Justin A quick look at the news reminds us that the world is gripped by a dark kingdom. The dark kingdom deceives humanity and wins our allegiance only to destroy us through sin (diminished and selfish humanity), brokenness, sickness, evil, and death. It’s everywhere.
Jesus promises something different. He said that another Kingdom was at hand. This Kingdom (for which the world was originally created) is marked by goodness, life, freedom, and blessing. And this Kingdom is within reach because of all that Jesus has done. Even now, Jesus continues inviting people to exit the kingdom of darkness, to embrace his work on their behalves, to submit to his reign over them, and to become citizens of his Kingdom of goodness and life.
One way to understand Jesus’ ongoing ministry in our lives is as a corresponding process of naturalization. He saves us from the dark kingdom (and all it represents). He heals us from all the ways that we’ve been afflicted and wounded as people living amidst the dark kingdom. He sets us apart – out of the dark kingdom and into the Kingdom of life. He transforms us so that we increasingly think and act like people of his Kingdom. Finally, his reign increasingly comes to bear in our lives as we let go of our own control in order to embrace the priorities, purposes and ways of Jesus in our lives.
We become citizens of the new Kingdom the moment we turn to Jesus, receive his work on our behalf, and embrace him as our King. That makes us Kingdom people. But we come out of the old kingdom needing a lot of work. So Jesus keeps working in us. By his grace, we increasingly become a naturalized people. Jesus’ Kingdom – in all its ways and perspectives of new life – increasingly become what is most natural for us.
This is some really good news. Most of us don’t want to be the same old wretches we used to be. We want to be made new. We want a new kind of life. And this is exactly what we experience in Jesus:
Jesus saves. Jesus heals. Jesus sets us apart as a people fit for his Kingdom. Jesus reigns.
This process begins when we turn away from our old life toward Jesus. It continues working itself out over the course of our lives. And it will be completed one day when we stand before Jesus face-to-face, when the dark kingdom is done away with for good, and the whole creation (the heavens and the earth together) is renewed and restored to its rightful place in God.
King Jesus, thank you. Continue your good work in us and through us. Make us a people fit for your Kingdom. May we be your ambassadors every single day, inviting all those we encounter to join us in this new life we have in you. Amen.