The Kingdom of God, Explained to a 15 Year-Old
— Thursday, January 20th, 2011 —
Several of us collaborated recently on a new book called Don’t Call It a Comeback: The Old Faith for a New Day. This week the book’s editor, Kevin DeYoung, asked if several of us would answer a quick question related to our respective topics, and posted them over at his blog. Here’s the question and my answer about my chapter on the kingdom of God.
The kingdom is a huge theme in the Bible, and yet it can be difficult to define. How would you explain the kingdom of God to a 15-year-old?
Sometimes even those who’ve followed Jesus for a long time find the kingdom message a difficult one to grasp. We sometimes assume “kingdom” is just a metaphor for “getting saved” or for another denominational program or political crusade. We hear chatter all around us about the Prince of Wales or the local high school homecoming queen or the advertising slogans of the “King of Beers” or the “Dairy Queen.”
Against this kind of potential confusion, the mission of Christ starts and ends not just in the announcement of forgiveness of sins or in the removal of condemnation—although both of those things are certainly true. The mission of Christ starts and ends with an announcement that God has made Jesus emperor of the cosmos—and he plans to bend the cosmos to fit Jesus’ agenda, not the other way around.
The kingdom of God, then, is the good news that the right rule of God, and the right rule of man—a rule our ancestors Adam and Eve lost—have come together in the right rule of one right God-man: Jesus of Nazareth. In his sin-resisting life, his wisdom-saturated teaching, his demon-exorcising power, his substitutionary, conquering death, and his justifying, victorious resurrection, Christ is king.
That king, through his Spirit, invites all men to believe by faith what they’ll someday see by sight—what everyone will someday see by sight: Jesus is Lord. Jesus forgives. Jesus is king. And his reign will extend to the corner of every galaxy, forever.
Thanks for posting this! I’m preaching through Matthew, and this will be helpful in further articulating the concept of the kingdom to our congregation.
The reason we do not better understand the kingdom of God - and the reason our 15 year-old’s do not understand it - is that we’ve been too busy seeking church to seek the kingdom of God.
Your description of the kingdom of God is a good one and will put a person on a path toward it. But how long will a person be able to stay on that path when all they hear is “go to church”?
The kingdom of God is serving the invisible but omnipresent Jesus 24 hours a day. It’s not easy, but it is simple.
Good definition for Kingdom of God. I wish it would also include the part where the Kingdom of God stands against all kingdoms of the world today, that includes communists, socialist, monarchies and even democracies and constitutions!
@Sam Irlapati,
Great point, but I think he did state that when he wrote…
“The mission of Christ starts and ends with an announcement that God has made Jesus emperor of the cosmos”
It includes everything you mentioned and more.
“And his reign will extend to the corner of every galaxy, forever.” If this is true, how do we explain 1 Cor. 15:25-28?
@Charles Tims,
That passage states that all things *will* be subject to Christ, who will then in turn present all things to God (i.e. God the Father). It in no way implies that Jesus’s reign will come to an end. As Paul states, “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Php 2:9-11, ESV) It is God’s will that Jesus was given His position as Lord over all.