The Kingdom of God and the Glory of the Cross

Patrick Schreiner, Dane Ortlund, Miles V. Van Pelt

• Publisher: Crossway
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781433558269
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

"The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." — Matthew 13: 31–32

When Jesus began his ministry, he announced that the kingdom of God was at hand. But many modern-day Christians don't really understand what the kingdom of God is or how it relates to the message of the gospel.

Defining kingdom as the King's power over the King's people in the King's place, Patrick Schreiner investigates the key events, prophecies, and passages of Scripture that highlight the important theme of kingdom across the storyline of the Bible—helping readers see how the mission of Jesus and the coming of the kingdom fit together.

Part of theShort Studies in Biblical Theologyseries.

Part 1

Kingdom in the Old Testament

1

The Law

Reviving Hope in the Kingdom

The closing lines of Norman Maclean’s celebrated novel A River Runs Through It are known for their beauty but also their mystical and enigmatic meaning:

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.1

Water and Words

The two key symbols in Maclean’s work merge in this passage: water and words. The river is the backdrop to his narrative, but Maclean understands that under the watery rocks are words. Words shape the reality of the river of his life.

In a similar way, the Hebrew Scriptures start with water and words. God as the King, through his words, separates the water from the dry land, setting up a place to put his people to form his kingdom. The water feeds the tree of the kingdom in Genesis, eventually spilling over into Revelation. All things merge as the river flows out from the throne of God and the Lamb and nourishes the trees of the land (Rev. 22:1). But underneath this water lie words, words from the Creator to shape the ebb and flow of the growth and decline of the kingdom.

My aim in this chapter is to show you that Jesus did not invent the concept of kingdom. Rather, it started in the garden and has always concerned people, place, and power. The earth was divinely designed to serve as the place of the kingdom for the people of the kingdom. Beginning the first act of this narrative is the Law (Pentateuch), which voices how kingdom hope thrives, is corrupted, and then revives; stories of failure, hope, swindling, faithfulness, murder, and trust gather momentum as the tapestry of God’s drama for all of creation unfolds.

The Kingdom Story in the Law
Creation	Establishing the kingdom
Fall	Corrupting the kingdom
Call of Abraham	Reviving hope in the kingdom

Kings and Queens

In the beginning God creates people and place by his power.2 God separates the heavens and the earth, bringing order out of chaos. He populates the earth with animals, but the crown of his creation is humankind. Man and woman are formed from the dust of the earth, establishing an enduring connection between the ground and mankind. Adam and Eve are given tasks to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it, and to have dominion over it. Humankind enjoys the presence of God and is to extend the blessings of God’s fellowship to all of creation.

Adam and Eve are made to be king and queen. While God is the definitive King, because he is the Creator and his kingly rule is universal, he makes Adam and Eve to be those who carry out his rule. They are also to rule the earth and bring order as God has done. God includes them in his world-forming, kingdom-creating plan. Although the early narratives of Adam and Eve do not explicitly label them as king and queen, at least two hints in the text give that effect.

First, Adam and Eve are created in the image and likeness of God. The idea of image and likeness communicates two main ideas: (1) kingship and (2) sonship. In the ancient world, kings were depicted as representing or constituting the image of God, so they ruled on behalf of God. These ancient kings were characterized as images of the gods, and as living images they maintained or destroyed cosmic harmony. The kingdom concept began with Adam and Eve in the garden; they were God’s subjects made to rule the world.

The second hint that they are to be kings and queens is that God placed Adam and Eve in the garden, the temple of God’s presence, and tells them to “work” and “keep” the garden (Gen. 2:15). These same Hebrew terms, rendered here in Genesis as “work” and “keep,” are combined elsewhere in the Old Testament to explain the priests’ role in the temple (see Num. 3:7–8; 8:26; 18:5–6). Adam and Eve are to maintain the created order of the sacred space of the sanctuary, filling and subduing the world (Gen. 1:28). Garden and temple expansion is the King’s plan to conquer the outer chaotic sphere with order and goodness. Adam and Eve are to administrate the kingdom under God’s authority, forming the earth and bringing flourishing to all nations.

In a tragic twist, Adam and Eve seek to usurp God’s authority. They reject God’s kingdom and eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There were two trees in the garden: the tree of life and this tree of death. Adam and Eve chose the tree of death and were cast from the place where God’s presence dwelt.

The kingdom plan was corrupted when a rival kingdom slithered into the ear of Eve and Adam. The vice-regents, who were to carry out God’s blueprint for all of creation, chose to follow the Serpent and personally offend the King of the universe. Now chaos and sin frustrate the desire to rule the earth and subdue it. False kingdoms are instantly part of the picture. Every generation afterward will face the same choice: which kind of kingdom will they construct?

God’s judgment on Adam and Eve is displacement from the garden; his redemption will have to include re-placement. This re-placement can come only through a new king. Adam and Eve have failed as king and queen, and a new king is needed to set things right in creation.

God promises Eve that one of her children will be this new king (Gen. 3:15). Only through this enigmatic “seed” will God bring restoration to all of creation, but the offspring of Adam and Eve will continually war against the Serpent until the promised child crushes the head of the Serpent. As Dempster says, “This battle will determine who will have dominion over the created order.”3

The rest of the book of Genesis—indeed, the whole canon—is set up to fulfill this promise of a coming King. Genesis is structured around genealogies of the progress of the seed. Humanity is to bring place into being by living according to the rules of their king. They are, in some sense, to construct the kingdom. Unfortunately, the Old Testament shows that all of Adam’s offspring fail in this task.

The Downward Spiral of Genesis 3–11

Adam’s commission to be the king to rule the earth and expand the temple is passed onto his offspring. But so is his rebellious nature. God gives the kingly commission to Noah and his sons (Gen. 9:1, 7), to Abraham (Gen. 12:2; 17:2, 6, 8, 16), to Isaac (Gen. 26:3–4, 24), to Jacob (Gen. 28:3–4, 14), and to the nation of Israel (Deut. 7:13), indicating that each successive generation is conceived of as royalty. The genealogies in Genesis chart both the progress and regress of the seed and show God’s faithfulness to his promises despite the mutiny of his children. Some of Adam’s seed are chosen to bring blessings; others are not: it...