Summary

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 19 –The Story of the Kingdom Revisited

[Bible ref; Matthew 3:2-8]

This then is our story:

The Good Earth A good God created a good earth and he desired that the good image-bearing people he made would, in all the ways that we reflect his glory, take charge of the earth, to steward it and develop it with all the creative gifts he bestowed on his good people.

The Rebellion Abusing the freedom given them, the people rebelled, causing everything on the earth to be corrupted including themselves, creating a separation between them and the just God therefore bringing upon themselves the penalty and gift of death.

Faith and the Law This, however, did not disrupt the love of God towards them. The good and loving God put in place His plan to restore everything, including the relationship between His people and himself. He set aside a chosen people for himself, through whom he would give laws that would, on the one hand, clearly show their inability to restore the broken relationship in their own power, but on the other hand, provide a pathway for God, in his power, to restore their relationship.

The Kingdom Arrives Entering the world as a human, he took the penalty of that rebellion, that sin, upon himself by dying on our behalf. He then offered, purely by grace, an invitation for his people to leave their rebellion and return to him. His continuous invitation was, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come … bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”

Already and Not Yet Before fully restoring us and all of earth from our corruption, he left us in charge one more time, and giving us His Spirit, He has given us the opportunity to continue the work for which he originally created us. Although this work is impeded by the corruption of the world, we, by the power of the Spirit, are still able to help him usher in his kingdom, even if only in part, until he comes again and restores us and the earth to our full goodness so that we can fully flourish as he has intended for us from the beginning.

The City and the Garden In the fulness of time, Jesus will return to earth in all His glory and will transform not only earth but us, removing all the present corruption. Heaven will be fully rejoined to earth, and we will receive transformed bodies to live on the transformed earth. God will be glorified in many ways, including in the full flourishing of His kingdom.