16-CHAPTER XII THE TRIUMPH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD
CHAPTER XII THE TRIUMPH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD This is the victory that hath overcome the world even our I faith" (1 John 5:4). The whole New Testament history of salvation is a mighty proof of the truth of this word. God’s affairs do not move backward but forwards. The victory of living faith, in spite of various reverses in detail, yet viewed on the whole, strides irresistibly forward. This is proved unmistakably in every chief connection and chief region of life of revealed history since Golgotha, in the Divine super-history as well as in the general history of man’s redemption, in individual persons as in the final universal history. The Divine Super-historical Triumph The Self-revelation of God as of the Holy Spirit, of the Son, of the Father
After completing the work of redemption Christ has gone to heaven. His witnesses carry the message of God’s full salvation Ito mankind around. They are present in the world as visible representatives of their absent Lord (2 Corinthians 5:20). But Christ himself is invisible.1 In the present era of the kingdom of God :everything that comes to pass is wrought by the Word of God and the Spirit of God. Therefore in a special sense it is the period of the saving activity of the HolySpirit. But herein lies a tension of extraordinary force. The puzzling "mystery" of the present age is that alongside of each other there is the publicity of the kingdom of Satan and the concealment of the kingdom of God, and this even today, in the period after Golgotha. Therefore God must introduce a day in which this contradiction shall be solved. This is the meaning of the return of Christ. Christ will become visible and establish His kingdom. Instead of His absence He will arrive and be present (parousia); instead of self-covering, self-uncovering; instead of concealment, revelation (apocalypseColossians 3:4); instead of invisibility, brilliant outshining of His glory {epiphany). And then will set in a new period of salvation, the visible sovereignty of the SonofGod. But even this is not the final goal. The Scripture says that "He [Christ] must reign till He has put all His foes under His feet" (1 Corinthians 15:25). Then He will pass the kingdom to God His Father, and the Son Himself will be subject to Him [the Father] Who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:24; 1 Corinthians 15:28). Then will have been reached the proper and actual end, the kingdom of Godthe"Father.
Thus the New Testament history of salvation carries plainly a trinitarian imprint. Out of the essence of the Divine Being the Divine Persons come forward ever more clearly, and since Golgotha the history of salvation becomes an ever ascending and advancing Self-revelation of the great God, the Holy Spirit, the Son, and the Father. But thereby this super-historical line shows the invincibility of God’s affairs and becomes to the whole earth and to all heaven a ringing testimony, that cannot but be heard, of the truth of the words, "Our faith is the victory that has overcome the world." And the development of redemption on earth shows the same. The General Historical Triumph The Unfolding of the Counsel of God in Church, Nations and the Transfigured Universe The goal of God in the present period is the creation of the New Testament church {ecclesia). From all peoples men are called out to Christ through the gospel, and those who believe are united to Him and to one another as members. Without doubt this is a mighty work. When at last in the day of perfecting the church stands before Christ it will be thousands of thousands and ten thousands of ten thousands. Yet compared with the millions and millions of men in general their number is but small. It is the "little flock," as Jesus called them (Luke 12:32). Certainly this is no ground for doubt or despair; for truth remains truth quite independently of whether it is perceived and acknowledged by many or by few, and to precisely this "little flock" God has promised the kingdom (Luke 12:32).
Nevertheless in this respect also God creates a broadening of the range of His salvation. When Christ has appeared and established His kingdom on earth, the peoples as peoples will be placed under the blessing of His revelation, and Israel and the nations as a whole will be brought into the radiant light of the glorious kingdom. Unmistakably this was the expectation of the Old Testament prophets.2 But finally the widening of the circumference of salvation proceeds to its world-embracing goal. In the perfected state there will be a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1), a transfigured universe, with the heavenly city of God, The New Jerusalem, on the new earth (Revelation 22:3; Revelation 21:10-27; Revelation 22:1-5). Thus also the developments within the creation prove that the business of the Lord is a triumphant victorious progress. Not only the self-revelation of God, but also the history of the redemption of the creature, and thus both the super-historical and the historical, the eternal and the temporal—they all testify in common that the kingdom of God will triumph, that no power in heaven or on earth can annul God’s counsel of salvation, that thus faith is the victory that overcomes the world. " Jesus is Victor.’ But all this must have practical effects on our personal life. The Victory of Christ in the Justifying and Sanctifying of the Individual As a matter of fact every time a soul of man submits to Christ and by faith embraces His completed salvation (Acts 26:19), this is a victory of the exalted Christ through His Spirit (2 Corinthians 2:14).- And in the measure that the resurrection power of Christ, working livingly, effects practical sanctification (Php 3:10), takes possession of the whole man for God, body, soul, and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23), and causes in his inner and outer life an actual experience of victory3 this also is again a proof and result of this all-embracing truth, " Our faith is the victory that has overcome the world." At last the final perfecting is reached. The Universal Triumph in Resurrection and World Transformation The triumph of the kingdom of God will work out to a spiritual body. Therefore the resurrection of the dead and the coming transfiguration of the body (1 Corinthians 15:42-49). Therefore also, after world destruction, the transforming of the universe (Revelation 22:1) and the descent of the heavenly city of God (Revelation 21:10). Only so will be perfected the victory of the affairs of the Lord:"when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the word that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Death, where is thy sting? Hades, where is thy victory? . . . But God be thanked Who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:54-57).
Thus as an illuminated motto of the whole history of redemption from eternity to eternity, as a witness of Divine power, as a spur to a joyous confidence of faith, as an obligation to live a practical life of victory, as the expectation of a blessed perfecting, it stands forth that "our faith is the victory that has overcome the world."
Notes 11 Pet. 1:8; Romans 8:24; 2 Corinthians 5:7.
2Isaiah 19:23-25; Micah 4:3-4; Zechariah 14:16; Mai. 1:11.
3Romans 8:37; Revelation 2:7; Revelation 2:11; Revelation 2:17.