N.T. Wright in the sermon entitled Whatever did St. Paul do with the Kingdom of God, presents the following definition:
Kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God is not the place called heaven where God rules it is the fact that God, who is in heaven, rules. It is not the place ‘where’ it is the fact ‘that’ and as soon as we say that we realize that to talk to about the kingdom of God is actually to use an abstract noun ‘kingdom’ where what we are really talking about is a verb, an action: God ruling, God reigning and once we realize that then we realized where this all comes from in Judaism which is the entire sweep of the Old Testament and it re-appropriation in the second temple period.
In illustrating the Old Testament “sweep” to which he refers Wright makes these points:
- Ps 95-99 (and Ps 2) speaks of Yahweh reigning and ruling calling the whole earth to order. This truth may mark the worship of the Psalmist but it does not mark the reality of his world. The reason for the disconnect lies in the narrative of Genesis.
- Ge 1 depicts man as God’s image bearer, who like an angled mirror reflects God’s stewardship into the world. Creation is made to work under man’s sub-authority.
- When mankind rebels in Ge 3, God does not abandon his intent to operate through his image bearers, rather in Ge 12 he call the man Abram through whom God will bless the families of the world.
- This call involves a promised land and a chosen people, not chosen to be strictly recipients of God’s salvation, but to be agents of that salvation to the world. This is the context in which Isa 40-55 must be understood and particularly the servant of Yahweh passages of Isa 52-53.
- When Isa 52:6-12 declares “your God reigns” that is kingdom of God language which in Isaiah’s context involved Babylon’s overthrow, Israel’s rescue and restoration to the land and Yahweh’s return to Zion. (These three themes, namely, the overthrow of evil, the rescue of God’s people and the return of Yahweh to Zion become thematic in Jesus on self-understanding and understanding of his proclamation.)
- The interpretation of the vision of Da 2 speaks of God establishing his kingdom over against the wicked kingdoms of this world. A similar interpretation is valid regarding the vision of Da 7 wherein God through his Messiah and through the people of his Messiah will be ruling the world and rescuing the world from the predations of evil.
Have you faced the situation where believers are operating as if the kingdom of God is a place, maybe one they are longing to get to?
Any comments on Wright’s OT sweep?
