Two Aspects: Universal and Mediatorial

The particular mysteries about which Jesus teaches here have to do with the kingdom of heaven (see also <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mt+13%3A24">vv. 24</a>, <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mt+13%3A31">31</a>, <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mt+13%3A33">33</a>, <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mt+13%3A44-45">44, 45</a>, <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mt+13%3A47">47</a>, <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mt+13%3A52">52</a>)—which from parallel passages in Mark (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mk+4%3A11">4:11</a>, <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mk+4%3A30">30</a>) and Luke (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Lk+8%3A10">8:10</a>; <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Lk+13%3A18">13:18</a>) is seen to be the same as the kingdom of God (cf. <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mt+19%3A23-24">Matt. 19:23-24</a>). One title emphasizes the King (God) and the other emphasizes the sphere of His reign (heaven). Of this kingdom the Old Testament gives only limited and incomplete glimpses. Most messianic prophecies in the Old Testament point to Christ's second coming and the establishment of His earthly millennial kingdom and His subsequent eternal kingdom. Only hints are given about His present earthly kingdom, that began with His rejection and crucifixion and will continue until He returns. This is the kingdom that exists spiritually in the hearts of His people while the King is physically absent from the earth. He is present with believers, but He is not visible or evident to the world, except as revealed through their lives and testimony.

Some interpreters insist that no present kingdom of heaven of any sort can exist because the King is absent. But David's reign over Israel while he was fleeing from his rebellious son Absalom is a classic instance of a king having full rights and authority over his realm while temporarily being unable to exercise those rights because of certain circumstances. During the period of usurpation, David is repeatedly referred to as King David, although he was unable to sit on his throne or even to live in his capital city of Jerusalem (see <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=2Sa+15-17">2 Sam. 15-17</a>). David's kingship was acknowledged and respected only by those Israelites who remained faithful to him, but his rejection by the followers of Absalom did not make him any less the rightful king. He was the only legitimate monarch, and every faithful citizen of his kingdom recognized it.

In much the same way, Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, now rules in the hearts of His people, although He is physically absent from earth and rules them from His heavenly dwelling through His Spirit—while the usurper Satan temporarily is the spiritual ruler of this world (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Jn+12%3A31">John 12:31</a>).

The kingdom of heaven has two important but distinct aspects. First is the universal kingdom, which includes every created thing in every time and place. God is the Creator and absolute Sovereign of the universe, and will be eternally. Nothing exists or occurs without His divine provision or permission.

David reminds us that "The Lord sat as King at the flood; yes, the Lord sits as King forever" (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ps+29%3A10">Ps. 29:10</a>). He ruled the earth even when it was so wickedly rebellious that He destroyed every human being except Noah and his family in the Flood. Again David tells us, "The Lord has established His throne in the heavens; and His sovereignty rules over all" (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ps+103%3A19">Ps. 103:19</a>). God is sovereign "over all," even over Satan and his demons, whom He has allowed certain freedoms for a limited period of time. Their final and certain destiny is hell, which God rules just as surely as He rules heaven. The Lord has prepared that place for the specific purpose of their punishment along with every unbelieving human being (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mt+25%3A41">Matt. 25:41</a>). "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty," declares the writer of the Chronicles; "indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Thine is the dominion, O Lord, and Thou dost exalt Thyself as head over all" <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=1Ch+29%3A11">1 Chron. 29:11</a>.

The second aspect of God's kingdom is what Alva McClain has appropriately called mediatorial, because His rule is mediated through others. Both the universal and the mediatorial aspects of the kingdom are seen in the Lord's Prayer, as Jesus commands us to pray, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mt+6%3A10">Matt. 6:10</a>) "In heaven" refers to God's universal and direct reign, whereas on earth" refers to the present kingdom, in which only His saints are His subjects in the fullest sense.

From the beginning of creation God intended the earth to be ruled by human instruments in His behalf. After everything had been created except man, "God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth'" (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ge+1%3A26">Gen. 1:26</a>). When Satan succeeded in leading Adam and Eve into the rebellion he had begun in heaven, he became the temporary ruler and prince of earth (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Jn+12%3A31">John 12:31</a>; <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Jn+14%3A30">14:30</a>; <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Jn+16%3A11">16:11</a>). But, like Absalom, he is a usurper, and his rule is both illegitimate and doomed to end.

