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At its simplest, the kingdom of God is the result of God's mission to rescue and renew his sin-marred creation. The kingdom of God is about Jesus our king establishing his rule and reign over all creation, defeating the human and angelic evil powers, bringing order to all, enacting justice, and being worshiped as Lord.

Tragically, there are many erroneous views of the kingdom that misrepresent the glories of God's eternal kingdom. The kingdom is not like the cartoonish inanity that shows heaven as a white cloud upon which we will sit wearing diapers and playing harps with wings far too small to carry us anywhere fun.

The kingdom is not the naive dream of liberalism, that with more education and time sin and its effects will be so eradicated from the earth that utopia will dawn. The kingdom is not the deceptive dream of Christless spirituality where all learn to nurture the spark of divinity within themselves and live out their true good self in harmony. The kingdom is not the political dream that if we simply get the right leaders in office and defeat all the bad guys good will rule the earth.

The kingdom is both a journey and a destination, both a rescue operation in this broken world and a perfect outcome in the new earth to come, both already started and not yet finished.

From Doctrine, Chapter 13. Kingdom: God Reigns (pg. 411). Doctrine is out now.

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From the recent sermon Jesus Heals a Centurion's Servant, on Luke 7:1–10.

There are ten things we learn about Jesus from his healing of the centurion's servant in Luke 7:1–10.

1. He is a sovereign ruler

I love the fact that the centurion gets this. He says, “I understand chain of command. I rule over a hundred warriors, and you, you’re in a completely different rank.” God becomes a man. He has complete authority. He is sovereign ruler. The Bible says he is king of kings, lord of lords. For some of you, your Jesus is way too small. He’s just a helper, a counselor, a comforter, a friend. He’s not Christ. He’s not ruler, Lord, savior, God, king, and judge. This man, the centurion, the soldier, he understands who Jesus is. “I understand chain of command. You’re at the top. Creator, that’s who you are.” That’s who Jesus is.

2. He is a humble initiator

This sovereign king comes into human history as the man Jesus Christ. He goes on a tour to preach in towns. He goes to people. When requested to go to the home of the centurion, he is on his way. He’s a humble initiator. He is going out to serve. He is going out to help. He is going out to preach, teach, cast out demons, and heal. And unlike religion, where we go looking for God, Christianity is about God looking for us because we’re lost, and he’s not. Some of you don’t know it, but Jesus is looking for you. He is seeking you. He knows you. He loves you. He died for you. He’s pursuing you. He’s a humble initiator. He doesn’t owe us anything, but he pursues us in love.

3. He is a global savior

We see Jesus in this story serving Jew and Gentile, rich and poor. . . (Click here to keep reading.)

How Jesus Made Disciples

Reflections from the book of John on How Jesus Made Disciples.

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When we understand our sin biblically, we understand why we are prone to great evil and know why the world is not the way it should be. But by knowing that God made us in his image and likeness, we find the source of our dignity, value, and identity. By knowing of the fall and our state as sinners, we understand depravity as the root problem with our life and world. And by understanding the work of Jesus, in our place for our sins, we enjoy the depth of God's love for us, work in us, and eternal future with us as he restores us to the holy state from which we have fallen.

Like a loving Father, God warned our first parents of the consequences of sin. Nonetheless, they and we have each chosen sin. Because God is holy, he must deal with our sin. Because God is loving, he has chosen to do so in a way that we could be forgiven and restored to right relationship with him. In so doing, God is honoring us by showing that we are made for more than sin and that he expects more from us.

From Doctrine, Chapter 5. Fall: God Judges (pgs. 172–173). Available now.

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We image God by suffering well. When the clouds of trial, pain, loss, hardship, hurt, and tears roll in, we must never forget that our Lord Jesus Christ imaged God well even when suffering. When Jesus was hurting the most, as he hung on the cross for our sins, he reflected the mercy and justice of God perfectly.

Jesus invites us to not waste the worst moments and seasons of our life but rather consider them treasures to be invested purposefully in glorifying God by imaging the character of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is Jesus' point when he says, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'

Thankfully, unlike so many half-true theologies that speak only of the victories of Christian life and how to image God when we are winning, Jesus shows us that if our aim is to image God, then when we win and lose and as we live and die, every moment is a sacred opportunity to be captured for his glory, our joy, and others' good.

From Doctrine, Chapter 4. Image: God Loves (pgs. 141–142). Get Doctrine now.

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Romans 4:24—"Jesus our Lord."

It is the part of faith to accept great contrasts, if laid down in the Word, and to make them a part of her daily speech. This name, Lord, is a great contrast to incarnation, and humiliation. In the manger, in poverty, shame, and death, Jesus was still Lord.

