Why the Coming Kingdom of Christ Is Really Bad News
00:00:00.000 | [Music]
00:00:04.000 | We address pushbacks and concerns on the podcast like this one.
00:00:07.240 | "Hello Pastor John, I'm a joyful graduate of Bethlehem College and Seminary.
00:00:12.000 | I was also able to fly back this year to attend the Pastors Conference.
00:00:15.360 | I've been blessed by God's work in your ministry for years and find myself consistently in
00:00:20.280 | agreement with you.
00:00:21.960 | However, one area of difference that struck me at the 2017 Pastors Conference was the
00:00:26.480 | statement you made that Jesus' reign isn't good news, which was recently reposted online.
00:00:34.960 | Here's my struggle.
00:00:36.440 | The statement "the kingdom of God is not good news" seems to conflict what I see in Isaiah
00:00:41.440 | 52 7, especially in light of Hebrews 2 verses 5-9.
00:00:46.160 | I am in full agreement that the atonement is necessary, but rather than seeing this
00:00:50.340 | as odds to Jesus' reign, I see it, atonement, as a vehicle of his reign, that is, his reign
00:00:57.060 | demands that all of his enemies are under his feet.
00:00:59.760 | This includes sin and death according to 1 Corinthians 15 verses 55-56.
00:01:04.920 | And the means of their defeat was his suffering, as we see in Hebrews 2 verse 9.
00:01:10.240 | Am I wrong in seeing Jesus' reign in this way?
00:01:13.640 | I hope this makes sense and comes across with the great respect that I have for you and
00:01:18.520 | the earnest desire for your response.
00:01:20.960 | Pastor John, what would you say?
00:01:22.800 | Well, I doubt that we have a basic disagreement, but let me say what I was thinking and see
00:01:30.320 | if this helps.
00:01:32.080 | When I say, and I don't say it often because it's so blatantly wrong at one level and right
00:01:41.460 | at another, when I say, "The kingdom of God is not good news," I know that I'm saying
00:01:50.220 | something which, out of context, contradicts numerous texts of the Bible.
00:01:55.820 | Luke 4:43, Jesus says, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God."
00:02:04.340 | Good grief, it's so clear.
00:02:05.860 | Yes, it's good news.
00:02:07.240 | The kingdom of God is good news.
00:02:09.480 | Jesus came preaching the good news of the kingdom, and of course, it is based on Isaiah
00:02:14.100 | 52.7.
00:02:15.100 | How beautiful, how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news.
00:02:20.340 | What good news?
00:02:21.340 | "Who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'"
00:02:27.340 | So to those who have Him as their God, that's really good news.
00:02:36.300 | I fight for you.
00:02:38.180 | So why do I say something so blatantly opposite to what the Bible says in its own language?
00:02:46.100 | And I say it because it's true in the way I mean it and the way I explain it, and it's
00:02:53.060 | true biblically.
00:02:56.820 | When the kingdom of God is established, finally, with the new heaven and the new earth, those
00:03:03.400 | who have not repented and received the forgiveness of sins offered through the gospel of Christ's
00:03:13.480 | shed blood and perfected righteousness will perish.
00:03:20.360 | They will perish precisely because God reigns.
00:03:25.720 | They will perish precisely because the kingdom came decisively and finally and gloriously.
00:03:33.760 | Here's a description of what's going to happen.
00:03:36.320 | Second Thessalonians 1.7.
00:03:39.400 | Here's what happens when the king comes.
00:03:41.100 | The Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting
00:03:46.740 | vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our
00:03:53.200 | Lord Jesus.
00:03:54.200 | They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the
00:03:59.520 | Lord and the glory of His might.
00:04:03.440 | And Revelation 6.16 describes what will happen when the throne is exalted and people see
00:04:11.000 | it.
00:04:12.000 | They will call on the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us, hide us from the face of Him
00:04:17.020 | who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb."
00:04:23.440 | That's not good news to them.
00:04:26.680 | That's the worst news they could possibly hear is that God reigns over their unrepentant
00:04:33.400 | rebellion.
00:04:34.760 | So what moves me to use this drastic language, "The kingdom of God is not good news,"
00:04:41.800 | is that some preachers today, some younger preachers, older preachers, are downplaying
00:04:49.480 | the centrality and prominence of the personal work of salvation through the cross in the
00:04:56.320 | forgiveness of sins and the propitiating of the wrath of God.
