T. D. Alexander
From beginning to end the Bible proclaims God’s eternal sovereignty over all things. He reigns supreme as both creator and sustainer of all that exists. Yet, unexpectedly, the Bible also recounts in detail how Adam and Eve rejected God’s authority as universal king with disastrous consequences for the history of humanity. Life on earth becomes chaotic as another replaces God’s rule.
From this catastrophic beginning, the Bible reveals how God gradually and patiently reestablishes his reign over the whole earth by redeeming humanity and subduing his opponents. As the NT makes evidently clear, pivotal to this process is Jesus Christ, whose death, resurrection, and ascension is central to extending God’s reign throughout the earth. Those who acknowledge Jesus as king become members of the kingdom of God. While the kingdom is already present and growing on the earth, the Bible anticipates a time when Jesus will return in glory as universal king to reward the righteous and punish the wicked. When this happens, God’s reign will extend unchallenged throughout a renewed earth.
God’s Rule Rejected
To appreciate Jesus Christ’s role in reestablishing God’s sovereignty over the earth, we must begin with the opening chapters of Genesis. As the climax to his ordering of creation, God authorizes humanity to exercise dominion on his behalf over all other earthly creatures (Gen 1:26–28). To this end God makes human beings in his image and commissions them as his vice-regents to govern the earth.
Although God instructs the first human couple to rule over all the animals, they succumb to the sinister temptation of the “serpent” and betray God (Gen 3:1–7). By heeding this strange creature rather than the Creator, they submit to its authority. Consequently, the “serpent” gains dominion over human beings and everything God placed under their rule. This single act of rebellion against God’s sovereignty profoundly influences the rest of human history. While Genesis reveals little about the identity of the “serpent,” apart from stressing its exceptionally astute nature, Scripture elsewhere identifies the “serpent” as the devil, or Satan (Rev 12:9; 20:2). By manipulating Adam and Eve, Satan becomes the “prince of this world” (John 16:11), usurping God’s position as king.
The resulting expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden confirms the end of their special status as God’s vice-regents. Exiled from God’s presence and with their original nature now corrupted, human beings experience the tragic consequences of being alienated from their Creator and the rest of creation. As the opening chapters of Genesis disclose, human violence soon pollutes God’s good creation as people misuse their capacity to rule (Gen 6:5, 11–13).
Restoring God’s Rule on the Earth
While humanity’s rebellion against God has tragic consequences, God does not abandon them to their fate. In a process spanning generations, God embarks on a mission to rescue wayward people from the power of evil and death. This mission of restoration lies at the heart of the whole biblical story, and there are many aspects to it. One essential component is God’s providing a human king who will successfully fulfill the vice-regent role originally delegated to Adam and Eve.
Beginning in Genesis, the OT anticipates the coming of an extraordinary king who will bring God’s blessing to the nations of the earth. In due course, with the creation of the nation of Israel, God makes David king when the prophet Samuel anoints him with oil (1 Sam 16:1–13). David becomes the founder of a unique dynasty.
When David as king of Israel captures Jerusalem and subsequently transports to it the ark of the covenant (the footstool of the heavenly throne of God), a partial convergence of David’s kingdom and God’s kingdom occurs (2 Sam 6–7). Confirmation of this comes when David’s son Solomon constructs a splendid temple, or palace, for God in Jerusalem (1 Kgs 5–8). With this the palace of the heavenly king stands close to the palace of the Davidic king. As temple-builder the king plays a special role in establishing God’s reign on earth. However, as Ps 2 reveals, nations and peoples stand in opposition to both God and his anointed king. Nevertheless, the expectation existed that a future Davidic king would restore God’s rule over all the earth, bringing justice and peace (Ps 72). This hope surfaces in prophetic passages that anticipate a future Messianic age (e.g., Isa 2:2–4; 9:2–7; 11:1–12).
Because David’s successors failed to remain faithful to God, the OT story moves from the heyday of David’s reign to the sacking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple by the Babylonians in 587/586 BC. Although this is a major setback to establishing God’s reign on the earth, the hope lived on that God would one day subdue the whole earth. This is illustrated most graphically in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a large statue of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay that a rock destroys. Daniel interprets the dream: “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever” (Dan 2:44).
