David Gibson - The Kingdom of God

The Kingdom of God by David Gibson 

WEEK 1: THE PATTERN OF THE KINGDOM and THE PERISHED KINGDOM Introduction Thank you for braving a course trying to do an overview of the whole Bible in 4 weeks! Quite a few of you have actually said to me ‘how on earth are you going to do the whole Bible in 4 sessions?’ Well if you think 4 weeks is pushing it, as I was preparing I came across the whole Bible in 50 words on the internet. Here it is:

God made, Adam ate, Noah built, Abraham split, Joseph ruled, Jacob fooled, bush talked, Moses balked, Pharaoh plagued, people walked, sea divided, tablets guided, land entered, Saul freaked, David peeked, prophets warned, Jesus born, God walked, love talked, anger crucified, hope died, Jesus rose, Spirit flamed, Word spread, God remained

How not to do it Now I thought that was actually quite useful because it’s a really good example of how NOT to do a Bible overview. Obviously it’s a trivial example, but the key problem with that sort of overview is that it does not explain whether there is any connection between one episode and the next - it’s simply this happened, this happened, this happened, the end. The key problem is that that overview does not tell you what the Bible’s storyline is.

To develop this a bit, this means that in these 4 weeks what I am NOT going to be doing is looking at Genesis then Exodus then Leviticus then Numbers right through to Revelation as if that is what a Bible overview is all about. If we did it like that I think a) we’d all get lost in the details, we wouldn’t see the wood for the trees and b) I would bore you with the Bible. Bible boredom is a common phenomenon isn’t it and I think it happens precisely because we open our Bibles to read and we have no idea of where we are in the big picture of the Bible’s storyline.

You see imagine I told you that I had just read the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and you asked me to tell you what it’s all about … it would test our friendship if I said to you, “Well, on page 1 we’re introduced to middle earth and then on pg 2 we learn a bit more about middle earth and then on pg 3 we’re .. then on pg 4” - well, I would bore you and massacre Lord of the Rings. And the reason is simply that to tell you what the Lord of Rings is about I need to tell you the story and I can condense it while still being faithful to the overall plotline. And the Bible is like that - if we went book by book by book we wouldn’t necessarily get the big picture.

How to try and do it

So if that’s how not to do it, how should we do it? Well, what we’re going to do in these 4 weeks is take our cue from the Bible itself about what the whole Bible is about. So to see this, let’s turn to Mark 1:14, 15 - READ.

The Bible is about the kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15) Now, firstly, if you look at v15, literally this verse reads “The time has been fulfilled. The kingdom of God is near”. Now this is very significant - it means that at the time of Jesus God’s people were waiting for something to be fulfilled. All their hopes and expectations - their hopes for the Messiah, their hopes to get their land back free of the Romans, their hopes for the new covenant that had been promised in Jeremiah - all these hopes came under the umbrella of the kingdom of God. The Jews believed that when God’s kingdom finally arrived they would get their Messiah, their King; they’d get their land back; they’d have the new covenant. Jesus arrives on the scene and says the time of waiting is over, God’s kingdom is about to arrive.

And this means that as we read the Old Testament, those books that make all the promises, that create all the expectations and hopes of fulfilment, we need to see the OT as being fundamentally about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is what the Bible is all about. Notice that Jesus mentions it here right at the start of his ministry and we know what happens from here on in the gospels - Jesus teaches about is the kingdom, doesn’t he? So we get all the parables, “The kingdom of God / kingdom of heaven is like …” The kingdom of God is what the Bible is all about.

Now of course the big question is this: what actually is the kingdom of God? Well what we’re going to see in these 4 weeks is that there are basically 3 main aspects to the kingdom of God - I’m taking it for granted that God is the king, that’s our starting point, but after this there are 3 main things which make up the kingdom of God.

Firstly there is a people who are ruled by the king; secondly there is a place where the king’s rule is recognized; thirdly there is the actual way in which the king rules. So three main aspects - people, place and rule. And what I’m going to be suggesting over these weeks is that the key to grasping the storyline of the Bible is to read the whole Bible as being fundamentally about God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule. That is what the Bible is about because that is what the kingdom of God is about.

The Bible is about Jesus (Luke 24:25-27, 44) But there’s another thing to grasp and that’s the Bible is all about Jesus - turn to Luke 24 with me. Now these three areas in v44, Law of Moses, Prophets and the Psalms are the three sections of the Hebrew Bible - it’s a way of saying that all 3 parts of the Old Testament write about Jesus. And this is massively significant for us as we read the OT - somehow, in some way, all the areas of the OT that we read are telling us about Jesus, pointing us to him. Now, the ways in which the OT does speak about Jesus will become clear as we do the overview.

I’ve tried to sum up these two points - the Bible is about the kingdom of God and the Bible is about Jesus - in Figure 1 on the inside of your handouts …

1. The pattern of the kingdom (Genesis 1-2) I wonder where you would go in the Bible to see the kingdom of God at work - where is the first place in the Bible that we discover what the kingdom of God is like? Well the answer is Genesis.

Genesis 1-2 gives us the pattern of the kingdom - Eden is God’s Garden kingdom, this is the first place we see God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule. The first 2 chapters of the Bible actually establish the pattern for the whole rest of the Bible in terms of what it’s going to be about.

Now, maybe you’re thinking - hang on, this is all about too neat and tidy, we’ve created a grid of people, place and rule and we’re already beginning to just impose this on the whole Bible. It’s a bit forced or contrived. Gen 1- 2 doesn’t even mention ‘the kingdom of God’ so how can we say that the creation story is all about the pattern of the kingdom? Maybe you’ve never heard of this before, it’s not how you’ve read Genesis 1-2 …

Well these are good questions to ask - we must be very wary of imposing any sort of grid on the texts that makes them say what they are not saying. But I think those sorts of fears here really aren’t necessary and the reason I say that is because we need to interpret the creation account the way the rest of the Bible actually interprets it - and the rest of the Bible interprets creation in kingdom ways. So you’ll see on your sheets I’ve put:

God is the king of creation (Psalm 95:3-7)

Do you see what the Psalmist is arguing here? How do you know God is the King? Well look at the world - he made it. He made the lowest points of the earth, the highest points, the wet bits, the dry bits - he made it all. This is Genesis 1 and 2 interpreted isn’t it, to tell us God is king. And this means that when we get inside the Bible’s own way of interpreting the Bible we now go back to Genesis 1 and 2 and we read it knowing that it is proving not just an abstract doctrine of creation - it’s proving that God is king.

