In a world captivated by the 24-hour news cycle and the latest political drama, it’s easy to get swept up in the whirlwind of power plays. We place our hopes in elections, pin our dreams on political leaders, and participate in endless debates about proper policies and competing visions of Christian cultural engagement. Too often we lose sight of the King and his coming kingdom.
In The Return of the Kingdom: A Biblical Theology of God’s Reign, Stephen G. Dempster, professor emeritus of religious studies at Crandall University, invites us to explore the grand narrative of God’s sovereign rule over a kingdom that has been unfolding since the beginning of time and that will continue long after the political landscapes of our age have faded. Dempster offers a biblical-theological antidote to a culture that oscillates between alarmism and cold-hearted indifference. That antidote requires focusing on the biblical narrative, which tells how “the world awaits the return of the kingdom of God, and its rightful heirs—human beings crowned with glory and honor” (4).
God’s Kingdom and God’s Story
For Dempster, the “return of the kingdom” is the central theme of the Bible that helps believers to comprehend “the entire biblical message” (2). In this “one succinct phrase,” we can behold the grand “storyline of the Bible” (4).
Biblical theology insists that God documented in his Word the way he works in the world. The biblical canon isn’t a wax model of God’s intended plan for his creation that can be shaped and molded by each new generation of readers. As we encounter its comprehensive narrative framework and its multifaceted textual world, we must allow the Bible’s contours to mold and shape us.
Yet first we have to understand what God is doing in Scripture. “One way to make sense of a book is to study its beginning and its end,” Dempster argues. “In the Bible the first few chapters provide an introduction not only to the book but to the world, and the last two chapters provide a conclusion for both.” In the Scriptures, “the world and the story are intimately woven together” (5).
God’s kingdom and God’s story aren’t simply parallel tracks heading to a similar destination—they’re intertwined like the strands of a DNA double helix. If we gain a better understanding of the nature of the kingdom, it’ll deepen our perception of God’s purpose for his people. As Bible readers, the theme of God’s kingdom gives us a place to stand as we navigate the unity and diversity of the whole Bible.
Anticipate the Kingdom
Our understanding of the Bible comes alive when the intertwining of kingdom and story is central. In the beginning, God created a good world in which human image-bearers worshiped and obeyed as representatives of God’s ruling authority. They were to rule on God’s behalf. Sin’s entrance into the world marked the beginning of a rival kingdom. The dark lord of this counterfeit kingdom warred against the Lord and his anointed King by tempting each new generation of image-bearers to reject the lordship of God’s kingdom.
Our understanding of the Bible comes alive when the intertwining of kingdom and story is central.
In his providence, though, God provided spaces in which his people could worship. He allows them to catch glimpses of the ultimate restoration of God’s rule over all the earth. The tabernacle, the temple, and the covenant community each enabled people to serve the Lord in their time. These spaces prefigure the joy of a coming consummation. At the end of days, God will not merely return to a previous time; he’ll establish a new heavens and a new earth with a redeemed people who gladly participate. They’ll rule with God forever.
As Dempster tells this story, he explores a host of biblical texts and related theological themes. But he doesn’t get bogged down in technical details. God’s kingdom is a central theme that helps us see “the pathway from tragedy to glorious destiny” (10). Yet Dempster reminds us that this “pathway marked through the Bible is not straight ahead but more like a long winding road that goes forward, curving off to the side, tracking backward, zigzagging in another direction before advancing again” (10). We shouldn’t expect the kingdom to arrive with a smooth curve trending toward perfection.
Sing to the King
Dempster’s study of the kingdom throws the spotlight on King Jesus himself. As he notes, the “fourfold narrative repetition of the life of Christ is unparalleled in the Scriptures” (156). The Gospels demonstrate Jesus’s royal lineage, display Jesus’s royal works, and communicate Jesus’s royal words. The book of Acts then shows the expansion of God’s kingdom by the proclamation of the gospel about this King and his present yet coming kingdom. Christ’s dynamic story points toward the final realization of our kingdom hopes when King Jesus returns.
John’s Revelation looks forward to the day when “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15). Until that moment, believers are called to persevere each day in light of this ultimate reality. Yet in a world dominated by doomscrolling, Jesus gives us access to “the newsfeed of the kingdom” (200).
Christ’s dynamic story points toward the final realization of our kingdom hopes when King Jesus returns.
The kingdom newsfeed is full of “upside-down headlines” (200). There are everyday reminders that God’s kingdom is coming. People are oppressed, but someone is feeding the poor. Leaders are corrupt, but someone is ministering gospel truth to the lost. Fake news is everywhere, but someone is speaking truth to power and wisdom to the saints. Because Christ is King, the church is a royal priesthood of believers who aren’t beholden to the lies of counterfeit kingdoms.
Dempster shows how biblical theology ignites and sustains the fire of biblical worship. If this story of God’s kingdom is true, we can live in peace even as we navigate the weariness of this world. The Return of the Kingdom celebrates the greatness of God, the bigness of the Bible’s story, and the life-giving hope that comes from focusing our gaze on the King of glory and his comprehensive kingdom.
The Gospel Coalition