By Kerwin Holmes, Jr.


Crown Him with many crowns, but withhold some because “already and not yet.”
-modern Evangelicalism and Western Christendom at large

Introduction
It has come to my attention that part of the reason why the joy of the LORD is not our strength, as covered in the previous post, is because we do not adequately know what the LORD is.
That’s right. I am coming upon that awkward territory of silence in my own Evangelical circles by describing God as “what.” Often we focus upon the “who” God is (and we may even capitalize that relative pronoun from our piety when referring to Him), and we shudder from rightful fears of heresy and difficult phraseology in actually describing “what” God is.

Nevertheless, it is necessary for us to consider.

I hope that this post is not coming off as a sauté of zesty rambunctiousness or some romantically inadequate and self-inflating introductory screed, like the introduction to the original Star Trek television show. Certainly, many throughout Church history have said what I say, and I do have friends who believe likewise. That is not the point to the introduction, the title, or the language overall that I am using here. I mean to be blunt in my critique because, at this point in history and time, it needs to be blunt. Now that we are teetering as a society ever so closely over the cliff of irreverent indifference towards God (by the way, I am still speaking about Evangelicalism and Western Christendom at large), there needs to be open bluntness.

But this is not to happen without reason. Having given one sense of the meaning of what that is in the paragraph above, let me clarify for the other meaning. We will be using the Scriptures to shape our cosmology here, and reasoning from them. But because what is evident in the Scriptures can take days, weeks, years, and lifetimes to fully explore, I will attempt to be thorough without this turning into a tome.
At the very least, this is designed to get those who think anywhere near the particular position that I am critiquing in this post to challenge their thoughts. At the most, it is to get such people to change their thoughts completely and also to affirm the hope for those who are already so disposed cosmologically.

What is God…in Christ?
I recently spoke with several friends whom I will not name about the nature of the kingdom of God. This topic has become of particular significance as currently and healthily (and finally) Christians in the West have had to grapple with how their devotion to Christ manifests in their political persons. Some of these Christians had long grown accustomed to riding the coattails of their cultural shelters or reasonings concerning what a Christian ought to do. But we should not fault them so much because their leaders have done likewise. Many a Christian pastor did nothing when the State in the USA broke its own laws to tyrannically decide who could and could not worship and who could and could not work. Many were silent as fellow clerics were adamant about their civil liberties being legally inalienable and were subsequently brought before kangaroo courts while most of society was sequestered (meaning that these court hearings may as well have taken place in the dead of night, with no one watching). Many of these pastors, and here I use weighty words for the times, were not Christ-like in that hour.

But, Christ is no longer in trial, and He no longer lays in a tomb (at least, that is what we confess…more on that later). So where is Christ now and what does He do?

True Christians, my friends included, believe that Christ is now seated upon the heavenly throne, fulfilling the vision of Daniel 7 in part. This is surely something to celebrate, yielding each confessor of this reality to the great shores of orthodoxy and the better land of Christian truth. However, we disagree on how much, in part, of Daniel 7 the Son of Man has now fulfilled.

My friends believe that the kingdom of God is “not yet” here upon this Earth, indeed that it is not “of this Earth/world.” And I beg to differ– and strongly so.

Now, I admit, that in my earlier years, I held to views similar to my friends. I was raised being taught that the kingdom of Christ is now more a recruitment stage (or a tryout, since I was raised with Arminian influenced soteriology). What is occurring now is the proving ground for when Jesus counts who is worthy to reign with Him as the winner of all things and the eventual King of kings and Lord of lords. Christ sits in heaven consumed by His and the Father’s patience, and the Holy Spirit works here below to prove that patience to be worthy. And now we sons and daughters of the dust must bear our afflictions knowing that Christ will come again.

The beauty in that worldview is that it has great truths in it. Starting from the bottom, it surely is our lot in life currently to endure and to bear our afflictions knowing that Christ will come again. This is the marching order given to all Christians even while the Messiah walked among the Twelve, promising them that they would have troubles. But what the Bible does not say, I wager to you, are two things:

1. That the Messiah’s kingdom is “not of this world.”
2. That the Messiah is not now the King of all the kings and the Lord of all the lords in both the domains of the terrestrial and the celestial.

