The COMING of JESUS and GOD’S RIGHTEOUS KINGDOM
by: Thomas Finger
Source : The Scientific Committee of the International Conference of Mahdism Doctrine
I.) The Future Kingdom of God in the Torah and the Prophets
This hope first appeared in the Torah and the prophets, which both Christians and Muslims accept. It was usually voiced when Israel’s leaders were corrupt and unjust, and when wars and fears of war spread through the nations. This hope included six main features.
1.) The Righteous King. According to the prophet Isaiah, “the spirit of the Lord” would rest on him,
“the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord....
with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he will slay wicked.” (Isaiah 11: 2, 4; cf. 9:6-7, 32:1-2)
This king was often called the Messiah, which comes from the word for “anoint,” since kings were anointed when they began their reign
2.) The Kingdom of Justice and Peace. This King would reign over a world where all people would live together in harmony, and would treat each other justly. At that time “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14; Isaiah 11:9) The earth would yield abundant fruits for everyone.
3.) The Gathering of God’s People. The prophets often declared that Israel that would be conquered and taken captive into many foreign countries for their sins. Yet they added that God would eventually bring their descendants back. The hope for God’s Kingdom began to include their return, along with many natives of those foreign lands.
“In the days to come....
Many peoples shall come and say, `Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord....
that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ ....
God shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall the learn war any more.”
4.) The Judgment of the Nations. As the previous passage indicates, the gathering of God’s people from all nations would be connected with God’s judgment on all nations. This was often portrayed as a great battle, where God would wage some kind of war against disobedient nations.
But would the Messiah fight for God at that time? While some texts in the Hebrew Scriptures picture this, the majority do not. For example, the prophet Isaiah, whom I recently quoted, prophesied that the Messiah would slay the wicked-- but “with the breath of his lips” (Isaiah 2:4). This passage seems to be figurative. However, since the Messiah would be a king, and since kings wage war, most people who embraced the Messianic hope before Jesus came assumed that the Messiah would be a warrior king.
5.) The Outpouring of God’s Spirit. God would not only gather the people and establish justice and peace, but would also become more present among them than ever before:
“I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.” (Joel 2:28-29)
Notice that God’s Spirit would come not simply to a few leaders, but to all people, including slaves, which implied that social inequality would be overcome.
Other prophets described this coming of God’s Spirit as a renewal of peoples’ hearts:
“I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them;
I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
so that they may follow my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them.”
(Ezekiel 11:19-20, cf. 37:14, Jeremiah 31:31-34)
6.) The Resurrection of the Dead. In earthly life, numerous righteous people suffer while many unrighteous people prosper. If God is just and rewards people according to their deeds, this will have to happen after death. At the End time, then, “many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Daniel 12:2) At that time, God will “swallow up death forever!” (Isaiah 25:7) The “dead shall live, their corpses shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth will give birth to those long dead.” (Isaiah 26:19)
II.) The Future Kingdom of God and Jesus
When Jesus appeared, the land of Judah had been ruled by foreign empires for centuries. Hopes for a Messiah who would liberate the Jews from the current oppressor, the Roman Empire, ran high. Several Messianic pretenders had already declared war on the Romans, but had been terribly defeated.
Jesus’ main message was: Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand! His followers believed that he was the Messiah. But then something very unexpected occurred. Jesus never called his followers and legions of angels to fight the Romans. Instead, the Romans captured Jesus and, Christians believe, they crucified him. People at that time interpreted Jesus’ crucifixion as God’s judgment on him-- as evidence that his Messianic claims were false, and that those who crucified him were in the right.
But several days later, other unexpected events occurred: Jesus’ followers began seeing him and hearing him speak. What could these appearances mean? The way that Jesus’ followers interpreted them, and several events that followed, is extremely important for understanding the Christian hope for God’s Kingdom. Jesus’ followers came to believe that through those later events, the Kingdom of God had already come to earth-- not yet in a complete, final way, but still in a very important sense. To explain this, let me indicate how those six features anticipated in the Torah and the prophets occurred in these events.
