God’s Context for Humanity
One of the primary guidelines we use when trying to understand what God says to us in the Bible, is context. Everybody agrees with this, yet there is little agreement on what God is actually saying, either broadly or in the details. Why? Because we are not in agreement on what the overall Biblical context really is! Without the proper context (which God must and does provide) one wanders aimlessly around scripture like a ship without a destination. Details don’t really tie together well, and the picture gets skewed…clear doctrines become mysteries. Or using another metaphor, there is no anchor to hold the ship in its place…it gets tossed about by every wind that comes along. Context provides the anchor for understanding.
God and His Son Jesus provide the high level, big picture context for understanding everything they say to us. They are in complete harmony on what that context is. Here is Jesus with the overall summary statement of that context:
Mark 1:14-15
Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
In verse one of the same book, this gospel of God is also called the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was simply passing along to his listeners the same message his Father had shared with ever-increasing clarity and detail throughout the Old Testament. And what is it? As Jesus reaffirmed, it’s the good news about the Kingdom of God, which is primarily about the future and ultimate destiny of human beings. It is about successful human ruler-ship and stewardship over this planet and the people on it. This God-given purpose IS the context. Get it wrong, and the entire Bible becomes disjointed, undiscernible, and/or misunderstood. We can’t really even know God or Jesus on more of a personal level if we do not accurately know the context from which they come to us. Jesus himself said that if the parable of the sower and the seed was not understood (seed is the “word of the Kingdom”, Matt. 13:19), then none of the other parables would be understood as a result (Mark 4:13). The context must be understood first. As is often said…context is king! For more scriptures regarding this context see my article, “Obvious Absurdity of Kingdom Now Theology” on this blog site.
Now, the other major part of the Kingdom of God context has to do with what that Kingdom is founded upon…and that’s the New Covenant. Every Kingdom has to have an administrative system. In the case of the age to come, a desire and effort to know and understand God and God’s faithful human Son, Jesus of Nazareth, is the operating system of that prophesied Kingdom (Jer. 38:27-34; Hebrews 8:8-13). Our engagement in that system starting now in this age is the prerequisite for age-to-come-life of loving ruler-ship in the Kingdom of God and His Son. Jesus confirmed:
John 17:3
This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
This is what instigates the process of maturing into the image of our Father, and of Christ who is already in His image as the firstborn. He is the firstborn of many brethren (Rom. 8:29). God’s purpose is a family affair.
The first order of business is to believe the Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God. That’s God’s context for humanity. Repent and believe it as per Jesus in Mark 1. Most people skip this step, but it is the FIRST step toward salvation. And it is our hope…it is the Biblical hope. Hope that is seen is not hope (Rom. 8:24-25), but we wait eagerly for its realization at the return of the Messiah who will rule over the nations from Jerusalem!