So in groups now I’d like us to look at other aspects of God’s kingly rule in creation:

God’s People What are we told about the relationship of: - God and human beings? - Human beings and creation?

God’s Place What do we learn about the place that God created?

God’s Rule/Blessing How does God rule his people in the place he has created? What are the benefits of living under God’s rule and the dangers of rejecting it?

2. The perished kingdom (Genesis 3-11) In Genesis 3 we see the kingdom perishing - God’s idyllic garden kingdom is wrecked by the fall. What happens in the fall is what I’ve put on your sheets there:

The Fall: God’s People in God’s Place rejecting God’s Rule

The created beings reject the rule of the Creator King, they try and make God subject to them, and yet they themselves are actually now subject to the created order, obeying a snake. It was meant to be God rules people who rule the creation … but Genesis 3 is creation ruling people trying to rule God, the entire order is inverted: that’s sin. It’s why in Romans 1 we repeatedly get the fall described as humanity ‘exchanging’ - taking what should be and exchanging it for the upside down back to front version.

And so now from Genesis 3-11 we get a fracturing, a disruption to all three of the elements of the kingdom:

God’s People

Two main things now happen to God’s people - they die and they’re divided. Again and again in Gen 3 -11 we get his phrase ‘and then he died … and then he died … and then he died. And also God’s original people of Adam and Eve become divided into a godly line and a godless line and this will now run through the whole Bible - from Adam we get Seth’s line which will lead to Noah and then Abraham … but the godly line that comes through Noah splits again into a godless line with his son Ham, and a godly line with Shem which will lead to Abraham. This a key way to read Genesis 3-11 - as we read it we should be asking, who is going to be God’s people again, who is going to get right what Adam and Eve got wrong?

God’s Place

God’s place is gone, Adam and Eve banished from the garden and:

God’s Rule

is seen now particularly in cursing and judgment - God curses the earth, sends judgment in the flood and with the Tower of Babel scattering mankind all over the earth.

So by chapter 11, things are in a pretty sorry state - the pattern of the kingdom has been destroyed by sin: the patterned kingdom has become the perished kingdom.

Week 1 Summary

GOD'S BIG PICTURE God's People God's Place God's RuleThe pattern of the kingdom Adam & Eve Eden God's Word The perished kingdom Seth's line Banished Curse & judgement  

Figure 2

GOD’S BIG PICTURE

God’s People

God’s Place

God’s Rule

The pattern of the kingdom

Adam and Eve

Eden

God’s Word

The perished

kingdom

Seth’s line

Banished

Curse and judgment

Further questions:

1) Do you ever find the Bible boring? Why?

2) If the Bible is about Jesus, how does Genesis 1 and 2 contribute to that? Look at Psalm 8; Hebrews 2:5-18; Colossians 1:15-20.

Gunnersbury Baptist Church, Bible Overview, No. 1, 14 May 2003

God’s Big Picture God’s People, in God’s Place, under God’s Rule 

____________________________________________________

Introduction

• The Bible … in 50 words!

• How not to do it

• How to try and do it:

- The Bible is about the kingdom of God (Mark 1:15)

- The Bible is about Jesus (Luke 24:25-27)

Figure 1

The Bible

The Kingdom of God

God’s People God’s Place God’s Rule

JESUS CHRIST

1. The pattern of the kingdom (Genesis 1-2)

• God is the king of creation (Psalm 95:3-7)

• God’s People

What are we told about the relationship of:

- God and human beings?

- Human beings and creation?

• God’s Place

- What do we learn about the place that God created?

• God’s Rule

- How does God rule his people in the place he created?

- What are the benefits of living under God’s rule and the dangers of rejecting it?

2. The perished kingdom (Genesis 3-11)

• The Fall: God’s people in God’s place rejecting God’s rule

• God’s People

• God’s Place

• God’s Rule

WEEK 2: THE PROMISED KINGDOM and THE PARTIAL KINGDOM (PART 1) Introduction If you had to divide the Bible in half ...

I wonder where you would do that if you had to? If you had to say this half of the Bible is clearly about this subject, and then the next half is all about this, where would you divide it?

You can probably tell from the very loaded question that I’m suggesting that simply Old Testament in one half and New Testament in the other half is not the best way to do it. In fact I would want to say that to split the Bible in half like that doesn’t really take account of the Bible’s storyline, the plot-line that we’re looking at in this course. So what I want to suggest to you is that Genesis 12 is where the Bible splits itself in half. Now it’s obviously not two equal halves so it’s maybe better to say that in Genesis 1-11 we have the first part of the Bible’s story and then from Genesis 12 - end of Revelation we have the second part of the Bible’s story.

John Stott says this about Genesis 12: “It may truly be said without exaggeration that not only the rest of the Old Testament but the whole of the New Testament are an outworking of the promises to Abraham.” Another way to think of it is that Genesis 12 is a bit like a sermon text - you know what happens on Sundays, Lewis has a sermon text, a passage from the Bible which he expounds - the whole sermon is unpacking that text. Well Genesis 12 is the passage which the whole rest of the Bible is going to expound and unpack.

So what we’re going to do tonight is look at the promise of the kingdom in Genesis 12 and then work out from there to trace the partial fulfilment of the promise through the Bible’s storyline. So two main elements - the promised kingdom and the partial kingdom. Let’s start in groups looking at the following questions:

1. The promised kingdom (Genesis 3, 12-24) Who and what is promised in Genesis 3:15?

What are the three main elements of the promises to Abraham?

