The Case for Kingdom Theology (Part 6)

The Case for Kingdom Theology 

(Part 5) –OR– The Miraculous Redemption of Creation.

The miraculous redemption of creation is a statement that can raise a few eyebrows. This is not some kind of new age theology or something like that. It simply means that from the beginning, all that God created, God called good. Then God put humans in place to rule and reign over creation. With that in mind, what was lost in the fall was not just human innocence, health, and freedom but the innocence, health, and freedom of all creation. Consider that human sin brought death to creation, because human sin was more than just two people’s private fall. Adam and Eve were rulers over the earth, and their sin was an abdication of the right to rule over God’s creation. Consider the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 8.19-24a

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.

Reflect on those words, “… the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” All of creation is waiting to be set free, all of creation is longing, all of creation has been subjected to futility and is waiting just as the human soul longs for redemption. Therefore, creation also waits for that day when humanity will be redeemed, not just in the Spirit, but in the flesh. 

If the “green thing” and all the political stuff that goes with it bothers you, don’t let that keep you from getting this point. Simply read, all of creation awaits that great day, when all is revealed, and our bodies are redeemed. It is a beautiful picture of God’s restorative power, of his ability to redeem anything and everything that he has made and called good.  It is also a powerful reminder to every believer that sin is not a private, personal issue.  

Looking from a Kingdom perspective at the issue of redemption, keep in mind that throughout the Old Testament leadership was always held to a higher standard. Every prince, king, priest, or ruler of God’s people was held to a higher standard. Even their offerings were more costly. Looking at the collateral damage surrounding the fall and redemption of humanity, Adam and Eve’s actions are far reaching because they were the de facto rulers of creation.  Thus the far reaching effects of redemption include the restoration of everything damaged by their sin. (The implications of this for harmitology are huge.) 

Thus, the kingdom perspective on redemption is not limited to the redemption of humanity, especially as central as it is to the biblical narrative, but rather a more grand restoration of all God’s creation with humanity as the crown jewel. However, this more grand and inclusive kingdom perspective does beg questions about human stewardship of the earth like creation care, the treatment of animals, etc. As well, such a perspective also challenges the notion that it is acceptable to consume the earth because you think its all going to burn anyhow (2 Peter 3.10). That’s not just bad hermeneutics, but from this perspective, it’s bad theology. These points obviously need more in-depth development to address all the issues. 

The Case for Kingdom Theology (Part 5)

The Case for Kingdom Theology (Part 5)–OR–The glorious redemption of humanity 

At the core of the gospel is not only the restoration of God’s rule & reign but also the redemption of humanity.  It is this two-fold understanding of the gospel pulls the entire biblical narrative together. Without the fall of humanity there would be no loss of God’s rule and reign over creation, and without God’s rule and reign there would be no means of redeeming humanity. 

Yet, some have suggested that the Apostle Paul’s focus on redemption is a different gospel from that of Jesus’ kingdom of God narrative in the gospels, but such a view looks at the pauline passages regarding redemption in isolation. 

In contrast, a more holistic view of redemption in the Bible begins with creation in Genesis 1. In the creation account of Genesis 1.11-25 each kind reproduces seed after its own kind, until we get to man (v. 26) made in the image of God. While never stated implicitly, the implication is that we are of his kind, and thus man is set over the garden to rule and reign over God’s creation (v. 28). Likewise, the fall is not simply one of sin and death but a change of humanity’s status. Adam and Eve are no longer are masters but those who are being mastered. So the fall of man was not just about a loss of relationship with God, but in change in status. This is further illustrated by the new striving between man and woman, that she would desire to rule over him but he would dominate her (Genesis 3.16). 

The fall is not unidimensional. Despite reductionist efforts to limit the fall to a need for forgiveness, the idea of restoration in the Bible includes the redemption of man’s relationship with God, but also with other human beings (male and female, slave and free) in Galatians 3.28 and with the earth and the beasts in it (Romans 8.19-24), which will be explored more in the next article. 

The central point for this post is that our redemption includes our ruling and reigning with God (2 Timothy 2.12; Revelation 2.26-27, 5.10, 21) and one cannot be separated from the other.  The scarlet thread of redemption that runs from Genesis through Revelation is also the thread of the kingdom. 

The Case for Kingdom Theology (Part 4)

The Case for Kingdom Theology (Part 4)  -OR- Kingdom Eschatology

So then, if we accept the premise that the gospel does need a kingdom centered definition, the implications are that a kingdom centered gospel also includes a triumphant view with regard to the restoration of the rule and reign of God. What do I mean by that? 

So much of popular theology today is centered around defeat. The demise of Western culture creates a tendency in western Christians to put their cultural narrative over the biblical one. Add to that the American Church's huge impact on global Christianity (money, publishing, seminaries, missionaries, etc) and those concerns not only dominate western theology but they tend to redefine everyone’s view of the world, prophecy and any other eschatological concerns too. The end result of the Western church  losing ground in society becomes the driving premise in global eschatology that the church of Jesus Christ must essentially be defeated by the world in order for Jesus to return. In contrast, the Bible teaches that there are two kingdoms in conflict (and its not the USA vs. the devil) and that the kingdom of God is triumphant, overcoming the kingdom of darkness, so that the gates of hell are unable to prevail. The prophecies of Daniel tell us that the kingdom of Christ will fill the earth and crush the feet of the kingdoms of this world and that God will establish his rule and reign forever. Even now, in contrast to this defeatist eschatology, the global church is advancing all over the face of the earth (with the exception of the West) yet Christians keep declaring defeat because of the ground lost in the West. The truth is that the Kingdom of God is much more than the Western Church! In fact, the rule and reign of God is even bigger than just the church. Still, the point is that the church is growing in the majority world by leaps and bounds, even as it losing ground in the USA. As well, kingdom values like: human rights, justice, mercy, the sanctity of human life, loving our neighbor, the brotherhood of humanity, and even equality are all becoming more common among the nations. This is not some “Pollyanna” naive worldview, despots are not becoming benefactors. On the other hand, countries who once had terrible human rights records like China, Russia, Romania, South Africa, and others are engaged in the discussion of human rights, and the International Olympic Committee will not allow a country to host the Olympics if they are not making any effort to do what is right. These are advances! The point is that the Kingdom of God  is advancing and that the rule and reign of God is being revealed even to those who deny it.