1.) The Resurrection of the Dead. Jesus’ followers understood his appearances to mean that the resurrection of the dead, which was expected at the End of history, had already occurred-- yet in a very unexpected fashion. They had expected that all humans would arise at the same time. Yet only one person, Jesus, had risen. The rest would not rise until he returned.
To express this, Jesus’ early followers called his resurrection “the firstfruits,” and the future resurrection of everyone the full harvest. A harvest begins when the first grapes or ears of grain are ripe. Yet that harvest continues until everything ripens and is harvested. So if Jesus’ resurrection is “the firstfruits,” his resurrection and the final resurrection are not really two separate events. They are the beginning and end of one event: the resurrection which many generations hoped for when God’s Kingdom finally came.
2.) The Righteous King. When Jesus was crucified, it seemed that God was judging him for making false claims to be the Messiah. But when God raised Jesus from the dead, his early followers believed, this verdict was reversed. Jesus’ resurrection showed that God favored him, and that he was the long awaited righteous King. However, he was a very different kind of King than they expected. He was not a warrior, who killed his enemies, but a Messiah who taught people to love their enemies, and not to resist them violently, even if their enemies wanted to kill them.
3.) The Judgment of the Nations. When Jesus’ enemies killed him, it seemed they were in the right and had God’s favor. But when Jesus was raised, this verdict also was reversed. Now those who had crucified him were guilty of killing God’s Messiah. The Romans and Israel’s religious leaders played the main role in this crime, and the crowds who supported this were Jewish. Western Christianity has often blamed the Jews for Jesus’ death, and persecuted them horribly. But this is not the true Christian understanding of who killed Jesus.
Christians believe that all people, in all places and times, have sinned, and are under God’s judgment. Although some people seem to be better than others on the surface, they all, in the deepest sense, oppose God, and are God’s enemies. Christians believe that if they had been in Jerusalem in Jesus’ time, they would have participated in his crucifixion in some way. If you ask a Christian, “Who killed Jesus?” the honest answer would be “I did. Although I was not actually there, I have committed the same kinds of sins as those who killed Jesus.” If all people participate in Jesus’ death in this way, then everyone, not only the people in Jerusalem at that time, is guilty of his death, and is judged guilty by his resurrection. This is how God’s judgment of all nations, expected at history’s End, was executed in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
This means that Jesus’ death cannot be blamed on any one race or people more than on others. It also means that Christians, who claim to be saved through Jesus’ death, cannot deserve salvation more than others. People receive this salvation not because they are better than others, but only when they repent and confess that, if anything, they are worse than others. Consequently, Jesus’ true Church, or those who receive the benefits of his death, cannot belong to any one, superior nation. If most Americans claim to be Christians, this does not make America closer to God than other peoples. It only makes Americans who call themselves Christians more responsible to live as Jesus taught, and more guilty if they do not.
4.) The Kingdom of Justice and Peace. Jesus was the righteous king, who promoted righteous laws and social behaviors. His teachings were designed to create a new kind of social group. In Jesus’ time, rich people were valued much more highly than poor people; similarly, men were valued over women, Jews over Gentiles (non-Jews), and strict religious people over unreligious people. But Jesus’ teachings “reversed” these ways of evaluating people..
Jesus sharply criticized wealth and showed special concern for the poor. Jesus valued and welcomed women, Gentiles and unreligious people in remarkable ways. He did not mean that rich and poor social classes should literally exchange places, as in some versions of Marxism. Jesus meant that wealthy people should give up their quest for and dependence on wealth, so that all people could share the riches of the earth. Similarly, he meant that women and men, Gentiles and Jews, and religious and non-religious people should not change places, but develop fruitful and just relationships with each other. In this way God’s Kingdom, expected at the End of history, would become present in some real sense.
To an oppressed people, Jesus’ taught an even more remarkable change of attitude. Rather than hating or fighting your enemies, he said, show them love. If a Roman soldier forces you to carry his pack for one mile, voluntarily carry it another mile (Matthew 5:41). Jesus followed his own teaching when he refused to fight the Romans, and as he died, he prayed: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:24)
5.) The Outpouring of God’s Spirit. Fifty days after Jesus ascended into heaven his followers were still gathering secretly, because they were afraid of his enemies. But suddenly “a sound like the rush of a violent wind... filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.” (Acts 2:2-3) In this way the outpouring of God’s “spirit on all flesh... Even on the male and female slaves,” which was expected at history’s End, began. (Joel 2:28-29). In this way also, God’s Kingdom arrived in some real sense.
