KINGDOM - OLOGY 22

The fact of contingency in relation to the Mediatorial Kingdom.

            If I were to take a text, a text that covers the entire span of human existence, it would be Matthew 23:34-39: “Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.”

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate! For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Note carefully the words of verse 37: "Would I."
These speak of divine purpose. Also, in the same verse note the words: "Ye would not." These introduce human contingency. Note, also, the fact of provisional arrangement in verses 38 and 39. There will be the experience of desolation, but ultimately the realization of divine purpose.

            While it is true that these words were spoken immediately to the religious and political leadership of Israel, verses 34-36 include the entire human race. Israel is addressed as the focal point of the problem in history, but the contingency in human rebellion fans out to include the entire human race.

            Genesis 1:1 states that "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Having introduced the concept of the earth in verse one, from this point on through the entire Bible God turns His attention to the earth. On this planet it is His purpose to establish kingdom, a kingdom that is Mediatorial in nature, in which He can make an everlasting revelation of Himself. In order to accomplish this, He creates a man, made after His own image and likeness (Gen. 1:26-27). This man is to be the fountainhead of a race of people like himself (Gen. 1:28).

            To this man is delegated authority to exercise dominion over the entire earthly order. But this authority is derived and not inherent (Gen. 1:26-28). To this man God begins the ministry of self-revelation. He displays His glory in the Garden between the cherubim at the gateway to that paradise (Gen. 3:24). He also established an intimate and vital communion with this man (Gen. 3:8). And He made it clear that his kingship was Mediatorial and not inherent in that He imposed one restriction on the wide range of his freedom (Gen. 2:16-17).

            At this point the human contingency entered the picture. Adam and his wife refused to bow the knee to the absolute sovereign from whom they derived their right of dominion (Gen. 3:1-11). The fall did not change God's purpose to establish a kingdom in the earth, but it did make it necessary for a provisional arrangement in order that this kingdom might be realized.
          Now that the fall has taken place, a new aspect in the self-revelation of God to men must be unveiled. There must be a program of redemption introduced into the affairs of men. A Savior must enter the stream of human history as the seed of the woman, whose purpose will be to bruise the head of the serpent, that instigator of human rebellion (Gen. 3:15). He will provide robes of righteousness for fallen humanity, and rescue them from eternal retribution. As a token of coming redemption, animals were slain and blood shed to provide clothing for Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:21).

            But we are not to imagine that the eternal purposes of God are suddenly confronted with an emergency that demands a change of plans. As men view the situation, this appears to be so. But from the divine standpoint, no such thing is true. For just as the plans for a kingdom in the earth are eternal and unchangeable, so also is the program for implementing that plan to establish the Mediatorial Kingdom. A Divine-human Redeemer is to enter the stream of human history. This One was foreordained before the foundation of the world as a lamb without blemish and without spot, whose precious blood was to cover sin (1 Pet. 1:19-20). From the very foundation of the world, in the counsels of God, He was the lamb slain (Rev. 13:8). In His performance at Calvary He would lay the firm foundation for the Mediatorial Kingdom, now after the many centuries delayed, and still held in abeyance because of the human contingency of sin. This coming Redeemer, the second Person of the triune God, would also be a member of the human race, in Whom at last the Mediatorial kingship in the earth would be realized.