We Believe: And His Kingdom Will Have No End
Old Testament Context
This line from the Nicene Creed, “and his kingdom will have no end,” is a simple case of Old Testament continuity and fulfillment.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Isaiah 9:7 (KJV)
I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
Daniel 7:13-14 (KJV)
Jesus’ Kingdom
As discussed in previous articles in this series, Jesus clearly references these Old Testament messianic prophecies and titles and talks a lot about this kingdom. Across all four Gospels, Jesus mentions his kingdom 126 times. Reading these lines without the New Testament context, one can understand why Jesus’ contemporaries expected him to pick up a sword and start appointing generals (Matt. 20:21).
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People in the ancient world knew what a “kingdom” looked like. In the Old Testament, the Israelites ask for a king like the gentile nations have, and after a long period of resistance, God grants their request. Looking back on the reign of King David with rose-tinted glasses from their current status, subjected to the Roman Empire, was a reasonably popular pastime. In that time, the Israelites had independence, honor, glory, and the fear of their adversaries. The Israelites of Jesus’ time were just coming down from the high of the Maccabean revolt, which seemed to restore that kingdom. But like every sequel, it didn’t quite live up to the hype of the original. This Jesus Messiah fella might be able to do this whole kingdom of Israel thing, but for real this time.
A Forever Kingdom
According to the Old Testament, the Messiah is going to establish a kingdom that lasts forever. David and his heirs, as well as the Maccabees, ruled for a couple of hundred years each, which was… alright. But a kingdom that lasts forever?? That sounds awesome.
But when Jesus’ disciples (plus one courageous mom) ask him to receive positions of honor when Jesus comes into his kingdom, he chides them and accuses them of misunderstanding what his kingdom actually is. He tells them that they will drink from his cup and be baptized with his baptism (probably not as exciting as they had expected). He then tells them clearly that his kingdom is unlike earthly kingdoms.
But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to givehis life as a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:25-28
So this kingdom is not like the Gentile kingdoms?
The Upside Down Kingdom
This kingdom of heaven turns the expectations of sinful man upside down. In Genesis, the story of the Tower of Babel reveals that humanity’s pursuit of utopia and a kingdom involves an ascent into heaven by our own power and on our own terms. It is an invasion of heaven by the corrupted powers of the earth. This seditious ambition of man to rule, rather than to serve others, taints all earthly kingdoms. From this sin, God scatters the people into many nations and kingdoms.
Babel Reversed
At Pentecost, we see the reversal of the tower of Babel and the gathering of these nations into a single kingdom. This kingdom of heaven is invading earth from heaven, rather than the other way around. The gift of the Holy Spirit, which breaks down the barriers of language, emphasizes this reversal of the tower of Babel. When Jesus elsewhere says that his kingdom is in this world, but not of this world. He is pointing us to this earthward direction and the reconquest of the earth by the forces of heaven. The earthly hierarchies based on domination are being replaced by a heavenly hierarchy of service and servant leadership.
Christ establishes himself, by his ascent, as the king of all creation and the head of the Church, and sends out a hierarchy of leaders, namely the twelve apostles, then the presbyters, followed by the deacons, as the heavenly hierarchy of his kingdom that has no borders. They preach and announce the gospel or good news to every city they arrive in, much like the Roman Emperors of the time would have celebrated their rule with triumphs and the announcement of good news to their subjects.
In some ways, this kingdom of heaven is like the kingdoms of this world, but often it subverts the expectations of the sinful creatures who inhabit and define the rules of earthly kingdoms. Rather than a conquest, the kingdom of God spreads by invitation, incorporation, and adoption.
For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:18-22
Kingdom in the Early Church
This radical concept of the kingdom was not lost to the early Christians either. This powerful image from Ephesians of a living structure of the faithful being built brick by brick with Christ as the cornerstone was depicted in a beautiful grandeur in the second-century writing called the Shepherd of Hermas. Mathetes, the author of a second-century Christian letter called the Epistle to Diognetes, wrote:
The difference between Christians and the rest of men is neither in country, nor in language, nor in customs… They dwell in their own fatherlands, but as temporary inhabitants. They take part in all things as citizens, while enduring the hardships of foreigners. Every foreign place is their fatherland, and every fatherland is to them a foreign place. Like all others, theymarry and beget children; but they do not expose their offspring. Their board they set for all, but not their bed. Their lot is cast in the flesh; but they do not live for the flesh. They pass their time on earth; but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws, and in their private lives they surpass the laws.
Mathetes, Epistle to Diognetes
Anglican Theology of the Kingdom
Fans of Anglican bishop and theologian N.T. Wright will recognize this theology of the kingdom, a theme often sadly downplayed in other Christian traditions. But Anglicanism is uniquely kingdom-focused.
As already noted in previous installments in this series, the historic amillennialism of Anglican theology emphasizes the nowness of Jesus’ kingdom. He calls us to incorporate new members by adoption through baptism now. He calls us to serve the widows and the fatherless and to visit them in their afflictions now. Jesus is establishing this kingdom brick by brick, living stone by living stone, today. This heavenly kingdom, the creed reminds us, is eternal, and has a risen lord as its infallible king and protector. Scripture tells us clearly that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. (Matt. 16:18) This is an image of conquest. The battering rams of the Church will break down the gates of hell and can never be successfully resisted by the powers of darkness. All we have to do is grab the handles and swing.
Image: Detail from The Triumph of Christianity Over Paganism by Gustave Doré, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Digitally edited by Jacob Davis.
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