The Kingdom of God, Mentor Guide, MG02

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T H E K I N G D O M O F G O D

Anointed Lord. It is God who has highly exalted Christ, and given him a name above all names in this age and the next, who himself will ensure that every knee bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the Father’s greater glory (Phil. 2.9-11). As the Lord of lords and the King of kings, Jesus now takes his position as the executor of the Father’s will, and calls out of the world a people for himself, who belong exclusively to him and are zealous for good deeds (Isa. 55.5; John 10.16, 27; Titus 2.11-15). As reigning Head of the Church, he walks among them, granting to them his own gifts and leaders, governing them through his direct counsel and power in the Spirit (1 Cor. 5.4-5; 12.28; Eph. 4.11-12; Matt. 28.19-20; 18.17-18; 1 Tim. 5.20; Titus 3.10). As protective Shepherd, he is preserving and supporting his flock in every situation they face, helping them overcome in the midst of all their temptations and sufferings (Heb. 13.20-22; 2 Cor. 12.9-10; Rom. 8.35-39). As the Divine Warrior ascended to a position of glory and honor at the Father’s right Hand, our Lord is restraining and overcoming all the enemies of God, and making real in the midst of the Church the blessings of the Messianic age which he personally ushered in (Acts 12.17; 18.9-10; 1 Cor. 15.25). As Mighty God and triumphant Son by the Father’s bidding, he superintends the mission of his Church, whom he has ordered to the very ends of the earth to bear witness of the peace and reconciliation that he has won for all humankind through his death on the Cross (Acts 1.8; Mark 16.14ff; Rom. 8.28; 14.11; Col. 1.18; Matt. 28.19-20). Lastly, all judgment has been appointed to him (John 5.22-23); he is the appointed executioner of the Lord’s enemies and rewarder of the Lord’s saints, the one chosen by God to rule the nations with a rod of iron and take vengeance on those who know not God and who obey not the Gospel (Ps. 2.9; Isa. 9.6-7; Rev. 19.11-21; 2 Thess. 1.8). All these citations point to one and the same cardinal truth: the consummation of the Kingdom is the manifestation of the person of Jesus as the Son of Man, the one who has been appointed by God to bring the world finally back under God’s reign, to right all wrongs, and to end all hurt. Jesus is the one who has been commissioned to represent the Father’s interests without limit or bounds. This is the “big picture” of the consummation, and why any serious talk of the consummation of the Kingdommust focus on the person of Jesus, and not devolve into the meaning of the seven heads and ten horns on the dragon in Revelation 12. This is not to say that we