(light airy music) – [Tim] We're finishing up our
series on the Kingdom of God. If you haven't listened
to part one and two, I'd recommend that you
go back and do that. In the last episode, we
looked at how the theme Of the Kingdom of God begins On page one of the
Bible, Genesis Chapter 1. God creates humans in his image, Which means we are to
represent his reign on earth. – [Jon] That's how the story
begins, full of potential. Humans have this amazingly elevated, Royal, sacred task of
embodying God's rule. – [Tim] We talked about how humans Create their own alternative kingdom, Which culminates in the city of Babylon And then also is typified
in Pharaoh's Egypt. – [Jon] So then the story of the Bible Becomes a story of a
clash of kingdoms, of God Constantly trying to invade our kingdom And save us from ourselves And us constantly wanting to
push God out of the equation. – [Tim] We talk about God's response To this alternate kingdom. – [Jon] Well, he's gonna
choose the family of Abraham And liberate them from the world, The age of sin and death from the kingdom, Which in the story takes
the form of the exodus, When he liberates his people Out of that oppressive
evil into a new freedom, And then he invites them
to live under his reign. – [Tim] We looked at how
ancient Israel was unable to Live up to the task of
being the image of God To reign on God's behalf over earth. But that Jesus, a new prophet on the scene,
Talks about the Kingdom
coming in a fresh way. – [Jon] So the good news is That the Kingdom of God
has arrived in Jesus, Which means that he is
the truly human one. So the narrative of the Bible then is God So closely binds himself to humans In the incarnation of Jesus, That he becomes the human
that we're made to be. And then, through him, we become the humans That we are made to be. – [Tim] In this final
episode, we're going to Be looking closer at Jesus, How he thinks of himself as
bringing the Kingdom of God. Then we're going to wrestle a little bit About what this would mean
for us as Jesus followers. (light airy music) ♪ From now on ♪ ♪ No regrets ♪ ♪ Lift my head ♪ ♪ Try my best ♪ ♪ And hush, hush little one ♪ ♪ Hush, hush little ones in my head ♪ – [Tim] Isaiah said Yahweh
himself would return To Zion
– [Jon] Hmm. – [Tim] and rule as King. And so for Jesus to show up and say, "Hey, look at me, the Kingdom of God, The rule and the reign of God is here." So, he presents himself
as a king by saying, "the Kingdom of God is here." The first thing he does Is go form a nucleus of 12 disciples. – [Jon] Right. – [Tim] This symbol of
Renewing the covenant people of God, Renewing Israel. And then, he invites them To live under his reign, To be the alternative kingdom. And so that's why The Sermon on the Mount is so powerful 'cause it's a Torah. It's a new Torah teaching From the hillside
– [Jon] Hmm-mm. – [Tim] as the new Moses. It's, you know, the summary Of Jesus' Upside-Down Kingdom. – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] And what it means to live under The rule and reign of God. – [Jon] And it's not disconnected From this narrative of Genesis 1 of… – [Tim] Hmm, right. – [Jon] Of these laws of
the kingdom in Deuteronomy. – [Tim] Yeah. – [Jon] It's-
– [Tim] Yeah, yeah. And Jesus says, actually, this is how The Torah from Sinai
meets its fulfillment. He says,
– [Jon] Right. – [Tim] "So my teaching "isn't reversing the laws of the Torah, "it's actually fulfilling them." So it's through Jesus' teachings, He claims, that Israel will truly be The contrast kingdom it was called to be. And by doing that, it becomes the model Of what human kingdoms Living under the reign of God,
Ruling themselves under the reign of God Were to be like. And then, everything
that Jesus talks about In the Sermon on the Mount, he lives out. How does Jesus become King? First of all, he teaches
and announces the Kingdom. Then he confronts evil, – [Jon] Hmm-mm.
– [Tim] specifically by Reaching out to the most
hurting, broken people. – [Jon] Hmm. – [Tim] Because, you know, for somebody To show up on the scene and say, "Hey, I'm bringing God's
rule over the whole world." You know,
(Jon scoffs) There's a few other people On the contemporary world scene right now Making that claim, and it's a nightmare. – [Jon] Are you referring
to someone in particular? I really don't know.
(Tim laughing) – [Tim] I mean so, you know, ISIS. – [Jon] Oh. – [Tim] They're, they claim
to be bringing God's rule – [Jon] Yeah, hmm.