THE WORD "OUR" IS ESPECIALLY SWEET

1. It makes us remember our personal interest in the Lord. Each believer uses this title in the singular, and calls him from his heart, "My Lord."
• David wrote, "Jehovah said to my Lord."
• Elizabeth spoke of "The mother of my Lord."
• Magdalene said, "They have taken away my Lord."
• Thomas said, "My Lord and my God."
• Paul wrote, "The knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord."
2. It brings a host of brethren before our minds, for it is in union with them that we say "our Lord." And so it makes us remember each other. (Eph. 3:14-15)
3. It fosters unity, and creates a holy clanship, as we all rally around our "one Lord." Saints of all ages are one in this.
4. His example as Lord fosters practical love. Remember the foot-washing and his words on that occasion. (John 13:14)
5. Our zeal to make him Lord forbids all self-exaltation. "But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher. Neither be called instructors" (Matt. 23:8, 10).
6. His position as Lord reminds us of the confidence of the church in doing his work. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples" etc. (Matt 28:18-19). "The Lord worked with them" (Mark 16:20).
7. Our common joy in Jesus as our Lord becomes an evidence of grace, and so of union with each other (1 Cor. 12:3).

Let us worship Jesus as our Lord and God.
Let us imitate him, copying our Lord's humility and love.
Let us serve him, obeying his every command.

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.

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Romans 4:24—"Jesus our Lord."

It is the part of faith to accept great contrasts, if laid down in the Word, and to make them a part of her daily speech. This name, Lord, is a great contrast to incarnation, and humiliation. In the manger, in poverty, shame, and death, Jesus was still Lord.

OUR LOVE FOR JESUS GIVES "LORD" SPECIAL MEANING

1. We yield it to him only. Moses is a servant, but Jesus alone is Lord. "For you have one teacher" (Matt 23:8, 10).
2. To him most willingly. Ours is delighted homage.
3. To him unreservedly. We wish our obedience to be perfect.
4. To him in all matters of lawmaking and truth-teaching. He is Master and Lord: his word decides practice and doctrine.
5. To him in all matters of administration in the church, and in providence. "It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him." (1 Sam. 3:18).
6. To him trustfully, feeling that he will act a Lord's part right well. No king can be so wise, good, great as he. (Job 1:21).
7. To him forever. He reigns in the church without successor. Now, as in the first days, we call him Master and Lord (Heb. 7:3).

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.

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Before turning to the opening pages of Genesis where creation commences, a few prefatory comments are in order.

First, there is no conflict between Christianity and science itself. This is because the Christian worldview, which believes that God created the world with natural 'laws' and orderliness, is what undergirds the entire scientific enterprise. For example, inductive reasoning and the scientific method are based on the assumption of the regularity of the laws of nature. . . . Without this kind of regularity, we could not learn from experience, including the experiences of scientific testing. This also helps to explain why in cultures where creation is said to be an illusion or disorderly chaos because it was not created by an orderly God, the sciences have not historically flourished; indeed, the scientific method depends upon the kind of underlying worldview that a creating and providentially ruling God of the Bible provides.

Second, there is total conflict between Christianity and scientific naturalism. Naturalism is the belief that all phenomena can be explained in terms of presently operating natural causes and laws. The only true knowledge is that which comes through observable experiments. When natural science is the arbiter of all truth claims, religion becomes superstition and God is omitted from discussion.

Third, the Bible in general, and the book of Genesis in particular, was not written with the intention of being a scientific textbook. Rather, it is a theological narrative written to reveal the God of creation, which means its emphasis is on God and his relationship with humanity and not on creation. Genesis is far more concerned with the questions of who made creation and why he made creation than exactly when he did. Therefore, as Galileo said, "The Holy Ghost intended to teach us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go."

Fourth, one's view of the date of creation should not be the litmus test for Christian faithfulness. Within Christian theology there are open- and closed-handed issues. Biblical authority is a closed-handed issue. Christians receive what the Bible actually teaches as truth from God to be believed and obeyed. Regarding creation, anyone who claims to be a Bible-believing Christian must reject such things as the atheistic evolutionists' claims that there is no God and that creation is not a gift but rather an epic purposeless accident. Nevertheless, Bible-believing Christians, as we will explore in this chapter, can and do disagree over the open-handed issues, such as exactly how God made the heavens and the earth, whether the six days of Genesis 1–2 are literal twenty-four-hour days, and the age of the earth. These sorts of issues must remain in the open hand.

From Doctrine, Chapter 3. Creation: God Makes (pgs. 80—81). Get Doctrine now.

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For anyone to have a saving knowledge of God requires that, in addition to general revelation, they also must receive and believe special revelation. This is because while general revelation is good and true, it is not sufficient for someone to know that God became a man and died on the cross in our place for our sins.

