Reformation Sunday … Christ Is Lord

“My Kingdom is not of This world.”

Jesus here confesses before Pilate that His Kingdom is not of this world. Before we speak to the issue of the nature of the Kingdom of Jesus we will define the idea of “Kingdom,” as the rule of God in the hearts of men.

The whole idea of the Kingdom of God, when reduced to its essence is merely acknowledging that Christ is a Lord who rules over men who occupy some kind of realm. The idea of a rule, apart from a realm where the rule is upheld is difficult to conceive.

The fact that Christ is Lord is seen in passages like Ephesians 1, which also gives us a glimpse into the realm – or Kingdom — over which Christ rules.

(God exerted is power) in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Here we see that Christ is Lord over all and I would submit that we also see that His explicit Kingdom is over all of reality.

There is great agitation and controversy about what Christ’s Kingdom actually means or concretely looks like in the real world. Most Christians will not argue with the abstract fact that Christ’s Kingdom starts with the reality that Christ is King and so should rule our lives and certainly our churches. Most would agree that the ascended Jesus who sits at the right hand of the Father over all rule and authority has been given a Kingdom over which He is the ruler, the Lord, and the King. Most would agree that in respect to their morals they should operate as a subject of Christ’s Lordship and as a member of His Kingdom. This would be consistent with the reality that the Scriptures teach that we have been translated from the Kingdom of Darkness to the Kingdom of God’s dear Son whom He loves.

However what has increasingly become a sticky wicket for many today is the question of whether or not the Kingdom that was entrusted to Christ is a Kingdom that in any way extends beyond the doors of the Church. Does Christ’s Kingdom and explicit Kingship extend beyond the Church doors? Does Christ’s Kingdom and explicit Kingship extend into the Science laboratory? Does Christ’s Kingdom and explicit Kingship extend into the way we educate so that our education ends up bringing our students to different conclusions about their subject matter than the conclusion reached by those who don’t affirm the Kingdom of God? Does Christ’s Kingdom and explicit Kingship extend into how we think about and how we do sociology or psychology? Does Christ’s Kingdom and explicit Kingship extend into the how we think about and do the arts? Economics? Politics? Philosophy?

In our current climate concrete notions of what Christ’s explicit Lordship looks like not only falls on deaf ears but it is actively resisted by Christians.

John 18:36 is often appealed to in order to prove that the Kingdom of God is a private individual spiritual personal reality that does not impinge on public square practice(s) of peoples or nations corporately considered. Those who appeal to John 18:36 in this way are prone thus to insist that God’s Word doesn’t speak to the public square practice(s) of peoples or nations since such an appeal (according to this thinking) would be an attempt to wrongly make God’s Kingdom of this world.

The problem with this though is it that it is a misreading of the passage. When Jesus say’s “My Kingdom is not of this world,” his use of the word “world” here is not spatial. Jesus is not saying that His Kingdom does not impact planet earth. What Jesus is saying is that His Kingdom does not find its source of authority from the world as it lies in Adam.

Jesus brings a Kingdom to this world that is in antithetical opposition to the Kingdom of Satan that presently characterizes this world in this present wicked age. The Kingdom that Jesus brings has its source of authority in His Father’s Word. As a result of Christ bringing His Kingdom w/ His advent there are two Kingdoms that are vying for supremacy on planet earth. Postmillennialism teaches that the Kingdom of the “age to come” that characterizes Christ’s present Kingdom will be victorious in this present spatial world that is characterized by “this present wicked age.”

All nations will bow to Jesus and all kings will serve him and his mustard seed kingdom will grow to become the largest plant in the garden with the nation-birds finding rest in its branches. His kingdom is the stone which crushed the kingdoms of men in Daniel 2 and which is growing to become a mountain-empire which fills the whole earth, until all His enemies are made His footstool.

Because Christ’s Kingdom is victorious on this planet His Kingdom extends beyond the personal private individual realm and so impacts the public square. Another way to say that would be precisely because Christ’s Kingdom continues to be populated by a swarming host of individuals those individuals take that Kingdom that has overcome them and in turn overcome all that they touch with the Kingdom.