(i) 12:2; 13:16, 15:5; 16:10; 17:3-6;18:18 (ii) 12:1,7; 13:14-15; 15:18-21, 17:8 (iii) 12:2-3; 17:2, 7-8; 18:19; 22:17

Taken together, what does the promise in 3:15 and the promises to Abraham tell us to look for as we read the rest of the Bible?

Answer: we should be looking for the offspring of Eve, the special family line traced from Adam and Eve to engage in a decisive conflict with the evil one. There are hints that within the family line we should be looking for an individual and even possibly a kingly individual (Gen 17). We should be looking for this promise to be fulfilled alongside the promises of people, place and blessing being fulfilled.

2. The partial kingdom: Part 1 (Genesis 12 - Joshua) Now that we’ve looked at the promise of the kingdom what we’re going to do is simply trace the fulfilment of those promises through the rest of Israel’s history. I’ve put a diagram on your sheets to help you see where we’re going:

On the left we’ve got the promises that we’ve just been looking at; then in the next bit, the arrow, from here until the rest of Israel’s history, we’re going to see these promises partially fulfilled. That whole section of Israel’s history is from Genesis 12 - 2 Chronicles, or if you like from Abraham all the way to Solomon. I’ve split this partial fulfilment into 2 halves - tonight we’re about to look at Genesis 12 - Joshua; next week we’ll do Judges - 2 Chronicles, and we’ll also look at the kingdom promises in Israel’s prophecy. But notice that I’ve put that whole period as a dotted arrow - it’s dotted because all the promises are only partially fulfilled and it’s an arrow obviously because that whole period is pointing forward to the day when Abraham’s seed, Jesus Christ will perfectly fulfil all the promises.

Now there are different ways of doing this - we could keep looking at people, place and rule through every single part of the Bible all the way to 2 Chronicles. But the reality is that along the storyline of the Bible, at different points different parts of the promises come into focus a bit more sharply than the others. So if you look at the next few headings you’ll see that we’re going to look at one of the promises in each part of the unfolding story.

(i) God’s People (Genesis 12 - Exodus 1)

From Genesis 12 - Exodus 1 the focus is on the gradual fulfilment of the promise that Abraham’s descendants would be a great nation - we see the line from Abraham traced all the way down to

Jacob and his twelve sons, and Exodus ends with the whole family line in slavery in Egypt. I’ve put the way that the line develops on your handouts for you:

Now just quickly, there’s some important lessons for us as we move through from Genesis 12 - Exodus, what I’ve called lessons from the line:

First thing we learn is that if the promises are to be fulfilled, only God can bring that about. You remember how it works, God promises Abraham a son, but in Genesis 16 Abraham decides to take matters into his own hands and sleeps with Hagar, all in the attempt to fulfil God’s promises himself … of course God tells him that the great nation he promised to Abraham will not come from Ishmael, but from Sarah. Only God can bring about his kingdom promises.

The second thing we learn is that we must trust God’s kingdom promises no matter what. We see this from that incredible story in Genesis 22 where Abraham is willing to sacrifice his own son, Isaac - if Isaac dies, God’s covenant kingdom promises are over surely? But that whole story is not just a general story about faith, but it’s particularly about Abraham’s faith in God’s kingdom promises - no matter what, Abraham knew that God would remain faithful to his own promises. And for us, we’re not just asked to trust God in some abstract way but to trust in the God who has made kingdom promises - no matter what we face we can be sure that God will not be unfaithful to his own promises.

A third lesson is that God does not choose people on their merit - this is what we see in the story of Jacob and Esau. Jacob is younger than Esau and he’s not a pleasant character, he deceives his father. Here we are seeing the pattern of how good works - choosing the unexpected, the younger, the guilty party and allowing the line of promise to come through them to show his grace.

And lastly we can see how God always over-rules in history to ensure that his kingdom promises are protected - the story of Joseph in Egypt. What’s very interesting is that at the end of Genesis the whole focus is on Joseph and what happens to him … and yet the royal line of God’s promise is not going to come through Joseph: he gets most of the attention but it’s actually Judah who is going to be the really significant son - look at Genesis 49:8-10. So I think what’s happening in the whole Joseph story is that God is putting Joseph in a position of power and influence that will actually save and preserve the promised line - because of what happens to Joseph, his brothers don’t die in the famine, Judah is preserved and so the promised line is preserved. God over-rules to protect his kingdom promises.

(ii) God’s Blessing/Rule (Exodus 2 - Numbers 9)

Remember the promise to Abraham “I will bless you” - well when we get to Exodus 3:7 the people of Israel seem far from experiencing God’s blessing: READ. So now we get God acting to bring his people back under his blessing, his good rule. And from here on we begin to see God’s blessing in a number of ways:

- Exodus 12:23 - Salvation by substitution (Passover) - Exodus 14 -15 - Salvation by rescue/conquest (Red Sea)

Both of these things teach us the way to come under God’s rule and blessing, here in Exodus we’re getting the patterns for the rest of the Bible - God always offers us his blessing by the death of another and conquest over the evil one. So we get John the Baptist saying that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and Jesus dies at Passover time; and do you remember how Paul describes our salvation in Colossians: “God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son” and also saying “having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross”.

The next key way we see God’s rule and blessing is the giving of the law at Sinai. With the giving of the law this is God’s people living under God’s rule, isn’t it. But we must see that actually the law is only ever meant as a response to God’s blessing, God’s salvation - look at Exodus 20:2: READ. So do you see what’s happening - the law is never a means to earn God’s blessing, God’s favour; it is simply a response to the salvation that has already been given. The Sinai situation is this: God’s people have experienced God’s blessing by his redemption and rescue - now how are they meant to carry on experiencing his blessing? By the law - look back at 19:4. If the people keep the law, they will experience God’s blessing.

