The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ

How does Christ's kingdom come into this world? Do we think of America as a holy nation like Old Testament Israel? Does America advance the influence of righteousness and God's glory through the conquest of surrounding nations? I believe when people are put to this question, they would probably say no - but I think maybe subconsciously, many in America think along these lines. Maybe this is why we think we should have a Christian president, or that schools should allow us to pray and read the Ten Commandments, or why people continually reference back to our "Christian" forefathers - we inwardly believe that the nature of God's kingdom should be external and visible in America. I would like to offer a few Scriptural points to think about -

1. The nature of Christ's kingdom is one of suffering and persecution - "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force" (Matthew 11:12).
2. The nature of Christ's kingdom does not come with signs to be observed - "The kingdom of heaven is not coming in ways to be observed, nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of heaven is in the midst of you" (Luke 17:21).
3. The nature of Christ's kingdom is one of righteousness, peace, and joy - "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men" (Romans 14:17-18).
4. The saints of Christ's kingdom do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against demonic powers - "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over the present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:11-12).
5. The saints of Christ's kingdom do not wage war with swords and guns but with the gospel that destroys strongholds - "For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

The theocracy of Israel in the Old Testament was established as a typological pattern, meant to teach both Israel in the past and us today what the kingdom of Christ might look like. It is similar in many ways...but not exactly the same. It taught us that God is the sovereign King, that his people are redeemed by the gracious work of his Son, and they obey his Law and worship by means of the Holy Spirit as a royal priesthood in the sanctuary of the Lord forever. The implications of what I am saying is that the kingdom of Christ is present in grace but not yet consummated in glory - we live in the "wilderness" between exodus (being liberated from the bondage of our sin at the resurrection of our Lord) and conquest (the final judgment of sin and evil at Christ's return, along with the vindication of the righteous, the revealing of the sons of God, and the renewal of all things), in the tension of the already and not yet.

As a side note, I spoke of this topic in an earlier post about the enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent from Genesis 3. It can be found here.

SDG