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I ran across an awesome post today about inaugurated eschatology by J. R. Daniel Kirk (NT Professor at Fuller) that I just HAD to share!! “Inaugurated eschatology is the conviction that the power of the kingdom, the promised fullness of God, will burst forth and provide in rich abundance here and now, even when [...] Scot McKnight (Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University) recently published an article in RELEVANT Magazine about the misuse of the term “Kingdom.” Seeing how I use that term a lot, I thought it would be good to point you all towards this article (granted, McKnight stops just short of the eschatology nature [...]
Kingdom Theology (A Brief Summary)At its core, Kingdom Theology is an inaugurated eschatology system that seeks to focus on the Kingship of Jesus. Within this framework, the present time in which we live is caught between two ages – the present evil age ruled by sin and death and the Age to Come, which is ruled by Jesus Christ into eternality. Through the birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension of Jesus (plus Pentecost) the Age to Come has broken into this present evil age, existing together in a tension that will be removed at that last day when all is set right and God dwells among His people face-to-face. Covenant Theology (A Brief Summary)By far the largest stream of Protestant theology, Covenant Theology is based upon an understanding of three main overarching theological covenants (redemption, works, grace) that are said to be interwoven into one over-all eternal covenant. The three covenants are considered ‘theological’ in the sense that they are not explicitly outlined as such within the Bible. Within the Covenant Theology stream there are many, many variations as different groups seek to focus on certain parts of each covenant. There are also disagreements on how the Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic and New (Jesus) covenants related to each other and/or either they fit within the three larger theological covenant systems.
As I mentioned at the beginning, I recognize that this is a touchy subject – I debated with myself for several weeks before posting it… Recent events within Evangelicalism (i.e. Rob Bell’s new book and the controversy surrounding it) spurred me to go ahead with the series as it seems that this topic is still on the metaphorical table within Christianity. One of the craziest thing about the “Rob Bell/Love Win’s Controversy” is the shear amount of reactionary media buzz created a month before the book is released. This tells me that people – Believers – need to slow down and think through why they believe the way they do. This is one of the reason I love Rebecca’s paper – she takes you on a journey through the “interpretive lens” of both sides (traditional and annihilationism), ending with the conclusion that both are “biblical” and can be held by Bible believing Christians. Rebecca also warns us – as does Steve S. in the comments – to be careful how much beyond the Scripture we take an issue or a doctrine. A lot of the time, God is calling us to let Him decide those matters instead of trying to figure everything out in our own human wisdom.
As we end this series, I wanted to look at the issue from an enacted inaugurated eschatology viewpoint – seeing how we are a people called to live between the Ages. Specifically, I want to look how the Gospels use the words “eternal life” and “eternal punishment” (touched on by Rebecca in Part 3). “Eternal Life” and “Eternal Punishment”The phrase “eternal life” is often used in the same context as the “Kingdom of God” or “Kingdom of Heaven” – which can be defined as God’s rule and reign. In that context, the phrase to me means more then simply ‘living forever’ (whether in heaven or hell). Instead, it means that God is releasing the life of the Age to Come into this Age (i.e. life from eternity). Continue reading A Response to Annihilationism by Rebecca Miller
Today though, I would like to introduce you to Allen Wakabayashi. Allen is the Associate Pastor at Twin City Bible Church and the Teaching Specialist for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at the University of Illinois – Champaign/Urbana. More importantly for our purposes, he is the author of “Kingdom Come: How Jesus Wants to Change the World.” This is a book that seeks to “bridge the gap from the scholarly literature about the kingdom to the normal Christian who is not familiar with the academic material.” Hands down, Allen pulls it off. “Kingdom Come” is a great introduction book to Kingdom Theology – i.e. the theology of that Jesus is King of everything (created and uncreated; spiritual and physical) and He is in activity involved in the world today, bring the future Age into our world today. Interesting enough, Allen credit George Ladd as an influence – which is pretty cool seeing the influence Ladd has made on me. Continue reading Kingdom Come: How Jesus Wants to Change the World