The Holy Spirit enabled Jesus’ followers to shake off their fears, and gave them the strength to follow his teachings. This was that renewal of people’s hearts which the prophets had also foretold.
6.) The Gathering of God’s People. When the Holy Spirit first filled Jesus’ followers, they were also enabled to tell the good news about Jesus in many languages. On that day, Jews who lived in almost every foreign country were in Jerusalem to celebrate a festival. With them were many “proselytes:” natives of those countries who wanted to join the people of Abraham. When this crowd heard the good news in their own languages, 3,000 of them were baptized and joined Jesus’ followers. This was the beginning of a distinct social group called the Church.
Although the good news was first addressed mostly to Jews and proselytes, before long it spread to many other countries where multitudes accepted it. In this way, another event anticipated at the End, the ingathering of God’s people from all nations, began to occur, and would continue until Jesus returned. In its first few centuries, the Church spread far to the east of Judea as well as far to the west. From the beginning, the Christian faith aimed to bring justice, peace and harmony to all nations.
These relationships between the Torah’s and the prophets’ hope for God’s future kingdom and the appearance of Jesus are extremely important for understanding the Christian expectation of Jesus’ coming. Christians believe that in Jesus’ history and the other events just mentioned, that earlier hope was already fulfilled in some significant sense, although it was not yet fulfilled in a complete sense. The final “harvest” had arrived because the “firstfruits” had already appeared. Yet it would continue until all fruits had ripened and been harvested. This tension between God’s Kingdom already being present and not yet being present may sound like a contradiction. Nevertheless, it is central to the biblical understanding of Jesus’ coming, for this is a two-fold coming.
III.) The Future Kingdom of God in the Western World
In my view, it is partly an accident of history that Christianity became the official state religion of many western nations. As it did, its views changed in some significant ways from the teachings of and about Jesus found in the Bible. I can trace only one change in a very general way: its expectation of the future coming of Jesus and of God’s Kingdom.
1.) The Early Christian Hope. Until the 4th century C.E. Christians were a small minority in the Roman Empire. Many of them came from the lower classes or from slavery. Yet the new kind of social group that Jesus talked about was visible among them. For instance, some Roman families left infants whom they didn’t want out in the fields to die. Christians often gathered up these infants and raised them. When plagues struck cities, most people fled. But Christians often stayed behind to minister to the sick, and sometimes died themselves. Christians avoided occupations that involved immorality, and with very few exceptions, service in the Roman armies.
Since Christians believed in a King whose Kingdom was already present in some real way, they refused to worship the Roman gods or the Emperor. Consequently, the Romans persecuted them often, as they had persecuted their Lord. Most Christians expected that Jesus would return to this earth, and that God would punish the Romans when he did. This is expressed most fully in the New Testament book of Revelation, usually in highly symbolic ways which are difficult to interpret.
Revelation portrays God’s final destruction of those who oppose him. Jesus also returns, but it is not clear that he is directly involved in this. For example, while Jesus strikes down the nations with a two-edged sword, this sword comes from his mouth. This recalls Isaiah’s prophecy: the Messiah “shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he will slay wicked.” (Isaiah 11:4) Any such sword or rod must be figurative, and refer to persuasion or preaching.
According to Revelation, Jesus’ followers also “conquer” evil, but only in the way their leader had: “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.” Early Christians opposed the Roman Empire only by faithfulness to Jesus and his teaching, and by witnessing, through their way of life, to the reality of his Kingdom
During their first 300 years, most Christians expected Jesus to return to this earth, and for the earth to be transformed into a just, peaceful, prosperous society of those from every nation, tribe, people and language. These people would live forever. But they would not “go to heaven,” or to some realm entirely different from the earth. Instead, the powers of heaven would come down to earth, and transform humans and their environment. Although the nature of this transformation would surpass human understanding, humans would continue to be social, bodily creatures.
