Saturday, March 17, 2007

extending the kingdom

After describing what seems like the typical American church-goer, Don Williams tells us:
The Kingdom demands the opposite. It is not identified by sacred spaces, places, times or even special people. The Kingdom is on the move because God is making His enemies His friends, reclaiming His good creation, and bringing this occupied planet under His Lordship. Jesus, as we have seen, was committed to extending God's kingdom throughout the land. He proclaimed the Kingdom's presence, delivered the demonized, and healed the sick. This was God's reign in action, overcoming the other reign in the world that held people in bondage.
Jesus has set us free. While it is right to understand that as being freed from bondage to obvious sin, it is also freedom from religious bondage. In Col 2.13-15 we learn that while we were dead in our sins, He made us alive "canceling the written code with its regulations". In this He disarmed the "powers and authorities ... triumphing over them by the cross." And because of this great truth, we guard ourselves, not once again placing ourselves or others under legalistic religion and the "elemental spirits of the universe" (Gal 4.8-9).

Williams summarizes, "... Jesus is the Warrior King, bringing the Kingdom to us, He liberates us from Satan's kingdom and the idolatrous political, religious and legal structures that hold us in bondage. Jesus doesn't simply save souls. He creates a new order - a new community, a new Israel - where mercy and justice reign, and extends it into every area of society."

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