Dr. Geehardus Vos was not a postmillennialist but some of the things he taught captures what I am trying to communicate regarding Christ’s Kingdom. Vos wrote,

“The kingdom means the renewal of the world through the introduction of supernatural forces.” (page 192)

“The thought of the kingdom of God implies the subjection of the entire range of human life in all its forms and spheres to the ends of religion. The kingdom reminds us of the absoluteness, the pervasiveness, the unrestricted dominion, which of right belong to all true religion. It proclaims that religion, and religion alone, can act as the supreme unifying, centralizing factor in the life of man, as that which binds all together and perfects all by leading it to its final goal in the service of God.” (page 194)

Geerhardus Vos

The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church

So, what Christ was saying to Pilate when He said “My Kingdom is not of this world” was “My kingdom does not gain it’s authority from Rome or the Sanhedrin. My authority comes from on high.” Pilate understood this. The irony is that the pagan tyrant understood, but Christians don’t today. So the authority of Christ’s kingdom is not of this world, but nonetheless, the kingdom has invaded this civil realm, the family realm, law realm, economics realm, and every other realm you can think of for “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” Every aspect of our social order is touched by the kingdom of God.

Now as to how this Kingdom manifests itself and works itself out. Rome said that the Church alone was the Kingdom and so insisted that everything must be brought into and under the Church if it wanted to be part of the Kingdom. Many Pietists and R2Kt types said (and say) that the Church alone was and is the Kingdom and that nothing else was and so insisted that all outside the Church was all outside the Kingdom and was common, but still good in virtue of the fact that it partakes of God’s creational common grace. The Pietists and R2Kt types engage the world but they engage it as a people who insist that the Word does not explicitly speak to the creational common realm. Christ’s rules over the common realm but His explicit Kingdom does not include the common realm. The Anabaptists said the Kingdom was the Christianity community and so insisted that all outside the Christian community was outside the Kingdom and was wicked, and so classical Anabaptist teaching withdraws from the world.

The Magesterial Reformers were against both Rome and the Anabaptists on this issue of the Kingdom. Reformed theology teaches, as we have noted, that there are two Kingdoms in this world in antithesis to one another. Each of these Kingdoms manifests itself consistent w/ it source of authority. Each of these Kingdoms is a body that has distinct organs that are assigned certain tasks to advance their version of the Kingdom. The heart of each antithetical Kingdom is their respective competing Churches. (For example … the church heart of the Humanist Kingdom in these united States are the government schools while the church heart of Christ’s Kingdom in these united States are faithful Christ proclaiming Churches.) However, in these respective Kingdom bodies there are other organs that are distinct and do other work.

So, a church is at the heart of the competing Kingdoms and where the heart is healthy all else will be healthy. The heart of Christ’s body Kingdom is faithful churches and those faithful churches, as part of the Kingdom, have as their source of authority Christ’s Word.
So, in the words of Mark Chambers,

“Both Kingdoms, though manifested spatially, are ideological and systemic. Ergo when Christ said ‘My Kingdom is not of the this world.’ He was not saying “My Kingdom is not on the surface of this planet. Jesus was not using ‘world’ in the sense of here but of what. He was talking type, not place.”

R. J. Rushdoony had some things to say regarding the affirmation that Jesus Kingdom is not of this world means that the Kingdom of God does not impact upon the public square.

“To deny that Christ’s kingdom is in this world is to alter the faith to either a neo-Platonic idealism or a Manichean dualism. In either case, the world and history are rejected and are handed over to the devil. Not surprisingly, such people who hold this view are insistent on seeing Satan as the prince of the physical universe and become implicit Satanists in the powers they ascribe to Satan. From such a perspective, the Church has little to do with history other than to rescue lost souls and then wait for the end.” (Institutes Vol. II)

Now how does this work practically? If we believe that Christ is King and has a Kingdom and if we confess that the Kings must Kiss the Son lest they perish in the way, and if we insist that all men must bow to Christ what standard shall we use in order for men to know that they are indeed bowing to Christ?

And the only answer to that, that I can see is God’s Law-Word. We believe and confess that Christ is King but what is a King without law?

Now, as we have said countless times it is clear that we are not saved by our law keeping but by Jesus Law keeping for us but this does not mean that we therefore are not ruled by every law-word that proceeds from His mouth. The fact that we are saved by grace alone does not mean that we live and move and have our being in our own fiat law-word.

No … as the Heidelberg catechism teaches we are freely and graciously saved to the end that we might do good works according to the law of God (qu. 90-91)

So when we talk about and celebrate Reformation it is just another way of celebrating the advance of God’s Kingdom in space and time History. In the 16th century God was pleased to visit His people with a great extension of His Kingdom.

Coming at just the right time with the advent of technology to advance it (Printing Press) and on the cusp of burgeoning world wide exploration that would find such exploration taking the effects of the Reformation to the new World the Reformation was God’s victory over His enemies.

However we live now in another time that needs Reformation. The Lordship of Christ is clouded for those who confess Christ. There is a need, once again to see Christ’s Lordship over every area of life.