Because God’s final Kingdom would differ so greatly from earthly societies, and because God would destroy empires like Rome at its coming, the Christian hope sharply critiqued contemporary politics and social life, even though it contained no specific earthly agenda. The Roman authorities found it dangerous, subversive, and a good reason for persecuting Christians.
2.) The Common Western Hope. In 313 C.E. the Roman Emperor Constantine won a major battle and thought that the Christian God had given him the victory. Constantine soon stopped persecution of Christians and made Christianity the favored religion of the Empire. Suddenly Christians ceased being a persecuted minority mostly from the lower classes. Large masses of people, including some wealthy and powerful ones, joined them. For many of these new people, becoming Christian did not involve significant changes in their lifestyles. As time passed, fewer and fewer people who called themselves Christians followed the way of Jesus’ Kingdom: the way of sharing, peace and equality with people from other nations, races and social classes.
Most of these Roman “Christians” and their rulers were uncomfortable with the early Christian eschatology, which prophesied the Empire’s destruction and a very different society on earth. Gradually, the standard western expectation of Jesus’ coming changed in two main ways.
First, three of its main features-- the resurrection of the dead, the judgment of the nations, and Jesus’ coming-- came to be understood individualistically and were relocated from the future earth to heaven. The rising of the dead into God’s presence was shifted from one future historical moment to the countless moments when individuals died. Each one would encounter God when one’s body ceased to function and one’s soul rose up into heaven.
The final judgment was also transferred from God’s single, future dealing with all nations to the multiple moments when departed souls were assigned to heaven or hell. Concern for the destiny of the human race was replaced by individual anxiety about entering heaven or hell. Hope for the righteous King’s coming changed into awaiting Jesus as a judge, often with fear. Jesus would no longer transform the world, but would finally save, or damn, souls.
The other three features of early Christian hope-- the Kingdom of righteousness, the gathering of God’s people, and the outpouring of God’s Spirit-- were still interpreted socially and historically, but in a very different way. Jesus the righteous King, who had been relocated in heaven, was also assigned a new role in this history.
Around 400 C.E. the great Christian writer Augustine of Hippo acknowledged that the biblical hope included the destruction of all empires, including Rome. But, Augustine added, this was valid only as long as the Roman Empire was persecuting the Christian Church. Beginning with Constantine, however, the Roman Emperors, with very few exceptions, favored and promoted the Church.
One biblical name for God’s future Kingdom of righteousness is the “millennium,” which means a period of 1,000 years. Revelation 20:4-6 pictures Jesus reigning on earth with his saints during such a period (though it may not mean a literal 1,000 years). Augustine argued that since Christian Emperors now rule society, aided by the Church, the millennium was no longer future, but had already begun. The rule of the Roman Empire and the Roman Church was in fact the reign of Jesus the righteous king through his saints during the earthly millennium. The heavenly Jesus was, in effect, disengaged from human history. Though his earthly coming was occasionally mentioned, it was postponed to the millennium’s end-- far too distant to affect the present society.
God’s Kingdom of justice and peace, then, was not really future, but present in the Roman Empire, aided by the Church. The Romans prided themselves in spreading peace, justice and civilization through the world. To be sure, Roman engineering, architecture and law contributed lasting benefits to civilization. But for most conquered peoples, this came at the price of brutal warfare and oppression.
While Augustine’s eschatology gained favor in the western, or Roman, Church, it and the Eastern, or Byzantine, Church drew further and further apart until they separated in 1054 C.E. This is western Christendom’s eschatology, for it had little impact on the Eastern churches.
In the west, the gathering of God’s people became identified with missionary work within the Roman Empire and in European lands beyond it. These efforts were distant from Eastern Church missions, except for a few countries where the two competed. As Islam arose, this western “millennial” Christianity became increasingly hostile to it, and could attack it as God’s direct enemy, as in the Crusades. Western Christianity aligned itself more and more with European civilization, and often sought to defend it against other nations, and even to destroy others, instead of extending the good news of Jesus and his Kingdom of justice and peace to everyone.
Finally, God’s Spirit was no longer poured out on the whole world, but mostly on the Roman Church, enabling its leaders to define doctrine, perform sacraments, and govern through Church law.
