Our passage again this week is Mark 1:14-15. "Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel." (RSV) We return to this important summary of the overall message of Jesus and we must prepare to grapple with the essence of what Jesus is telling every person who will listen. We cannot pretend to understand Christianity if these words do not have life-anchoring significance for us.
servise pack 5Most modern Christians believe they are living in the last days. They normally base this on some form of speculative Bible prophecy. But the Bible teaches that the "last days" arrived with the coming of Christ. We see this in Peter's statement that the time is fulfilled. The Old Testament is full of longing for the Kingdom of God to arrive. The Jews believed that"God's time" would become evident when the "Day of the Lord" suddenly appeared. From the very beginning, however, Jesus said that the time was fulfilled. God's day was now here.
One of the best examples of this comes from Luke 4:14-21. Jesus reads a passage from Isaiah that describes the time when the Messiah would come to earth. Jesus calmly announces that "today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." It is no wonder that Jesus' hearers were puzzled, for they expected the end-of-time fireworks display. Yet here was this carpenter's son. They judged him as a blasphemer. Yet this is the very thing Mark tells us was the premise of Jesus' message. God's timetable has arrived in him. All that the Old Testament prophets expected and all that the people of God have been longing for is here in Jesus.
Does this mean that all the Old Testament scriptures are fulfilled in Jesus? As we look at the complete picture of the work of Christ, we will see that this is true. All God's promises are fulfilled in Jesus. (2 Cor 1:20). In his coming and earthly ministry, he fulfilled much Old Testament scripture, including the entire ceremonial law. In his death and resurrection he fulfilled the sacrificial system. He currently reigns as King, fulfilling the civil law and will complete his Kingdom on earth at a future "unveiling" which will fulfill all prophetic scripture. (I will just note as a side that those who say Jesus is not currently reigning as King of this age are overlooking the obvious. He reigns, but his reign is not "unveiled." Read the book of Revelation!)
When we hear Peter on the Day of Pentecost or Paul in his letters both declaring that the last days have arrived, they are simply following their belief in the original message of Jesus. When we proclaim Christ as Lord, call people to repentance, pray against the evil strongholds of this world or set free the oppressed, we are seeing the "Kingdom Now" as Jesus announced it.
Surely by now some of my dispensationalist friends are smelling a rat! They would point out that Jesus says the Kingdom is "at hand." Many interpret this to mean Jesus is offering the Kingdom, but that it was rejected when he was condemned and he will bring it as a later date. While I respect this view and honor the godly people who hold it, I believe it is fundamentally wrong. "At hand" is one of several ways Jesus expressed the presence of the Kingdom. Jesus often said the Kingdom of God was "near." He implied it was present, but invisible to worldly vision. He said that the Kingdom was within his followers. The scholarly consensus is that Jesus taught the Kingdom had arrived in beginning form with his ministry, and was really present, though not in the same way it would be after his death or at his return. Nonetheless, the presence, reality, power and authority of the Kingdom are present with Jesus. The Keys to the Kingdom are given to his church. The authority of the Kingdom belongs to believers. The Law of the Kingdom is in force now. Christ reigns now as King of Kings. We invite persons into the Kingdom that is an absolute reality. I am troubled by the notion that the Kingdom has been postponed. The parables of Jesus teach that the Kingdom is a present and actively growing reality. Though we await a final consummation of the Kingdom, we are not waiting for the Kingdom to arrive.
I have explained the concept of the Kingdom of God in the previous Bible study (Mark Study 6). I will make one application before moving on. All of us who are Christians of different kinds and varieties are subjects of the Kingdom. Jesus rules. We have no right to set up our own little Kingdoms and exclude others from them based on worship style, skin color, non-essential theology, etc. Read the New Testament warning to divisive teachers and false prophets and get a sense of what a practical reality Christ wants it to be that we are all sons and daughters of God and all parts of the body under the same head. The only force that can bring real renewal to our culture is the Kingdom of God. Churches and para-churches are only "outposts" of the Kingdom. Pastors and preachers are "undershepherds" of the Shepherd-King. Beware of those who do not see this reality; those who act is if "theirs" is the Kingdom and the glory." Let us continually pray for the Kingdom of God to come on earth as it is in heaven.
We now move on to the conditions for entering the Kingdom. The first is repentance. The word metanoia means a reversal of direction. In Christian theology, repentance has two aspects. First, we must abandon our loyalty to whatever holds authority other than God. Second, we must turn and move in the direction of obedience to God. Some misunderstand repentance as a perfect abandonment and an absolute obedience. In our fallen state, such is not possible for us. Therefore, the Bible tells us that repentance is also a continuing work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian (actually a gift from God.) The call to repent continues in the life of every person who follows Jesus. We are to be serious and lifelong repenters as the Holy Spirit reveals more and more of those things that hold our hearts more than the love of God.