“The four Gospels tell the story of Jesus as the climax of the story of Israel.” - N.T. Wright
In our previous post, we looked at how the biblical theme of God’s Kingdom unfolded throughout the Old Testament, pointing ultimately to Jesus. In this post, we’ll see how Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament hope of God’s coming Kingdom.
Many times, we are content to focus solely on Jesus’s death and resurrection, functionally skipping over all that our Lord said and did in the Gospels in between those glorious events. N.T. Wright has said that many Christians would be satisfied if Jesus had simply come down to earth as a full-grown man on Good Friday, died for our sins, rose again on Sunday, and then ascended. And how often do we reduce the Gospel and the ministry of our Lord to merely that? But when we reduce the Gospel to only getting saved and going to Heaven when we die, we miss so much that is essential to our faith, and without which we wouldn’t have the Kingdom.
“Today, we want the Kingdom without the King.” – Mark Sayers, Disappearing Church
When we fail to consider Jesus’s ministry in Israel: the healings, miraculous feedings, etc., we miss out on His demonstrations of deity and lordship. We also miss out on Him showing all of us what life looks like under His gracious, sovereign rule. And we miss that because we don’t think of the accounts in the Gospels that way. Often, we look at the stories in the Gospels as if they were nice morality tales and inspirational events. We miss the beautiful, incredible displays of God’s Kingdom.
The sermon on the mount, for example, was our Lord’s exhortation to His followers, who live under His rule, regarding His will for their way of life. And when Jesus healed lepers by touching them, forgave and freed loose women, and forgave people of their sins, He was demonstrating what the Kingdom of God is and looks like.
Given our penchant in the West for radical individualism, we so often think of Jesus as ruling and reigning “in our hearts.” And indeed He does. But He’s also the Head of the Church, King of kings and Lord of lords, sovereignly ruling over His people and all creation. And the Gospel accounts are the story of His reign. Salvation is not merely how you and I can, as individuals, get to Heaven when we die (although it certainly includes that). It’s the story of what God has done and is doing to redeem all creation, reconcile all things to Himself, and be glorified in and through His people.
Consider the events recorded in Luke’s and John’s Gospels. Jesus’s coming is portrayed as the clash between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Caesar/Rome (the final set of kingdoms in Daniel’s prophecy), with Jesus destroying all worldly kingdoms through His death and bodily resurrection! And not only that, but standing behind all worldly kingdoms and powers is the devil, whose pseudo-kingdom Jesus has vanquished (see Colossians 2).
“The story of the resurrection, then, is not an ending but a beginning. The Gospels are written as books which are there to fuel the Church’s life. But if they are to do that job, we have to take seriously the story they tell, which is the story of how God became King.” – N.T. Wright
Dr. Tim Mackie (from Bible Project) points out that Jesus, in His crucifixion, ascended His throne. He received a crown and a robe, and He was lifted up on high—what surprised everyone was that His royal ascension looked very different from what they expected. And the same is true today. When we miss the fact that the Kingdom of God is right-side up, and our earthly perspectives upside-down, we easily overlook the Gospel-writers’ portrayal of Jesus as King. The King’s coronation in His first coming was the moment He gave His life for the salvation of His enemies and conquered the devil, sin, and death forever!
As we progress all throughout the Old Testament we see God moving the story forward from creation, to Noah and the flood, to the Patriarchs, to Moses, the Promised Land, the prophets, the Temple, Jerusalem, and ultimately to Jesus. In Matthew’s Gospel this is typified in the genealogy of chapter 1. Matthew places Jesus front and center, showing that He picks up Israel’s story where it left off in the Old Testament.
Matthew, writing for a Jewish audience, shows that Jesus is the legal, rightful heir to David’s throne. He descended from Abraham, through Isaac, through Judah, and ultimately from David. Additionally, Matthew lists three sets of fourteen generations (from Abraham to David, David to the Babylonian exile, and the exile to His coming) until Jesus came. And in Hebrew gematria (how the letters of the alphabet correspond to numbers), David’s name corresponds to the number fourteen! In other words, Jesus is the fulfillment of all Scripture and the hope of Israel. God’s Kingdom has come, and Jesus is King.
“After the last dirty politician, after the last meal down at the mission, after the last lonely night in prison, there is Love…” – Andrew Peterson, After the Last Tear Falls
Click for part 1, The Fullness of the Gospel
Click for part 2, The Story of Israel