Rather than a king who simply browbeats his opponents before eventually conquering them outrightly, we serve the King who patiently tolerates the short breaths that His rivals take in serving under Him, using them as He sees fit and discarding them and their empires/republics/Marxist ghettoes as He sees fit. He breaks nations with a rod of iron when they stray too far into wickedness, as He has always done but uniquely does now (more on that later).

In short, when we say that Jesus is the Messiah, we do not receive from the Scriptures the meaning for the present hour that He is the Sovereign over phantasms or sprites, or even the worship of His saints. Just as the Messiah is enfleshed and clothed in His eternal divine glory, so He rightfully reigns as the Davidic heir but also as the chosen King from humanity to reign over all of humanity. And He keeps that title until, just as any other king, He dies and needs to be replaced– which isn’t happening anytime soon.

But we need the proof, and now I seek to provide that.

The Proof
First, I would like to attack that pesky statement that the Messiah’s kingdom is “not of this world.” This is pesky to my position (if I may call it that) because it comes from Holy Writ, at least as it has been translated. Many a disagreeing friend of mine has cited this to me, and I respect them for it. I do not mean to say these friends are all on the same caliber of argumentation either. Some of them can read Holy Writ from the original languages, just like I can now. Some of them have been reading Holy Writ longer than I have. I cannot fault them for lack of skill, and in fact, I don’t want to “fault” them at all as the method of my disagreement here.

But I do mean to constructively disagree, and at least put some rocks in their shoes and those like them.

The phrase “not of this world” in relationship to the kingdom of God and His Christ is only found in one text in all of Scripture: the Gospel of John. As a general rule, where there are more than one text covering the same genre of topic, in this case the gospel message and preaching of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, it is not overtly prudent to cite from just one account a unique phrasing and to make all others bow to it. It is better instead to see what is unique to the particular gospel account that the author is trying to communicate.

The verse in question is John 18:36, and it reads from the Christian Standard Bible translation:

“My kingdom is not of this world,” said Jesus. “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”

The problem with this translation is that the phrase “not of this world” is using now an outdated meaning for the word “of” for the English language. I do not mean to say that the translators are trying to hide meaning from us. But what I am saying is that, like my friends, the tradition of the language seems to have informed their translation decision. This comes out a bit in the text itself. The last sentence that Jesus said states that His kingdom is not from here (the specific Greek word there, ἐντεῦθεν, is locative). But where is “here,” and if His kingdom is not from that place, does that bar it from entering into that place?

That question is answered from the reoccurring theme to the Gospel of John. From the very beginning, Jesus is said to not be from this world, but rather to be from above, even from the very Father Himself. There are too many examples from the Gospel to list, but here are a few:

1. John 1:1-17] Jesus is from the very beginning, even from the Father, God from God, and has come down into this world.
2. John 3:1-21] Jesus is from above and speaks of the things from above, and even those who are to enter into His kingdom must be born from above (the Greek word ἄνωθεν means both “from above” and “again”) in order to even see or enter the kingdom of God
3. John 6:51] Jesus is the true bread from God which has come down from heaven into this world so that those who eat from Him (who receive His words as life and His commandments, and even Eucharist, through faith) live forever
4. John 8:23] Jesus was going to return to the place whence He came, from above, after departing this world (which He did in the Ascension in power, which was prophesied in Daniel 7)
5. John 10:34-38] Jesus is from above in a unique way, having come directly from the Father, unlike the other celestial beings, whom we may infer were sent even from the authority of the Son beforehand. (But if anyone is contentious with that understanding, as was the dual traditional meaning that Jesus purposefully used in citing Psalm 82 for His testimony, so I give the other option: Jesus came directly from the Father unlike any human ruler)

As I said, there are too many from that one gospel to list. It is a bit of a recurring theme, and the author relies upon you having noticed it by the time you get to the section that now is chapter 18.
One may say “That is pretty neat about the ‘from above/again’ paradigm, but how much may we trust that the language in the Gospel is reliant upon the Greek? Didn’t Jesus also speak Aramaic?”