– [Tim] over humanity, And it involves murdering
anybody who doesn't- – [Jon] Doesn't believe. – [Tim] recognize the rule of Allah. So we're, we're leery
of people making claims To impose and bring God's rule. And so I, there is this
element of the way, What does it look like when
God becomes King in Jesus? It looks like a leper being healed And the bleeding woman being healed And people, tax collectors being invited, And it looks like Jesus stuff, you know?
– [Jon] Right. – [Tim] So there's something
rad about Jesus embodies The reign of God in his disciple movement. And then too, the way Jesus Is enthroned as King Is through his trial and execution. And there's all these deep
ironies in the passion narrative 'cause he's….
– [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] The first time he's
– [Jon] Cursed on. Acknowledged or called as Messiah Is at his trial.
– [Jon] Is at his trial. Yeah. – [Tim] And then he gets the crown. – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] He also gets a robe
– [Jon] Gets the… (laughs) and a robe. – [Tim] And he also gets
exalted and lifted up. – [Jon] Oh, yeah. – [Tim] And there's the irony of, In the Gospel according to John, Jesus constantly talks about how The Son of Man will be lifted up And all men will be drawn to him. – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] It's an enthronement language. – [Jon] Hmm. – [Tim] To be highly exalted. – [Jon] Which is such
an upside-down moment. – [Tim] Yes, and then that's, The moment of the crucifixion, Is Jesus's enthronement. I think that's the claim all
of the Gospels are making. – [Jon] Um. – [Tim] Is that Jesus,
that God, became King
And inaugurated, Fully inaugurated God's rule In the moment of the cross. (Jon laughing) 'Cause all the Gospels lead up to it. – [Jon] Yeah, that's cool. As it, as the moment of his enthronement And then the resurrection is… – [Jon] Which should be that moment where God has arrived to be King on Earth. – [Tim] Yes, yeah.
– [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] And so the, God's
arrival is an act of Sacrificial self-giving love. – [Jon] Geez. – [Tim] To die on behalf, To take death into himself on behalf Of those who have rebelled
against his reign. And then even more as a statement Of his love and commitment
to his good world And to humans made in God's image. He defeats death and the ruin That we've caused in the resurrection, Which is the vindication of Jesus as King. And then, and then there. Then we're into new
creation where the Kingdom Has truly arrived in the death
and resurrection of Jesus. But it is not fully
recognized or implemented. – [Jon] So we're back to the same problem. It's arrived. It's here…
– [Tim] It's here. – [Jon] God does reign,
– [Tim] Hmm-mm. – [Jon] and now through Jesus,
– [Tim] Hmm-mm. – [Jon] he's shown that reign
– [Tim] Hmm-mm. – [Jon] in a surprising way.
– [Tim] Yeah. – [Jon] But it's still not recognized. – [Tim] It's still not fully recognized. And so, this is where the whole, This was what, the whole thing About sharing good news is. (Jon laughing) – [Jon] Hope people recognize that. – [Tim] Is like, dude,
Jesus is alive from the dead Which means that God is King, And that you, your
humanity can be restored As you give your faith and
allegiance to the King. So that's where I end, With these three little italic statements. This is why Jesus', right here. – [Jon] Hmm-mm. – [Tim] This is why Jesus's
resurrection is viewed As God's triumph over sin and death. Jesus is continuing to birth
his Kingdom in the new world, Right here in the midst of the old one. Giving my allegiance to King Jesus – [Jon] Hmm-mm. – [Tim] and trusting that he knows How to be a human more than I do. So I'm going to trust, I'm going to live under his reign, And let him define good and evil for me. – [Jon] Um. – [Tim] 'Cause I'm not very good at it. – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] And it's about Joining the community of his disciples Who are being transformed
or empowered by the Spirit. And that's where the image of God,
This is where the image
of God language comes in. Oh no, no, no. This is is more about the church As the witness to the Kingdom. – [Jon] Hmm. – [Tim] So the church is not the Kingdom. The church is a group of
people who come around Jesus And are invited to enter the Kingdom And experience it and to
live under Jesus's reign. And then together we
form a contrast community And share that to the world
through our words and actions. So there's a personal transformation Which is about my old
humanity becoming new. The image of God being restored in me. The way that Jesus and
the Gospels tie the story Back up isn't through
the phrase "image of God." – [Jon] Hmm. – [Tim] They do it
through the Kingdom theme. – [Jon] Yes. But then Paul brings it. – [Tim] Paul is the one who ties. – [Jon] Hmm. – [Tim] Use this. So it's already a coherent story. – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] But Paul picks up
the phrase image of God And uses it to, to tell the same story, But with the image of God
theme as a part of it. – [Jon] Good news is so tied into this. – [Tim] Yes. – [Jon] 'Cause we don't have a video. And we talked about the video. "What's the Gospel?" – [Tim] Hmm-mm, hmm-mm. – [Jon] This is the first time
we've really talked about.