And then lastly in the rest of Exodus what we have is the people experiencing God’s rule and blessing by means of the tabernacle - this is how God dwells among them, it’s the experience of God’s blessing by his presence among his people. But in the middle of all the tabernacle material we have chapter 32 - the golden calf incident. This is simply the problem of the perished kingdom repeating itself again isn’t it - God’s people rejecting God’s rule and blessing. So how can a holy God have his presence among his people - well the answer of course is Leviticus isn’t it, and the sacrificial system, that’s why Leviticus is there - to show us again that the only way to experience God’s blessing is by sacrifice

(iii) God’s Place (Numbers 10 - Joshua )

Now by the time we get to Numbers, what we have is God’s people, under God’s rule … but no land. Well in Numbers 10 the Israelites leave Sinai and really Numbers is actually the book of the Bible that should never have been written - God’s people, under God’s rule, heading to God’s promised land, what could surely go wrong? And yet exactly the same pattern repeats itself - God’s people reject God’s rule, or in this case they start grumbling about God’s blessing and even worse they don’t think God’s rule will be powerful enough to protect them against the Canaanites. And so God sentences them to forty years of wandering in the desert - all of them, apart from Caleb and Joshua will die before they enter the land. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10 that all of this is recorded as a warning for us - READ. We’re in a similar position aren’t we - we’ve been rescued and we’re en route to the promised land and yet how we live in this in-between-time matters! The Israelites in the desert are a serious warning to us.

When we get to Deuteronomy the next generation of Israelites are now standing on the brink of the promised land and Deuteronomy is simply a sermon preached by Moses to Israel with a very

simple message “don’t blow it like we did!” The word Deuteronomy literally means ‘second law’ - the whole book is a restatement of the law urging the people to be faithful to it to experience God’s blessing in the land. Deuteronomy also tells us that if the people don’t keep the law, they will experience God’s cursing, God’s judgment - look at Deuternonomy 28, READ a few verses. And where have we seen this before? It’s exactly the same pattern as Eden, isn’t it?

And then in Joshua of course we get the conquest of the land and the climax of the book - look at 21:43-45 - READ. This is a high point in Israel’s history - here are God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule.

Week 2 Summary

GOD'S BIG PICTURE God's People God's Place God's RuleThe pattern of the kingdom Adam & Eve Eden God's Word

The perished kingdom Seth's line Banished Curse & judgement

The promised kingdom Abraham Canaan Covenant

The partial kingdom Israel under Moses/Joshua

Canaan Tabernacle Sinai Covenant

(iii) God’s Place (Numbers 10 – Joshua )

• Numbers

• Deuteronomy

• Joshua 21:43-45

Figure 2

GOD’S BIG PICTURE

God’s People

God’s Place

God’s Rule

The pattern of the kingdom

Adam and Eve

Eden

God’s Word

The perished

kingdom

Seth’s line

Banished

Curse and judgment

The promise of the kingdom

Abraham

Canaan

Covenant

The partial kingdom

Israel under

Moses/Joshua

Canaan

Tabernacle

Sinai Covenant

God’s Big Picture God’s People, in God’s Place, under God’s Rule 

Week 2 – The promised kingdom and the partial kingdom (Part 1) 

____________________________________________________

Introduction

• If you had to divide the Bible in half ...

1. The promised kingdom (Genesis 3, 12-24)

• Who and what is promised in Genesis 3:15?

• What are the three main elements of the promises to Abraham?

(i) 12:2; 13:16, 15:5; 16:10; 17:3-6;18:18

(ii) 12:1,7; 13:14-15; 15:18-21, 17:8

(iii) 12:2-3; 17:2, 7-8; 18:19; 22:17

• What do the promises in 3:15 and to Abraham tell us to look for as we read the rest of the Bible?

2. The partial kingdom: Part 1 (Genesis 12 – Joshua)

Figure 1

The kingdom of God

Genesis 3, 12ff Genesis 12 - 2 Chronicles Mark 1:15

(Abraham – Solomon) Jesus Christ

Promised Perfect Fulfilment Partial Fulfilment

(i) God’s People (Genesis 12 – Exodus 1)

Abraham

Isaac

Esau Jacob

12 sons (Judah)

Royal Line

Four lessons from the Genesis ‘line’:

•

•

•

•

(ii) God’s Blessing/Rule (Exodus 2 – Numbers 9)

• Exodus 12 - Salvation by substitution (Passover)

• Exodus 14 - Salvation by rescue/conquest (Red Sea)

• Exodus 20:2; 19:4 - The Law

• Exodus 25ff - The Tabernacle

• Leviticus – The Sacrifices

WEEK 3: THE PARTIAL KINGDOM (PART 2) and THE PROPHESIED KINGDOM Introduction Joshua 21:43-45 - Why is this only partial fulfilment of the promises to Abraham?

Last week we looked at the promise of the kingdom to Abraham and then we looked at the partial fulfilment of the promises all the way up to the Israelites entering the land of Canaan. And do you remember how we finished? READ Joshua 21:43 - 45. Now I’d like us to start by thinking about this question together, discuss it with the person next to you: why is this only partial fulfilment of the promises to Abraham …

1. The partial kingdom (Part 2) The answer is because of what happens in Judges ch 1 - there is still fighting to be done. Now this doesn’t contradict Joshua 21; what’s happening here is that the Lord has given the whole land to the Israelites, victory is guaranteed, all they have to do is go round and mop up all the little pockets of Canaanite resistance - but look at 1:27, 29, 30, 31 READ and so on. And the result of this is 2:10ff -15 … now in terms of what we’ve seen of the Bible’s storyline so far, what is the pattern here? God’s people, in God’s place, rejecting God’s rule.

And what happens now is that God raises up Judges - 2:16 but look at what happens straight away. And so what happens now is that we get this repeated note 4 times in the book: “In those days, Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit” 17:6, “In those days Israel had no king”, 18:1; 19:1; 21:25. What’s happening here is that big questions are being asked - what is it going to take to bring about God’s perfectly realized kingdom? Who or what will be able to make God’s people live in God’s place under God’s rule. And of course Judges is hinting isn’t it that it is not going to come about without a king - the people are heading towards monarchy.

17:6 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.

18:1 In those days Israel had no king.

19:1 In those days Israel had no king.

21:25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.

