The Need of the Kingdom

(A précis of George Eldon Ladd’s A Theology of the New Testament, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975)

Greg Deuble values, as we do, much of the work done by the late Professor Ladd of Fuller Seminary on Jesus’ favorite doctrine, and the substance of his Gospel, the Kingdom of God. Here he summarizes the gems gathered from Ladd’s well-known textbook.

After being baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus entered on a ministry of proclaiming the Kingdom of God (Mk. 1:14-15; Mt. 4:23). “We cannot understand the message and miracles of Jesus unless they are interpreted in the setting of his view of the world and man, and the need for the coming of the Kingdom.” “Modern scholarship is quite unanimous in the opinion that the Kingdom of God was the central message of Jesus.”

The idea of a new redeemed order was a favorite hope of the OT prophets who looked forward to the Day of the Lord, a divine visitation to purge the world of evil and to establish God’s perfect reign in the earth. There developed a tension between this present evil age and the Age to Come. This background “provides the framework for Jesus’ entire message and ministry as reported by the Synoptic Gospels” (Mt. 12:32; Mk. 10:30). Thus “The Age to Come and the Kingdom of God are sometimes interchangeable terms.”

The attaining of “that age” is a blessing reserved for God’s people and “will be inaugurated by the resurrection from the dead” (Lk. 20:35). Those who attain to that age will be immortal like the angels. “Resurrection life is therefore eternal life — the life of the Age to Come — the life of the Kingdom of God. Not only resurrection marks the transition from this age to the coming age; the parousia [Second Coming] of Christ will mark the close of this age” (Mt. 24:3; 24:30-31).

“In this eschatological dualism, Jesus and Paul shared the same world view that prevailed in Judaism. It is essentially the apocalyptic view of history.” And although some scholars say this hope of the Kingdom of God on earth was not a true Hebrew prophetic hope, Ladd says that “the Old Testament prophetic hope of the coming of the Kingdom always involved a catastrophic inbreaking of God...Everything in the Gospels points to the idea that life in the Kingdom of God in the Age to Come will be life on the earth…(Mt. 19:28)” (emphasis added).

“Therefore, when Jesus proclaimed the coming of the Kingdom of God he did so against the background of Hebrew-Jewish thought, which viewed men living in a situation dominated by sin, evil, and death, from which they needed to be rescued.” “His proclamation of the Kingdom includes the hope, reaching back to the Old Testament prophets, that anticipates a new age in which all the evils of the present age will be purged by the act of God from human and earthly existence.”

The Spirit-World

Bringing in the Kingdom involved Jesus in a titanic struggle against Satan and his hosts of malignant demons (Mt. 4:1; Lk. 4:6). This idea also stems from the OT (Job 1-2; I Chron. 21:1). In Matthew 12:29 Jesus portrays himself as invading “the strong man’s house” — this age — to despoil him.

“The doctrine of Satan and demons has several distinct theological implications. Evil is not imposed upon men directly by God, nor is evil blind chance or capricious fate. Evil has its roots in personality. Yet evil is greater than men. It can be resisted by the human will, although the human will can yield to it. Yet evil is not a disorganized, chaotic conflict of powers, as in animism, but is under the direction of a single will whose purpose it is to frustrate the will of God.”

“This background of Satanic evil provides the cosmic background for the mission of Jesus and his proclamation of the Kingdom of God.” Although science and philosophy may question the personal existence of Satan, “there is really no more difficulty in believing in the existence of a malevolent spirit behind the evils in human history than to believe in the existence of a good spirit — God. Our purpose is primarily to show that the theology of the Kingdom of God is essentially one of conflict and conquest over the kingdom of Satan.”

“In Judaism, the destruction of Satanic powers was expected at the end of the age when the Kingdom of God should come.” The demon in Mk. 1:24 recognizes a supernatural power in Jesus that is capable of crushing Satanic power here and now.

Demon possession manifested itself in various ways. Sometimes it was associated with afflictions of a physical nature (Mt. 9:32; 12:22), with epilepsy (Mt. 17:15, 18) and in only one place with mental illness (Mk. 5:15).

