Jesus as Revolutionary
Jesus is a radical, a revolutionary. We often see a cartoon figure resembling an artist’s concept of Jesus holding a sign that says “Repent. The end is near.” It may be funny to some people in a dark humor sort of way, but that was not the message Jesus brought to the world, nor was it his mission to provide everyone who raised their hand a ticket to heaven. His teaching about social justice and interpersonal relationships earned him a reputation as a “good man” or “wise teacher.” Although both descriptions are true, they fail to appreciate who he really is or what he came to accomplish. By becoming human, called the Incarnation, Jesus demonstrated what it looked like to live God’s way in the world he created. But that was not why he did it. Jesus came to inaugurate God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
His message was, “Repent. The kingdom is here.” So what is the kingdom Jesus announced? An academic definition might be, “Creationally engaged, universally focused, and eschatologically oriented, the kingdom of God is a transcendent sphere of reality that conspires with a community of human image-bearers in the task of restoring creation to the worship of the one true creator God.”1. For the rest of us it simply means Jesus came to change the world one follower at a time.
The kingdom is inside everyone for whom Jesus is both Lord and Savior. God’s love for us overflows from us into our communities where we are expected do all we can to meet the material and spiritual needs of our unbelieving neighbors. As people change in response to Christ’s love, the world will change. Kingdom citizens are God’s ambassadors to a world sinking into a sin-depraved darkness.
A lot has been written lately about people leaving the church. It would be interesting to see how the exodus from Christianity correlates with the increase in substance abuse, divorce and domestic violence among former believers. Unfortunately, it would likely be an apples and oranges comparison because, even as people have left the church, the church has strayed from Christ’s message. The “religion” many people left likely had nothing of value to offer them. In the pursuit of relevancy by the church, God’s message lost its power. Christianity became self-help, rather than Holy Spirit led and empowered. The genuine gospel is as relevant to our lives as today’s headlines.
Jesus planted God’s flag on earth and proclaimed a new way of living in the here and now. The hereafter is secondary. Heaven is the cherry on top when our work is done and God calls us home. Too many people, including some professed Christians, have placed Jesus in a “spiritual” box, often with a potpourri of other beliefs and pushed him out of their daily lives. Some hold tightly to their “belief” but nothing has changed in their lives or the way they see the world. They do not even attempt look or act like Jesus. And sadly, they don’t care. What the Bible calls sanctification, they have dismissed as “ too legalistic.” They have neither repented nor been filled with God’s Spirit as evidence of true kingdom citizenship. Others claim they left the faith of their childhood because they no longer believe. The purpose of this website is to invite them to revisit; to take a second look at a relationship with the real Jesus, not a religion based loosely on him.
“The “kingdom of heaven” is not about people going to heaven. It is about the rule of heaven coming to earth.”2. God’s plan is to restore the relationship he had with humankind in the Garden of Eden. “God is the creator and redeemer of the world, and Jesus’s launch of the kingdom—God’s worldwide sovereignty on earth as in heaven—is the central aim of his mission, the thing for which he lived and died and rose again”3. Our kingdom mission is to introduce people to the real Jesus and make genuine disciples. Come on. Join the revolution!
Footnotes:
[1]Nicholas Perrin. The Kingdom of God (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019), 52, Kindle Edition.
[2] N. T. Wright. HOW GOD BECAME KING: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels (New York: Harper Collins, 2011) 42, Kindle Edition.
[3] Ibid., 187.
Revised: 12/18/2022