In addition, Isaiah 43 declares that when “the LORD, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator, your King” comes He will “remember your sins no more” (Is 43:15, 25 New International Version). The Gospel texts show that Jesus of Nazareth, unlike any of the previous prophets of Israel, publically forgave the sins of the people without referring to the Temple sacrifices (Mt 9:5-6; Mk 2:5-10; Lk 5:20-24; 7:48; Jn 8:11). In effect, Jesus was simultaneously declaring Himself God while demonstrating the fact that the Day of the Lord or the Kingdom of God had come among men forever. Continue reading Defining “Kingdom of God”: A Paper (Part 3 of 3)
However, there are others teachings of Jesus that do not seem to fit with the concept of the kingdom being the active rule and reign of God. In these teachings, Jesus talked about the coming of the “kingdom of God” as if it was something that was coming soon, or something that had already come. In order to understand how these passages fit within the above definition of the kingdom of God, we will need to turn to the Old Testament writings. Within the Old Testament there is a duality where God is described both as currently being the king of world and as some day in the future being king over the world. Psalm 103:19 states that the “The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all” (New International Version). Yet, Obadiah 1 talks about the “day of the Lord” when God will become King of Israel and punish all those who do not follow Him. Continue reading Defining “Kingdom of God”: A Paper (Part 2 of 3)
Note that while I am going to save the full bibliography until the end, I will try to include references throughout the journey so that you (and all the copyright lawyers out there) will know where I gathered my information. Blessings ————————————————————- The Gospel texts declare that the central message of Jesus Christ was the “kingdom of God” (Mt 4:17; 9:35; Mk 1:14-15; Lk 4:43). Unfortunately, the phrase is not defined in the Gospel texts as the Biblical writers most likely assumed their readers would already know the meaning of the phrase. This leaves the modern reader in the predicament of having to define the phrase based upon the Old Testament writings, Jewish intertestamental literature, and the particular contexts in which Jesus used the phrase. Accordingly, this paper will seek to briefly define the phrase the “kingdom of God” and look at its impact on the teachings of Jesus. Continue reading Defining “Kingdom of God”: A Paper (Part 1 of 3) To begin with, I am back from conquering the Sawtooth Wilderness (at least the East to West approach) – it was a great trip full of adventures and beautiful scenery. Lord willing I will try to upload some pictures tonight or Saturday at the latest. Until then, I would like to introduce you [...] Normally I try not to follow a book review with another book review…but I am going to make an exception today. George Eldon Ladd's book The Presence of the Future is one of those landmark theological books that send shockwaves throughout Christendom. This is neither an overstatement nor the ramblings of a lunatic [...] |
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Knowing that I read some…um…strange books, I’m always on the look out for books that simplify the Kingdom message of Jesus. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of books out there talking about the ‘here and not yet’ of the Kingdom – instead, most Christian books tend to be of the self-help variety; or some kind of cheesy Christian romance (
Jesus’ deeds were also a sign post declaring that the kingdom of God had come among men. The book of Isaiah mentions that when the Day of the Lord comes there would be salvation for all people: the deaf would hear, the blind see, the lame leap like deer, the dumb shout for joy, and those imprisoned would be set free (Is 29:17-19; 35:5-6; 42:6-7; 49:8-9) [Derek Morphew, Breakthrough: Discovering the Kingdom, 38-39]. Luke 7:22 and Matthew 11:5 give testimony that all of these signs were accomplished through the ministry of Jesus Christ: “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor” (Mt 11:5, New International Version).
Returning to the teachings of Jesus, this understanding of the “kingdom of God” helps to explain sayings such as Matthew 6:33 (also Lk12:31): “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (New American Standard). In other words, seek first the reign and rule of God in your life and He will take care of the rest.
Last month I wrote a short paper about the definition of the term “kingdom of God” for my Fuller class on the Gospels. Originally, I was going to wait until I received a grade for the paper before I posted it online…but since it looks like Fuller is taking their time grading it, I figure I would go ahead and start posting sections of the paper for your reading enjoyment. 
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