1. The Cosmic Kingdom (God’s Rule)
Week 2 • Day 1
Throughout this series, we are defining the word “kingdom” as God’s powerful rule, in God’s place of blessing, over God’s family of people. Our goal is to highlight this 3-fold definition throughout the scriptures in order to (1) explain why Jesus was sent to proclaim The Gospel of the Kingdom and (2) discover our kingdom purpose.
Let’s practice searching for our 3-fold kingdom definition in the scriptures by starting from the beginning and looking through the lens of God’s rule!
GOD RULES BY CREATING
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void (“empty” NRSV), and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. - Genesis 1:1–2.
Right from the start, the Hebrew Bible offers its readers a vision of God and creation that subverts all other ancient thought. Thousands of years ago, the prevailing worldview was that creation was either eternally existent or the byproduct of warring gods. However, the opening passages of scripture do not say, “In the beginning, the heavens and the earth existed,“ or, “In the beginning, the gods were waging war.”
Instead, the Bible simply states that, “In the beginning, God...” In the beginning, God was in complete control and had the power to do as He pleased. In the beginning, God ruled!
Verse 2 goes on to say that, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” It might be tempting to ask the typical modern questions here. Where did this darkness come from? How did the waters get there? Were these entities pre-existent and eternal? However, this passage becomes particularly insightful when you set the creation account of Genesis against the creation accounts of the Ancient Near Eastern civilizations. According to the Babylonian and Egyptian creation accounts, the world as we know it emerged from the raging waters and the dark abyss.
These entities symbolized chaos and disorder. While this imagery about the waters and the darkness carries over into Genesis, the Bible tells us that the Spirit of the King of Kings was “hovering” over these bodies of “chaos waters” and darkness.
The larger point is that, in the beginning, God ruled! His Spirit hovered over the chaos of the darkness and waters only to rearrange them in an orderly and beautiful way! Simply by looking at the first two verses, the scriptures are already exclaiming that the God of the Hebrew Bible powerfully rules over all things. Now, let’s see how God uses His powerful rule to create God’s kingdom place of blessing.
GOD RULES BY FORMING HIS KINGDOM PLACE
It’s incredible! God’s rule is so powerful, that creation emerges at the mere sound of His voice! The God of the Bible uses His incredibly powerful rule to take the formless chaos of the world and create an orderly place.
Day 1: And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light....God separated the light from the darkness.
On day 1 God creates the light by separating it from the darkness. You might be tempted to think of more modern conversations about the material photons that are cast out by the Sun that hit the eye and give humanity the perception of light. However, isn’t it interesting that the Sun will not be created until Day 4? Where is the light coming from if there is no burning ball of gas in the sky producing these photons? Instead, the Genesis account of creation is communicating that the God of the universe is wielding His ruling power to organize this formless and empty place called the earth. He begins by separating the light from the chaotic darkness and embeds the earth with the function of time!
Day 2: And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse.
On day 2 God separates the waters in the expanse of the sky with the waters below. Again, you might be tempted to speculate over the scientific explanations behind this expanse above and the waters below. Instead, the original audience would have recognized that the God of the universe continues to organize this formless and empty world by embedding it with the function of climate and the ability to produce fresh water; two features of God’s place that are crucial for survival and were said to be controlled by other lesser gods in the Ancient Near East.
Day 3 (Act 1): And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas.
Day 3 (Act 2): And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.
Finally, on day 3 God gathered the waters so that dry land might emerge and bring forth vegetation. Have you ever noticed that nothing material was ever created on this day (just “gathered” and “separated”)? This observation affirms that our focus ought to be on God creating this functional place called earth over and above the search for precise scientific explanations behind the material He is creating!
Do you see where this is all headed? Time! Climate! Freshwater! Land! Vegetation! It seems like the God of the Bible saw fit to use His all-encompassing powerful rule to prepare an extraordinary place of tremendous blessings! The question that remains is for whom?
GOD RULES BY FILLING HIS KINGDOM PLACE
If the earth started off as a formless place, then days 1-3 show how God formed the world and prepared it for functionality (time, climate, freshwater, land, vegetation). In the same way, recall the opening passage of Genesis suggests that the earth was also void or an “empty” place. Sure enough, God’s creative works on days 4, 5, and 6 precisely fill the void realms created on days 1, 2, and 3.
Day 4: And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.
On day 4 God creates the sun moon and stars to fill the realm created on day 1. Yet here is the fascinating thing - God delegates His powerful rule to the Sun and the Moon and the stars! Why wouldn’t an all powerful God choose to retain His power? Doesn’t He run the risk of created entities abusing this delegated rule? Nonetheless, the King of Kings saw fit to commission these created entities to rule over the day and the night in order to govern time in the heavenly sky realm on His behalf.
Day 5: And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
Day 6 (Act 1): And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Next, on day 5 God creates the birds of the air and the fish of the sea to fill the expanse and the waters created on day 2. Similarly, on day 6, God creates living creatures to fill the land separated from the waters on day 3.
If you are paying close attention, here is a question you might be asking? If the sun, moon, and stars were commissioned to rule over the heavenly realm, who would be commissioned to rule over the earthly realm including the birds of the air, fish of the sea, and the creatures on the dry land?
This brings us to the creation of the human!
GOD DELEGATES HIS RULE TO HIS KINGDOM PEOPLE
We’ve seen how God’s rule was used to form and fill God’s space. Now we discover that God’s space was designed so that God’s family of people - otherwise known as His “image-bearers” - would flourish!
Day 6 (Act 2): Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” - Genesis 1:26-28
As opposed to Babylonian and Egyptian traditions, no longer was the king the sole “image-bearer” of God and no longer was humanity consigned to menial labor to appease the pantheon of ancient gods. Instead, all of us, by virtue of being human, have been endowed with tremendous dignity, worth, and honor because God has delegated His rule to us over the earthly realm.
Tomorrow, we will unpack what it means for humans to rule on God’s behalf and the special relationship that God has with His “image-bearers”, but for now let’s finish the creation account by advancing to the 7th day!
GOD RULES OVER ALL THINGS
Day 7: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
In ancient literature, the imagery of a resting deity was often used to communicate the inauguration of a god inside of his temple. In the same way, the significance of the 7th day - 7 being derived from the same Hebrew root word for “complete” - is a Biblical rhythm that is repeated surrounding the inauguration of the tabernacle and the temple.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. - Exodus 20:8–10.
And you shall not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed, for it will take seven days to ordain you. As has been done today, the Lord has commanded to be done to make atonement for you. At the entrance of the tent of meeting you shall remain day and night for seven days, performing what the Lord has charged, so that you do not die, for so I have been commanded.” - Leviticus 8:33–35.
And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it [temple]. - 1 Kings 6:38.
If this imagery is true, then God resting on the 7th day is another way of saying that God had “completed” the work of creation and has now taken His rightful throne to govern over His newly inaugurated kingdom! In this “cosmic temple”, God is enthroned over the entire universe with a special emphasis on the earth; the place in which His image-bearers rule over His creation on His behalf!
As you will continue to see throughout this series, all of these kingdom themes are closely intertwined! That is because from the very beginning, God has always had a kingdom in mind! Simply by looking at the creation account (God’s rule to create God’s cosmic-temple place over God’s image-bearing people), we discover that God has set the foundational elements of the Kingdom in place!
Share the Gospel: Simply by looking at the creation account (God’s rule to create God’s cosmic-temple place over God’s image-bearing people), we discover that God has set the foundational elements of the Kingdom in place!