Christ’s Lordship Over History

The first pillar of pagan history that Augustine challenged was the belief that history was a guided by the dialectic of chance and fate. Interestingly enough this dialectical view of history being guided by the dialectic of chance and fate was seen in a contemporary context in the film “Forrest Gump,” where the theme of the movie is how history is controlled by the dialectic of chance and fate. Augustine held instead that all of history was providentially controlled, providentially governed, and guided by the divine will of a extra-mundane personal God. In order to support this contention the Bishop of Hippo appealed to the OT theology where God is constantly portrayed as the Lord of History who held the nations in his hand like so much fine dust.

The second pillar of pagan history that Augustine dismissed was the belief that history could be explained by some kind of cosmic dualism. Augustine had been saved out of ancient Manichean dualism that taught that both evil and good were equally ultimate and that earth’s history is where these equally ultimate principles waged their battle. Augustine countered by teaching that evil is not a positive ultimate principle and did not have existence the same way that goodness does. Augustine believed instead that evil was a negation – a parasitic corruption of the originally good world. Like a tear in a shirt evil was merely a lack of good. It was nothing in and of itself. Augustine affirmed that good and evil stood in opposition to one another but he denied that evil was co-equal or co-eternal with good and taught that at the great assize humans would finally understand how evil found resolution in the context of God’s justice and God’s providence.

Historicism … that History can only be understood in light of itself. No objective reference point.

The third pillar of pagan history that Augustine critiqued was its cyclical view of history. Augustine believed and taught that history is linear and is moving towards the point of God’s ordained end. Augustine appealed to Scripture to overthrow the cyclical view of history that taught endless repetition of meaningless events by pointing to the book of Hebrews that teaches “For once Christ died for our sins; and, rising from the dead, He dieth no more.” Augustine also overturned this pagan cyclical view of history by teasing out its nihilistic implications. Augustine contended that if life is to have meaning or hope there must at least be the possibility of progress, noting further that an idea of progress can only exist where there is a sense that history has a set teleology. Without these sense of a history that is linear and has a destination life and history, in the words of Henry Ford, is nothing but “one damn thing after another.”

After Augustine dismantled pagan views of history he then proceeded to give the basic elements of a Biblical view of history.

1.) The God of the Bible is superior to the gods of paganism, nihilism, materialism, etc.
Throughout Augustine’s writings the Saint contrasts the God of the Bible with the pagan gods of Rome, as well as the unknown god of Neo-Platonism. All worldviews have a distinct Ontology and in Augustine’s work we see him insisting on the superiority of a Christian Ontology over the pagan dialectic Ontology where god is so transcendence that he has no contact with his (their) creation while at the same time so immanent he (they) are really nothing but humans said loudly.

2.) Creation Ex Nihilo

Christian views of History are what they are, largely due to the Christian doctrine of Creation. In the Christian view of history we have the teaching that God created the world out of previously non existing materials at a definite point of time in the finite past. This creative event, happening once, forms the temporal basis of all of history’s unique events to which Christianity alone, with its view of linearity, can attach significance and meaning. In a Christian view of history humanity plays a central role and as significance precisely because God set mankind at the center stage of his creation and at the center stage of his outworking of history (seed of the woman vs. seed of the serpent). In pagan views of history man is insignificant and without transcendent meaning since man is but one detail of the naturalistic world that has by both blind fate and random chance come into meaning. If in pagan views of history, history’s meaninglessness is summarized by “one damn thing after another,” in pagan’s views of history man’s meaninglessness is summarized as “man being just another damn existence among a host of damn existences.”

3.) Human Sinfulness

Augustine believed that man’s sinfulness necessarily divided the human race into two communities – The City of God vs. The City of Man. This corresponds nicely to the Reformed antithesis of The seed of the woman vs. The seed of the serpent. This human sinfulness, according to Augustine, divides men because occupants of each city have different aims, motives and principles. Augustine believed that human sinfulness was the most prominent thing that could be discerned in human history. Keep in mind though that this seemingly simple observation is unique to a Christian view of History because non Christian views of history have no transcendent reference point by which to adjudicate sin and no view of history that can define sin except as those things which have occurred which eventually came to be thought of as “bad” because some majority subjectively labeled those things as “bad.” Augustine had a measure by which he could adjudicate sin and righteousness in history.

4.) Redemption By Christ

Humans can escape the city of man and become citizens of the city of God because of the Redemption offered in Christ. The redemptive events in the life of Christ are unique events in history that end up giving significance and meaning to human history. In Christ man lives in the City of God and acts out his citizenship in that city by his involvement in the city of man. The result is that human history is suffused with meaning as men who have been redeemed bring their citizenship in that city to bear on their citizenship in the city of man.