Why did Jesus came on earth? What did he came to do?
To proclaim the Kingdom of God[1]
l The biblical evidence is clear:
n
…proclaiming the good news… “The
time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe
the good news!” (Mark 1:14-15). Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere
else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have
come.” So he travelled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and
driving out demons. (Mark 1:38-39)
n
…to proclaim good news… (Luke
4:18-19). “But He [Jesus] said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God
to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose” (Luke
4:43).
n
“And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,
and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind
of disease and every kind of sickness among the people” (Matt. 4:23).
l Most scholars would agree that a central
feature of Jesus’ ministry was the kingdom of God.[2],[3] But there
is little if any agreement about what the Kingdom is or how it should be
defined.[4]
l
There are ways in which Jesus sees the kingdom of God as already
present: ‘the time is fulfilled’ (Mark 1:15).
l
Jesus tells parables which stress the hidden, yet present, dynamic
growth of the kingdom (Matthew 13:1-46).[5]
l
The kingdom of God is described in terms which put it in the future:
‘Your kingdom come’ (Matthew 6:10).[6]
l
Overthrowing the enemy:
n
Jesus relates the overthrow of demonic powers, seen in the exorcisms
he performed, to the presence of the kingdom (Matthew 12:28).[7]
n
It appears Jesus understood the kingdom of God as a powerful
demonstration of the rule of God, in line with the Old Testament expectation
of his coming to deliver the people.[8] His experience as an infant
bears striking resemblance to that of Moses; he is a greater Moses
leading his people to deliverance.[9]
n
Jesus has a definite way of overthrowing the enemy in the fulfilment
of time: His refusal to defend himself, on the cross, his death. God’s
Kingdom rule was established at creation; It was attacked by Satan at the fall;
now it is being restored on earth through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ
who defeats Satan, death, and sin![10]
l
Preaching good news to the poor:
n
‘…the poor (in spirit)… shall inherit the kingdom of God’.
n
Latin American liberation theology claim that there is preferential
love by God for the poor. So the beatitudes are popular with
liberation theologians. On the other hand, traditional theology has been seen
to bolster social injustice because of its refusal to address critically social
and economic problems. Therefore, the positive attraction of Marxist theory to
combat these problems is obvious.[11]
n
The inauguration of social structures that promote the prophetic
vision of justice and restore the shalom
of God's people fundamentally expresses God's kingship.[12]
n
However, if the signs of God’s rule/kingdom only primarily lie only in
feeding the poor, eliminating the wrong systems etc., then the cross was
not necessary and we only need the socialists. Building
orphanages, etc. are important. But most important is the reality of the cross
and resurrection. Wherever Christians are is God’s rule. Wherever Christians
are suffering and kept in faith, God’s rule is there.
l
Miracles:
Jesus gave radically new meaning to the ‘language’ of the miracles: they are
signs of the kingdom, signs of what God wants to do and is already doing in
humankind in Jesus.[13]
The miracles include exorcisms, healings, raising the dead and nature miracles,
which are intended to reveal the presence and power of the kingdom.[14]
n
The miracles of healing and deliverance which Jesus
did, and which the apostles performed in his name, were the apex of the
biblical pattern of witnessing to the salvation of God.[15]
n
There is sovereignty in healing: He did not heal everyone. He
delivered only one of many at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1).
n
There exists a frequent connection between healings and faith,
but this is not uniform. There is also a connection between healing and
forgiveness, but this is not uniform.
n
The miracles are primarily signs, which
point us not to themselves but to something else: the signs of the kingdom
of God, Jesus’ own messianic credentials, and the fulfilment of
the age of preparation.[16]
n
Miracles did not of themselves bring about a
great surge of faith. Jesus taught that if people did not believe the
OT Scriptures, the greatest of all miracles would not persuade them to change
(Luke 16:31 The Rich Man and Lazarus).[17]
l
The kingdom of God is the reign of God, inaugurated with the coming of
Christ, but not fully consummated until his return at the end of the world.[18] The Kingdom of God involves two
great moments: fulfilment within history [already], and consummation at
the end of history [not yet].[19]
To seek and to save the lost
l The lost sheep of the house of
Israel:
n “For the Son of Man came to seek
and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10).
n …sheep without a shepherd. (Matt
9:36 Workers are Few) …lost sheep of Israel. (Matthew 10:6 Jesus sends out the 12)
l ‘I will build my church’ (Matthew
16:18 Peter’s confession of Christ)
n The church is, in one sense, Christ’s
storm troopers, spearheading the progress of the kingdom.