– [Tim] Yeah. – [Jon] That phrase.
– [Tim] Yeah, The phrase "good news" in the New Testament Is always tied to Kingdom.
– [Jon] Kingdom. – [Tim] It's a Kingdom word About Jesus announcing the Kingdom, Jesus becoming King. So let's, I mean let's
just for the sake of, That was a long, with lots rabbit trails. – [Jon] That was long. – [Tim] But, so, here's the arc. The Kingdom of God is here. That's the summary of Jesus' message. Everything was about the
Kingdom, King to Kingdom. And loving your neighbor and
treating people with love And respect and loving your enemy, Is a response to the fact that
the Kingdom of God is here. Otherwise, that's pretty
poor advice sometimes. – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] So, what does he mean by kingdom? Well, here's something, Kingdom in the Bible means an action, Ruling and reigning. Jesus is saying the reign of God is here. What does that even mean? Well, we have to go back
to the story of the Bible. The first time "ruled" or
"reign" appears in the Bible. Genesis 1, it's humans doing it. As God's image bears
God's reign is mediated And embodied in his world. This is how the story of the Bible begins. God wants to rule the world Through humans ruling on this behalf. – [Jon] And then the second
time we, or when they-
– [Tim] That all goes, that
all goes horribly wrong. – [Jon] Okay. – [Tim] Humans distrust. They built an alternate kingdom. An alternate city. – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] That leads to Babylon. God chooses the family of Abraham And liberates them from
the kingdom of this world, Which is embodied in Pharaoh. So that means confronting
and defeating evil In the form of Pharaoh, baby-killing, Slave-driving kingdom. And then redeeming his people. And that, incidentally, is the first time God is called the King is
after his defeat of evil. He frees the people And invites them to live
under his reign as their King. Israel does a piss poor job of that. In fact, they install kings of their own And they become the kingdom of Egypt. Israel becomes Egypt and they
do the whole rebellion thing. But that doesn't mean that God's reign Over the world is over. The poets and the prophets kept the hope That God is still King. Even if the world doesn't recognize it, Even if Israel doesn't recognize it. And that God would come
back one day personally To assert his reign and
rule over his people And the world as it.
– [Jon] Hmm-mm. – [Tim] Psalm 96, Isaiah 52.
– [Jon] Hmm-mm. – [Tim] This was the hope And the story that Jesus saw himself
Bringing to light. He's presenting himself as a King In his announcement of the reign of God. First thing he does is form a people And invite them to live under his reign. Now, we might get suspicious and say Jesus came claiming saying, I'm here to rule the
world on God's behalf. – [Jon] 'Cause he doesn't
actually say that. – [Tim] Well, he says, "the
Kingdom of God has arrived. "Repent and follow me." – [Jon] Yeah, okay. – [Tim] I mean. – [Jon] Follow me. – [Tim] It's not quite how we would say it But that's what he means. – [Jon] Follow me because I'm going to show you the Kingdom Or follow me because I'm the King. – [Tim] Hmm, you will,
an appropriate response To God's Kingdom arriving in me Is to repent, stop everything you're doing, And come follow me. And if you don't listen to my words, You're a fool,
(Jon laughing) Building your life on sand. But if you come and live under my reign, It's like a wise person who, you know, Builds his house on a rock. So I think. – [Jon] Does he use reigning language, "come under my reign"? Or does he just say, "come and follow me"? I mean, could make the case.
