How God Became King

1. The Forgotten Story: God Became King.

most of the Western Christian tradition has simply forgotten what the gospels are really all about.

A fundamental problem. For centuries, Christians have missed the main point of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Despite intense study, we've often overlooked the central message: how God became king through Jesus. This isn't just fine-tuning; it requires a fundamental rethink of how we read the Gospels.

Beyond birth, death, resurrection. While the Gospels include Jesus's birth, death, and resurrection (reflected in creeds), they dedicate significant space to his life and ministry in between. We've treated this "middle" as an "empty cloak," failing to ask why Jesus lived and what his actions meant for God's plan.

Fitting Gospels into frameworks. We've often fitted the Gospels into frameworks derived from other sources, like Pauline theology focused on atonement and justification, or creeds that jump from birth to death. This has screened out the Gospels' primary claim: God's kingdom is coming on earth as in heaven, and Jesus is bringing it.

2. Gospels as Climax of Israel's Story.

the four gospels present themselves as the climax of the story of Israel.

Unfinished narrative. Israel's ancient scriptures tell an unfinished story of God's chosen people, marked by glorious beginnings, failure, and exile. Despite returning from Babylon, they remained under foreign rule, longing for the promised redemption and the fulfillment of prophecies like Daniel's "seventy weeks of years."

Jesus as the Jubilee. The Gospels frame Jesus's story as the long-awaited climax of Israel's history. Matthew's genealogy, structured in fourteen-generation blocks (three sets of fourteen, leading to the seventh seven), signals Jesus as the ultimate "jubilee," the time of real, lasting freedom and return from exile.

More than flashbacks. Jesus's life recapitulates key moments in Israel's story (Moses on the mountain, David on the sabbath, Elijah/Elisha's miracles). But more importantly, the Gospels see Jesus as bringing the entire stalled narrative to its God-ordained goal, even if it wasn't the expected kind of fulfillment.

3. Jesus's Story is God's Return to His People.

the story of Jesus is the story of Israel’s God coming back to his people as he had always promised.

God's dwelling place. The biblical story, from creation (world as God's temple) to Exodus (tabernacle/Shekinah) to Temple, is about God dwelling with his people. The destruction of the Temple symbolized God's departure, leaving a longing for his return (Malachi).

YHWH's visitation. The Gospels portray Jesus's actions as the fulfillment of this hope. Mark applies prophecies about YHWH's coming (Isaiah, Malachi) directly to Jesus's arrival and baptism. Luke explicitly states that Jesus's arrival in Jerusalem is "the moment when God was visiting you" (Luke 19:44).

Seeing Jesus, thinking God. The Gospels don't just say "Jesus is divine" abstractly. They show Jesus doing things only Israel's God was expected to do:

• Calming storms (Mark 4:35-41, echoing Psalms)
• Receiving worship (Matthew 14:32-33)
• Doing what "God has done" (Luke 8:39)
• Being "Emmanuel" (Matthew 1:23)

This "high Jewish Christology" is about God returning in person to establish his rule.

4. Gospels Launch God's Renewed People.

the gospels were telling his story in such a way as to say that this was indeed the moment when “our movement,” the early Christian “Way,” as it was sometimes called, was launched.

Foundational documents. The Gospels are not just historical accounts; they are foundational documents for the early Christian movement. They tell Jesus's story to explain the raison d'être and direction of the church, much like national myths explain a country's identity.

Renewal, not replacement. Jesus came to rescue and renew Israel, not replace it. The Gospels show Jesus calling and commissioning disciples (the Twelve) as a symbolic act of reconstituting God's people. This renewed people is the vehicle for God's ongoing work.

Mission and suffering. The Gospels' ending commissions (Matthew 28, John 20, Luke 24/Acts 1) show Jesus launching his followers on a mission rooted in his life and accomplishment. This mission involves:

• Announcing the kingdom to all nations
• Making disciples
• Bearing witness, often through suffering (Mark 8:34-9:1, echoed in Acts and letters)

The church's life is a continuation of Jesus's cross-shaped kingdom work.

5. The Clash of God's Kingdom and Caesar's.

The fourth element in the music to which we must pay proper attention, along with everything else, is the story of Jesus told as the story of the kingdom of God clashing with the kingdom of Caesar.

Ancient conflict. Israel's story is also a story of God confronting arrogant pagan empires (Babel, Egypt, Babylon). Prophecies like Isaiah and Daniel depict God's ultimate triumph over these powers and the establishment of his worldwide kingdom.

Caesar's challenge. The Gospels place Jesus's story within this ongoing conflict. Luke opens with Caesar Augustus's decree, highlighting Roman authority. The charge against Jesus before Pilate is explicitly political: "saying that he is the Messiah—a king!" (Luke 23:2).

Redefining power. Jesus confronts this clash not with conventional force, but by redefining power:

• Kings "lord it over" subjects; Jesus's followers serve (Mark 10:42-45).
• His kingdom is "not from this world" (John 18:36), meaning its origin is divine, not earthly power structures.
• He tells Pilate his authority comes "from above" (John 19:11), placing Caesar's rule under God's ultimate sovereignty.

The Gospels show God's kingdom confronting and ultimately overcoming Caesar's, not by violence, but by a radically different kind of power.

