Your Kingdom Come Part 1: Kingdom Patterned & Kingdom Perished

The Bible: one story, one author, one hero, one king.

Your Kingdom Come

Over the four weeks of March 2015 we are exploring the overarching story of the Bible.  To help we are using the great book ‘God’s Big Picture’ by Vaughan Roberts.  Here’s a summary of the introduction and first two parts of God’s story – the kingdom patterned and the kingdom perished.

The Bible is Surprisingly Popular

It has been translated in its entirety into 531 languages and partially into a further 2883.  It remains the number one global best seller and in the UK there are more Bibles than homes.

The Bible is Incredibly Diverse

66 different individual documents from the very short to the quite long; written by dozens of different authors following numerous individuals, families and nations; using in three major languages across a multitude of cultures over a 3000 year period.  It is more a global and historical library than a book!

The Bible is Undeniably unified

Yet the Bible has one author, one hero, one story and one king.

The Bible is all about Jesus

Jesus says this:

Luke 24:27: ‘And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all Scriptures concerning himself.’

John 5:39: ‘These are the very Scriptures that testify about me.’

And so do his disciples:

Acts 3:18-19: ‘This is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer.’

So the Bible fits together like this:

Promises & Pointers toward Jesus in the Old Testament.  

Fulfilment and Fruition by Jesus in the New Testament.

Specifically the Bible is all about God’s Kingdom completed in Jesus

Jesus says this:

Mark 1:15: ‘The time has come’, Jesus said.  ‘The kingdom of God has come near.’

This kingdom could be summarised as God’s People in God’s Place under God’s Blessing and Rule.

The Mega-Story of God’s Kingdom

The mega-story of God’s kingdom in the Bible has eight episodes to it.

Old Testament: Promises Made About Jesus.

1.    Patterned: Genesis 1 & 2 give us pattern of God’s kingdom.

2.    Perished: Genesis 3-11 reveal how that pattern is broken and distorted.

3.    Promised:  Genesis 12 shows us God’s great promise to restore his kingdom.

4.  Partial: Genesis 12 to the end of 2Chronociles shows us the partial restoration of that kingdom with Judges & Kings trying to re-establish God’s kingdom.

5.   Prophesied: Ezra to Malachi records prophets either forth-telling (the kingdom is not here) or fore-telling (the kingdom is still to come)

New Testament: Promises Kept In Jesus.

6. Present:  Matthew, Mark, Luke & John record the arrival of the King.

7. Proclaimed:  Acts to Revelation is the history (Acts) and content (Romans-Revelation) of God’s kingdom’s arrival being heralded in actions and words.

8. Perfected:  Revelation gives us a glimpse of the perfected kingdom of God Jesus ultimate re-establishes.

Note: We live in part 7 of God’s mega-story: the Kingdom of God proclaimed in actions and words.

Patterned & Perished

Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden show us a pattern of what God’s kingdom is, with perfect relationships between people and God (1:31-2:2), people and creation (2:15) & people and each other (2:25).

Genesis 3 shows us how it all went dramatically wrong.  All those relationships are broken: with God (3:9), with each other (3:7, 16) & with creation (3:17-18).

Genesis 4-11 emphasis this was not unique to that first couple but universal to all people: murder of a brother (chapter 4), death through all generations (chapter 5), chaos in society (chapter 6-9), and cultural arrogance (chapter 11).

We are Jackal and we are Hyde, and this helps us…

To understand the stories of the Bible.  As we read the Bible we can and should be asking: Is this about how God made it?  Or about how it is broken?  Or about how Jesus is restoring it?

To understand ourselves and the world we live in.  The Bible’s world view accurately describes what we know to be true.  People, including ourselves, are capable of such wonderful beauty (the patterned kingdom) and such horrific evil (the perished kingdom). 

Hint of Hope

However, even in the midst of the perished Kingdom of Genesis 3 we see a hint of the hope of Jesus.

There will ultimately be victory not surrender (3:15).

There will ultimately be life not death (3:20).

There will ultimately be dignity not shame (3:21).