The Bible's accounts of the birth of our Lord place a great deal of emphasis upon the fact that He was "born to be King." As such His birth was previously announced to Mary (Luke 1:32, 33) and later re­vealed to the wise men (Matthew 2:1).

Significantly, when Peter later confessed his faith in Him as the Christ, the Lord said that He would build His church on this kind of confession and added,

I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.Matthew 16:16-19; cf. 18:18

While there are two or three such crucially important references in the gospels to Christ's "church," there are over 100 such refer­ences in them to this "kingdom," and the very "gos­pel" is commonly designated as the "gospel of the Kingdom."

This prominence of the Lord's role as King and the amount of emphasis which He in His preaching gave to His kingdom ought to get much more atten­tion than Christians today usually give them. Christ's Kingship is in much of the present-day church a forgotten or misunderstood office.

The Kingdom is a Government⤒🔗

The word "kingdom" brings us into the realm of politics, of government, of the organization and structure of societies and nations by which the many varied activities of our lives are ordered and pro­tected. The necessary activities of government bear more or less upon all kinds of other areas of man's life and society.

In much of modern society and especially in the United States there has been a strong movement that has congealed for many into an unquestioned presumption that religion should have nothing to do with politics. The provision of the founding fathers that in the U.S. there should be no one church estab­lished by law has increasingly been interpreted or misinterpreted to mean that religion should be com­pletely separated from politics and related areas of social life, from business, from education, and per­haps even from the family. Recently many people are beginning to see that the effect of this whole development has been that secular or atheistic humanism has, in fact, become the established reli­gion of the public schools. Unfortunately many evan­gelical Christians have over the years naively accepted this developing version of church-state separation. They have more or less accepted the notion that the church should preach personal salva­tion, but say little or nothing about how a "born again" Christian should live in his family, run his business, drive his car or vote.

This tendency to separate religion from life has had two effects, both bad.

1. It has failed to do jus­tice to the gospel which includes as an essential doc­trine that Christ the Savior is King and claims a uni­versal Kingdom. Accordingly it has presented the gospel as though it were much smaller, less influen­tial and farreaching in its claims than it really is. Such a reduced gospel presentation can hardly develop strong Christians or churches.
    
2. This ten­dency to separate religion from life or to bring a gospel which failed to stress Christ's Kingship over a Kingdom has proved to be even more disastrous for society. This society, deprived of what the Lord described as the preserving "salt" of the gospel-governed living (Matthew 5:13, 14) has in a variety of ways been rotting. Deprived of the gospel "light," it has been losing all sense of direction. The roster of increasingly intense social problems that plague our society are too familiar to require extensive listing — crime, divorce, abortion, pornography, homosexu­ality, inflation (which results when government doesn't pay its bills) — we know them only too well. These miseries of our society are more or less directly traceable to the neglect or rejection of Christ the King and His Kingdom.

What does this mean? Does it mean that we need to get religion back into politics and other related areas of society? Many would, in general, assent to the idea that we ought to have more religious influ­ence in these areas. But Christ's claims as King and His teaching of His Kingdom mean something much more, and in a way, quite different from merely get­ting some more religion into society. To appreciate His Kingship and Kingdom we must consider what kind of government a kingdom is.

Christ's Kingdom is a Monarchy←⤒🔗

The Lord's comings to be King and His teaching about His Kingdom do not merely imply that He is concerned with some kind of government and has an interest in society. A kingdom is a distinct kind of government. What distinguishes a real "kingdom" is that it is a rule by one individual who is "king," who has sovereign authority. As such it is quite different, from the governments to which we are accustomed, from a "democracy" or a "republic" in which the peo­ple or their representatives govern. Even what kingdoms still exist among us have usually come so far under the influence of "democratic" theories that the powers of their kings are reduced so that they are little more than figureheads, with little or no real authority. When Christ is introduced as "King" and when He teaches about His "Kingdom," we must deliberately divest ourselves of all these democratic prejudices and assumptions and take the words in their original, authentic sense as meaning that He is the Absolute Monarch. This means that His Word is law, His power is absolute, and from His decisions there is no appeal. This means that in His realm everything is quite different from what it is in a democracy. All of the customary campaigning for votes, trying to gain popular or majority support, etc. becomes quite irrelevant in the real operation of His Kingdom. Only one opinion is decisive. That is His.

The King's Word Must be Obeyed←⤒🔗

It is surprising that even people who talk much of "the Kingdom" seem to completely overlook this elementary principle of Christ's Kingdom, that it means the sovereign rule of only One. One thinks of the World Council of Churches' Missionary Confer­ence in Melbourne, Australia. Although it announced as its theme "Thy Kingdom Come," reports indicate that in its preoccupation with political, economic and social problems, it refused to even talk about the Word or gospel of Christ.¹Could anything more clearly demonstrate the developing anti-Christian character of that World Council of Churches than its discouragement of evangelism while at the same time persisting in donating vast sums of church money into funding the activity of guerrillas who oppose the gospel and seek to destroy the church? (It is this settled policy which finally provoked the Salvation Army to resign from that ecumenical body in disgust, although our blind Dutch mother churches continue aggressively to support it!)

