Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition - Mentor's Guide

M E N T O R N O T E S / 1 0 9

In light of all that Jesus of Nazareth accomplished through his death, resurrection, and ascension, his work as Divine Warrior in ushering in the Kingdom of God is not yet completed. A simple reading of the book of Revelation and the other apocalyptic portions of the New Testament reveal that he will fulfill the ministry that he inaugurated in his life, death, resurrection and ascension. Jesus himself spoke of the mighty day when he as the Son of Man would come on the clouds of heaven with the holy angels, to defeat finally and exhaustively all the powers that would resist his will (Mark 13.26). This vision and language mirrors the great vision of the prophet Daniel, who refers to a similar personage in Daniel 7.13. The Kingdom of God comes with violence, just as John the Baptist predicted it would come. Our Lord, who came the first time to execute God’s secret weapon of the cross on his enemies, will in fact return again, this time as the true Divine Warrior whose work is public, exhaustive, and devastating for his enemies. Revelation 19.11-16 describes the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in classic Divine Warrior imagery; he comes on a white horse, draped with a cape dipped in blood, with a two-edged sword coming from his mouth. Behind him are the veritable armies of heaven as he “judges and makes war” (v. 11). The final vision of the Bible regarding Jesus as God’s Divine Warrior wraps up the revelation with a remarkable picture of the last battle, which, at the very least, must be a rich and potent symbol of the final judgment to come, and of the vengeance and wrath God dispenses on those who have resisted his rule without repentance. In a real sense, Jesus of Nazareth is the Anointed One, the one chosen by God to end the conflict which began with the rebellion of the serpent and the disobedience of the first human pair. It is he who will crush to pieces the one kakos , the one who through his lies and deceptions inflicted misery and suffering upon the earth (Rom. 16.20; Rev. 12.9), and who represents the worst form of stubborn resistance to the rule of God. The promise of Genesis 3.15 has now finally come to pass in the person of the gentle Nazarene, who does the warfare of God, not by killing but by dying and rising again on behalf of those he came to save.

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