By Barnabas Piper
Throughout the Old Testament, we see God establishing a people for Himself, raising up leaders like Moses and Joshua, judges like Gideon and Deborah, and kings like David and Solomon. And we see that none of these leaders, amazing as they were, ushered in a permanent victorious kingdom of God. In fact, what followed them was failure, unfaithfulness, and exile. So God’s people were dispersed from the land God had promised them and seemed further away than ever from that permanent victorious kingdom. But God had not abandoned them. He was with them in their dispersion and spoke to them through His prophets—people like Daniel.
In Daniel 2, the prophet interpreted a dream for Nebuchadnezzar, telling him of multiple coming great kingdoms, and saying, ““In the days of those kings, the God of the heavens will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not be left to another people. It will crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever” (Daniel 2:44). While in the days of those kinds of kings, God would establish His eternal, unassailable kingdom during the reign of earthly kings. Further in the chapter, Daniel says, “One like a son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven. He was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him” (Daniel 7:13–14). So not only would this kingdom be established while earthly kings reigned, it would be established among all people. How could this be?
This is because the kingdom of God is not like any earthly kingdom. It is not based on geography or national borders (though it does cover the whole earth). It is not specific to one nationality or people group but rather draws from all of them. It is not politically or militarily powered, though Christ Himself “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3). It does not grow through dominance and aggression because it “‘is not of this world” (John 18:36), growing instead through proclamation of the King, submission to the King, and servanthood like the King. And as we know, that King is Jesus. He is the One who ushered in God’s kingdom through his earthly ministry, just as John the Baptist declared: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news! ” (Mark 1:14–15)
The work of Jesus and the kingdom He established is good news. It is the best news because it is the promise of eternal life. The Old Testament foreshadowed and promised this. All those leaders pointed to Jesus. All the promises told of Jesus. And to be part of the kingdom of Christ—an act as simple as repenting and believing in Him—is to be part of that permanent victorious kingdom.
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