Scarcely less bizarre and much more disturbing examples of such contradictory "kingdom" talk sometimes appear much nearer home. I recall a report of such a Kingdom conference, concerned about the responsibilities of Christians in our soci­ety, urging participants to work for the recognition of the "rights" of various groups in our society to maintain their own life-styles, family patterns, etc. How can our obedience to the universal rule of Christ be twisted into requiring us to defend a "right" for anyone to practice adultery or live in a homosexual "marriage"? It seems that some of this "Kingdom" activism has forgotten all about the uni­versal law of Christ for His Kingdom. When one asks some of the "Kingdom" enthusiasts exactly what political and social programs they believe we ought to promote in obedience to Christ the King the answers we get often seem distressingly vague. With little or no reference to Scripture as the clear Word of the King, and a corresponding relative indifference to evangelism and a tendency to down grade the life and activity of Christ's church, they may talk of social, economic and political projects or slogans that sound like weak echoes of those proposed by the World Council of Churches, and per­haps even involve cooperating in theirs.

Very prominent in this "kingdom" promotion is the theme of "liberation." But the "liberation" theme is not in many cases the "freedom" to serve Christ which He bestows on His servants, but a "liberation" from all laws including Christ's. For ex­ample, under the "kingdom" motto, voices are advo­cating the "rights" of women to hold office in Christ's church, in defiance of the King's command­ment which forbids the practice (1 Corinthians  14:33-38; 1 Timothy 2:11-3:7). Speaking more generally, it is ex­tremely significant that one finds a number of advo­cates of our responsibility to work for God's King­dom in the world at the same time espousing the critical views of the Bible which attack its own claims to its inerrancy — plainly in defiance of the King's own orders and example. It is striking that in the arguments about the Bible's inerrancy, the basic claim to which the discussions eventually always have to return is that which the Lord by precept and example makes for the Bible. What kind of kingdom is one promoting if he begins by contradicting the teaching and commandment of the King? No one warned more sternly than He against that kind of hypocrisy. "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say" (Luke 6:46)?

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.Matthew 7:21

Objection: Doesn't Service Displace Rule?←⤒🔗

It may be argued by some among us who advocate the "Kingdom" ideal that the authoritarian charac­ter of ancient kingdoms is part of the ancient cul­tural conditioning, or even of the framework of the Old Testament which the Lord in the New Testa­ment indicates is superseded.

Didn't He say that while, rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and who­ever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.Mark 10:42-45

In contrast with these antiquated notions of authority and coercion, we are told, the real genius of the Christian Gospel is expressed in the motifs of love and liberation. Christ came to free from every kind of oppression and inequality. In His Kingdom there is really no authority but that of service, in imitation of Christ Himself Who is only the Supreme Servant. This line of argument was especially clearly developed in the 1972 and 1973 Christian Reformed Synod reports on Ecclesiastical Office and Ordination. It is being used to justify throwing all church offices open to women and re­cently, also to reject the practice of church disci­pline, particularly by erasure and excommunication.

This presentation of the matter, as both the 1972 and 1973 Christian Reformed synods had to point out, is really a caricature which simply doesn't justly present the Bible's teaching about authority in Christ's church and kingdom. While the Lord's fol­lowers' self-seeking and vying for power needed to be and were sharply reprimanded, and the princi­ples of love and service in His Kingdom were em­phatically taught by His precept and example, this did not for a moment destroy the authority struc­ture of His Kingdom in which He was to be acknowl­edged by all as Sovereign King. As the Apostle Paul explained,

He humbled himself and became obedi­ent to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.                    Philippians 2:8-11

His absolute authority as King to whom all are responsible comes out even more clearly, if that were possible, in the parable He told in Luke 19:11-27 about His kingdom. He told of a "nobleman" who "went into a far coun­try to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return." He called His servants, entrusting property to each of them and giving them orders to work with it. "But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us." (In a democracy this would have ended His political ambitions, but in this Kingdom it decides nothing as far as His rule is concerned.) On His return "having received the kingdom" He proceeded to call His ser­vants to account to reward and judge them on the basis of their performance during His absence. After that He said, "But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me." Could anything demonstrate more conclusively than this that Christ's Kingdom is not and never will be a democ­racy "deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed"? (Compare also Psalm 2 and Revelation 12:5 for example.) The Love that is the principle of His kingdom does not cancel, but is embodied in and structured as His Royal Law.

In view of these clear assignments to Christ of absolute authority over His Kingdom it becomes obvious that the spirit that drives and directs the cur­rent "liberation" movements in home, church and state, as well as in society in general, against all authority is not that of Christ, but of Antichrist. This is not contradicted by our observing many well-meaning but rather undiscriminating Christian peo­ple being misled into supporting them. The Bible predicts that the coming anti-Christian movements would deceive many people in this way (Matthew 24:4, 5).

