A secretly coming kingdom

What is the kingdom of God?

Throughout church history, Christians have struggled to understand the New Testament teaching about the kingdom of God. When does it come? What is its relationship to the church? Is it a visible kingdom, and if so, when does it appear?

In Jesus’ day, things were no different. Jesus’ contemporaries had all sorts of expectations about the kingdom of God. Some expected it to be a great military victory over Rome. Some expected it to be a religious renewal of spectacular proportions. Some expected it to be a period of unprecedented economic prosperity. Some expected it to descend straight down from heaven. But for all that diversity, they agreed on one thing: when it arrived, you would know it!

Jesus not only disagreed with all their expectations, he disagreed with what they agreed on. Although Jesus announced the arrival of God’s reign in his own ministry and proclamation, he talked about a secretly arriving kingdom. He gave glimpses of its presence in his deeds and spoke of its destiny in riddles and parables.

The kind of kingdom Jesus proclaimed does not manifest itself with obvious proofs of its presence and power. It doesn’t announce its coming with trumpets or establish itself by force. It is best illustrated by stories of vulnerable seeds and delayed harvests.

We live in a day when one-sided, mistaken visions of the kingdom abound. Some Christian cultures identify the kingdom with spiritual warfare, some with the institutional church, some with church growth, some with mystical experiences, some with political activism, and some with either the life within or the life beyond. Seldom have followers of Jesus more desperately needed to learn from Jesus’ vision of a secretly coming kingdom!

There is evidence of the secretly coming kingdom everywhere, says Jesus, if only we know how to interpret the evidence. Calls for repentance are going forth; lives are being transformed; a community of “brothers, sisters, and mothers” gathers around Jesus to learn God’s will; people are restored to health and sanity; social outcasts are invited to dine with Jesus; cups of cold water are given in Jesus’ name; children are valued and welcomed into Jesus’ circle; disciples are learning that salvation is found in self-denial and self-sacrifice.

Jesus modelled faithful kingdom living by giving up his own personal treasures; by placing great value on weak and vulnerable people, the poor, the outcast, the children; by pursuing servanthood, siding with those pushed to the margins, courageously bearing witness in a hostile environment, carrying a cross.

These are the things that bring about God’s new “world order.” These are the evidences that the kingdom is coming secretly, like a tiny seed, silently growing.

Who would have thought the reign of God would be established like that? Jesus did.

What is the kingdom of God? It’s a mystery as secret and surprising, as wild and wonderful, as God at work . . . in us, in our congregations, in our world.

Tim Geddert teaches at MB Biblical Seminary, and lives in Fresno, Cal. with his wife Gertrud and their children. This is a summary of his message at Gathering 2006.