This Good News (13)

What is the good news of the kingdom of God?

[Points 1-5]

The previous section “What is the kingdom of God?”has established much of the foundation for answers to the remaining questions. What follows then is some paragraphs that answer our present question – what is the good news of the kingdom of God?

First, the good news of the kingdom of God is that the kingdom of God is teachable and proclaimable: it can be understood and articulated, at least to a level sufficient to meet Jesus’ requirement for the “end” to come (Matthew 24:14).

We have established that the kingdom of God is God’s domain and dominion; it has existed as long as God has existed and will continue to do so. However, although God Himself doesn’t change, the administration of the realm – His kingdom – does change. Remember Luke 16:16? Up until John [the Baptist] “there was the law and the prophets”; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God is being proclaimed. This is the division between old covenant and new covenant.

The old covenant consisted of the terms and conditions of God’s relationship with humankind – and in particular, Israel –over the years from creation to the immaculate conception of Jesus. God made covenants with Moses, Abraham and David who, in their particular epochs, represented God’s chosen people and their unique relationship with God. What we call the Old Testament and the Hebrews might call “the law and the prophets”is the documents of the old covenant.

The new covenant consists of the terms and conditions of God’s relationship with allhumankind (without distinction between Jews and non-Jews) since the coming of Jesus – and in particular since his resurrection. In his resurrection from the dead, Jesus’work is finished and the terms of the covenant are signed, sealed and delivered. In this administration, sometimes called the ‘age of grace’, there is no favoured people group and all are considered equal in God’s sight. What we call the New Testament is the documents of the new covenant.

The terms “Old Testament” and “New Testament” are used to name the two sections of our bible. In Greek, the language of the second part, the New Testament, it is called hee kainee diatheekee. Kaineeis Greek for ‘new’ and diatheekee is Greek for ‘covenant’, ‘testament’ or ‘will’. In English today, these three words have noticeably different meanings: a covenant is much like a contract; a testament is the sum of the testimony of a person in a given matter; a will is the wishes and intent of a person concerning their estate following their death.

But remember, the naming of the two sections of our bibles is not part of the Divine inspiration of the text of those books. These names are a creation of man and are there as a matter of convenience for us. Remember too that the choice of which writings are included and which are not was a human choice – albeit believed to be under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

When I write, for clarity of understanding, I try to distinguish between new covenant and New Testament, old covenant and Old Testament. I use New Testament and Old Testament to refer to the two parts of our bibles; I use new covenant and old covenant to refer to the two different administrations of the kingdom of God –one pre-Jesus, the other post-Jesus.

To Hebrews, the key figure is, of course, Moses. One way of summarising the old covenant was (and still is to some today) “the law of Moses”. The contention recorded in Acts 15 had the“Pharisee sect” arguing that any new converts to the good news of Jesus should be directed to observe “the law of Moses”. And it is to Moses that New Testament writers defer when arguing and debating in their speaking and writing regarding the Jews. But if you wanted to prove Jewish ancestry, you would of course have to trace your line back to Abraham.

And that sits fine with me. “The law of Moses” is a useful cover-all for understanding the old administration of the realm.

But which post-Jesus character has a similar standing and function? First, according to New Testament writers, Jesus is the inaugurator of the new administration of the realm. But Jesus himself made it clear that, while he began the job, it is up to others who come after him to carry on that work. And I believe God specifically chose Paul, not Peter, James or John who we part of the original twelve, who was given the revelation of the new administration of the realm. This seems to be the gist of Ephesians 3 where apostle Paul makes it quite clear that his apostolic commission was to announce, proclaim and herald this new administration and how it works.

Although admittedly it is a generalisation, the old administration was one of law, the new is one of grace. The old covenant was based on law in conjunction with reward and punishment; the new covenant is based on grace in conjunction with forgiveness and justification. But the overriding objective and goal in both cases was righteousness –being right in the sight of God. The best New Testament writings on this matter are the letters to the Romans and the Hebrews.

In the old covenant, to be right in the sight of God, one had to keep the law, and sins (transgressions) were not forgiven but covered and then rehearsed and remitted every year via a priest and sacrifice. Reward and punishment were measures of either the blessing or the curse of God. The story of Job and his friends is a classic tale of old covenant thinking.

In the new covenant, to be right in the sight of God, one has to welcome Jesus as the full and final satisfaction of all God’s requirements of us humans and, sins (transgressions) are forgiven totally and remembered no more on the basis of the one-off sacrifice of our ever-living High Priest Jesus. But wait, there’s more! Not only are sins (individual transgressions) dealt with totally, the sin disease itself – the tree that produces the sins – is ring-barked and rendered powerless.