So let’s turn to 1 Samuel 8:4,5 - Samuel is really Israel’s greatest Judge but his sons who follow after him are wicked, so we get these words in 8:4 - READ. Listen to what Vaughan Roberts says on this: “God is angry with them for their request, not because they want a king but because

of their motivation in asking for one. They want a king instead of God rather than a king under God. In their desire to be like the other nations they are rejecting God’s kingship over them, which made them unique. They want a monarchy instead of a theocracy” (God’s Big Picture, p. 80).

This is important - right from the start of the Bible, as far back as Abraham, we get hints that kingship is not a bad thing, God himself promises that there will be kings among God’s people. But the key thing is that the king had to be obedient to God’s rule - the king was to be the primary example, the perfect model if you like of God’s person in God’s place under God’s rule. This is what Moses said in Deuteronomy: READ 17:14-20. So this actually tells us how we are to interpret the kings in the rest of the Bible - these words from Moses tell us what to look for in a king. So when we come back to 1 Samuel now and look at Israel’s first king Saul, it’s interesting to see why God rejects him as king - look at 1 Samuel 15:23 - READ.

Now from here the spotlight switches to David as King, and then to his son Solomon as king. David is a great king - he establishes Jerusalem as his capital city, and he secures peace in the land. The ark which symbolizes God’s presence and rule is brought into the city. Israel enjoys peace and prosperity … still this is only partial fulfilment - why?

For at least two reasons - David himself is not the perfect king (Bathsheba) and because of 2 Samuel 7:8 - 16. Let’s look at this together - READ vs 8 - 11. Now what does this remind you of? It’s a reaffirmation of the promises to Abraham isn’t it. But then look at the next bit - vs 11b -16.

Now there has to be 2 levels of meaning to this doesn’t there? On the one hand it has to be referring to David’s son Solomon - he is the one going to build the temple, v13, and he is the one who will be punished when he messes up. But the promises also seem to point even beyond Solomon don’t they - someone from David’s line whose kingdom throne will be established forever. What we’re looking for from here on is God’s king, the son of David, who will be greater than David or Solomon - and do you remember Jesus’ words in Luke 11:31? READ

Now with Solomon’s reign, we are really into what we can call Israel’s golden age - Israel is living the good life, or we could call it the kingdom life. The temple is built during his reign and listen to what he says at the temple’s dedication - 1 Kings 8:56 - 61 - READ. God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule. And do you remember the promise to Abraham that all the nations would be blessed? Well there are hints of this in Solomon’s reign as we see things like the Queen of Sheba coming to visit in chapter 10 - Solomon’s reign causes her to praise Israel’s God. God’s people, in G’s place, under God’s rule - being a blessing to the nations exactly like they were meant to be.

But, again, you know what’s coming, don’t you - even at its best, this is still only partial fulfilment. In chapter 11 of 1 Kings we learn about all of Solomon’s foreign wives. God promises judgment on Solomon, but for David’s sake he will delay it until after Solomon’s death.

But from here on we are into a period of great decline. Effectively it is now a time of civil war - the northern tribes of Israel rebel against Solomon’s son Rehoboam and so what we have now is a divided kingdom. It gets a bit confusing - from here on the northern kingdom is called Israel, and the southern kingdom is called Judah - see sheets. There’s an outline of OT history on that sheet I’ve given you, it shows you the division.

(Here insert picture of the outline of biblical history - available in Goldsworthy, Gospel and Kingdom)

From here on there are some good kings in both kingdoms but really both kingdoms are into a downward spiral - king after king rejects God’s rule and refuses to lead God’s people to live under God’s rule. So the next big thing on the horizon is the punishment of exile - and you can see from your sheet that the northern kingdom is destroyed in 722 by the Assyrians; the southern kingdom lasts a little longer but is also punished with exile - in 597 the Babylonians take some of the inhabitants, in 586 they come back and destroy the city and the temple.

Now this isn’t all just boring history - we need to interpret it theologically. What is happening here? Well the partially fulfilled kingdom is gone, it has been dismantled. The people show very little evidence of being God’s people; they are not in God’s place, but in exile; they are under God’s cursing and judgment, not his blessing - it’s as if this is Eden all over again isn’t it? From Abraham to Solomon we have had God’s kingdom promises partially fulfilled but then the kingdom dismantled through the people’s regular rejection of God’s rule. But this whole pattern of the partially fulfilled kingdom is like a model of how all the promises to Abraham are going to be perfectly fulfilled. Listen to how Vaughan Roberts describes it:

Within the context of the Bible as a whole, the history of Israel serves as a model. That model of Concorde you made as a child may have been very impressive, but it was not the real thing. It pointed to something bigger and better: the aeroplane itself. In a similar way, the partial kingdom is just a shadow of the perfect kingdom that God will establish through Jesus Christ. It points beyond itself to him. Yes, it was great for the Israelites to be rescued from slavery to the Egyptians, but that rescue is just a pale shadow of the perfect redemption achieved by Jesus on the cross (John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7). Yes, it was wonderful for the Israelites to have God’s presence in their midst in the tabernacle and the temple, but those structures were just shadows of the one in whom the presence of God was perfectly manifest: ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling [or “tabernacled”] among us’ (John 1:14). And yes, David and Solomon were great kings, but Jesus is far greater (Mark 12:35-37; Luke 11:31). God may have rejected his model, but he has not forgotten his promises (GBP, p. 87).

2. The prophesied kingdom Now when we get to the OT prophets, they are there simply to show that great truth - God has not forgotten his promises. That’s the message of the prophets. Now as we come to look at no. 2 on your sheets then, the prophesied kingdom, it’s important to see how the prophets are connected to everything that we’ve looked at so far.

A really helpful way of thinking about the prophets is to imagine them as covenant guard-dogs - God makes a covenant with Abraham, and a covenant at Sinai, and then he provides prophets whose role is very simply to keep the people faithful to the covenant - if you like the prophets bark when Israel begins to stray towards breaking the covenant. So even before we get to the great writing prophets like Isaiah or Amos, we’ve got prophets like Moses, Elijah and Elisha … and again what they say is this: here is God’s covenant; if you keep it and live under God’s rule, all will be well with you; if you break it and reject God’s rule, you will face God’s judgment. So with the well known prophets Elijah and Elisha, we have a situation where the nation has totally turned its back on God and their entire message is to say to Israel’s kings - repent of your idolatry and turn back to God.