Ladd is quite clear in saying that it is not accurate simply to explain away demon possession and activity by saying it is an ancient interpretation for what we now know to be various forms of insanity. Frequently in the Synoptics demon possession is distinguished from other diseases. Jesus healed both the sick and those possessed by demons (Mk. 1:32). Demon possession is distinguished from epilepsy and paralysis (Mt. 4:24) and from sickness and leprosy (Mt. 10:8).

Demon exorcism was one of Jesus’ most frequent mission acts and “we cannot avoid the conclusion that Jesus’ message of the coming of the Kingdom of God involved a fundamental struggle with and conquest of this spiritual realm of evil.”

Nor is it accurate to say that Jesus appeared to adapt his belief in Satan to fit the ideas of his age. “The exorcism of demons was no mere peripheral activity in Jesus’ ministry but was a manifestation of the essential purpose of the coming of the Kingdom of God into the evil age. We must recognize in the exorcism of demons a consciousness on the part of Jesus of engaging in an actual conflict with the spirit world, a conflict that lay at the heart of his messianic mission...The demonic is absolutely essential in understanding Jesus’ interpretation of the picture of sin and of man’s need for the Kingdom of God. Man is in bondage to a personal power stronger than himself. At the very heart of our Lord’s mission is the need of rescuing men from bondage to the Satanic kingdom and of bringing them into the sphere of God’s Kingdom. Anything less than this involves an essential reinterpretation of some of the basic facts of the gospel.”

Although the history of the church’s belief in demons and witches has been used by superstitious people to bring much evil and suffering, we must adhere still to Jesus’ belief in a personal evil spirit world. “If for a priori rationalistic reasons we reject Jesus’ belief in the existence of a realm of evil spiritual powers, it is difficult to see why Christ’s belief in a personal God may not be eliminated also.”

The Kingdom of God in Judaism

The truly Hebraic, prophetic hope expects the Kingdom to arise out of history and to be ruled by a descendant of David in an earthly setting (Is. 9, 11). “They looked for an apocalyptic inbreaking of God in the person of a heavenly Son of Man with a completely transcendental Kingdom...(Dan. 7).” “It always involves an inbreaking of God into history when God’s redemptive purpose is fully realized. The Kingdom is always an earthly hope...an earth redeemed from the curse of evil.”

This future salvation means two things: deliverance from mortality, and perfected fellowship with God. Such eschatological salvation “includes the whole man.” “The evils of physical weakness, sickness, and death will be swallowed up in the life of the Kingdom of God” (Mt. 25:34, 46). Therefore, “the Kingdom of God stands as a comprehensive term for all that the messianic salvation included.”

The Fatherly God

In Christ, God is seeking men, inviting them to submit themselves to His reign that he might be their Father. In this eschatological salvation, the righteous will enter into the Kingdom of their Father (Mt. 13:43). “It is the Father who has prepared for the blessed this eschatological inheritance of the Kingdom (Mt. 25:34). It is the Father who will bestow upon Jesus’ disciples the gift of the Kingdom (Lk. 12:32). The highest gift of God’s Fatherhood is participation in God’s sovereignty, which is to be exercised over all the world. In that day Jesus will enjoy a renewed fellowship with his disciples in the Father’s Kingdom (Mt. 26:29). Clearly kingship and Fatherhood are closely related concepts (Mt. 6:9-10).” The future blessing of the Kingdom is dependent upon a present relationship. “Those who know God as their Father are those for whom the highest good in life is the Kingdom of God and its righteousness (Mt. 6:32, 33; Lk. 12:30).”

Jesus never applied the category of sonship to any but his disciples. Men became sons of God by recognizing his messianic sonship.

The Mystery of the Kingdom

“Our central thesis is that the Kingdom of God is the redemptive reign of God dynamically active to establish His rule among men, and that this Kingdom, which will appear as an apocalyptic act at the end of the age, has already come into human history in the person and mission of Jesus to overcome evil, to deliver men from its power, and to bring them into the blessings of God’s reign. The Kingdom of God involves two great moments: fulfillment within history, and consummation at the end of history [i.e. the end of the present age and the beginning of a new era of history — ed.]. It is precisely this background which provides the setting for the parables of the Kingdom.”

