The Kingdom of God (according to Jesus): Part Two

by | Sep 27, 2020 | Beneath the Translation, Truth Uncovered

So, what did Jesus define the Kingdom as? 

We know that God has been wanting to in a sense return us to the Garden so that we can walk and talk with God daily. How does that relate to the Kingdom?

Here’s where it gets a little tricky- so I’m gonna try to slow things down a bit. Jesus tended to speak in metaphors and similes when it came to the Kingdom. Maybe, it’s because we wouldn’t even get an idea without them. We’ve built an idea in our heads that the Kingdom only comes when Jesus returns. But the problem is- he brought it with him when he walked on this earth back in the 1st Century. So- if we stop thinking of the Kingdom like heaven (puffy clouds, streets of gold…) and start thinking about it like it’s here now and expanding– then our perspective on the Kingdom can fully develop.

 

The Upside Down Kingdom

We first read in the book of Mark 1:14-15 (The Passion Translation):

Later on, after John the Baptizer was arrested, Jesus went back into the region of Galilee and preached the wonderful gospel of God’s kingdom realm. His message was this: “At last the fulfillment of the age has come! It is time for the realm of God’s kingdom to be experienced in its fullness! Turn your lives back to God and put your trust in the hope-filled gospel!”

Jesus began preaching to those around him that it was time to experience the Kingdom. Other versions use phrases like, “The time is at hand…” or the “The time is near.”

Coming with Power

Then later in Mark 9, the entire chapter morphs around the Kingdom of God theme. (Just an FYI, I’d always been confused by this sentence found in the very first verse of Mark 9.)

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, there are some standing here now who won’t experience death until they see God’s kingdom realm manifest with power!”

At first glance, I always assumed that Jesus was saying that some of the disciples wouldn’t die until Christ had returned. But here’s what we must remember- at this point, the disciples probably didn’t fully understand what Jesus had been telling them about what this kingdom would look like. They had no idea what an upside-down Kingdom it would turn out to be. (I mean, they probably asked themselves, “The Kingdom is here, now? They could experience it? How?”)

Here, in Mark 9:1, Jesus is talking about the power of the Kingdom of God that would begin to flow out from the disciples through them spreading the Good News. Through word of mouth, the Kingdom of God would advance on earth, through everyone that heard and accepted it. As Jesus said, in Mark 1, “Turn your lives back to God and put your trust in the hope-filled gospel!”

The advancement of the Kingdom wasn’t going to be a quick thing. Every time Jesus talked about the Kingdom, he talked in parables and similes about it. You’ll see what I mean…

The Kingdom Grows (Literally)

Mark 4:26-32

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground.  Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.  All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 

 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?  It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth.  Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

>>>>> Notice how all of this relates to growth? And what takes time? Growth.

The Invisible Kingdom

Luke 17:20-21

 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

>>>>> Wait- it can’t be observed? So this Kingdom that is growing- can’t even be seen? But it gets even more upside-down.

From Another Realm

John 18:36

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

>>>>> Wait- another place? Another realm? Another dimension? Jesus wasn’t talking about another country. He wasn’t talking about another earthly kingdom. 

Hmmmm. Take that in for a second.

Okay…So what can we learn from all of these different verses?

The Kingdom is growing (expanding).

The Kingdom cannot be observed… but it’s here.

The Kingdom is not of this world, but from another place.

All of these verses point to the Kingdom being a spiritual one… one that grows when followers of Jesus spread Christ’s love… serve one another as well as those who are in need… and it’s in a different realm… but also here. It sounds alot like the overlapping of the realms that happened “in the beginning.” Doesn’t it?

So…

What do we need to do about it? How can we help the spread and growth of the Kingdom? First, pray for the Kingdom to continue to expand. For the Good News to be delivered to those who have not heard it yet. 

Pray.

A great place to start is the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray. What’s interesting, is that most of us probably know this prayer and some can quote it. I didn’t actually fully understand the depth to this prayer until I fully understood the complete Good News and the Kingdom.

This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

    on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

    as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

    but deliver us from the evil one.’

Matthew 6:9-10

 

 

Recognize the King

Here’s the deal… if there’s a kingdom- then there’s a King. And who else but Jesus? He actually inaugurated the Kingdom into our world. He was the one declaring God’s Rule was back in business here on Earth. And when we declare him to be our King and desire to follow Him- the Kingdom becomes present in our lives and in our churches.

What does this Kingdom look like for us today and in our churches? Stay tuned for The Kingdom of God: Part 3!

What is the Gospel?

by | Aug 8, 2020 | Beneath the Translation

Let’s walk back in time for a second.

Picture this:

It’s 26 A.D in Nazareth (Israel). You’ve spent the week as a stonemason and your arms ache from the back-breaking work you do, day in and day out. This Sabbath morning, you’re sitting in the synagogue listening to the men of your small village read from the Holy Scriptures. Suddenly, your ears perk up. This is a scripture that you’ve heard before… but it’s been years. And now with the endless exhaustion that you call your life, the brutality from the Roman empire, and your brother joining the Zealots in their fight against Rome- you just want to survive. You listen as the words ring out from the mouth of Hezekiah, an elderly man that you’ve looked up to your entire life. He is the picture of what you hope to have one day… a solid family… good business… an honor to God. 

His gravelly voice scruffs through the quiet sound of breathing and hushes from mothers to their infants in the alcove.

“‘Behold’…” he clears his voice and continues, “ ‘I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming, says the Lord of hosts.’” 

Your breath catches. For some reason… this seems to strike a chord within your heart. One of the poems from the prophet Isiah you had memorized as a child floods your mind. You feel as though the hardness of your life is cracking and light is seeping in. 

