The death & resurrection of Jesus are obviously the central events of the Christian religion. But evangelicals often fail to grasp the full meaning of these events. Easter sermons frequently go something like this: “the resurrection proves that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross secured the forgiveness of our sins. Those who put their faith in Jesus can thereby be assured that they will go to heaven when they die.” This formulation contains some glorious truths. However, it’s also misleading & woefully incomplete.
The last several blogs we’ve been exploring the key biblical themes of God’s kingdom & Jesus’ Messianic identity. All three synoptic gospels reach a preliminary climax by addressing the crucial question of Jesus’ identity. The Lord posed this question to his disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Peter famously responded, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:15-16) We noted that the Messiah is a title for God’s anointed king, the one who would establish God’s kingdom of righteousness & justice over the whole earth.
From this moment, the gospels follow Jesus on his final journey to Jerusalem, the royal city where his ancestor David reigned. As Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowds triumphantly acclaimed him as king: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” Yet Jesus knew that his kingdom would not be established through military violence, but through suffering & sacrifice.
The gospel writers make it very clear that the crucifixion was the moment when Jesus assumed the throne. Whereas kings of the ancient world routinely seized power by shedding the blood of their enemies, Jesus inaugurated his kingdom by allowing his enemies to shed his own blood.
The meaning of the resurrection is closely related. Although the Sanhedrin (the court of Israel) had condemned Jesus as a false Messiah, God overturned this unjust verdict by raising him from the dead. The resurrection thus confirmed that Jesus was indeed the king of the Jews.
Most evangelical Easter sermons either ignore or badly misinterpret the theme of God’s kingdom. The kingdom of God is perceived as a purely spiritual matter, only tangentially related to the world around us. Far too many Christians envisage a scenario whereby God abandons his creation. Jesus rescues his people by helping us escape to some otherworldly, heavenly kingdom. The true meaning of Easter is quite the opposite: Jesus’ enthronement as the Messiah and his resurrection from the dead signifies God’s determination to reclaim his creation.
This theme is found throughout the Old Testament, but nowhere is this better demonstrated than the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter 2 describes how King Nebuchadnezzar was given a dream by God. In his vision, the king saw an enormous, dazzling statue composed of various materials. The head was made of gold, the chest & arms silver, the belly & thighs bronze, the legs iron & the feet iron mixed with clay. This statue was suddenly struck & shattered by a rock, which subsequently grew to become a huge mountain that filled the whole earth.
God revealed to Daniel the meaning of the king’s dream. The head of gold corresponded to King Nebuchadnezzar and the mighty Babylonian Empire which he ruled. After Babylon would arise a series of human kingdoms which would be given sovereignty over the earth for a time. But eventually, “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.” (Daniel 2:44)
This scripture brought hope to the Jews who languished in exile. As we’ve noted, the Jews divided history in two basic parts: the present age and the age to come. During the present age, the powers of evil held away over God’s creation. The world was controlled by idolatrous, violent, immoral & unjust kingdoms like the Babylonian Empire. But God would not allow this state of affairs to persist forever. He would certainly usher in the age of come by establishing his kingdom.
King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2 closely parallels Daniel’s own vision in chapter 7. Daniel dreamt of four terrifying beasts which arose from the sea. But God (“the Ancient of Days”) pronounced his judgment upon the beasts. The beasts were condemned & destroyed, and their authority transferred to “one like a son of man.” This human figure came into God’s presence and was granted “authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language served him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:14)
The dreams of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel depict the same reality. Nebuchadnezzar’s statue and Daniel’s beasts both represent wicked & unjust human kingdoms which were allowed to have sovereignty over the world. Then came a sudden & dramatic reversal. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, a rock shattered the pagan empires & grew to fill the whole earth. Likewise, Daniel’s beasts were slain and their power given to the son of man. Both scenes portray the coming of God’s kingdom.
The parallel nature of these passages invites comparison between the rock and the son of man. Interestingly, the Hebrew words for rock (eben) & son (ben) are very similar. The Jews who studied the book of Daniel believed that the rock and the son of man symbolized the Messiah, the king of Israel who would be God’s agent in establishing his kingdom. It was certainly no accident that Jesus most often referred to himself as “the son of man.” In doing so, he was making an implicit Messianic claim.
What can these passages in Daniel teach us about the kingdom of God? As we’ve noted, many Christians fail to grasp the true nature of God’s kingdom. They’re hoping to escape this dark world so that they can enjoy eternal bliss in heaven. Salvation then becomes a purely individual matter, requiring people to place their trust in Jesus so that they might qualify for this cosmic evacuation.
The book of Daniel gives us a radically different and much grander vision. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the rock of God’s kingdom “became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.” Daniel witnessed how dominion over the world was granted to the son of man. The main point is that God’s kingdom will confront & destroy the wicked empires which corrupt the world in which we live. God is determined to thoroughly cleanse his creation of evil, injustice & depravity. Even death itself will be no more. God’s Messiah will establish his authority over all the earth forever. His rule will be characterized by righteousness, justice, abundance, joy and eternal life.
It’s frequently claimed that Jesus had no desire for power or authority. This is utterly false. If Jesus had been uninterested in power or authority over the world, he could not have chosen a worse title for himself than the son of man. For Daniel depicts the son of man in the most exalted terms, coming before God to receive “authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language served him.”
The very same political authority which the beasts exercised over the world has now been transferred to the son of man. This thought is totally foreign to the minds of many Christians, but it’s vital for understanding the Biblical narrative. The reign of Jesus can never be relegated merely to the hearts & minds of his followers. Rather, his sovereignty extends over every part of the created order. As the risen Jesus himself declared, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
There are not a few Christians who think that Christianity & politics shouldn’t mix. But those who separate religion from politics demonstrate that they’ve totally misunderstood the nature of God’s kingdom. Politics refers to the exercise of authority or power over the world whether by a king or President or by some court or legislative body. The fundamental Christian claim (the gospel) is that Jesus is the Messiah, God’s anointed king over all things. This announcement is the most political statement imaginable.
True, there is a vital, individual aspect of the gospel. God commands every human being to submit to King Jesus in loyal obedience. But there is an equally important corporate aspect to the gospel. It makes no sense to declare Jesus as Lord while excluding the political realm from his lordship. Much of the evil which has infected our world resides in political structures. It only takes little knowledge of history (and current events) to see that massive injustice, misery, poverty & death has been perpetrated – not just by sinful individuals – but by corrupt governments, laws, courts, schools & universities, systems of business & commerce, and so on. The gospel requires us to bring these political structures into submission to Jesus.
Christians cannot continue to shrink the gospel down to an anemic, purely individual message of otherworldly escapism. We celebrate the fact that Jesus has been enthroned as king over our world. Our hope is that he will return to fully establish his authority over all things. This glorious vision of God’s future ought to drive our mission in the present time. We’re God’s ambassadors, calling all people to give their full allegiance to King Jesus. But we must also strive to implement the sovereignty of Jesus over the political structures of our day, so that they reflect the righteousness & justice of the age to come.