Good question.
It is important in part for the Greek because of the setting of John 18. Jesus was talking to Pontius Pilate, a Roman governor who certainly spoke to his subjects in Greek, which was already known in Judea, and not in Aramaic, which most Romans did not care to learn or know.

(By the way, the Aramaic expression for again, ܡ݂ܶܢ ܕ݁ܪܺܝܫ [men d’rish], also doubles as “again” and “from above.”)

This comes out even in Jesus’s responses to Pilate when Pilate asked Him “Are you the king of the Judeans/Jews?” Pilate, using even the Greek text provided, would have used the exact same verbiage to say in Greek “You are the king of the Judeans/Jews.” The difference would have been the tone. Greek, like some other older Indo-European languages such as Latin, sometimes had questions that were the same as their answers or declarative statements. This is one of those times. So when Jesus replied “You say so,” Jesus was being savvy and innocent. Given that He was on trial under Roman law before Pontius Pilate, had He told the truth He would have broken Roman law and deserved execution by Rome by claiming what Caesar claimed exclusively for himself. In that crucial moment, Jesus played it so that no matter whose law, Judea’s, Rome’s, and let alone the Divine Law, He was innocent of all charges. He fulfilled Scripture that way.

So, with all that said, how should John 18:36 be translated? Given what we have just said, like so:

“My kingdom is not from this world,” said Jesus. “If my kingdom were from this world, my servants would fight, so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Judeans. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”

Jesus took His orders from above, and so was exactly where He should have been. Everything was under His Father’s control because He was fulfilling His mission, like a good Warrior-King and dutiful Son. You will note how this closer translation makes the last sentence symmetrical with the totality of the statement, and how this all aligns with the recurring theme from the Gospel of John. You can also note (if you look at the Koine Greek) that the language mirrors the language of some of the other passages in the Gospel of John, demonstrating the recurring theme.

Translator’s Note:

But that isn’t all. Jesus privately tells Pontius Pilate that His kingdom is from another place. And Pilate apparently understands the language, since his next question to Jesus is to ask where he is from (John 19:9). In that exchange, Pilate, whose authority came from Tiberius Caesar in Rome and who by nature had come from Rome to the Judean lands, then threatens Jesus that he held the authority (from Rome) to kill Jesus or to release Him. Jesus then replied that Pilate (and Pilate’s kingdom by extension) would have had no authority over Him had it not first been given to him from above (the exact same word as ἄνωθεν). Jesus, to be clear, was threatening Pilate, even claiming that Pilate was making an error (sin). Because Jesus’s kingdom gave Pilate the legitimate authority to hold that power, he at least was legitimate in using his authority, though he was misusing it. The one who betrayed Jesus (Judas who broke God’s law and even Judean law to hand over Jesus) was guilty of the greater error. Many Christians sadly miss the meaning behind Jesus’s words. Pilate, however, did not. He began to work to release Jesus immediately…at least for a moment before the fear of Caesar got the better of him.

The fact of the matter is that saying that Jesus’s kingdom is not “of this world,” as in not here presently, isn’t actually in the Gospel of John. In some sense, it surely has not reached its destiny. But to behave as if Jesus’s domain of authority over human governments here on earth somehow shrank post-Ascension from what it was pre-Ascension is backwards logic and (I caution) actually against the Gospel claim in essentia.

The Point
Let’s get to the point.

One may scroll back and remember that we still have not dealt with Number 2 in that small list I wrote above. Yes, we deal with that one now. We do so by means of one more question:

What do the rest of the New Testament writers see cosmologically as revealed in their letters?

Let’s go shotgun style for this.

Hebrews 1:1-3 states

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. ³ He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ⁴ having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Okay then. Jesus rules and reigns now at the right hand of Majesty. But He must reign over something in order to actually have majesty, yes? What authority does Jesus now have?

Matthew 28:18-20 states

Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Ah. So authority in both heaven and on earth. So Christians who seek to bifurcate this must contend with evangelism itself, since the commandment to evangelize is only made on the basis of Christ’s authority. But kings have titles and authority, so the writers and apostles must have referred to Jesus by some sort of dignitary title.