Is Christ's Kingdom only Future?←⤒🔗

While some today relegate this teaching about Christ as Absolute Monarch over His Kingdom to the past as outdated, or contrary to what they mis­takenly allege is the spirit of the New Testament, others, moving in the opposite direction, claim that such an absolute rule of Christ is still future and that we run ahead of history when we regard it as present. This was the real issue in the Bultema or Maranatha controversy in the Christian Reformed churches of 60 years ago. This view that Christ's Kingdom is only future is still widely promoted in Premillennialist and Dispensationalist literature. While the Bible certainly teaches us to look forward expectantly to the triumphant return of Christ the King, at the same time, it plainly and often com­mands men in the proclamation of the gospel of His Kingdom to surrender to His kingly rule now, and to regard His Kingdom as present. We observe, for ex­ample, in Acts 4 that after the Apostles had been boldly confronting the highest Jewish authorities with the claims of the exalted Christ and been threatened, they addressed their prayer, "Sover­eign Lord" (NIV) or literally, in Greek "Despot," recalled the Psalm 2 prediction of human authorities foolishly revolting against the Lord and His Anointed. They noted that in their time the highest authorities were doing this very thing, thereby do­ing exactly what the Lord's "power and will had decided beforehand should happen" and they asked for strength and support in their proclaiming of the gospel. Similarly the first chapter of the Colossian letter stresses the present exaltation of Christ and addresses Christians as having been "rescued from the dominion of darkness and" having been "brought ... into the Kingdom of the Son" (v. 13). One could hardly be in a kingdom which did not yet exist.

The Responsibilities of Obedient Citizenship←⤒🔗

If Christ is the present King of His Kingdom, what are we called to do about it? That question can only be truly answered if we listen for the answer to the Lord's gospel (literally, "good news") of His King­dom. Any other approach is certain to mislead us. Recall how our Lord began an answer to a Jewish leader who was concerned about such matters, "I tell you the truth, unless a man is born again, he can­not see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). That is the way the Lord introduced the gospel call to faith in Himself (v. 16). This "rebirth," we must not forget, takes place "through the word of God" (1 Peter 1:23; James 1:18). Jesus' words to Peter about "building His church" on the kind of gospel confession he had just made and thereby entrusting him with the "keys of the kingdom of Heaven" clearly point in the same direction.

That "gospel of the Kingdom" which demands sur­render to the rule of Christ the King at its introduction goes on to claim the total life and service of every believer. The Apostle Paul in his preaching clearly pressed that claim,

Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called therein abide with God.1 Corinthians 7:20, 24

This is the individual Christian's calling (or "vocation," the Latin form of the same word) in the service of Christ the King. Of the carrying out of the Lord's assignment each ser­vant will have to give account to Him at his coming (Luke 19:11-27).

Doesn't such a portrayal of our Kingdom-service seem to commit us to abandoning the whole field of man's political, social, and economic activities to the secularists? It certainly does not. Perhaps the role assigned to us can be illuminated by considering the example of the Old Testament prophet Daniel — whose role was remarkably like that of the Christian in today's world. Daniel found himself very deeply involved in all these affairs of worldly government under three successive regimes. His career was not controlled by those worldly regimes, but was illum­inated and directed by his calling as God's prophet to speak the Word of God and serve the cause of His coming Kingdom of the Son of man. His practical wisdom in dealing with all kinds of government problems obviously far exceeded that of his worldly contemporaries just because he was not, like them, captive to the illusions and aims of their secular society, but could see through and beyond it to Christ's Kingdom, and speak out for that both to his own people and to the pagan world. Our New Testa­ment role as Christians, now all called to that kind of service (Acts 2:16-18), with a gospel much more fully revealed than it was in Daniel's time (Matthew 11:11), is comparable to that of the Old Testament prophets now commissioned to the whole world.

One sometimes gets the impression that this "Kingdom vision" is regarded as a comparatively recent discovery, partially grasped by the famous Dutch Abraham Kuyper, but now to be seen and developed more or less for the first time in its real compass. Nothing could be further from the truth. That impression already betrays a loss of awareness of whose Kingdom it is. Christ has been establishing and directing His Kingdom in its course, through the labors of His gospel and church, for almost 2000 years, and His faithful servants have been putting their lives into that service in innumerable ways. One who especially grasped and portrayed what was happening was St. Augustine as he wrote the City of God. He served that Kingdom, not perfectly, but with extreme faithfulness and to an effect that plain­ly spread over the succeeding centuries. The trans­formation occurring in African life today among the multitudes of new Christian converts shows the work of that Kingdom, just as in another way our multiplying problems in the Western world are real­ly only the judgments the King is visiting upon an apostate society and apostatizing churches.

The role of each of us in this whole program may seem so small and sometimes frustrating that it is insignificant. The gospel assures us that it is not. All of our Christian life is a calling to the service of Christ the King (with not a square inch excluded, as A. Kuyper once picturesquely suggested.) When the King returns in triumph will He be able to say to us, "Well done thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful in small things, I will set thee over many"? Or will he say, "These my enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me"? Or will we be like those who although they truly believed in Christ, because of their largely inconsistent and shoddy works "shall be saved, yet so as by fire" (1 Corinthians 3:15)?