The people in Jesus’ day saw the kingdom of God only in externals. They visualized the kingdom of God as coming, not through regeneration, but by revolution. Jesus said of His followers: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled” (John 6:26). It was Jesus’ message about mankind’s need for salvation and about Him as the Savior, the Messiah of God, that caused the religious and political establishments of the day to seek His death.
We are no better today. Modern Christians reject the teaching that God’s Kingdom is a present reality because they aren’t “seeing” what the Bible promises. They want and expect a garden-paradise free of toil and strife and instead see a broken world of pain and need. Jesus commissioned His Bride to “make disciples of all nations,” not to cower and complain about the political and ethical states of the nations. Like first-century Israel, Christians today are eschatological atheists; they disbelieve the promises of Scripture because of a preconceived idea about what God’s Kingdom should look like.
Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths
The world is crying out for answers in the face of bewildering and seemingly unsolvable problems. Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths shows that the Bible has real answers to these problems—answers the church is currently ignoring. The rejection of any type of ‘this-worldly’ application of the Bible has resulted in the proliferation of man-centered worldviews that have steadily drained the life out of our world and left behind a spiritual vacuum.
Buy NowThis world is the realm of God’s redemptive purposes. If God is king, then He is king of all that He has made. If His kingdom is universal, then the earth is part of His realm. “In the broadest sense God’s kingdom refers to the most extended reaches of His sovereignty. As Psalm 103:19 puts it, ‘The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.’ God is sovereign and therefore He exercises full control over everything He has created.” [1]
On today’s podcast, Gary discusses the objection that God’s Kingdom is not “of this world.” Similar to first-century Jews, modern Christians reject that God’s Kingdom is actually here and now because of what they see around them. They have a particular idea of what God’s Kingdom will look like and anything that doesn’t meet that definition is thrown out.
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[1] Raymond O. Zorn, Church and Kingdom (Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1962), 1. A revised edition was reprinted as Christ Triumphant: Biblical Perspectives on His Church and Kingdom (Edinburgh: Banner of truth Trust, 1997).