What Is the Kingdom of God?
Andreas Roller, “Landscape With a Castle,” 1843
There is much confusion regarding the nature of the kingdom of God. Many people believe that the kingdom is wholly future, others that it is purely metaphysical, some insist that we can't understand it this side of the final judgement. False views of the kingdom of God have had disastrous effects upon societies and cultures throughout history. One's view of the kingdom of God will directly impact one's view of history, progress, and the eschaton (the last event or last day). In order to understand the goal and end of a thing, it’s beginning and origin must be understood.
The term “kingdom” has lost any modern significance in the western world with the rise of democracy and socialism. Yet far from being antiquated, the concept is recognizable and poignantly pertinent when it is understood in the proper light. The word kingdom is comprised of the root words king + -dom were -dom (doom) originates as the jurisdiction of judgement. A king’s doom or dominion is where his rule and judgement hold sway and influence. In the Hebrew Commonwealth a king was primarily a judge and mediator who ruled in difficult cases that were brought before him (1 Kings 3:16, 2 Chronicles 1:10).
Judgment and rule are concisely packed into the English word reign which means to make straight within a domain. This is why Robert Young in his Literal Translation of the Holy Bible refers to the kingdom of God as the “reign of God” (Mark 1:15). It is the kingdom of God that makes a crooked thing straight and sets it within it’s right course. Righteousness, justice, and peace are the marks of God’s kingdom, rule, and reign. When the Bible refers to the kingdom of God it is referring to the reign of God’s righteousness and justice holding sway in a tangible and recognizable way. The reign of God is recognized where his grace and mercy have established covenantal obedience to his Law.
God Is the Sovereign King
From the very beginning the Bible affirms that God is the sovereign king. It is God’s will and word that creation obeys. It is God’s power that establishes a thing in its course and aim. The very first words uttered in the creation narrative are a command. They are the original declaration of law, and they produce an instant fiat. The Word of God commands, and the creation obeys; “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” (Genesis 1:3). God’s sovereignty is demonstrated by the bringing into existence that which did not exist.
All Authority is Delegated Authority
God is sovereign and he alone has the prerogative of authority. All human authority is delegated authority from God. This delegation of authority means that all appeals to authority must be demonstrably legitimate in Scripture in order for that authority to be valid and just. Three basic jurisdictions of government exist in Scripture; family, church, and state. It is common to consider only the state or civil magistrate as “government”, but this is a misconception that has grown out of humanistic philosophies of power and authority.
Any exercise of rule and authority is regarded as government, whether family, church, or state. The basic authority of dominion and rule on the earth is covenantal and familial. God delegates subjugation, cultivation, dominion, and guardianship of the earth to the family of man in direct submission to God (Genesis 1:28, 2:15).
Ecclesiastical or church government is for the religious and social needs of the community. The church is called the “congregation” or “assembly” in both the Old and New Testament (Act 7:38). This is a term that refers to a body politic. The power of the church is to admit members into covenant union with the body and to cast out those who reject the covenant.
The state or civil magistrate is restricted to the exercise of penal judgement by the Old and New Testament (Genesis 9:5, 6; Romans 13). The civil magistrate’s authority is limited to judging matters of property infringement, trespass, and violation as they are defined in God's law. Only humanist regimes in direct rebellion usurp divine authority through creative law-making. There is only one legitimate lawgiver, king, and judge (Isaiah 33:22). Punishments or sanctions meted out by any authority for infringement or violation of any covenantal laws is likewise regulated and restricted by God’s law. The law is good when it is used lawfully (1 Timothy 1:8). Any other law, however well intended, is by nature aberrant and therefore lawless, unjust and wicked, and it will yield the results of lawlessness.
Mankind is God’s Vicegerent
God made mankind his vicegerent over creation. It is important not to confuse the terms ‘vicegerent’ with ‘viceregent’. A vice-regent acts in the place of the regent. In this case man would be acting in the stead of God, or as God. This is not the case as God is always and ever sovereign. The desire for man to act in the stead of God is a rebellion against God’s will and it is at the root of man’s first sin, to “be like God” (Genesis 3:5). A vicegerent acts only within the bounds of authority specifically delegated to him. Mankind is never called to act in the place or stead of God. All of mankind’s power and authority stems from God who oversees all the affairs of men as our ruler and head (1 Corinthians 11:3).
The Duty and responsibility of Mankind
As God’s vicegerent over creation, mankind has duty and responsibility. Mankind is made imago dei (image of God); in righteousness (Ephesians 4:24), knowledge (Colossians 3:10), holiness (Ephesians 4:24), and with dominion (Genesis 1:26). The duties and responsibilities of mankind reflect those of God. The missio dei (mission of God) is the sending forth of God’s image bearers throughout the world to establish God’s will and reign. We can recognize this first in the creation of mankind for the purpose of cultivating the earth (Genesis 2:5), not just in the garden (Genesis 2:15), but over all of the created order (Genesis 1:28, 9:7; Matthew 28:18-20). The original mandate to mankind was both a blessing and a call to work and obedience under God. This mandate is referred to as the cultural mandate, or the dominion mandate.