The mystery of the Kingdom that Jesus alluded to “is the coming of the Kingdom into history in advance of its apocalyptic manifestation.” “The new truth, now given to men by revelation in the person and mission of Jesus, is that the Kingdom that is to come finally in apocalyptic power, as foreseen in Daniel, has in fact entered into the world in advance in a hidden form to work secretly within and among men.”

In Jesus’ person and mission, the Kingdom has come, “but society is not uprooted” as Jewish Messianic belief held. Hence the parables of the sower, the tares, the leaven in the lump, the mustard seed, etc. Concerning the latter, the parable of the mustard seed illustrates the truth that the Kingdom which one day will be a great tree, is already present in the world in a tiny, insignificant form.

Contemporary Jews could not understand how one could talk about the Kingdom apart from such an all-encompassing manifestation of God’s rule. “How could the coming glorious Kingdom have anything to do with the poor little band of Jesus’ disciples? Rejected by the religious leaders, welcomed by the tax collectors and sinners, Jesus looked more like a deluded dreamer than the bearer of the Kingdom of God. Hence, the parable of the leaven...the Kingdom of God, which one day will rule over all the earth, has entered the world in a form that is hardly perceptible. The leaven teaches that one day the eschatological Kingdom will prevail so that no rival sovereignty exists.”

This was the mystery and the stumbling block to the Jews. Jesus’ ministry initiated no such apocalyptic transformation. He preached the presence of the Kingdom of God, but the world went on as before. How then could this be the Kingdom? “The idea of the Kingdom of God conquering the world by a gradual permeation and inner transformation was utterly foreign to Jewish thought.” What gives these parables their point is the fact that the Kingdom had come among men in an unexpected way, in a form that might easily be overlooked and despised. But contrary to every superficial evaluation, discipleship to Jesus means participation in the Kingdom of God. Present in the person and work of Jesus without outward or visible glory was the Kingdom of God itself.

The parable of the drag-net teaches that in Jesus’ ministry the Kingdom has now come into the world without effecting this eschatological separation. Jesus teaches that one day the Kingdom will indeed create the perfect eschatological community. But before this event an unexpected manifestation of God’s Kingdom has occurred.

The Faithful Remnant — The Church

Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. His ministry and teaching “remained within the total context of Israel’s faith and practice.” His church stands in “direct continuity with the Old Testament Israel.” “The true Israel [Gal. 6:16; Phil. 3:3] now finds its specific identity in its relationship to Jesus.”

This explains why “for Christians of the first three centuries, the Kingdom was altogether eschatological [i.e., in the future]. Their Christian presence was a presence of tension.” One of the main tasks of the church is to display in this present evil age the life and fellowship of the Age to Come. The church has a dual character, belonging to two ages. It is the people of the Age to Come, but it still lives in this age, being constituted of sinful mortal men. This means that while the church in this age “will never attain perfection, it must nevertheless display the life of the perfect order, the eschatological Kingdom of God.” The church then is not the Kingdom itself, as some theologians have maintained. The church witnesses to the Kingdom.

“The twelve are destined to be the head of the eschatological Israel...The twelve are destined to be the rulers of the eschatological Israel...(Mt. 19:28). To Peter and Christ’s faithful community the keys of the Kingdom are delivered.” The authority entrusted to Peter is grounded upon revelation, that is, spiritual knowledge, which he shared with the twelve. The keys of the Kingdom are therefore “the spiritual insight which will enable Peter to lead others in through the door of revelation through which he passed himself.”

Today, the church is commissioned by Jesus to be his representatives. The final destiny of men will thus be decided by the way they react to the authentic message of the Kingdom as proclaimed by his agents in this present evil age. [See particularly Mark 4:11, 12, where repentance and forgiveness are conditioned on an intelligent reception of the Kingdom Gospel (Mt. 13:19).] “Through the proclamation of the gospel of the Kingdom in the world will be decided who will enter into the eschatological Kingdom and who will be excluded.”²

by Greg Deuble