Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED blog post, the only blog that thinks the phrase “quick question” has caused more fear than any horror movie.
Unless you’re new to my work, you’re aware that my ministry is focused on two towering themes. One is the eternal purpose of God. The other is the kingdom of God (specifically, the gospel of the kingdom).
From Eternity to Here is my main treatise on the eternal purpose.
Insurgence: Reclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom is my main treatise on God’s kingdom and the gospel of the kingdom.
My newest, The Untold Story of the New Testament Church: Revised and Expanded, traces the theme of God’s eternal purpose and the kingdom from Matthew to Revelation chronologically (with all the details filled in).
Now the question: What’s the relationship between God’s eternal purpose and the kingdom of God? How do they differ and how are they similar or the same?
In Insurgence: Reclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, I made this statement:
God’s Eternal Purpose
“For the last two decades, my main focus, burden, and passion has been God’s eternal purpose. It is the thread that runs through all my work. As I have argued in detail elsewhere, the eternal purpose of God is the grand narrative of the entire Bible.
The kingdom of God is at the heart of God’s eternal purpose. In fact, in recent years, I’ve come to realize that the kingdom of God is just another term for the eternal purpose.
The kingdom of God explains and sums up the meaning and purpose of Jesus. The kingdom points to the universal glory, fullness, and rule of Jesus Christ and the exercise of God’s image and authority through human beings—the central features of the eternal purpose.”
– Insurgence, p. 13.
Let’s unravel that. We can approach God’s eternal purpose through two complementary lenses: community and civilization.
Community and civilization both describe forms of human social organization, but at different scales and with different bonds holding them together. Here’s the difference.
Community
- Local
- Made up of face-to-face relationships
- The bonds are personal and based on organic relationship
Civilization
- Local and national
- They share a common government
- The bonds are based on a common culture (culture includes shared values, beliefs, language, and worldview).
Community and God’s Purpose
From the perspective of community, the eternal purpose is expressed through and carried out by the ekklesia (“church” as envisioned in the New Testament).
Specifically, God’s purpose is expressed as a bride for the Son, a house for the Father, a body for the Son, and a family for the Father. Now before you yawn, here’s the tragic fact: Historically, most within Christianity have treated these terms as mere metaphors.
However, God’s eternal purpose envisions these as spiritual realities to be concretely embodied and practically expressed on the earth, not merely understood symbolically.
Consequently, calling your Sunday morning church service “the bride of Christ” or your church building “the house of God” or your denomination “the family of God” is an example of completely missing the true meaning of these terms. And before you spiral into a full-blown existential crisis over something I never actually said, do yourself a favor and read the footnote real quick.*
*Don’t miss the point. Certainly, the believers who attend religious services and/or who are part of a denomination may be members/participants of God’s family and citizens of God’s kingdom. But religious services and denominations are not the equivalent of God’s house, God’s family, the bride of Christ, the body of Christ.
Civilization and God’s Kingdom
From the perspective of civilization, the eternal purpose is revealed as the kingdom of God—an alternative order that has broken into the present one.
Through the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom, people are called to repent and believe. That is, to give their complete allegiance to Jesus of Nazareth as Lord and King of the world.
In so doing, such people become citizens of God’s kingdom. At the same time, they are incorporated into the body of Christ, the house of God, the bride of Christ, and the family of God as full-fledged, organic members.
Consequently, the ekklesia is the living community that inhabits and embodies the kingdom of God and fulfills God’s eternal purpose. It’s the new civilization on Planet Earth.
Every true ekklesia is an expression of the kingdom. The ekklesia and God’s kingdom are two parts of one reality, like the skeleton and the fleshly body of a human.
The Eminent Place of Christ
In relationship to the body of Christ, Jesus is the head.
In relationship to the house of God, Jesus is the foundation and the chief cornerstone.
In relationship to the family of God, Jesus is the firstborn Son and elder brother.
In relationship to the bride of Christ, Jesus is the bridegroom.
In relationship to the alternative civilization called “the kingdom of God,” Jesus is the true King and Emperor.
Both the eternal purpose and the kingdom of God can only be properly understood in a Christopheric way.**
**”Christopheric” is a word I coined a few years ago. It means that Jesus is all-pervasive and all-encompassing, like an atmosphere or sphere that surrounds and fills everything else.
Jesus is not only central to God’s purpose and the kingdom, but He fills the entire picture. He’s not just at the center. He’s the whole circle, from center to circumference, including the margins.
All told, the kingdom and God’s eternal purpose describe the same divine reality viewed from different vantage points.
One emphasizes a new civilization under divine rulership (the kingdom), the other emphasizes a corporate people formed in relational union with the living God through Christ (the eternal purpose).
Is what you just read taught today? Hardly.
I can count on one hand those who are declaring the eternal purpose of God.
There are many who talk about the kingdom, but they typically mean something quite narrow with it. (Either making the world a better place, going to heaven, or performing signs and wonders.)
Hence, this article, which I hope you will spread (you can share it easily using the social share buttons on the bottom).
Lord, raise up countless servants in this generation who are clear on Your eternal purpose and can declare it with fiery passion out of lived experience.
For more on the eternal purpose, go here.
For more on the kingdom of God, go here.
For the books mentioned at the front, go here.
A fellow citizen in His kingdom,
fv
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