The Reign of Sin
From the beginning, ethics and obedience was a part of God’s covenant with mankind (Genesis 1:28). God’s law and rule are the very definition of freedom and liberty (Psalm 119:45; James 1:25). Very early, Adam rebelled against the missio dei (Genesis 3), and asserted autonomy (self-law) in place of theonomy (God-law). Mankind rejected God’s revelational epistemology in favor of a self-determined and self-defined epistemology. This is concisely revealed in the serpent’s assertion that man could “be like God, knowing [or determining] good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). This resistance to God’s will and law is called the fall of man; as man fell from a state of righteousness to a state of sin, i.e. lawlessness. The problem of mankind is thus moral and ethical. Because of the fall, sin (lawlessness) has reigned in mankind (Romans 6:12), and by extension of mankind’s authority over creation, the whole world travailed under the bondage of sin and corruption (Genesis 3:17; Romans 8:20). The whole created order has thus been at enmity with God.
The Promised Seed
Mankind’s rebellion against God can in no way thwart the missio dei. Before the creation of the world, God secured in Christ a people who would be holy and blameless (Ephesians 1:4). Referred to as felix culpa (blessed fall), the fall of man was predestined by God for the accomplishment of his purpose. God shows forth his beauty and grace through the redemption of his elect people. The protoevangelium (first-gospel) establishes the promise of God’s victory over sin and death through a promised seed; “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). This promise is not simply a promise of constant and ongoing struggle between good and evil, but a clear and concise promise of the woman’s seed victoriously destroying the seed of the serpent. The seed of the serpent receives a mortal wound, while the seed of the woman receives a non-mortal wound.
The Scope of God’s Redemption
The missio dei establishes the scope of God’s purpose in creation as the total submission of all things under the reign of God. The Apostle John affirms that the scope of God’s redemption is likewise total in scope when he says “God [sent] His Son into the world … to save the world through Him” (John 3:17). The use of the word “world” (gk. kosmos) is taken by John from the only use of kosmos in the LXX: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host [kosmos] of them” (Gen 2:1). John’s use is thus related to the entirety of God’s created order. It is used as such in John 1:9 where Christ enters into the created order as the light that enlightens, or gives ultimate meaning and form, to everything. The whole creation is affected by the fall, and Christ comes to restore the whole creation to God. This is prophesied as the new creation by Isaiah (Isaiah 65:17, 66:22), and the starting point of this is in the redeemed humanity as the Apostle Paul declares: “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The new creation is therefore a present and ongoing reality.
The Role of the Christian in the New Creation
The regenerate in Christ have been loosed from the bonds of sin (Romans 6:6) and freed from the condemnation of the law of God (Galatians 4:5; Romans 6:14). As the redeemed humanity we are thus newly empowered by virtue of regeneration and adoption (Galatians 4:5) to accomplish the missio dei.
By virtue of Christ’s exaltation, we are given heirship of the world (Matthew 5:5; Romans 4:13, 8:17). Christ’s legal claim over the creation is affirmed by his resurrection and ascension at the right hand of God (Hebrews 1:3, 4). Psalm 110 declares that Christ must rule in the midst of his enemies until all his enemies are brought under his feet in subjection to him (1 Corinthians 15). Christ accomplishes this calling as the true and righteous Son by his efficacious work of redemption. Though once his enemies, we are made co-workers in the conquest of his dominion (1 Corinthians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 10:5, 6) and as the redeemed we are commissioned with the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18).
Kingdom Culture
Henry Van Til observed that “culture is religion externalized and applied”. Culture is the byproduct of the faith of a people. Solomon said; “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). Culture is not neutral, but directional. It is the result of the faith and epistemology of a people. The cultural product of an unregenerate people will be at odds with the missio dei. Conversely, the cultural product of a regenerate people will be in conformity with the missio dei. The calling upon regenerate mankind is a mandate to build from the foundations up, an epistemologically self-conscious culture, that subjects all areas of life and thought to the reign of Jesus Christ as King. This should be the desire of every Christian who seeks to take “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Godly culture will result from such faithful enterprise.
The Eschaton of God’s Kingdom
It is the basic duty of mankind to multiply and fill the earth with righteous and holy image bearers. Faithful obedience includes the searching out and continual exercise of the knowledge of God that extends from generation to generation. This is the goal and purpose of God’s created order for mankind. God’s calling and purpose sets the direction of history and establishes the grounds for any understanding of progress or increase. This is the fundamental framework we need to understand the goal and eschaton (final event) of God’s Kingdom. The extent of God’s reign is worldwide and all consuming. There is no area of life or thought that is exempt from God’s reign and rule. Nothing short of the total and complete subjection of all things into the kingdom of God will satisfy the comprehensive missio dei (1 Corinthians 15:23-25).
Advancing the Kingdom of God
Our Lord sums up the missio dei in theses words; “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). The redeemed humanity is called to strive after that which God has established in its course and its aim. The Christian’s work, in his or her various vocations and callings, is all for the advance of Christ’s rule and reign. There is no sacred/secular divide, no neo-platonic physical/spiritual hierarchy. There is no neutrality in God’s creation. Mankind either submits to God’s righteous law or imposes his own autonomous law. Every thought, every movement, every task, every rule and order is aimed at one goal. Either we serve Christ and his kingdom in every pursuit and at every point, or we are at enmity with him. The battle line is drawn and our responsibility is made clear. Even more, the Christian victory is sure. Nothing done in this kingdom is slated for futility, but God will “bring justice to victory” (Matthew 12:20). Whether family, church, state, education, art, enterprise, all things must be considered in light of this one goal. This is faith in action. Faith for all of life. Faith that moves as a result of the grace of Jesus Christ. God’s decreed righteousness is comprehensive and will truly cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
