The Kingdom of God Is at Hand
After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:14).
Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
Herod is in a tough spot. He’s just
put John the Baptist in prison. He’s not happy about it, though. He’s afraid of
John, who has attracted quite an enthusiastic following. But Herod can’t have
John running around preaching that Herod’s new marriage is a sinful one. What
John is saying is all true, mind you—and he’s not preaching it to stir up
trouble or cause rebellion but to call Herod to repentance. But a king can’t have
his critics speaking inconvenient truths, so he’s imprisoned the famous prophet.
How will the people react? This is a tense moment for Herod, and you can bet
he’s got his spies working overtime to see if the people will rise up or just
accept John’s arrest.
And, if that wasn’t enough, a new
man has arrived in Galilee, proclaiming, “The time is fulfilled, and the
Kingdom of God is at hand.” This isn’t just any man, either, but the man Jesus
of Nazareth. This isn’t just some disciple of John trying to carry the torch. No,
John declared that it was his calling to prepare the way for Jesus, that Jesus
is the One with divine power and authority. So, now that John is behind bars
and done talking, Jesus shows up and starts talking; if Herod is afraid of John,
he’s probably really nervous about Jesus.
Especially when Jesus starts saying
things like, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent
and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:14). It’s time for a new kingdom, says
Jesus, and a different kingdom usually means a different king. Right? It
doesn’t sound like job security for Herod, but more like a rallying cry for a revolution,
as if Jesus' following sermon will be, “Let’s get rid of King Herod and make
Israel great again. And if the multitudes that flocked to hear John the Baptist
decide to rally behind Jesus, Herod could be in trouble.
You can bet that all of Galilee—friends,
foes, and undecideds—are hanging on Jesus’ words. How will it come about if
it’s time for this Kingdom of God? So, Jesus tells them. He says, “Repent and
believe in the Gospel.”
Not exactly, “take up your arms,
draw your swords, and prepare for battle.” It’s “repent and believe in the
Gospel.” By the grace of God, turn from your sin. Believe in the Gospel; the
long-promised King has come to save you from sin.
Every kingdom has enemies, and this
new Kingdom is no different. But the enemies of this Kingdom that Jesus proclaims
are not Herod, Pilate, or Caesar. The enemies of this Kingdom are sin, death,
and the devil. They will not be defeated with swords and rebellion against flesh
and blood. They will be defeated by the shedding of the Savior’s blood on a
cross. In this Kingdom, Herod is not the enemy nor rival. Christ’s Kingdom is
an entirely different kingdom, and this Savior comes to redeem Herod, too.
“Repent and believe the Gospel?” That should alleviate Herod’s worries. But it
doesn’t because his mind just can’t get wrapped around any other kind of
kingdom.
Now, a king is nothing without followers,
and having proclaimed that this new Kingdom has come, Jesus begins to recruit. And
who does Jesus first enlist into the work of His Kingdom? He doesn’t find a
centurion or two and say, “Hey, men! Follow Me! And bring the troops with you; we’ll
need them.” No. He chooses fishermen—Simon and Andrew, James and John. They aren’t
influential men wielding authority over all their lowly servants while they
pull the levers of power and meet at swanky resorts to plot out the takeover of
the world. They are out in the boat, mending their broken nets.
Jesus will pick up a few more
followers along the way, but the core of His “army” consists of 12 men who
generally get little respect, possess no fundamental fighting skills, and have
one sword between them. Herod has nothing to fear from this ragtag band. But
that’s okay. Since this is a Kingdom about believing the Gospel, it doesn't
need an army. It needs mouths—mouths to speak the Gospel.
One more consideration: a king needs
a kingdom, which usually means territory, borders, and boundaries. But this Kingdom
doesn’t have a set location. This Kingdom moves around. Wherever the King is,
that’s where the Kingdom is. A Kingdom of repentance and faith doesn’t require
land because it’s not about crops, water, fossil fuels, steel, or other material
things. Why someone could conceivably be a penitent who believes in the Gospel
and still serve faithfully in the palace of King Herod!
“The time is fulfilled, and the
Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:14). These
are Jesus’ first words, His first sermon in the Gospel of Mark. They define the
King and the Kingdom. Contrary to Herod's fears and the hopes of Herod’s enemies,
this new Kingdom is not about defeating Herod or Caesar. It’s about defeating
sin, death, and the devil for all people, including Herod and Caesar. It’s not
about recruiting soldiers, amassing wealth, power, or land. It’s about forgiving
sins and giving eternal salvation.
The nature of Jesus’ Kingdom is also
seen in the word “Repent.” Jesus does not say, “To arms! We are storming the
castle!” No. The time is here. The Kingdom is now. God is fulfilling everything
He has promised. So repent. It could not be less glamorous or less glorious.
But the path of the Gospel is the path to the cross. By God’s grace, it will
end in glorification, but that is not the call, the journey, or even a dangled
carrot. Ultimately, it is a promise.
Throughout the Gospels, you see King
Jesus establishing His Kingdom. He doesn’t fight, but He speaks. He works
wonders and heals, but He doesn’t say, “Now you owe Me a favor that I’ll call
in later.” Instead, Jesus would have the centurion be a Roman soldier and a
penitent Christian simultaneously.
This is a different King and a different
Kingdom. Jesus is no threat to Herod or Caesar. On the contrary, He tells
people to pay their taxes to Herod or Caesar. The more closely people follow
Jesus, the better citizens they will be for both Herod and Caesar, for they
will be penitent Christians who submit to human authorities and acknowledge
that those authorities are placed there by God.