– [Tim] You follow me. And then he says, if you follow me And have come, part of my disciples, The Kingdom is yours. Blessed is, blessed are the poor. Blessed are you, the Kingdom is yours. – [Jon] So I'm bringing the Kingdom. – [Tim] I'm bringing the Kingdom. He never comes out And says it the way we want him to say. – [Jon] Right, just say it Jesus. – [Tim] But that's because, But he is saying it. He's just saying it
the way a Jewish person Who's steeped in the
Scriptures would say it. And who's trying to avoid getting killed. – [Jon] (laughs) And who's
trying to avoid being killed. – [Tim] Yeah, 'cause it's loaded. This is all loaded political language. – [Jon] Yeah, he lasted for three years. – [Tim] He made it three
years under the radar. And anytime people said out
loud, "You're the Messiah," He told him to be quiet. – [Jon] Be quiet, yeah, yeah. Simmer down. So I mean it's, I mean, How long will you last in America If you start a significant movement Declaring yourself to be the president? (Jon laughing) Really think, like how
long would that last? – [Jon] Ah, like how significant
would it have to get? – [Tim] Yes, that's the question. – [Jon] Right.
Because Jesus' ministry, It didn't get that significant. Like there wasn't. – [Tim] I don't know, he had. – [Jon] Oh, there was a big crowd. – [Tim] He had big crowds,
– [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] and the Pharisees were
on him, in, pretty quickly. – [Jon] What? Yeah. What would be the, If you had small militia,
you'd probably get shut down. – [Tim] Well, that's the thing, right? The disciples want to do that, right? – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] You're the Messiah, Jesus. So therefore I'm gonna
go to Jerusalem and die. Wait, no, no, no.
– [Jon] Yeah, no. – [Tim] This is Peter. No, actually I was gonna lay
down my life for you, and… – [Jon] They were ready to fight. – [Tim] Yeah, we were ready to fight. And so they don't grasp That upside-down nature of the Kingdom. – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] Just like Solomon didn't Or any of the kings of Israel. – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] This is a great story. – [Jon] (laughs) Yeah, totally. – [Tim] Anyway, so what does it look like When Jesus reigns as King, Healing the sick, you know, Moving towards the broken and the poor. And it all comes together in the moment Of the clash of kingdoms
Where Jesus rides into Jerusalem, Asserts his authority over the temple As King.
– [Jon] Hmm-mm, throws down. – [Tim] Throws down, and they ask him, "Are you the Messiah?" "You say that I am." He's given a crown, a robe. He's exalted and lifted up. – [Jon] Hmm-mm, he's
called the King of Jews. – [Tim] And so the story right there Is asking us to see God's reign And rule being inaugurated And Jesus enthrone in the
moment that he gives his life As a loving sacrifice for the sin And the death that our kingdoms That caused in the world. – [Jon] What a strange narrative. – [Tim] And Jesus is
acting out the plot line. That is, that's Isaiah. This is why Isaiah's so crucial. – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] 'Cause that's,
it's Isaiah 52 and 53. (gentle uplifting music) (gentle uplifting music) – [Jon] And then from there, You go to Paul who talks about, – [Tim] And then from there, it's, So now we're in the era
of the now and not yet, Where people are called to acknowledge, Not everyone acknowledges,
the reign of Jesus. – [Jon] Oh, so then
there's the good news part. It's like so, so at this point. – [Tim] Yeah. – [Jon] Well, what's good news?
Well, tell people
– [Tim] Yeah. – [Jon] Jesus is king. – [Tim] Yes.
– [Jon] Let them know. – [Tim] Sharing and inviting people to. – [Jon] Beautiful are the feet
of those bring the good news. – [Tim] That's right. It's like the human condition. – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] Just like…
– [Jon] Waiting for that. – [Tim] We're waiting for something That says that death
– [Jon] The message. – and injustice and human failure Isn't the way the story ends. – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] And so and so you're like, Yes, the watchman comes, good news. God is King. He's laid bare his arm for
all the nations to see. – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] And you're like, yes, yes, yes. What is it gonna be like? – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] It's the suffering servant. – [Jon] And it's, yeah. And it's laid down your life. – [Tim] And then if you
want to follow this King, You need to resist the
kingdoms of this world That say save your life, And you give your life And self-giving love, in
hopes of the resurrection. That…
– [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] out of all of this death… – [Jon] Yeah.
– [Tim] and tragedy, That God will bring about us.