Jesus as the Davidic King
The OT hopes associated with the Davidic monarchy gave rise to the concept of a messiah. The noun “messiah” derives from the Hebrew term for an “anointed one.” While it originally applied to anyone who was anointed with oil for a special purpose, in the NT the word “Messiah” takes on a special significance (its Greek equivalent is christos). When the Gospels speak of Jesus as the Messiah, or Christ, they view him as fulfilling the OT expectations involving the Davidic dynasty.
Of all the Gospel writers, Matthew most fully develops Jesus’ links with the Davidic dynasty. From Matthew’s initial genealogy to his concluding observation about Jesus having all authority in heaven and on earth, he consistently emphasizes Jesus’ royal nature. Jesus, however, is no ordinary king.
In spite of displaying exceptional powers over nature, Jesus deliberately shuns establishing God’s reign by military power. In fact, as Matthew graphically reveals, the self-giving, sacrificial death of the king creates God’s kingdom. Turning everything upside down, Jesus dies on the cross in order to end Satan’s rule over the earth and loose human beings from Satan’s control. Jesus’ death opens the way for releasing those who are enslaved to evil (Matt 12:25–29).
In light of his mission, Jesus (like John the Baptist) proclaims the coming of the “kingdom of heaven” (or “kingdom of God”) and urges his listeners to become part of it by repenting (Matt 4:17; cf. Matt 3:2) and believing the good news (Mark 1:15). Through a series of parables, Jesus provides important insights into the nature of the kingdom (Matt 13). The kingdom will grow gradually, starting as something exceptionally small but eventually reaching great size. During this growing phase, the devil will actively seek to hinder the kingdom’s expansion. Those who become members of the kingdom will face persecution from both Satan and those who knowingly or unknowingly side with Satan. Even Jesus himself is tempted and must resist Satan’s offer of universal kingship (Matt 4:8–9).
Since the coming of the kingdom does not immediately end all evil, Jesus reveals that at the end of the growing phase, he will return as universal judge to separate the righteous and the wicked. At this time, with the destruction of everything evil, God’s kingdom will become all that it was meant to be from the beginning.
Highlighting the challenge of kingdom membership, Jesus reminds his listeners that not everyone who initially responds positively will remain submissive to his authority as king. Some will claim kingdom membership, but their actions will reveal otherwise (Matt 7:15–23). While Jesus underlines the tragic consequences of not being within the kingdom, he also speaks positively about the benefits of kingdom membership. To be within the kingdom is worth everything a person possesses (Matt 13:44–46).
Jesus discloses that national boundaries do not delineate the kingdom he has come to establish. Rather, God’s kingdom exists wherever people acknowledge him as king. Jesus’ followers must pray constantly for the coming of God’s kingdom on earth and make disciples throughout the whole world (Matt 28:19–20).
Kingdoms in Conflict
Although Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross ensures Satan’s ultimate defeat, the evil one continues to resist the expansion of God’s kingdom on the earth. In this ongoing spiritual conflict, the enemies are not “flesh and blood,” but “the powers of this dark world” and “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12). Christians must therefore equip themselves with appropriate armor (Eph 6:13–17).
As God’s chosen Messiah, Jesus comes as the king of peace. He deliberately rejects using power or violence to establish his authority over the earth, and instead willingly permits his enemies to execute him as a common criminal. For Jesus the path to creating God’s kingdom on the earth is through suffering and death. Yet by laying down his life, Jesus is exalted to rule over all (Phil 2:7–11). As God’s true vice-regent, Jesus differs radically from all other human kings. Ultimately, however, he will reign over all, death being the last enemy to be destroyed (1 Cor 15:24–26).
Unfortunately, the history of the church reveals that Christ’s followers have not always clearly grasped that they cannot establish the kingdom of God through force. Regrettably, professing Christians have occasionally taken up arms in the name of Christ, believing that this was God’s will. To do so, however, models God’s kingdom on those established by aggressive humans. The Bible emphasizes that people cannot be forced to submit to God’s rule but must be persuaded in love.
This world is divided between those who welcome and those who oppose establishing God’s kingdom on the earth. For the present, Christian believers must persevere in the face of opposition, realizing that the conflict between good and evil will one day end when Jesus returns in glory. Till then, our mission is to proclaim the good news of the kingdom, ever praying, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:9–10).