It’s tragically ironic: Jesus is
crucified for being this different King. His crown is made of thorns, and a
cross is His throne. The charge against Him on the sign above His head declares
Him worthy of death because He is the King of the Jews. He’s crucified on the
orders of a reluctant Pilate, who only has the authority to rule because Jesus
has given it to him. And then Jesus submits to Pilate’s rule and allows
Himself to be killed.
And if all of this doesn’t set the
Kingdom of God apart, Jesus’ death is not His defeat. It is His victory. By His
death, He defeats sin, death, and the devil. By His sacrifice, He has
forgiveness, life, and salvation for all who repent and believe in the Gospel: The
Gospel that God forgives them for the sake of Jesus.
One of the Church’s most significant
challenges today is remaining the Kingdom of God. Christians are always tempted
to become another kingdom in one form or another. The Lord Jesus Christ would
have His Church continue to proclaim repentance and the Gospel, for that is the
Word that turns sinners into the forgiven people of God. As long as we are in
this world, however, the Church will be tempted to turn from a message of sin and
grace to messages of worldly matters. When it does so, it becomes just another
kingdom, usually a bad one.
Here is how it should be: the Church
continues faithfully to preach the Lord’s Word. People hear the Word and
believe and thus become citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. But people are still
members of kingdoms in this world and are to be good citizens there, too. Thus,
as citizens of God set free from the slavery of sin, they labor in this world
to do good by loving their neighbor.
Throughout history, you’ll see a pattern:
wherever the Church is, there’s an increase in education, respect for women and
the unborn, humanitarian efforts, and the like. In other words, the world's
kingdoms improve wherever the Kingdom of God is found on earth. But—and here’s a
critical point—making the world a better place is not the mission of the
Church. Making the world a better place is a byproduct of Christianity as
people set free from sin love their neighbor, but it is never to be the focus
of the Church. The focus of the Church is always repentance and the forgiveness
of sins, always the proclamation of Christ and Him crucified.
We have an example from the Middle
Ages where this goes wrong. Over time, the Church had gained enough power and
wealth that it positioned itself to run society. The Church taught that it was
the privilege of the bishop of Rome to crown kings, to set prices and control
the economy, to field armies and wage wars. When Luther wrote that the mission
of the Church was to preach the Gospel, he was sentenced to death by the
Church—the Church sought to use its worldly power to stamp out the preaching of
salvation by grace alone. That’s what happens when Christians are tempted to
leave the Gospel because they want Christianity to be about changing earthly
kingdoms and secular matters. It happens in our day as well from time to time.
We happen to be at a point where the power seems to be with those who are
seeking to silence the voice of the Church.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for
Christian rulers and laws that reflect God's moral law. On this “Life Sunday,”
we acknowledge that elective abortion and assisted suicide are terrible sins in
our nation, and Christian citizens do well to work for laws to protect the
unborn, aged, and disabled. That is good, but not how the Kingdom of God exists
in this world. The Kingdom of God exists in this world, where the Gospel is preached,
and the Sacraments are administered according to God’s Word. If that occurs in
a predominantly Christian nation, then the Church is there. If that takes place
in Nazi Germany, Nero’s Rome, or Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei’s Iran,
then the Kingdom of God is there. It’s an entirely different kingdom. That’s
why Martin Luther reportedly remarked that, when it came to rulers, he would
take a competent Turk (a Muslim) over an incompetent Christian. Even as we pray
for our nation, we must recognize that the United States is not the Kingdom of
God. It is a kingdom of this world in which we happen to live and in
which—thankfully, at least for now—the Church is allowed to proclaim the Gospel
freely. But the Kingdom of God is a different kingdom. The focus of the Church
is always repentance and the forgiveness of sins.
This is a stone over which you will
stumble, too. You’ll want to measure the relevance of Jesus by matters of the
world. You’ll want to measure the effectiveness of the Kingdom of God by
whether or not your sickness is healed or your pain relieved, by whether or not
the tensions in your family are resolved, or whether or not you succeed in your
line of work, by whether or not the laws of the land reflect God’s moral law.
You’ll want Christ as King if He works out all of your concerns in the kingdom
of this world, and if “all” He does is forgive your sins and give eternal life,
you’ll be tempted to be disappointed.
The Lord rules over this world and is
concerned with your life in this kingdom. He may grant healing and deliverance.
He may resolve tensions in your family or grant you a glorious career. He may
do so miraculously, working wonders. He may change whole nations—look at
Nineveh in our Old Testament lesson. Or He may do so as a side effect of
repentance and the Gospel. If repentance leads you to forsake drunkenness or
gluttony that brings you better health, that is also a blessed result. But
these are not the focus of the Church: repentance and the Gospel are. If the
Lord allows pain, sickness, or tension to remain, it doesn’t mean He is a weak,
uncaring king. He is the almighty King who rules over all things, and while
your fortunes in the kingdoms of this world will change, there is no doubt of
the forgiveness and life He has won for you.
Remember: Jesus is the King of an
entirely different kingdom. It is not about wealth, power, or success for you
here. It is about life eternal in the Kingdom of Heaven. It is not about your
works and labors to achieve rewards but about His death on the cross as a
sacrifice to win that salvation for you. You are a citizen of this Kingdom by
the grace of God, by repentance and faith in the Gospel. This Kingdom is at
hand because your King is as near to you as His Word and Sacraments, and where
the King is, there is His Kingdom. This Kingdom of God is yours forever because
you are forgiven for all your sins.
In the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture
quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001
by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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