RIDGECREST, N.C. (BP)–When Jesus shared the parable of the mustard seed, He revealed important truths about the Kingdom of God and foretold the glory of His future return, Craig Blaising told Southern Baptist communicators at LifeWay Ridgecrest (N.C.) Conference Center.
“Was the Kingdom of God, as Jesus described it, like the seed, the sprout or the towering tree?” asked Blaising, executive vice president, provost and dean of the school of theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. “In fact, it was all of these.”
Blaising was a featured speaker at “Communicating the Kingdom,” an April 30-May 2 conference for Southern Baptist state paper editors, seminary and SBC entity communicators sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources. Goals of the conference were to better understand the Kingdom of God and the Christian’s role in it, and to communicate the Kingdom in a clear, consistent and relevant way to Southern Baptists and the local church.
Defining the Kingdom of God is an important first step, Blaising said, but a difficult one since neither Jesus nor the New Testament writers offered a simple definition. But since Jesus spoke dozens of times about the Kingdom in the Gospels, His followers can understand its importance and begin to grasp its meaning, Blaising said, defining the Kingdom as: nothing less than the subjection of all things to the rule and will of God.
Blaising, whose writings about the Kingdom include “Progressive Dispensationalism,” coauthored with Darrell Bock, said the Kingdom of God is the central focus of Scripture. In human history, it begins with God choosing Abraham, through whom He raised up a people and became their King. He established His kingdom through His covenant at Sinai and cared for His people with special blessings, wonders, miracles — even judgment when they forsook Him for false gods. Yet even in the midst of judgment and exile, God preserved a believing remnant, vowed to put His law in their hearts and, through a new covenant, promised to establish an everlasting Kingdom on earth.
The promise of this future Kingdom began to be fulfilled when God Himself came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. “Jesus is the King of that future Kingdom,” Blaising said, “yet Jesus declared that in Him, the Kingdom of God was already among us.” Jesus demonstrated what the Kingdom will be like when it comes in power at His return. He casts out demons to illustrate that satanic foes will have no place in the Kingdom. He heals the sick and raises the dead to show His authority over these lingering effects of man’s fall. He calms the seas and feeds the 5,000, showing His divine power over creation.
Like the mustard seed growing into a branch-laden tree, the Kingdom of God is revealed in stages, Blaising said. “In the New Testament, the King arrives and inaugurates His Kingdom. He is resurrected and glorified. He sends the Holy Spirit to fulfill the Old Testament promise that God would put His Spirit in people’s hearts. The Spirit comes and marks out His people — the church. Now, His church waits for the day when He returns, sets up His earthly Kingdom over Israel and the nations, and then after the final judgment creates new heavens and a new earth.”
At that time, Blaising said, “when Christ has subjected all things to Himself and has destroyed sin and death, the Kingdom of God in all its fullness will be manifest eternal and immortal on a renewed earth. This Kingdom is the goal of redemption, the culmination of all previous revelations of God’s Kingdom. It is the rule of God the Father, God the Son incarnate as Messiah, and God the Holy Spirit over the earth with all its inhabitants and over the heavens and all contained therein forever.”
The focus of Christians, Blaising said, should be on the Kingdom of God, and especially on its King and to live in the light of His imminent return.
Specifically, Blaising said, believers are to:
— Be alert to the plan of God and awake to what is coming. “But you, brothers, are not in the dark, so that this day would overtake you like a thief” (1 Thessalonians 5:4, HCSB).
— Focus on Christ and His coming. “We wait for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13 HCSB).
— Desire the grace that is coming. Look forward to glorification, or full sanctification, which means no more sin. “Set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13 HCSB).
— Proclaim the gospel of the coming King and His Kingdom.
— Make disciples for the Kingdom from all nations.
Blaising said the Bible tells us the everlasting Kingdom, when it comes in fullness, will be:
— Heavenly, because the Kingdom is the location of God’s everlasting presence.
— Earthly, because heaven comes to earth for the renewal of all things.
— Spiritual, as redemption is extended in full in both individual and social aspects of human existence.
— National and political in that it involves the establishment and administration of all nations and all peoples, Jews and Gentiles, through the Messiah. God will reign over the nations in glory, power and majesty, blessed, honored and worshiped by all forever.
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(BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: CRAIG BLAISING.