Well as we move on from Elijah and Elisha we get into the period of what we call the writing prophets - the prophets whose oracles were recorded - you can see where some of them come on the timeline. Now there is a very helpful way of summing up their message, all the OT prophets can be understood as essentially saying this:

God has rejected the model of the kingdom, but he will never reject the promises of the kingdom In other words the entire burden of the prophets’ message is judgment and grace. The prophets are constantly saying - “if you keep on rejecting God’s rule, you will experience God’s judgment”; and yet they’re also saying “judgment is not the end; God in his grace will still keep the promises to Abraham.” Listen yet again to how Vaughan Roberts puts it:

While their history proclaimed the failure of Israel, the prophets proclaim the future of Israel. They speak of good times ahead in terms of action replay: ‘Do you remember what it was like in the good old days under Moses, David and Solomon?’ they ask. ‘Well, it will be like that again in the future, only much better.’ There will be a new exodus, a new covenant, a new nation, a new Jerusalem, a new temple, a new king, and even a new creation. God will not rebuild the model, the partial kingdom, but he will establish that to which it pointed, the real thing, the perfect kingdom: God’s people in God’s place, under God’s rule and enjoying his blessing. The prophets spoke of the ultimate fulfilment of all three of those kingdom promises (GBP, p. 95).

So what we’re going to do now is simply to look at how the prophets prophesy the kingdom - what do the prophets say about the fulfilment of people, place and blessing. But here I’m going to give you two options for group work: you can either look at the prophets in Working it out or you can look at a particular passage in Thinking it through to try and apply all of this thinking. In Thinking it through we’re really trying to see what difference this approach to the Bible’s storyline makes to how we read and apply it.

1. Working it out …

The prophesied kingdom

1. God’s People

What are the different elements in the prophesies concerning God’s people?

Isaiah 10:20-21

Isaiah 44:1-2; 49:3-5; 52:13 - 53:12

Isaiah 49:6; 60:1-3

2. God’s Place

What are the different elements in the prophesies concerning God’s place?

Isaiah 51:3; Ezekiel 36:33-36

Ezekiel 40 - 48

Isaiah 65:17-18

3. God’s Rule/Blessing

What are the different elements in the prophesies concerning God’s rule?

Jeremiah 31:31-33

Isaiah 9:6-7; Daniel 7:13-14

2. Thinking it through …

The partial kingdom

You are preparing a Bible study on 1 Samuel 17 - the story of David & Goliath. You have 2 key starting points from the excellent book God’s Big Picture (IVP) which you managed to get at half price and which you’ve been reading daily for weeks on end: (i) the Bible is about God’s kingdom (people, place and rule) and (ii) the Bible is about Jesus (Luke 24).

How do these two things influence how you understand 1 Samuel 17 and apply it today?

Week 3 Summary

GOD'S BIG PICTURE God's People God's Place God's Rule

The pattern of the kingdom Adam & Eve Eden God's Word

The perished Seth's line Banished Curse &

kingdom judgement The promised kingdom Abraham Canaan Covenant

The partial kingdom

Israel under Moses/Joshua Canaan Tabernacle Sinai Covenant

The prophesied kingdom

Remnant of Israel, servant, nations

Restored Land, New Temple, New Creation

New Covenant, New King

Figure 2

GOD’S BIG PICTURE

God’s People

God’s Place

God’s Rule

The pattern of the kingdom

Adam and Eve

Eden

God’s Word

The perished

kingdom

Seth’s line

Banished

Curse and judgment

The promised

kingdom

Abraham

Canaan

Covenant

The partial kingdom

Israel (under

Moses/Joshua)

Israel (under the Judges then

monarchy)

Canaan

Tabernacle

Canaan Jerusalem Temple

Sinai Covenant

Sinai Covenant The king

The prophesied

kingdom

Remnant of Israel, the servant,

the nations

Restored land, new temple, new creation

New covenant

New king

God’s Big Picture

God’s People, in God’s Place, under God’s Rule 

Week 3 – The partial kingdom (Part 2) and the prophesied kingdom 

____________________________________________________

Introduction

• Joshua 21:43-45 – Why is this only partial fulfilment of the promises to Abraham?

1. The partial kingdom (Part 2) 

• Judges 1:27, 29, 30, 31

17:6 In those days Israel had no king;

everyone did as he saw fit.

18:1 In those days Israel had no king.

19:1 In those days Israel had no king.

21:25 In those days Israel had no king;

everyone did as he saw fit.

• 1 Samuel 8:4,5: the desire for a king

• Deuteronomy 17:14-20: what to look for in your king

• I Samuel 15:23: the problem with Saul as king

• 2 Samuel 7:8-16: the promise to David as king

• 1 Kings 8:56-61: the golden age with Solomon as king

• The division of the kingdoms

2. The prophesied kingdom

• God’s covenant guard-dogs

• The essential message of the writing prophets:

1. Working it out …

The prophesied kingdom

1. God’s People

What are the different elements in the prophesies concerning God’s people?

• Isaiah 10:20-21

• Isaiah 44:1-2; 49:3-5; 52:13 – 53:12

• Isaiah 49:6; 60:1-3

2. God’s Place

What are the different elements in the prophesies concerning God’s place?

• Isaiah 51:3; Ezekiel 36:33-36

• Ezekiel 40 – 48

• Isaiah 65:17-18

3. God’s Rule/Blessing

What are the different elements in the prophesies concerning God’s rule?

• Jeremiah 31:31-33

• Isaiah 9:6-7; Daniel 7:13-14

2. Thinking it through …

The partial kingdom

You are preparing a Bible study on 1 Samuel 17 – the story of David & Goliath. You have 2 key starting points from the excellent book God’s Big Picture (IVP) which you managed to get at half price and which you’ve been reading daily for weeks on end: (i) the Bible is about God’s kingdom (people, place and rule) and (ii) the Bible is about Jesus (Luke 24).

