An Authentic Calling: Representing Christ and His Kingdom through the Church

Ses s i on 1: I nt roduc t i on

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B. From the proto-evangelium to the New Jerusalem: the universe is at war, Gen. 3.15; 1 John 3.8

1. The call rooted in the very person of God, Dan. 4.34-35 (ESV) – At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his Kingdom endures from generation to generation; [35] all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

a. The LORD as the Sovereign, Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Ps. 83.18 (ESV) – That they may know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.

b. The LORD God as Creator and Maker of all things, Ps. 24.1-2 (ESV) – The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, [2] for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

2. The devil and humankind in voluntary rebellion against his reign and will, defied God’s perfect and good will, Gen. 3.15

3. The result: the chaos of the curse, the entrance of evil, alienation, and death, Rom. 3.23; 6.23

4. God’s redemptive will: to reestablish his Kingdom rule in the universe