Moving toward a more triumphant eschatology is NOT promoting Dominion theology or Christian Re-constructionism or even Kingdom Now theology. The church cannot make the kingdom come, but neither should it hide it's heads in the sands of reality, injustice, or the failures of society. It does not mean adopting the expectant humanistic eschatology of the late nineteenth century that saw the advances in science as the arrival of the kingdom. This is not advocating that we can bring the kingdom of God about, or that we will clean up the whole earth before Jesus’ return to vanquish his enemies. It is the celebration of the inauguration of the kingdom in Jesus. It is seeing the win, when there is a win to celebrate, as a triumph over evil, over temptation, over disease, sickness, and demons. And when there is a loss, that the people of God do not surrender to defeat, but pray all the more earnestly, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

This is important, because in contrast there is the dispensational eschatology of LaHaye and Lindsey, whose narratives essentially teach us that the church is the fallout (result) of the Jews rejecting Jesus as messiah.  It is a doctrine that says, Jesus failed. Subsequently, it teaches that Jesus went to the cross to save the gentiles, and that one day he will return and then the Jews will know that Jesus really is the messiah, but until then the church is fighting a battle against evil that cannot be won, in a heroic effort to save a few, while the majority go to hell. Then when it looks as though all has been lost, Jesus comes back, vanquishes his enemies, rubs there nose in their sin, and rescues the very few, and of course the Jews, and declares himself the winner, despite having lost the vast majority of people to sin and death. 
Is it really enough for God to be proven right? If that was so then he would not have needed to go any further than the garden. In contrast to these relatively recent eschatological views, John 3.16 says, God so loved the world, that he sent his Son, and the picture of Revelation 19 is one of triumph, of myriads of believers from every tongue, tribe and nation worshipping him who is King of kings and Lord of lords. Then in Revelation 20 Satan is bound so that he can no longer deceive the nations. Once released he does not triumph! He is again defeated swiftly. Gog and Magog are not the dreadful events of the Left Behind novels but an exclamation point of defeat again. Followed quickly by the final judgment. It does not take a neatly worked out eschatology to know that God wins; that the triumph is not secret! Satan is not just beaten back but utterly defeated, destroyed, humiliated not only by the cross, but again, and again on the world stage. 

Likewise, Jesus' parables on the kingdom continually illustrate the idea of the church advancing over the face of the earth, taking ground not through wars or by force, but advancing through the subversive acts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. It is through subversive activity like loving your neighbor as yourself, self-sacrifice, generosity, and the like. These are not pacifist acts of acquiescence but the radical confrontation between kingdoms. This is taking kingdom authority over the violence that has been perpetrated against the kingdom of God. 

In Colossians 2.15 it says that the cross was triumph, disarming and making a public spectacle of  the powers and authorities that opposed his kingdom. Why then persist in a theology of defeat, doubting God, emotionally surrendering, forming social ghettos in the social media, television and music, making poor imitations of everything in the world. The goal here isn’t to offend but stop the bleed. When do we see the goodness of the world, and give credit to the work of God in the world? What if we give God credit even if he does that good work through those who are not Christians? Doesn’t the Bible tell us again and again, that people like Pharaoh, King Darius, and even traveling Samaritans do what is right? Doesn't Jesus celebrate their good works? Can't it be celebrated by the people of God giving credit to Yahweh God who is God of all creation (Psalm 24.1, 1 Corinthians 10.26) not just that which is redeemed? 
Look at the parables, the vision is one of the kingdom of God filling the earth, defeating nations (Assyria, Persia, Greece, Rome). Add to that list nations not that have disappeared from the world stage after becoming a threat to Christianity like the Suleiman’s Ottoman Empire, Hitler’s Nazi Germany, Stalin’s U.S.S.R., Mao’s P.R.C. Christianity has outlived them all and withstood the attempts of each of those nations to stomp it out.  At the dawn of the twenty-first century Christianity not only regained ground in each of those regions, but has over-taken much of the continent of Africa and continues to spread among almost every nation in the world, only loosing ground in the West. Given the evidence of Christianity’s expansion into nations once hostile to Christianity, there is every reason to believe that it will retake even the West in time. That does not mean that earthly governments will all become Christian, but it does means that the Kingdom of God and the church will be present and healthy among every people group and nation. 

With that in mind, a triumphant ‘hermeneutic' or principle ought to yield an eschatology that is throughly biblical, historically valid, presently viable, and expectant of the future. It should exalt Jesus as King of kings, and Lord of lords, it should expect his final vanquishing of his enemies, and give reason for every knee to bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. It should not glorify man, except to the extent that God does, and it should substantiate the entire witness of the Bible, not confound it.  To that point what eschatology does all that? Here is hoping that a kingdom centered eschatology will yield that ideal.