6. Kingdom and Cross are Inseparably Linked.

for the gospel writers themselves, there was never a kingdom message without a cross, and Jesus’s crucifixion never carried a meaning divorced from the launching of God’s kingdom.

A modern split. Western Christianity has often separated "kingdom" (social justice, ethics) and "cross" (personal salvation, atonement). This creates "kingdom Christians" and "cross Christians" who miss the integrated vision of the Gospels.

Gospels' fusion. The Gospels effortlessly fuse these themes. Jesus's announcement of the kingdom is shadowed by the cross from the start (Luke 4:16-30). His prediction of suffering follows immediately after Peter's confession of him as Messiah (Mark 8:27-33).

Suffering Messiah. The concept of a suffering Messiah is rooted in Old Testament texts like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53, which link suffering to ultimate vindication and the establishment of God's worldwide rule. The Gospels apply these texts to Jesus's death.

The Gospels insist that Jesus's suffering and death are not a deviation from his kingdom mission, but the very means by which it is accomplished.

7. The Cross Redefines Kingdom Power.

The paradox remains, and those who engage most directly in the work of the kingdom know, again and again, that the principalities and powers they are confronting are cruel, mean, and dirty.

Not triumphalism. The kingdom inaugurated by Jesus is radically defined by his suffering and the cross. This prevents it from being a worldly power grab or a simple triumphalism. The victory comes through apparent defeat.

Servant leadership. Jesus contrasts his way of power with that of pagan rulers (Mark 10:42-45). His kingdom is built on servant leadership, exemplified by his own life and culminating in his death. This is the "ransom for many."

Confronting evil. The cross is the ultimate confrontation with the "ruler of this world" and the dark forces behind human empires (John 12:31, Colossians 2:15). Jesus's death is the decisive victory over these powers, not a sign of their triumph.

The cross reveals that God's kingdom power operates through self-giving love and suffering, not coercive force, challenging worldly notions of strength and victory.

8. The Kingdom Redefines the Cross's Meaning.

Whatever the cross achieves must be articulated, if we are to take the four gospels seriously, within the context of the kingdom-bringing victory.

Beyond personal salvation. Traditional atonement theology often focuses on the cross solely as a mechanism for forgiving individual sins so people can "go to heaven." The Gospels demand a broader understanding within the context of God's kingdom coming to earth.

Messianic victory. The cross is the means by which God (in Jesus) becomes king of the world. It is a messianic victory over the powers of evil and death, establishing God's sovereign rule. This is the primary meaning the Gospels give to Jesus's death.

Substitution and representation. The cross involves substitution (Jesus dying for the guilty) and representation (Jesus embodying Israel's vocation). These aspects make sense within the kingdom narrative:

• Jesus, as Israel's representative Messiah, is fitted to be the substitute.
• His death achieves the "jubilee" forgiveness of sins, a key feature of the kingdom.

The cross is not just about rescue from the world, but rescue for the world, enabling God's kingdom to be established and his people to participate in its work.

9. Temple, Kingdom, and Cross: A Unified Vision.

The Temple in Jerusalem was not simply a “religious” building in our modern sense... It was... the place where heaven and earth themselves interconnected and overlapped.

Center of theocracy. The Temple was the focal point of Jewish life, symbolizing the connection between heaven and earth and serving as God's power base for ruling the world. It was central to the vision of theocracy.

Jesus as new Temple. The Gospels portray Jesus as the new, walking Temple, the place where heaven and earth meet. His actions (like cleansing the Temple) and words (like redefining the Passover meal) signal that he is fulfilling and replacing the Temple's role.

Cross as Temple event. Jesus's death is presented as the ultimate Temple event:

• The Temple veil is torn (Mark 15:38), symbolizing the old way of access to God is superseded.
• The cross on Golgotha becomes the new "holy mountain" where God's rule is established.

The cross, as the fulfillment of the Temple's purpose in Jesus, is the means by which a new theocracy is inaugurated, one centered on God's presence in Jesus and his Spirit-filled people.

10. Resurrection & Ascension Confirm Kingdom Victory.

The resurrection, in short, is presented by the evangelists not as a “happy ending” after an increasingly sad and gloomy tale, but as the event that demonstrated that Jesus’s execution really had dealt the deathblow to the dark forces that had stood in the way of God’s new world, God’s “kingdom” of powerful creative and restorative love, arriving “on earth as in heaven.”

Victory confirmed. The resurrection is the divine declaration that Jesus's death was a victory, not a defeat. It proves that the cross successfully dealt with sin and evil powers, opening the way for God's new creation and the arrival of his kingdom in power.

New creation launched. The resurrection is the start of the new Genesis, the beginning of God's renewed world. It is a bodily reality, emphasizing that God's plan is for the physical creation, not just a disembodied spiritual realm.

Cosmic enthronement. The ascension (explicit in Luke, implicit elsewhere) signifies Jesus's enthronement as the world's rightful Lord. As the Temple-in-person, he now sits at God's right hand, ruling over heaven and earth. This is the fulfillment of Daniel 7.

Empowered mission. From his position of cosmic authority, Jesus sends his Spirit-filled followers (the new walking temples) to be his witnesses and implement his kingdom on earth. Their mission is to announce that "another king, Jesus" reigns, challenging worldly powers with the power of love.

Last updated: May 2, 2025