Even after the Fall, God maintained certain dominion over the earth through human mediators, and since that time every person who has trusted in Him has been a channel for expressing His will and power on earth. Abel, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Rachel, Joseph, Moses, David, and countless others mediated the Lord's rule on earth. Through select individuals God gave His holy Word, which was written down for all men to know and obey. In that Word He revealed His nature, His will, His moral and spiritual standards for mankind, and His promises of redemption and restoration. He called out a special people, the nation of Israel, to be "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ex+19%3A6">Ex. 19:6</a>) before the world, to be the forerunners of His Son as "a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth" (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Isa+49%3A6">Isa. 49:6</a>). He raised up prophets, priests, and kings to give special leadership on His behalf.

When the Son of God became incarnate, He was God's unique Mediator, the divine/human instrument of rule, who in His own right deserved to establish and reign over God's earthly kingdom. When the Son was rejected, God continued to rule through those who belonged to Christ, those who were now empowered within by His own indwelling Holy Spirit From Pentecost through the present day and until Christ returns, Christians are God's mediatorial rulers on earth.

Even during the Tribulation, God will raise up 144,000 faithful believers from among the twelve tribes of Israel, and an innumerable host of Gentiles, "a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues," will also be converted and stand "before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes" <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Rev+7%3A4">Rev. 7:4</a>, <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Rev+7%3A9">9</a>.

Throughout its history the mediatorial kingdom has attracted both true and false citizens; and it will remain so until its end. Failure to understand that truth has caused untold confusion in interpreting many Bible passages. Among other things, it has caused many sincere Christians to believe that salvation can be lost.

Careful study of Scripture shows that, although the true subjects of God's kingdom are only those who belong to Him by saving faith, those true citizens can be infallibly distinguished from false ones only by God Himself. God's chosen people, Israel, was always composed of both the true and the false. Jesus spoke of certain "sons of the kingdom" who would "be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mt+8%3A12">Matt. 8:12</a>). Those "sons of the kingdom" obviously were not true subjects of the King. As Jesus makes clear in His explanation of the parable of the wheat and tares, from the human perspective the true sons of the kingdom and the sons of the evil one are often not distinguishable (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mt+13%3A38">Matt. 13:38</a>). In the figure of the vine and branches, Jesus illustrates the truth that many branches that seem to belong to the vine really do not. Jesus even spoke of the spurious branches as being "in Me," but those branches will be pruned away, dry up, and be thrown into the fire to be burned (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Jn+15%3A2">John 15:2</a>, <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Jn+15%3A6">6</a>). The people represented by those unfruitful branches were closely, but superficially, identified with Christ. Condemned "sons of the kingdom" are never part of God's spiritual kingdom, and unproductive "branches" are never a part of Christ. They only appear to be from man's imperfect view

Paul says, "They are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; neither are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants" (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ro+9%3A6-7">Rom. 9:6-7</a>). As the apostle had declared earlier in the same letter, only "he is a Jew who is one inwardly" (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Romans 2:29">2:29</a>). Yet in Scripture such terms as Israel, Gods' people, and disciples are frequently used in ways that include both nominal and real believers.

The gospels frequently speak of the twelve disciples, or apostles—a group that included Judas, an unbelieving traitor. Throughout its history, the visible church has always included adherents who have not trusted in Christ and who therefore do not belong to Him and are not a part of His spiritual body.

Even during the Millennium, when Christ perfectly and directly rules His kingdom on earth, there will be disloyal citizens of the kingdom. It is from among those false subjects that Satan will gather together his rebellious army in a last futile attempt to defeat Christ (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Rev+20%3A7-8">Rev. 20:7-8</a>).

God's universal kingdom over heaven and earth has no conditions. To exist is to be in that kingdom. To be in His mediatorial kingdom, however, requires intentional identity with Him. For the false citizen the identity is hypocritical and superficial. For the true citizen the identity is genuine, being based on repentance, faith in Christ, and the new life that faith in Him brings (<a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mk+1%3A15">Mark 1:15</a>).

When Christ bodily returns to earth, His indirect rule in the mediatorial kingdom will become His direct rule in the millennial kingdom and then in the eternal kingdom of the new heavens and new earth.

God's kingdom and the church are distinct in that the kingdom preceded the church and will continue eternally after the church as such has ceased to exist. But during the present mediatorial period, often called the church age, the kingdom and the church are identical. That truth is part of the mystery "which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel" <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Eph+3%3A5-6">Eph. 3:5-6</a>.

MacArthur New Testament Commentary, The - MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew 8-15.