A Theology of the Kingdom of God
The Kingdom of God Revealed in Eden
Creation:
o Man is created in the image of God
o Uniqueness of man as summit of creation
o Creaturehood is dependent on God the Creator
o Being created in the image of God points to Jesus as true image of God
o Eden is the Garden Kingdom
o Eden reveals the Kingdom of God where the king dwells with his people
o Adam and Eve are God’s People
o The Rule of God expressed by his word: You may freely eat of every tree of the garden but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. (How nice that there used to be only one rule!)
The Fall of Man:
o For in the day that you eat of it you shall die
o Man’s unilateral declaration of independence is expressed in eating the fruit
o God’s Judgment:
o God’s sovereign rule is universal but the Kingdom of God is not
o Not everyone is in the Kingdom
o Causes a disruption of relationship between man and God
o And a disruption between man and woman
o And a disruption between man and his environment
o Humanity outside the Kingdom is dead
o Meaning of death lies in the separation of man from the willing relationship of the Kingdom
o God’s Grace:
o God does not obliterate man but preserves the race (The Two Lines of Man through Cain and Seth)
o We see grace in how man continues in spite of continued sin and disobedience
o Proto-Gospel in Genesis 3:15, I will make you [the snake/Satan] and the woman enemies of each other. Your descendants and her descendants will be enemies. One of her descendants will crush your head, and you will bite his heel.” This points forward to Jesus, The descendant of the woman, and the crucifixion. Jesus had his heel bitten at the cross where through his death and subsequent resurrection, the crushed Satan.
More to come on the Kingdom of God tomorrow and the following days
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