Actually, it's through the self-giving love And sacrifice that the
new creation is birthed. It's very, it's the Christian story, man. The Kingdom of God. It really, it's very powerful, anyway. – [Jon] Yeah, yeah. It's very, it's very startling and, But oddly inspiring, you know? – [Tim] Right. – [Jon] So this isn't for
the video, but I'm curious Who would you recommend to read, who then Kind of teases this out for How to live under other kingdoms? – [Tim] I know. – [Jon] So I just feel like when you, When you're like, "Oh,
cool, that makes sense." All of a sudden, now
you're like Shane Claiborne And you're running around,
– [Tim] Right, right, right. – [Jon] like, living with the homeless, And that makes sense as a reaction. But, but that's
– [Tim] Yeah. – [Jon] 0.001%.
– [Tim] Yes. – [Jon] You know, like
everyone else is going, "Okay, cool, I still have this job, "or I still have this," – [Tim] Right, right, right, right. – [Jon] "you know, responsibility. "I'm still living in this country. "I'm still whatever."
– [Tim] Yup, yup. – [Jon] Like, "I'm trying
to balance this all out." – [Tim] Hmm-mm.
– [Jon] Is that? – [Tim] Man, I think the
most enjoyable to read author Who's put feet to all this is N.T. Wright. – [Jon] Hmm-mm.
– [Tim] So yes, theological
summary of all this is "How God Became King", – [Jon] Hmm. – [Tim] which is big influence,
how I framed the video. – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] But then also his
book, "Simply Christian". – [Jon] Okay. – [Tim] Which is his attempt
to redo "Mere Christianity", (Jon laughing) C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity". And it's a very, it's very practical. It's a new visioning of
practical Christian life In light of the Kingdom Come narrative. It's cool.
– [Jon] Cool. – [Tim] But even there, you know, So his things are justice, beauty. I mean, he threw himself
into the House of Lords As he was the Bishop of Durham. – [Jon] Yeah.
– [Tim] He was a part of… – [Jon] Which is a part of the, Part of the power, Parliament. – [Tim] So he gave seven years of his life To speaking into British Parliament – [Jon] Yeah.
– [Tim] as a response to this. – [Jon] Yeah. – [Tim] So he didn't go the route of, – [Jon] He didn't go- – [Tim] the Shane Claiborne route, Even though Shane Claiborne
– [Jon] Live in the desert. – [Tim] inspired by his writings, A great popular-level author, He's actually a pastor, campus pastor. His name's Alan Walker Bayoshi.
– [Jon] Hmm. – [Tim] Wrote a great pastoral reflection
On this thing of the
Kingdom is now, not yet And so on.
– [Jon] Hmm-mm. – [Tim] But it's more, Trying to piece it together theologically. – [Jon] Hmm. – [Tim] With some practical implications. So I, I'm excited about this video. I think it really… – [Jon] Yeah, it's a beefy one – [Tim] Beefy. (gentle uplifting music) (gentle uplifting music) – [Jon] So this video
on the Kingdom of God Is coming out in January. I think in a previous episode I said we're hoping to
have it done by December. That turned out to be false. It's January 2016, maybe early February At the worst case. It's actually gonna be called
the Gospel of the Kingdom. After this dialogue, we did some writing And we decided the whole
Kingdom of God, as a theme, Was a little too much to bite off in one Five-minute animation. So we're just focusing
the video on the Gospel, The good news, the messenger running, Jesus seeing himself as that messenger. And how the message is
that the Kingdom of God Has come, this Upside-Down Kingdom. Stay up to date on what's coming out, What's going on, through our newsletter. You can get to that at the
bottom of our website which is JoinTheBibleProject.com. Twitter is @JoinBibleProj,
And Facebook is
Facebook.com/JoinTheBibleProject. All of our videos are for free. They're online on YouTube at
YouTube.com/TheBibleProject. Thanks for being a part of this with us. (gentle uplifting music) ♪ Hurt go again and remain ♪ ♪ Bringing loneliness and pain ♪ ♪ I'll defend you to the grave ♪ ♪ I'll remind you of the day ♪ ♪ You were just a boy ♪ ♪ Trying to pretend ♪ ♪ Pleasing all your mentors ♪ ♪ Though never quite convinced ♪ ♪ Now you are much older ♪ ♪ Free to skip the test ♪ ♪ Now it's time to rest ♪ (gentle uplifting music fading)