n It is important to note that
although the kingdom of God includes the church as a central component, the
kingdom is extensive over the entire cosmos.[20]
l God’s rule has broken into
human history to deliver men and women from the power of sin, death,
and Satan. From start to finish, Jesus’ entire life and
ministry was the expression of God’s mighty rule that had broken into history
to deliver the creation and its human inhabitants from the curse of sin and
death.[21]
To bring about God’s judgement on sin
l …baptize you with the Holy
Spirit and fire. (Luke 3:16-17 John the Baptist Prepares the Way)
l Division (Luke12:49-51 No Peace but
Division): The Gospel,
which is as fire, that gives both light and heat, warms the hearts of God's
people, and causes them to burn within them; though very distressing and
torturing to wicked men; so the word of God is compared to fire. Or else zeal
for it, and which would be opposed with sharp contentions by others; or rather
persecution for the sake of the Gospel, called sometimes the fiery trial; which
tries men, as gold is tried in the fire.[22]
l Jesus weeps for the destruction
of Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44 The Triumphal Entry).
To give his life
l
Jesus tells his disciples privately about his forthcoming death
and resurrection, but they fail to grasp its significance, because the meaning
was hidden from them (Mark 8:33; Luke
18:31-34). It was not something intended for public consumption.[23]
l Jesus affirmed the eternal
validity of the law, stating that not even the smallest letter would disappear
from it (Matthew 5:18-20). Jesus emphasized the true essence and purpose
of the law, and his role as the fulfilment of the law.[24]
l Christ died for our sins.
Buried, raised, appeared. (1 Cor 15:1-8 The Resurrection of Christ).
l “For even the Son of Man did not
come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom
for many.” (Mark 10:45
The Request of James
and John). By becoming
“a ransom for many” through his sacrificial death, Christians are under the new
covenant, God’s righteous standards are now written on their hearts,
not on tablets of stone.[25]
l On the cross, God in Christ
conquered sin, defeated death, and triumphed over Satan. Jesus is Christus
Victor! By means of this victory, we are restored to God and our true
purposes as human beings. It is the mystery of the Kingdom that makes us new
creatures in Christ.[26]
l Augustine explains the goal of the
“sendings” of the Son and Spirit is to restore fallen humans into a
relationship of communion with God.
References:
Chouinard, Larry. “The kingdom of God and the pursuit of justice in
Matthew”, Restoration Quarterly, 45
(2003): 229-242
Chung, Miyon. “The Incarnation and Mission of Christ (Part 1).”
Lecture Notes, Morling College, September 6, 2016.
Bible study tools. “John Gill's
Exposition of the Bible”, Accessed November 3, 2016. http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/
Hendrickx, Herman. The miracle stories of the synoptic gospels.
London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1987.
Letham, Robert. The Work of
Christ. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1993.
Naugle, David. “Jesus Christ and
the Kingdom of God.” Christian Worldview Journal. Accessed November 3, 2016. http://www.colsoncenter.org/the-center/columns/indepth/15062-jesus-christ-and-the-kingdom-of-god
Strauss, Mark. Four Portraits,
One Jesus. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007.
[1] Chung, “The Incarnation and Mission of Christ”
[2] Letham, The Work of Christ,
57.
[5] Letham, The Work of Christ,
59.
[6] Letham, The Work of Christ,
60.
[7] Letham, The Work of Christ,
59.
[8] Letham, The Work of Christ,
60.
[9] Letham, The Work of Christ,
61.
[11] Letham, The Work of Christ,
62-63.
[12]Chouinard, “The kingdom of God,” 236.
[13]Herman Hendrickx, The miracle
stories of the synoptic gospels (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1987), 11. Nowadays
people speak of miracles in terms of a ‘violation of the laws of nature’. The
more important this ‘violation’, the greater the miracle. But Jesus and his
contemporaries would not have understood this way of thinking and speaking.
They were not familiar with our concept of ‘laws of nature’. In a biblical
perspective, therefore, one cannot speak of a miracle as a ‘violation of
nature’.
[15] Letham, The Work of Christ,
68.
[16] Letham, The Work of Christ,
69.
[17] Letham, The Work of Christ,
70.
[18] Letham, The Work of Christ,
62.
[20] Letham, The Work of Christ,
74.
[23] Letham, The Work of Christ,
71.
[25]Strauss, Four Portraits,
444.
