The Kingdom of God As Scripture’s Central Theme: A New Approach to Biblical Theology, Part 2
While the Kingdom of God came in the person of Jesus Christ as anticipated by the Old Testament prophets, it still did not arrive in its fullness. Rather it burst on the scene to do battle with the kingdom of darkness until the end of the present age. Consequently, we live in the age of the “already, and not yet” Kingdom. Thus, in consonance with the hope of Old Testament saints, the hope of the church is still for the Kingdom of God to come in its fullness. The Apostle John strengthens this hope when he speaks of that day in Revelation 11:15-16, “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever. 16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God . …” Maranatha!
Conclusion
In our two articles we have attempted to develop a biblical theology that places the Kingdom of God at the theological center of both the Old and New Testaments. We have seen that God is a King who has a Kingdom and his rule is over all. Through the various covenants he has established with man throughout history, he has been actively working to establish his Kingdom. In the ministry of Jesus under the New Covenant his Kingdom became powerfully present. Yet there are aspects of his rule which are yet to be realized. Everything and everyone has not submitted themselves to the reign and rule of God. However, the good news is that during the present age all who call upon the LORD will be rescued from their lostness in the Kingdom of Darkness and brought into the Kingdom of God as his sons and daughters, thus becoming heirs of all the blessings of the New Covenant.
If the Kingdom of God is the theological center of Scripture and a present reality, it should also be the theological center of the church’s ministry. The implications of a Kingdom centered theology for the church is staggering—How is the church to pattern its ministry after Christ? How are we to wed together the preaching of the gospel with its demonstration? How do pastors lead their churches into kingdom thinking? How does it affect ministry priorities? How does a Kingdom centered theology affect the average church goer? How does it affect the role of the church in society, especially in terms of civil and social responsibility? What voice does the church have in the moral issues of a nation and how is it to be sounded? What is to be the church’s response to environmental issues? What is the responsibility of each individual and family in the church and in society? Our prayer is that our discussion will stimulate thinking toward those ends.
PR
Notes
- Hans Walter Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974), 160. Also see Ps. 8.
- Brad H. Young, The Jewish Background to the Lord’s Prayer (Tulsa, OK: Gospel Research Foundation, Inc, 1984), 12-13.
- David Blivin & Roy Blizzard, Jr., Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus: New Insights from a Hebraic Perspective (Austin, TX: Center for Judaic-Christian Studies, 1984), 88-91.
All Scriptural quotations are from The Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright © 1978 New York International Bible Society, unless otherwise noted.
Category: Biblical Studies, Spring 2001
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