Philippians 1:1-2 states

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: ² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So then, Jesus is Lord Jesus, not just Jesus of Nazareth. He reigns. But did the apostles see themselves as spreading His reign among the kingdoms and nations of the world?

Romans 1:1-7 states

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ² which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³ concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh ⁴ and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵ through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, ⁶ including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, ⁷ To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Huh. That seems to be a call to fulfill Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 in part but also Daniel 2. We must approach the cross and empty tomb each Easter/Passover/Pascha, and even wherever we are when we repent. We all must flock to Zion, which surely is larger than life now after what Jesus has done. His kingdom must grow and spread throughout the earth, as the Great Commission demands, right? The Rock has appeared and invaded this earth, and it must grow into that Great Mountain. After all, the vision is both true and trustworthy.

But wait…if Jesus’s kingdom is now but not fully here, then what does it look like now? If He has power and authority both on earth and in heaven, is it in both places at once? Who are they who are ruling above, and what is their relationship to us below?

A curious thing happens in the Synoptic Gospels, the Transfiguration, something that often is not expounded upon. But the language that Jesus says before it is curious. It certainly provides food for this post’s thought.

Mark 9

Then he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God come in power.”

Matthew 16:28

Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Luke 9:27

Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

Somehow, Christ’s kingdom is here, though it surely has not yet accomplished what it is destined to be. But it is growing, and it is evident in the writings of the apostles. In fact, in the so-called “Resurrection Chapter,” 1 Corinthians 15, Paul writes that we look forward to the resurrection because Christ is surely raised and seated above on the heavenly throne. And because we have this hope, which we are to proclaim to the nations, we can be sure that we are not false witnesses. In fact Christ now conquers all things by His power according to His times (and in the midst of our obedient devotion to Him as our King) until He finally conquers death

²⁵ For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be abolished is death. ²⁷ For God has put everything under his feet. Now when it says “everything” is put under him, it is obvious that he who puts everything under him is the exception. ²⁸ When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.
_{1 Corinthians 15, with the bold being a citation of Psalm 8:6/Psalm 110:1}

So what now?
I wrote this to put to words some things that I have been contemplating lately, and things which I believe ought to be considered among the whole of Christendom today as we approach the Nativity celebration, particularly among Evangelicals and Westerners. We have inherited great light from those who came before us who saw the world as this, especially those of us in the United States of America. These were those who had the cosmological vision of serving the Undying One seated upon the celestial throne above while working here below under the lesser kings and rulers of the cosmos. His kingdom, surely, did not come from this world. His kingdom is an invasion, as C.S. Lewis (a beneficial thinker to read at these times) declared. We are subject to earthly authorities as they uphold righteousness (and not otherwise), and they are always subjected under our King.

But differently than before, Christ has done the fuller measure, for He has seized the right of kingship over humans as He now is one forever, and He always had authority by His rights as God and always will. His reign is an intimate one. And we all must approach His throne, having come to Mt. Zion in repentance proverbially but approaching the celestial mountain spiritually. Like Pontius Pilate, whose citizenship came from the city of Rome which ruled over many foreign lands, our citizenship is from the Celestial New Jerusalem, and the Reigning Monarch has extended His Davidic reign over all domains, realms, nations, tribes, and tongues (you may be hearing how even now my language is beginning to mirror the Scriptures). We trust in Him to accomplish this by the means He has chosen: the proclamation of the Gospel and the obedience of His people. Where the Church is not proclaiming the Gospel and obedient to God’s Law, we should not be shocked by God choosing not to expand His reign. These nations of ours may surely crumble, as they have always done, but His domain will continue on. Look around you: Caesar is long gone. May we rise to the occasion once again in the West. We must obey the First Commandment and love God with our entire beings, and that includes our political persons.
Awaken and strengthen what remains, purchasing from Christ the riches of His domain!

It is not that we serve the Christ without a throne. Christ is not suddenly lesser than even the kings who have come and died upon this earth! May we never confess such slander!

It is that He surely does reign from His throne, and we would do well to beware, and to share in this cosmological vision of truth.

This season, many of us in the West (and further) will sing “Joy to the World” as the Incarnation season’s days of celebration and adulation come upon us.

Let us believe the words we sing and see His reign approaching.