AN EARTHLY KINGDOM?
LIBERTY AND LOVE #91
Is Christ’s kingdom earthly in nature? If not, then one of the major errors of the premillennial system of interpretation is the doctrine of a yet futuristic, earthly kingdom to be established in Jerusalem. Premillennialists believe that there is still a purpose to be served by physical Israel and the earthly city of Jerusalem. Alan Cairns, in his Dictionary of Theological Terms, wrote that premillennialism is “the belief that Christ’s second coming will occur before the millennium and that he will reign for 1,000 years on the earth.” (Belfast/Greenville: Ambassador Emerald International, 2002, p. 336).
Van A. Harvey, in A Handbook of Theological Terms, wrote, “Generally, premillennialists believe that shortly before the second coming the world will be marked by extraordinary tribulation and evil and the appearance of the Anti-Christ. At his coming, Christ will destroy this anti-Christ and believers will be raised from the dead. There will then follow a millennium of peace and order over which Christ will reign with his saints. At the close of this time, Satan will be loosed and the forces of evil will once again be rampant. The wicked will then be raised, and a final judgment will take place in which Satan and all evil ones will be consigned to eternal punishment” (New York: Macmillan, 1964, p. 151). Following are three points which demonstrate the fallaciousness of this idea.
First, the throne of David was not God’s plan. Premillennialism teaches that Christ is coming to re-establish the throne of David in Jerusalem and to reign on the literal throne of David. We must recognize, though, that the throne of David was only in the plan of God as an allowance. The Israelites requested a king because they wanted to be like the nations around them (1 Sam. 8:4,5). God referred to their request as a “rejection” of him: “And the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day—with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them’” (1 Sam. 8:7-9). The Lord wanted to be their king, but the Israelites wanted an earthly king.
God never desired the establishment of the throne of David, but rather, he allowed it in anger (Hosea 13:11). It is wrong, then, to think that Jesus will someday restructure something that God was against in the first place. What the Lord wanted was to reign spiritually in the hearts of his people—but they would not have it. They wanted an earthly king. Though God incorporated it into his system in order to teach lessons about Christ, the earthly throne of David was the result of a spirit of rebellion against God on the part of the Israelites.
Second, Jesus has never been an earthly king. To claim that Jesus’ dominion is earthly is to make the same mistake as some did when Jesus was on earth (John 6:15). He plainly stated that His kingdom “...is not of this world” (John 18:36). Christ is now reigning in His kingdom (1 Cor. 15:24-25), and that kingdom is spiritual and eternal, not physical and temporal (Rom. 14:17; 2 Pet. 1:11).
Jesus was the King of the Jews (Matt. 27:11), but not the kind of king most were expecting. They were looking for a king who would free them from Roman oppression, restore the glory days of Israel’s kingdom, and rule on an earthly throne. So when Jesus arrived on the scene, He was the exact opposite of what they had in mind.
They expected pomp and glory—what they got was humility and service. They certainly weren’t expecting a King who “came to seek and save the Lost” (Luke 19:10) or one who said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). This was totally against what they had always expected the Messiah to be.
The part that really confused them was the cross. Jesus’ death deflated them, for they “hoped that He was the one that would redeem Israel” (Lk. 24:21). Their dreams of an earthly kingdom, of Israel being returned to exaltation above all the nations, were shattered when Jesus was killed by the Romans.
To those who expected an earthly, physical kingdom, the message of the cross was a stumblingblock (1 Cor. 1:23). If this is correct, then those who argue that Christ is to rule in an earthly kingdom have misunderstood the concept of Christ as King. Christ is a spiritual ruler. The territory of his kingdom is the hearts of those who belong to him. There is no purpose left to be accomplished in the plan of God by physical Israel or any race or nation of people. We are all one.
Spiritual Israel are the only ones with whom God has a covenant (Rom. 2:28-29; 9:6). The church is now the “Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16), Christians are God’s “chosen people” (1 Pet. 2:9), and therefore, nothing remains to be accomplished by the Jewish nation. This point would be seen even clearer if it were realized that Judaism has been abolished in every sense of the word and can never be “put back together” (Jer. 19:11).
Third, the kingdom of Christ has already been established. Jesus the King humbled himself and by offering to God the obedience of a perfect human life and a sacrificial death on behalf of his people, he entered into glory and took his place upon his throne in heaven. “Dear brothers, think about this! You can be sure that the patriarch David wasn’t referring to himself, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us. But he was a prophet, and he knew God had promised with an oath that one of David’s own descendants would sit on his throne. David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah’s resurrection. He was saying that God would not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave. God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this. Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today. For David himself never ascended into heaven, yet he said, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet. So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!” (Acts 2:29-36, NLT)
Christ sat down on “David’s throne” to rule over the Israel of God when he ascended into glory. Peter said that God’s promise that he would raise up the Christ to sit on David’s throne had reference to his resurrection from the dead. Do the “prophecy experts” of our day understand the throne of David better than did the apostle Peter?
Dewayne Dunaway