This is possible because the law gets its power from sin and sin gets its power from law. There is an interplay between law and sin: if there were no law, there would be no knowledge of sin, says Paul. And a central plank of Paul’s revelation is that there is a law operating in the old covenant, much like the natural laws of gravity and aerodynamics, that he calls “the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2): “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”

Natural laws can only be superseded or over-ridden by another, more powerful, law. For instance, to defy the law of gravity, you need an over-riding law of aerodynamics or some such.

One of the most powerful contrasts is this one by Paul in Romans 3:

By works of law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through law is the knowledge of sin. But now, apart from law, a righteousness of God has been manifested – itself witnessed by the law and the prophets – even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe for there is no distinction. (vv. 20-22)

Is that not profoundly good news? And is that not “good news of the kingdom of God”? God – not man – is in charge of the ‘rules of engagement’ between God and man. And they changed with Jesus and his resurrection! And Paul is given to us as a “wise master-builder” building on the foundation of Jesus Christ our Lord and King.

Second, on the subject of the King, part of the good news of the kingdom of God can also be bad news: “we have no King but Jesus!”

During his years of ministry, Paul was persecuted by Jews who refused to acknowledge and welcome Jesus [“he came to his own and his own did not receive him”]. They had looked for a new king to sit on Israel’s throne, in the line of King David, but to them, Jesus failed – he was wrong on so many levels for them. They might well have said, ‘we have no king but David’.

But Paul and his team eventually found that they were up against the Roman authorities too. Paul’s preaching of Jesus and the resurrection had him and his teams persecuted for promoting and worshipping another king. The catch-cry was, ‘we have no king but Caesar’.

But the good news of the kingdom of God is this:‘we have no king but Jesus!” – even if, like Paul and others, we are persecuted for it.

Third, the good news of the kingdom of God is that all who are righteous before God “through faith in Jesus Christ” (as in Romans 3:22 above) inherit the kingdom of God, lock, stock and barrel.

Those who welcome and embrace Jesus are welcomed and embraced by God the Father as Jesus is: He becomes our Father too.

Note Jesus’ words in John 16:27, “For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from the Father.” Then perhaps try reading Jesus’ prayer in John 17.

Note Romans 8:16-17, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also; heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

Those who trust Jesus totally and implicitly for their right standing before God the Father (over against trusting in themselves or any other person or any law), are justified and counted as fully righteous and their sin remembered no more.

Those who stand in Christ in this way are incorporated by the Father into His household, the ecclesia, the ‘fellowship of saints’ and are counted as brothers: “For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father;for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brothers.” (Hebrews 2:11)

Fourth, the good news of the kingdom of God is that the Holy Spirit is no longer a ‘force’ that comes upon you (as in the old covenant) but the very living, vital DNA and presence of the fullness of the God-head residing and abiding within us. The ‘motor’ of our existence is no longer the flesh but the Spirit of God. The flesh is still there, but it is now our choice whether we live according to the dictates of the flesh or the dictates of the Holy Spirit.

Fifth, the good news of the kingdom of God is that everything God demands is supplied fully and totally in Christ. Read through Ephesians 1:1-14 and note how Paul describes the good news of the kingdom of God. Remember, he was the one to whom was given the revelation of the new administration of the realm. In The Household of God series, I used this illustration:

The four pillars and the ‘core business’ of the household we are born into is illustrated here. Read Paul and you will discover that all four are the present and future inheritance of every child of God. All that God requires is provided in that place of identification with the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Note, I said presentinheritance. As I indicated earlier, one of the popular ideas of the ‘gospel’ is the promise of heaven when you die. This has two major problems: 1) heaven as the bible describes it is obliterated and replaced by a new heaven according to John’s Revelation, so it’s hardly good news andit means that ‘heaven’ and the kingdom of God are not the same thing; 2) the idea that the kingdom of God only begins when you die turns whole chunks of the New Testament into nonsense. For instance, it means we have to wait to die to experience salvation, redemption, justification and righteousness – and hence, sanctification. And it means that we cannot do the ‘greater works’ of Jesus or be born ‘from above’, both activities of the eternal realm.

Every person born of the spirit, born from above, is so because the kingdom of God has shattered the darkness and invaded their world in such a way that “the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:5-6)

It’s not about our entering into heaven, but the kingdom of God entering into us! And why would it be thus?

[Points 6-8 next time]

Cheers,
Kevin.