00:05:02.320 | And they are instead foregrounding cosmic, global triumph of God over the world and the
00:05:10.600 | restoration of all things to the way it should be.
00:05:14.440 | And it is possible to wax very global and social and environmental and holistic and
00:05:19.480 | comprehensive and eloquent as if the preachers of the traditional historic personal gospel
00:05:25.280 | that Christ died for the sins of individuals somehow didn't know that Romans 8.18-25 is
00:05:31.000 | in the Bible where the whole creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God who have
00:05:36.680 | been individually redeemed.
00:05:38.800 | I've always taught the renovation of the universe is a playground for the children
00:05:45.760 | of God who've been saved.
00:05:48.680 | And what I'm concerned about is that the magnificent propitiating work of the blood of Jesus to
00:05:57.960 | remove the wrath of God from his people by his blood is minimized.
00:06:04.720 | It's treated as an afterthought, a footnote.
00:06:07.380 | You have to raise your hand and say, "What about that?"
00:06:09.840 | And then they say it.
00:06:11.480 | But there are those who even despise it.
00:06:18.000 | When I said, "Farewell, Rob Bell," I wasn't reacting to his view of hell.
00:06:23.400 | I was reacting to his despising the atonement in his video where he made fun of the work
00:06:33.480 | of God to propitiate God through the sacrifice of his son.
00:06:39.720 | But that's not the impression you get when you read the New Testament.
00:06:43.920 | You don't get the impression that the personal saving, forgiving, justifying, reconciling
00:06:49.320 | work of Jesus for particular people who are guilty before God is backgrounded.
00:06:56.320 | You don't.
00:06:58.020 | You do not get that impression.
00:06:59.840 | You read the New Testament, and of course there's a global, cosmic, glorious consummation
00:07:06.620 | to all things, but nobody's going there with a guilty conscience.
00:07:12.440 | We must be forgiven for our sins.
00:07:15.120 | We must have the righteousness of Jesus.
00:07:18.500 | We must have our guilt removed.
00:07:21.440 | So my way of responding to that emphasis is to say, "If you're going to talk about the
00:07:27.760 | kingdom as the essence of the gospel, you better be clear that millions and millions
00:07:34.660 | of people will experience the final coming of the kingdom as the worst thing that could
00:07:39.000 | ever happen to them."
00:07:41.260 | The best news in all the world is how the king has chosen to reign.
00:07:48.500 | He has chosen to come in two stages.
00:07:52.060 | The first time as a servant to give his life as a ransom for many, Mark 10.45.
00:07:58.860 | The glory of the king is going to be upheld.
00:08:01.180 | Oh, yes, it will.
00:08:03.100 | And wonder of wonders, traitors, penitent, believing rebels are going to be pardoned,
00:08:13.060 | even adopted into the king's family because the king became a curse for us.
00:08:21.580 | Galatians 3.13, "In his flesh, our sin is condemned."
00:08:27.500 | Romans 8.3, "He bore in his body what we should have borne."
00:08:35.100 | Isaiah 53, 1 Peter 2.
00:08:38.920 | This is the heart of the gospel.
00:08:40.620 | And without it, the reign of God is only bad news.
00:08:46.220 | And with it, with this cross, the reign of God is our joy and our glory.
00:08:53.500 | Amen.
00:08:54.500 | Thank you for that clarification, Pastor John.
00:08:56.660 | We really do welcome and invite critical pushback of things we have published or said in the
00:09:00.500 | past.
00:09:01.740 | We don't hide from pushback and we know we're not infallible.
00:09:05.200 | So we welcome your criticisms and your questions.
00:09:07.140 | And you can email those to us through our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:09:10.700 | Well, there's been a lot of talk lately about catechisms, especially with the release of
00:09:17.060 | TGC's new catechism, the New City Catechism.
00:09:21.860 | But the question comes back, what's a better investment of my time, studying a catechism
00:09:26.940 | or memorizing scripture directly?
00:09:29.540 | What are the pros and what are the cons?
00:09:32.140 | We'll hear from Pastor John on that next time.
00:09:34.060 | I'm your host Tony Reinke.
00:09:35.540 | We'll see you then.
00:09:36.500 | Amen.
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