How do these two things influence how you understand 1 Samuel 17 and apply it today?

WEEK 4: THE PRESENT KINGDOM Introduction “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.” 2 Corinthians 1:20

This evening we come to the last of our Bible overview sessions - and the aim of tonight is to see how the theme of God’s kingdom - people, place and rule - comes to its climax. And very simply they key to it at all, the final piece of the story that we’re going to look at tonight is to see how all three of those themes find their ultimate fulfilment in Christ: he is God’s true, ultimate person; he is God’s perfectly fulfilled place; he is now the source of God’s rule over us. You can see that verse there from 2 Corinthians - all of God’s promises find their yes in Jesus, he fulfils them. So tonight we’re simply going to run through how Jesus fulfils each of those kingdom promises:

1. The present kingdom

(i) God’s People

Firstly let’s look at God’s people. I think this is probably one of the most foundational things to get right in reading the New Testament today - we often think like this: in the OT, God’s people are Adam and Eve, then Abraham, then Israel and so on; in the NT, God’s people are us, the church. Now that’s partly true, we’ve already looked at some aspects of that in previous weeks, but thinking of it like that misses the fact that the line of God’s people in the Bible narrows all the way down to Jesus first, he is God’s person, God’s true Israel, the second Adam, the Son of David and so on, and then out to us. Jesus ultimately fulfils God’s promises, not us. Let’s look at some of these:

Jesus is the second/true/last Adam - Luke 3:21-4:13; Romans 5:18-21; 1 Corinthians 15:20-22; 45-49

Let’s turn to Luke 3:21 - now what’s going on here is that Luke is wanting us to compare Jesus as the son of God with Adam as the Son of God. You can see that the whole passage is completely geared around the notion of sonship - READ vs 21-23 … and then we get a long list of sons all the way back to Adam, the son of God. So we’ve been told that Adam is the son of God and then straight away in Luke 4 the devil says to Jesus “If you are the son of God … do this”. What Luke wants us to see is that Jesus the son of God is now going to be contrasted with Adam as the son of God - will Jesus the son do what Adam the son did? Or will be different? Will he be obedient, will he trust God? And so then those other passages that I’ve listed there for you are all about what happens now that Jesus has succeeded where Adam failed - so we get all the language about Adam bringing death, but Christ bringing life and so on.

Now what all of this means is that Jesus Christ fulfils God’s purposes for mankind - because he is the second or true or last Adam, Jesus is the true man: Jesus is everything you and I were

meant to be. You can see this in Hebrews 2:5-8. Now those verses are a quotation from Psalm 8, a Psalm all about God’s creation plans for man - do you remember God’s words to Adam to fill the earth and subdue it, God put everything under man’s feet. And look at the rest of the verse - READ v8b [substituting ‘man’ for ‘him’] - everything in the world was meant to be under man’s feet. “Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him” - now isn’t that a perfect description of our world: we look at mankind today and would we say that man is ruling the world exactly like he was meant to? No - wars, earthquakes, floods, disasters - everything is not yet subject to man. BUT, v9, we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels (like man), now crowned with glory and honour (like man) because he suffered death - do you see what’s happening? Jesus is the true man, the proper man - come to fulfil all of God’s purposes for man

Jesus is the true Israel (Galatians 3:14 - 16; Matthew 2:15)

Do you remember the promises to Abraham - from Abraham a great nation would come who would be a blessing to many nations - the nations would be blessed through Abraham’s line, through Israel. And a few weeks ago we saw in Isaiah that God commissioned his servant Israel: “I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth” (49:6). Well, Paul is saying in Galatians that that promise is now fulfilled in Jesus - he is the true Israel, he is the seed of Abraham, who brings blessing to the nations. You see, you and I here tonight in Gunnersbury as Christians because Jesus did what Israel failed to do - instead of being a light to the nations, Israel lived like the nations, sometimes even worse than them; but Jesus is the true Israel, obedient, faithful Israel and so now brings God’s blessing to Gentiles, to you and me.

So God’s promises to Abraham, and even God’s promises to humanity right back in the garden with Adam, are all fulfilled in Jesus - he is God’s true Adam, true Israel, true King.

(ii) God’s Place

Now, more quickly, when we come to think about God’s place there are a number of things we’ve got to hold together. God’s place in the Bible starts with Eden, then the land of Canaan and within that has special places like the tabernacle and temple. And when we get to the prophets and the people have been sent into exile, we saw last time that the prophets say that there will be a return to the land but it will be even better than before, it will be like Eden was at the very beginning. And right at the centre of God’s land is Jerusalem, or Zion, God’s city - the prophets said that at the end of the exile the people would return to Zion.

Now again, when we get to the New Testament all of these promises are fulfilled in Jesus: Jesus is the place where God now dwells:

Jesus is the true tabernacle (John 1:14) Jesus is the true temple (John 2:18-22) Jesus reigns from the true Zion, heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22)

Now this has a lot of really big applications for us: what it means very simply is that God’s place is where Jesus is and what this means is the end of all our notions of sacred space - no more sacred buildings, no more sacred land. Now, what does this do to our view of church … do we regard Jesus as God’s place or our building? That big building is not God’s house, God does not meet with us in there in any different way from how he meets with you in your bedroom or at your kitchen table.

And I think this also affects politics and how we view Israel and what we call the holy lands. I grew up in a church tradition mad about Israel and end-time prophecies and lots of media-analysis about who was doing what to the land, or what is happening to the land of Israel. And now I think that understanding the Bible’s storyline simply means that the land is irrelevant theologically - it is not where God dwells anymore. Now even if we’re not into middle-eastern politics and all that, I think there can still be a slight tendency sometimes to think that a trip to Israel and all the places of the Bible would have some sort of spiritual benefit, maybe that we’d feel closer to God to walk where Jesus walked and so on. And the Bible’s storyline says NO!

