is God’s “kingdom” composed of God’s chosen people, ruled by God’s anointed “son”. Outside the social structure were two prophets, Gad and Nathan, who continually had to remind David and his court that there was a higher order than the State — God’s order —to which the political State must conform.
By the time of Amos, the fabric of society was torn apart. Prophets had become social messengers. Amos was a prophet of the covenant who denounced greed, immorality and social iniquity as sins against God. He spoke of a day when God would intervene in history to establish His rule and judge His foes. The Israelite State, though priding itself to be the chosen people of God, showed itself, by its conduct, to be anything but that.[3]
Isaiah of Jerusalem looked to the salvation of the remnant over which one day there shall rule Messiah Prince of the line of David.
“For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name will be called — Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forever more.” [4]
This is the kingdom of God towards which all history moves. God is the real ruler of that kingdom. The Prince of David’s line is imbued with God’s support and by it he rules. In fact, the kingdom is more than a transfigured Golden Age of David — it is also Eden restored.[5]
The fall of the house of Judah was not the end of Israelite faith in the kingdom of God. During the dark ages of exile, the kingdom concept received an impetus; for it was paradoxically a time of great spiritual vitality. The apocalyptic prophets cried out that God’s kingdom towers over the puny kingdoms of men. God will intervene and destroy the evil powers of this earth who dare to question His authority.
Daniel’s illustrious vision is well-known to Bible students: kingdoms will come and kingdoms will go, but 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 stand forever”.[6]
In chapter four, Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of the earth, eats grass like an ox until he recognises the real king over the affairs of men. Belshazzar in chapter five, sees the writing on the wall because he did not recognise the lordship of one mightier than he.[7]
The ghostly parade of animals, beasts, horns and kings all point to one fact: the kingdom of God is coming with power and glory over the kingdoms of this world. To the Jews of the time, only a militant force could introduce the Divine kingdom. Often men throughout history, and even in the present modern age, have thought that beyond every war there will be a new world of peace, justice, love and brotherhood. Disillusionment has always followed. The Kingdom of God cannot come by war, nor can it be signed at a conference table: God alone is the master controller.
Eschatology was the topic of the day when Jesus walked the earth. Every Jewish mother prayed that she might be the one to bear Messiah Prince, son of David. Annexation of Judea and the end of Jewish independence hastened the fervent expectation. New Testament theology is summed up adequately in Mark’s statement: “The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”.[8] Upon this proclamation, all Biblical teaching hangs together. For, in affirming that Jesus in the Messiah, the New Testament consolidates all that the Old Testament had predicted. Jesus is the fulfilment of the prophetic hopes and visions.
This novel approach by the messiah of peace could hardly satisfy the Jews, who expected a commander who would restore God’s kingdom to its rightful owners. Jesus was quite certain in his own mind that he was the one to bring God’s kingdom, although not in the manner many would have wished. He never laboured the point of his Davidic descent, nor was he open in announcing his messiahship (indeed, on one occasion, he discouraged his disciples from doing so see Mark 8:29-30). Only when pushed into a tight corner by the Sanhedrin did he answer “I am”.[9]
Jesus’ notion of his role in the messianic kingdom was not political and therefore not popular. How could he possibly gain support by such statements as “My kingdom is not of this world”?[10] He summoned men to the kingdom of the meek and lowly: it is the kingdom of the suffering servant.
When Jesus proclaimed his kingdom, he spoke of it as if it had already come. In the person and work of Jesus, the kingdom of God had intruded into the kingdom of men. Whereas the Old Testament had cried out “The kingdom is coming”, the New Testament announces that “the kingdom of God is at hand”.[11] The miracles of Jesus demonstrated the beginning of something that was to grow out of all proportion beyond man’s control, from mustard seed to the largest of trees.[12]
But the most important dimension that Jesus gave to the kingdom, was that of individual decision — now! His was a call of tremendous urgency. It is a pearl of great price for which you sell everything you’ve got.[13] You even leave your family when the kingdom calls.[14] Christ intended his followers to live each day in the light of the kingdom which is intruding into the world, to live each day as if the end were tomorrow. This is the Biblical basis of Christian ethics.
The New Testament church withstood the pressures from outside with the same double view: “The kingdom is at hand” and “Thy kingdom come”. Joy filled the first century believers as they went about their work with dynamic energy, for they believed that the victory would be soon — like a thief in the night.[15]
The final apocalyptic vision of the new creation in Revelation 20:22 is that of the perfect city of God which comes down from heaven, a vision incomprehensible and beyond poetic description. Here is the culmination of all history, the kingdom of God triumphant.
This short survey brings us back to where we began: where should the emphasis be put in our teachings on the Kingdom of God? To a world which lacks any respect or loyalty for God or man, the church proclaimed the gospel of salvation. The Kingdom of God is the only hope for humanity — it is the goal of history. That is the’ church’s message, not that the kingdom could be “like this” or “like that”, but that the kingdom “is now” and “will be”.
The languishing hopeless world around us does not care for our theories on the timetable of things to come: what it needs is the message that these things are inevitable, soon.
Our academic jigsaws on the Divine program are interesting enough for Bible classes, but we could be so engrossed in trying to sort out something, even Jesus didn’t know that we may miss the call of God to be in His kingdom.
Let’s put the emphasis where it belongs: history is coming to an end, the world will return to its Edenic splendour. God will rule and everyone will praise Him for ever and ever. No longer will we need to pray “Thy kingdom come”, for in the fullest sense, “the Kingdom of God is at hand”.
Sources
[1] Gen 12:2
[2] 2 Sam 7:16
[3] Amos 6:3-6; 9:9-10, Also Isa 5
[4][4] Isa 9:6-7
[5] Isa 11:6-9
[6] Dan 2:44
[7] Dan 5:23
[8] Mark 1:14-15
[9] Mark 14:62
[10] John 18:38
[11] Mark 1:1-5
[12] Matt 13:31-32
[13] Matt 13:45-46
[14] Luke 14:26
[15] 1 Thess 5:1-2
Reflections on the Potter and the Clay