How lovely on the mountains

Are the feet of him who brings good news,

Who announces ]peace

And brings good news of happiness,

Who announces salvation,

And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices,

They shout joyfully together;

For they will see with their own eyes

When the Lord restores Zion.

 

For some reason… you suddenly have an overwhelming sense of…. Hope. You blink to keep the tears from forming behind your dry and sleep-creased eyes and you suck a breath in. You cannot let your boss sitting a couple rows ahead of you see your emotion. Could it be? Could the return of the King be closer than ever? 

You fake an eye rub but that doesn’t slow down your heart beginning to race. You immediately recall what you heard in the river valley the other day. A man, whose voice was hoarser than old Hezekiah’s blasting a message in the desert. What was he preaching? Something about the Kingdom of Heaven is coming near? Suddenly, you have a desire to walk out of the synagogue to hunt down that crazy guy who supposedly eats insects and wears camel leather to clothe himself. Could it be true? Could the Messiah be on his way? Was this the Good News your nation had been waiting for?

Good News?

The nation of Israel had been waiting for hundreds, even thousands of years for the Anointed One (Messiah) who would come and deliver them. They had been exiled as a nation… thrown into slavery… watched as their temple was demolished and decimated… and yet still- they hoped and prayed for the day when the Messiah would come to save them. That to them- was the Good News.

Here’s the thing… in today’s day and age, we think we’re pretty smart. We laugh and giggle at how our worship and our churches have a leg up on what God wanted for the church. We believe that God is applauding us for our amazing way of ministry and church involvement. But… I think we’ve missed a lot of what Jesus would call the Good News/Gospel. We tend to make it all about ourselves… and it’s cost us dearly in our churches. We’ve lost the majority of the Good News about the reign of the King… and we hardly mention anything about the Kingdom. And repentance? Well… isn’t that a Catholic thing?

Bill Hull and Ben Sobels, in their book, “The Discipleship Gospel” write, 

“Instead of telling the gospel story of God’s kingdom coming through Jesus Christ, we’ve reduced salvation to hearing a truncated gospel with a short, one-time prayer tacked on the end. The gospel we often hear today goes something like this: You have sinned, and sin separates you from God. Jesus died on the cross for your sins. If you believe in Jesus, God will forgive your sins and you will go to heaven when you die. Would you like to believe in Jesus? Great!, let’s pray the sinner’s prayer and you’ll be saved. Boom! Done. Gospel presented. But really? Is that it?”

 

And here you see… we’ve made it all about ourselves. I’ve literally heard that this is what the Gospel is… our way to get to heaven. But dear friends, we’ve missed the main point when we think it’s all about that. Because it’s not about us at all. 

So- really—- what is the Gospel? And where did that strange word “gospel” even come from? 

What is the Gospel?

We find the phrase, “Good News” in the Old Testament first.  But this Good News isn’t just a basic phrase meaning regular good news… like your dog having puppies.  Its meaning lies specifically in the announcement of the reign of a new King. This isn’t your everyday type of good news… this is news that a new King is in town… and he’s come to stay. (See Bible Project’s video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmFPS0f-kzs). 

If you look back at the verses found in the poem in Isaiah, it’s talking about news coming from a messenger (How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news…) who’s bringing an announcement of the reign of a new King. 

This same word in the New Testament is the Greek word, “Euangelion” or “Good News” which the NT authors used to combine all of Jesus’ teachings on the Kingdom into one word. When the New Testament was translated into English, they translated Good News into the Anglo-Saxon word, Godspell (which means God Tale or God Story). So… Gospel = Good News. 

(FYI: I honestly like Good News better… so I may  stick with that for the most part.)

So… we still haven’t exactly clarified what the Good News is… so I’m gonna give you a quick peek into the overview.

What is the Good News?

Mark 1:14-15 (NASB)- Parenthesis Mine

Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel (good news) of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel (good news).”

So… Jesus preached the Gospel? I don’t know why… but I’ve missed that for YEARS. How a Bible college-educated, pastor’s wife and church planter missed that… I don’t know. (I’m gonna blame it on my underactive thyroid and gluten fog I was in for the previous 30 some years… LOL!) 

Later in that same passage in verses 16-18, it reads:

As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”  Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 

So… Jesus was preaching that the Kingdom of God is NOW… and to repent and believe (put your trust) in this Good News… and then to follow Jesus. 

Later in chapter 8 of Mark, verses  29-31, we read about Jesus and his disciples having a discussion as they walked to some villages near Caesarea Philippi. Jesus begins to ask some questions and then asks the disciples some specific questions. 

And He continued by questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.” And He warned them to tell no one about Him.

And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 

Let me give you some background first: Christ means Messiah… which also means “The Anointed One… who’s anointed? A King.)

But in these verses, Jesus begins to set up his disciples to understand more of what this Good News was (specifically about his death and resurrection.)

The Good News was (and still is):

  • The Kingdom of God is coming (or is here now… more on that in the next blog post…)
  • Jesus is King (or the Christ… or the Messiah…)
  • His Death
  • His Resurrection

And our response? 

  • To Repent
  • To Believe (Or trust in the Good News)
  • To Follow.
So… if this is the Gospel… then it’s not…
  • Forgiveness Only
  • Left (Old and New Gospel)
  • Prosperity Gospel
  • Consumer Gospel
  • Right (Conservative) Gospel
  • American Gospel
  • Social Justice Gospel

All of these gospels may have a part of the Good News correct…. But they are missing so… much… more.  And ultimately… if we make the gospel about us… then it’s not the Good News.

Because the Good News is all about Jesus and the Kingdom.

Boom. Drop mic.