Thy Kingdom Come: An Eschatology of Hope
Part 3: The Way in Which God Will Accomplish the Mission of the Kingdom
This is the last post in our series. We have set a foundation in the Old Testament and looked at the inception and mission of the Kingdom of God. Now we will look at the way God will accomplish the mission and at the future of the kingdom.
The Way God Will Accomplish the Mission
“He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” He spoke another parable to them, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.” (Matthew 13:31-33, NASB)
In the first of these parables, the kingdom of God is a tiny seed that is planted. At first it is very small, but over time it grows until it stands over the entire field. The second parable shows the kingdom like a little leaven that starts small, but will eventually permeate the dough. This has been the case for Christ’s kingdom over the last 2,000 years. It started with 12 disciples. Now, 2 millennia later, things are vastly different.
Lifeway research has some interesting statistics to paint the picture of what is happening with God’s kingdom. According to their research, there are currently an estimated 2.56 billion people who identify as Christians. Based on the trends, the projection is that by 2050, there will be over 3.33 billion. That’s around 750 million more Christians in only 27 years. That’s a fraction of a generation.
What’s more is that Christianity is rapidly becoming more spread out all across the world. In 1900, 95% of Christians lived in a majority Christian country. It is projected that in 2050 a little over 50% of all Christians will live in non-majority Christian nations. In 1900, only 5.4% of non-Christians knew a Christian. By 2050, it is projected that number will rise to 20%. That means it is expected that in 27 years 1 in 5 non-Christians around the world will be exposed to the Gospel through someone they know. Not just a missionary or a travelling evangelist, but someone they personally know.
As a result of this growing trend, whereas in 1900 more than half the world’s population was unevangelized, right now only 28% is unevangelized. Lastly, in 2000, the Status of Global Christianity marked a rate of 1.6 million Christian martyrs over a 10-year period. But in 2022, they estimated the decade long number to be down to 900,000.
Do you see it? More Christians. More Christian influence scattered abroad. More lost people with immediate Gospel witnesses. Less martyrs. The Lord gathered us in certain places for a time and allowed His church to incubate and grow strong. Now He is scattering us across the four winds in overwhelming numbers, expanding the kingdom to every nation. And the rate at which this is happening is unprecedented. The leaven is permeating the dough. The mustard seed has turned into a tree that is outgrowing all the wicked weeds of the world.
Matthew 28:18-20
“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, NASB)
Jesus tells His disciples that He now has all authority over heaven and earth. It’s all His. The enemy has been cast down, and now He reigns over all of it. Then He says, “Therefore, go.” We are to go on mission in light of the fact that Jesus now owns the whole thing. He says to make disciples of who? Them, all nations. He says to baptize who? Them, all nations. He says to teach them (all nations) His commandments.
This is the sending out of the heralds to bring the evangel of the King. It was a common practice. When Greece fended off the Persians, the king sent heralds out to go through all of Greece, to every town and city. Their job was to bring and announce the evangel, the good news or gospel, to everyone. This message of good news said, in essence, “The king has conquered and you have been saved. This is still the king’s land and the foe has been struck down.”
The Great Commission is the sending of the Church to bring the evangel, the gospel, of Christ to all the cities, nations, and towns in His kingdom. “The King has won. The foe has been defeated. Turn to Him. Serve Him now.” And we are to teach all the nations His commandments, which encompass the way of life of the Kingdom of Christ. You and I are the vessels God is using to bring His kingdom to full realization on earth.
The Future of the Kingdom
You may be asking what most people are asking. How does it all end? Or better, how does it all culminate? What is the final curtain for this whole thing? Is it going to be a sudden disappearance of the church, cars crashing, planes falling from the sky, and the world left trying to figure out how billions of people suddenly vanished? Will we be whisked away into some mysterious place in another dimension? Or is it something else? Let’s look at this final element.
Matthew 5:3-10
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3-10, NASB)
God’s people receive the kingdom of heaven. And we see that in the first and last beatitudes. The kingdom of heaven creates a bracket on either side of the beatitudes, which signifies that the things in between come to us as a part of the kingdom. Three of them are of note.
Verse 9 says we shall be called sons of God. Remember that Romans said creation is waiting for the sons of God to be revealed.
Verse 8 says we shall see God. Yes, spiritually. But I believe this also speaks of the promise of God dwelling with us in the new heavens and the new earth where His glory provides the light.
Verse 5 says we shall inherit the earth. What do we get as a part of our inheritance as co-heirs with Christ? The Earth!
Brothers and sisters, get used to this planet because you will live on it forever. The only difference is that when all is said and done, it will be made perfect as if the curse never came, you will be made perfect as if the curse never came, and Christ will dwell perfectly with us here forever as King over us.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, NASB)
In Acts 1, after Jesus ascended, the angels told His disciples that He will come back in the same way He went. And here it is, described for us in 1 Thessalonians. What is the directional marker of the passage? It is the Lord descending.
A shout and a trumpet blast was a common feature of a victory celebration. As the Lord is descending, His people are caught up to meet Him in the air. This is a rapture in the strictest sense of the word. Rapture just means “caught up.” In that sense, we will be raptured. But not to disappear to another realm.
What does the text say? To meet Him in the air. Paul doesn’t have to tell us where we are going after that, because He already told us where Christ will be going. We are not going to change His direction back up to heaven. We are going to meet Him, to join Him, in His descent. It’s a welcoming party for the king who has conquered.
It was customary when the king would return with his army after conquering that he would camp around a mile out of the city. Messengers would be sent into the city to declare the victory and ready the people for the victory march. Festivities would be arranged, decorations put up, and so on. Then many of the people would go out to meet the king and his soldiers on his way to the city to welcome their victorious king and march with him back in.
This is why the Pharisees were so up in arms during the triumphal entry as people joined Jesus on the road to escort Him into Jerusalem crying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.” They saw what that really was. What if the Romans found out!?
When the Lord has put down all of His enemies and saved all of His people, He will have another, final, triumphal entry. His people will be caught up to meet Him on the way crying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” This time, He won’t be coming into a city to be crucified. He will be coming into the world to reign forever with His people.
Conclusion
Everywhere I look in our churches, I see people with their heads hung low in defeat and despair. I know there are a lot of things in this world that aren’t looking good. But pick your head up, weary saints! Christ is riding all across the world on His white horse, conquering strongholds, slaying His enemies, and saving His people! And He will do so until He has conquered every last one and saved every last one.
He did not come into the world to judge the world, but to save it. And He is in the process of doing just that.