How Jesus Started the Kingdom

This week, we’re talking about the present reality of God’s Kingdom.

That is, how God’s rule appears in the world today.

To begin that discussion, it’s helpful to understand both the Kingdom’s purpose and how Jesus initiated it. 

Getting Back to the Garden

So, this beautiful Kingdom where God rules and humanity flourishes has always been the plan.

In fact, it’s how reality literally started.

Look at Genesis 2 and you’ll see for yourself.

God creates the paradise of the Garden of Eden and puts humanity in it to take care of its beauty.

Of course, in Genesis 3, things take a turn for the worse when humanity rejects God’s vision in favor of their own. Sin enters the scene, and this “kingdom” crumbles pretty quickly - and the entire world is worse off for it.

From this point on, the story of the Bible is a story of redeeming humanity to the Eden-like relationship they had with God.

Sin acts as the barrier to this. But God takes a group of people, Israel, and, through them, begins to lay the foundations of what a kingdom set apart for God looks like.

Then, many generations later, who should come from Israel but Jesus Himself?

Coming of the King

Jesus, being fully God and fully man, made it possible for us to walk the Kingdom path.

For His entire ministry, He demonstrated what the Kingdom of God was like. His famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is essentially the Kingdom’s manifesto, and His miracles (healings, exorcisms, and the like) produced the kind of life the Kingdom abounds in.

But, of course, the pinnacle of it all was His death and resurrection.

Jesus’ death and resurrection was the reconciling moment in human history. It’s where Christ acted as an atoning sacrifice for sin, taking it to the grave. He then went on to return from death, signaling the waning of sin’s authority and the growth of the Kingdom’s. 

What this meant was that God and man could be reconciled once more, meaning Jesus’ Way of life could be passed onto those who follow Him.

So, Jesus initiated the Kingdom through His ministry and then multiplied it through His atoning work on the Cross. 

And that’s where we come in - His Kingdom of priests.

But more on that tomorrow.

For now, be blessed.

Jon,

Theophilus Newsletter