Actually this is what is happening in the book of Hebrews - it’s all about converted Jews who are actually beginning to want to go back to Judaism, to visible religion. When you think about it, Christianity is so radically different isn’t it - a temple you can’t see, a sacrifice you can’t see, a high priest you can’t see, sacred space you can’t see or enter, how inadequate compared to Judaism’s vibrant rituals and colourful festivals. And the writer of Hebrews is saying constantly: don’t go back to visible religion. You haven’t come to a mountain that can be touched etc - look at all the extremely physical imagery in 12:18ff … the writer is saying “look to go back to all of that, no matter how visible it was, well, all you’re going back to is a shadow, just a copy, an imitation of the real thing: you have the real thing now as you come to Christ.”

(iii) God’s Rule

Jesus mediates the new covenant (Galatians 3:13-14; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 9:15)

One of the promises to Abraham was God saying “I will bless you” … and the main way we’ve seen that played out is as God’s makes covenants with Abraham and then with Israel and then David - the covenants show God’s blessing. And what happens with the covenants is that they say to Israel: “Be obedient and you will experience covenant blessings - a fruitful land etc; BUT be disobedient and you will experience covenant curses - you will go into exile, the land will be come barren” and so on - that’s what Deuteronomy 28 makes clear.

Now when we get to the New Testament what is very interesting is to see that God’s blessing now comes explicitly via Jesus - the blessing of the covenant comes to us from Jesus because Jesus bears the curse of the covenant: LOOK AT Galatians 3:13-14 - READ. So what’s happening here is a summary of the Bible’s story-line: Paul is saying to us “Look, we’re all under the curse of the law - we’ve all broken it, rejected God’s rule, just like Adam and Eve banished from the garden, just like Israel banished from the land of Cannan - we all deserve exile, the covenant curse of God’s judgment. But Jesus took the curse, the judgment for breaking the law, instead of us … and because of that, blessings now flow to us from what Jesus did. Jesus lives a perfect life for us, and then dies our death for us.

And this death, this great exchange on the cross, Jesus says that this blessing that it will bring to all the nations, to you and to me, is the new covenant - remember his words at his last supper, “this cup is the new covenant in my blood” - and listen to how Hebrews 9:15 describes it: “Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised inheritance - now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.” Because of his death, taking God’s judgment on himself, Jesus is now the source of God’s blessing.

Jesus rules as the true King (Matthew 1:1-17; Acts 2:29-33)

Do you remember again how mingled in with the promises to Abraham were the promises that kings would come from his line … and we saw that partially fulfilled in David and Solomon and the kings of Israel, and the king was meant to be the embodiment of the people, their representative before God - the king lived under God’s rule and the people lived under the king’s rule under God’s rule But remember God’s promise to David: “When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom … I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever” (2 Sam. 7:12-13). This is why Jesus is King - he is great David’s greater Son.

2. Where do we fit in? Working it out

(i) God’s People

Galatians 3:29; 1 Peter 2:9; Romans 2:28-29

(ii) God’s Place 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19-20; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:4-5

(iii) God’s Rule/Blessing Romans 8:15-17; 2 Corinthians 1:20-22

3. The End (i) God’s People - Revelation 7:9-17

(ii) God’s Place - Revelation 21:1-5, 22-27

(iii) God’s Rule/Blessing - Revelation 21:3-4; 22:1-3

Week 4 Summary

GOD'S BIG PICTURE God's People God's Place God's Rule

The pattern of the kingdom Adam & Eve Eden God's Word

The perished kingdom Seth's line Banished Curse & judgement

The promised kingdom Abraham Canaan Covenant

The partial kingdom

Israel under Moses/Joshua Canaan Tabernacle Sinai Covenant

The prophesied kingdom

Remnant of Israel, servant, nations

Restored Land, New Temple, New Creation

New Covenant, New King

JESUS CHRIST JESUS CHRIST JESUS CHRIST The present kingdom

New Israel - those in Christ

Individual Believers, Church

New Covenant, Deposit of the Spirit

GOD’S BIG PICTURE

God’s People

God’s Place

God’s Rule

The pattern of the kingdom

Adam and Eve

Eden

God’s Word

The perished

kingdom

Seth’s line

Banished

Curse and judgment

The promised

kingdom

Abraham

Canaan

Covenant

The partial kingdom

Israel (under

Moses/Joshua)

Israel (under the Judges then

monarchy)

Canaan

Tabernacle

Canaan Jerusalem Temple

Sinai Covenant

Sinai Covenant The king

The prophesied

Kingdom

Remnant of Israel, the servant,

the nations

Restored land, new temple, new creation

New covenant

New king

JESUS

CHRIST 

The present

Kingdom

New Israel

- those ‘in Christ’

The individual believer; the

church

The New

covenant, deposit of the Spirit

God’s Big Picture God’s People, in God’s Place, under God’s Rule 

Week 4 – The present kingdom 

____________________________________________________

Introduction

• “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.” 2 Corinthians 1:20

1. The present kingdom

(i) God’s People

• Jesus is the second/true/last Adam – Luke 3:21-4:13; Romans 5:18-21;

1 Corinthians 15:20-22; 45-49

• Jesus is the true Israel (Galatians 3:14 – 16; Matthew 2:15)

(ii) God’s Place

• Jesus is the true tabernacle (John 1:14)

• Jesus is the true temple (John 2:18-22)

• Jesus reigns from the true Zion, heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22)

(iii) God’s Rule

• Jesus mediates the new covenant (Galatians 3:13-14; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 9:15)

• Jesus rules as the true King (Matthew 1:1-17; Acts 2:29-33)

2. Where do we fit in? Working it out …

(i) God’s People

- Galatians 3:29; 1 Peter 2:9; Romans 2:28-29

(ii) God’s Place

- 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19-20; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:4-5

(iii) God’s Rule/Blessing

- Romans 8:15-17; 2 Corinthians 1:20-22

3. The End

(i) God’s People – Revelation 7:9-17

(ii) God’s Place – Revelation 21:1-5, 22-27

(iii) God’s Rule/Blessing – Revelation 21:3-4; 22:1-3