Christians have always believed that God is real, personal, and relational. We believe it is only by God's gracious self-revelation that anyone comes to know him. God has acted and spoken in such a way as to make himself known so that people will be able to enter into a personal relationship with him.

He revealed himself supremely through the incarnation, where the second person of the Trinity humbly entered into human history as the God-man Jesus Christ. During his earthly ministry, Jesus was led and empowered by the third member of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit. That same Holy Spirit also inspired the writing of the Holy Bible.

God continues to reveal himself today, and the primary way he reveals himself is through the divinely inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Bible. The Bible is uniquely and solely God's completely trustworthy revelation to us today. Scripture is the court of highest authority for Christians and their leaders, by which any alleged revelation from God is to be tested.

From Doctrine, Chapter 2. Revelation: God Speaks (pg. 41). Order Doctrine now.

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Regarding our future, Jesus' resurrection is the precedent and pattern of our own: 'Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.' As his body was resurrected in complete health, so too will we rise and never experience pain, injury, or death ever again. This is because through the resurrection, Jesus has put death to death....

Because Jesus rose from death physically, we learn that God through Christ intends to reclaim and restore all that he made in creation and saw corrupted through the fall. Our eternity will be spent in a world much like the one enjoyed by our first parents in Eden, because the earth has been reclaimed and restored by God through Jesus' resurrection.

The full effects of Jesus' resurrection will be seen one day, following Jesus' return. The time between Jesus' resurrection and our resurrection is a lengthy season of love, grace, and mercy as news of the gospel goes forth, inviting sinners to repent of sin and enjoy the present and future salvation of Jesus Christ....

No one can remain neutral regarding Jesus' resurrection. The claim is too staggering, the event is too earthshaking, the implications are too significant, and the matter is too serious. We must each either receive or reject it as truth for us, and to remain indifferent or undecided is to reject it.

From Doctrine, Chapter 9. Resurrection: God Saves (pg. 303).
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Historical Background

In the years following the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., the church was wrestling with many questions about the person and work of Christ. At Nicaea, the deity of Christ was established as orthodox Christian teaching, but many questions concerning the person of Christ remained.

Apollinarius, named the Bishop of Laodicea in 362 A.D., is responsible for Apollinarianism. This view compromises the full humanity of Jesus by suggesting that the eternal logos (Word) replaced the human soul of Jesus and served as the life-giving principle in the body of Christ.

Apollinarius’ View of Jesus

Apollinarius says, “The flesh, being dependent for its motions on some other principle of movement and action…is not of itself a complete living entity, but in order to become one enters into fusion with something else. So it united itself with the heavenly governing principle [the Logos] and was fused with it…Thus out of the moved and the mover was compounded a single living entity—not two, nor one compound of two complete, self-moving principles” (Apollinarius, “Fragment 107”).

J.N.D. Kelly, a prominent scholar of doctrinal history, writes, “The presupposition of this argument is that the divine Word was substituted for the normal human psychology in Christ.” Put differently, the humanity that was assumed in the incarnation was not a complete humanity but lacked a significant component of personhood. Apollinarius believed, then, that Jesus was only partially human.

The Orthodox Response

The teaching of Apollinarius was condemned at Antioch in 378 and 379 and by the Council of Constantinople in 381. The primary defender of theological orthodoxy was Gregory of Nazianzus, a 4th century Eastern theologian and the Archbishop of Constantinople.

He saw Apollinarius as compromising the saving work of Jesus: “If anyone has put his trust in him as a man without a human mind, he is really bereft of mind, and quite unworthy of salvation. For that which he has not assumed he has not healed; but that which is united to his Godhead is also saved. If only half Adam fell, then that which Christ assumes and saves may be half also; but if the whole of his nature fell, it must be united to the whole nature of Him that was begotten, and so be saved as a whole” (“To Cledonius Against Apollinarius”).

In other words, if all of Adam was lost and ruined by the Fall, then Christ, the second Adam, must put on all that Adam possessed in order to restore human nature and live the life that Adam failed to live. These issues regarding salvation motivated Gregory to articulate a Christology faithful to the Bible.

Why Does All This Matter?

If Apollinarius is right and the “Word” replaced the human soul of Jesus, we are left wondering how Christ can be fully human. Far from lacking a normal human psychology, the Gospels depict Jesus as being completely human in the way he experienced sorrow, pain, and other genuinely human experiences. Certainly Jesus Christ was fully God, as the council of Nicea maintained, but he was also fully man. And it was his deity—as well as his humanity—that allowed him to be our perfect substitute, the mediator between God and humanity for us and for our salvation.

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