Is the Kingdom of Christ Political

Traditional dispensationalism posits a carnal and political kingdom, rather than a spiritual and redemptive one. Dispensationalism has Christ on a physical throne in earthly Jerusalem administering the day-to-day political and bureaucratic affairs of the world.

Citing House and Ice, we learn: "Then God's will in heaven will be brought to earth. But not until Christ rules physically from Jerusalem." (House and Ice, Dominion Theology, 160.) But Christ and the New Testament writers clearly discount such, when they teach that His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom rooted in the heart (although not denying its external impact).

In Luke 17:20-21 Christ contradicted the Zionist tendencies of the Pharisees, when He denied a future earthly, political kingdom introduced by catastrophic intervention: "When he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

• Paul picks up on and promotes the spiritual nature of the kingdom, when he writes that "the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Romans 14:17).

When Christ stood before Pilate, He repeated the same truth. In John 18:36 we read: "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight." His was not a political kingdom like that of Caesar's, requiring an army. This probably explains why He asked Pilate where he got his information (John 18:33-34): Had he heard it from the Jews, Pilate would have heard a misconception of the nature of the kingdom (see John 6:15); had he heard Jesus say it, he should have known what Jesus intended.

Before His ascension Christ spent 40 days preparing the Apostles for their kingdom work (Acts 1:3). He then promised them the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

• UPON THIS PROMISE... the apostles ask in verse 6, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"

• In other words they knew that the Old Testament promise of the outpouring of God's Spirit was a promise for the last days when God would establish His kingdom on the earth and restore His people.

• For example, in Ezekiel 39 God says, "I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel . . . I will not hide my face any more from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord God" (vv. 25, 29).

• So when Jesus says that the long awaited outpouring of the Spirit is just a few days away, they would naturally ask for a clarification: "Do you mean the end is that close? The consummation of the kingdom is about to be established in just a matter of a few days?"

• This was not a foolish question, because in Luke 22:29-30, at the Last Supper Jesus had said, "As my Father assigned a kingdom to me, so I assign to you, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." In other words Jesus had told them that the kingdom would be restored and they themselves would sit on thrones as rulers along with the Son of Man over a renewed and believing Israel.

• And they knew from the Old Testament ( Ezekiel 39:29 ; Isaiah 32:15; 44:3-5; Joel 2:28 ff. Zechariah 12:10) that this restoration was going to be the result of a great outpouring of God's Spirit. So it is not a foolish question to ask, "Do you mean the restoration is in this time-in our lifetime, or even in the next few months since the Holy Spirit is going to be poured out upon us?"

• Since it is not a foolish question, Jesus does not rebuke them. He does not correct their theology of restoration because they aren't wrong. But He does correct their assumption that they can deduce the timing of its final consummation by saying in verse 7, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority." In other words, don't assume that the long-awaited outpouring of the Spirit will immediately bring in the consummation of the kingdom in its final form.

• But then Jesus goes on to tell them what the baptism with the Spirit will mean for them. It does not mean immediate completion of the Israel of God, but here's what it does mean: "You shall receive power"-in other words, even though I may seem to have popped your balloon in saying it doesn't mean the end is tomorrow, it does mean this: "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." He is not promising them that END of all things was about to happen -- BUT he was promising power that would last upon them to the end of the earth!

• And He makes it clear that THEY, not some future group of ethnic Jews, will be clothed with power to bring the glory of God's kingdom to the ends of the earth.

This evangelistic global purpose has always been God's purpose. See Numbers 14:21; Habakkuk 2:14; Joshua 4:24; Psalm 96:1-3; Isaiah 49:6; Matthew 28:19; Mark 13:10. And this does not just mean that God's kingdom will make disciples of political nations because Revelation 5:9-10 pictures the final consummation like this: "Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation." Notice it says that God ransomed men "from" or "out of" every category. "Golden Age" postmillenarians would have us believe that God will Christianize the nations, but that is not what this says. It says that Christ will "Christianize" his elect from every nation.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught us how to live in the kingdom as His ambassadors. In Acts 2 Peter said that Pentecost was the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy about the last days. We are living in the Last Days, the final age. There is no age to follow this age except the age of eternity itself upon the new cursed free earth. Today, King Jesus sits upon the throne of David and rules and reigns making His enemies His footstool, and His kingdom is everlasting!

Joel's prophecy, that Peter quotes in Acts 2:17-21, makes clear that the last days are one period that will be mixed days-days of powerful witness (vv. 17-18) and days of terrible calamity (vv. 19-20).

• So when you read his prophecy it has two parts-a bright part and a dark part. The bright part is verses 17-18: "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; yea, and on my menservants and my maidservants in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy."

• In other words Joel says that one feature of the last days will be the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on people of every kind - men and women, young and old. The Holy Spirit's power will be for them to proclaim the kingdom with boldness

That's the bright part of Joel's prophecy. But the dark part is simultaneous:

• The dark part is in Acts 2:19-20, "And I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; and the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and manifest day."

• In other words there will be natural catastrophes; there will be war and bloodshed; there will be conflagration and devastation. So there is no doubt that the end of the end-the last of the last days-will be bleak in many ways --morally bleak, socially bleak, with great upheavals in nature itself.

Paul agreed in 2 Timothy 3:3 saying, "Understand this, that in the last days there will come times of stress. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, etc."

Peter also said in 2 Peter 3:3, "Scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own passions and saying, 'Where is the promise of his coming?'"

Jesus said in Luke 21:9-11, "When you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified; for this must first take place, but the end will not be at once . . . Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom will rise against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven."

But is that the whole story? Is that all we can expect before Jesus comes? I don't think so.

Let me show you why, beginning with Matthew 24:9-14 Jesus says, "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, and put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away, and betray one another, and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because wickedness is multiplied, most men's love will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come."

• Notice when the end comes, after the times mixed with tribulation and evangelism, when all nations, not just Israel, will receive the gospel of the kingdom!

• So, the kingdom of Christ is a spiritual kingdom made up of His elect, a chosen people, a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9). And His kingdom has come and will continue to expand until all the sheep are in the fold (John 10:16) as one flock with one Shepherd. Then the end will come, the consummation of the kingdom -- the Glorified Lord will descend victorious and judge the living and the dead.

In summary: Dispensationalism discounts the spiritual glory of Christ's present rule by denying it. And this despite the biblical record.