3.) From the Protestant Reformation to the Present. During the 16th century C.E. many European political territories, from city-states to entire nations, rejected Roman Catholicism when their leaders established new Protestant Churches. The unity of western Christendom was fragmented by wars among Protestants and Catholics for at least a century. But by the 18th century the common western hope reappeared in a more secularized from. Western nations now considered themselves superior to others due to their advances in science and technology, and their “enlightened” social outlook, which promoted freedom and democracy.
“Progressive” thinkers believed that these new scientific and political procedures could bring prosperity and justice to the world very quickly and initiate, in effect, a millennium. This vision inspired a western “mission.” As they conquered or took control over much of the globe, westerners supposed, like the old Roman Empire, that they were bringing other countries the benefits of their advanced civilization. But for most conquered peoples, as for subjects of the Roman Empire, these came at the heavy price of brutal warfare and oppression. Some Christian missionaries, remembering the early Christian hope of Jesus’ peaceful Kingdom, opposed these evils. But too many other missionaries were guided by the common western hope instead of this Biblical vision.
In North America the common western hope reappeared much earlier than in Europe. No symbol inspired its rise to power more than “the Kingdom of God. Many early settlers believed that God had called them to build that Kingdom anew on their unexplored continent. This task drew successive generations 3,000 miles from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific, almost annihilating the Native Americans in the process. Then it expanded into the Enlightenment mission of bringing science, education, and democracy to the rest of the world.
This secularized millennial mission is still rooted deeply in the American psyche. The present government invokes its symbolism very often. It leads countless Americans to consider the tremendous cost of their involvements overseas-- in human lives, environmental damage and billions of dollars-- necessary, and therefore justified, for completing this mission. Many American Christians seem to be blind to these horrible consequences, because they view this “mission” as God’s.
To nations which feel its heavy impact, however, it looks much more like the violent expansion of self-interested power and wealth. I am deeply grieved by the incalculable suffering this “mission” inflicts on Iraquis, Palestinians, Lebanese and many others. As an American, I also fear that it is making my country not safer from, but much more vulnerable to, attack-- on my children, my grandchildren, my friends, and millions of Americans who oppose it. I notice many parallels between my governments’ efforts and those of the Roman Empire to dominate the world. While I would not identify America with any eschatological figure, Christian eschatology warns that nations who follow this path will overreach themselves, arouse widespread hatred, and eventually bring on their own destruction.
IV.) The Reappearance of the Early Christian Hope
Hope for the earthly coming of Jesus and his Kingdom never died in the West. It flared up often among people who felt heavily oppressed by their churches and governments, and could hardly regard them as rulers of the millennium. Many of these people, as in the early church, hailed from the lower classes.
Some of these millennial movements took up arms to further their cause. So far as I know, nearly all of them were viciously persecuted and defeated. Other movements which were not mainly religious, but political and/or nationalistic, described themselves in eschatological terms and took up arms. Some of these overthrew governments, but afterwards they often portrayed their own rule in millennial imagery.
Still other movements anticipated the full, earthly coming of God’s Kingdom, which was not yet present, but like the early Christians they already lived by its teachings, such as non-violence, equality and sharing. Their lifestyle differed so greatly from European societies that it sharply critiqued them, as early Christianity had critiqued Roman society. Governments felt threatened, and often persecuted them as the Romans had persecuted early Christians, even though neither movement had a political agenda. Despite this, these groups inspired some social reforms. But can this early Christian hope offer any realistic guidance for today’s world, which is torn by many conflicts and threatened with global destruction?
Consider how the Soviet empire collapsed. One would suppose that so oppressive and scientifically sophisticated a system could be toppled only by bloody wars or revolutions. Yet most communist governments capitulated with hardly a shot being fired. When enormous numbers of citizens staged protest marches, work stoppages and simply refused to co-operate, they collapsed. Other oppressive regimes, like El Salvador’s, finally succumbed to courageous but non-violent opposition of large citizen groups. Quite recently, massive demonstrations brought down the Kingdom of Nepal.
I do not think that non-violent approaches will always succeed. Yet it is obvious that war, which is far more damaging and expensive, often does not work. Still, Christians who use only peaceful means do so not simply because these might succeed, but because Jesus teaches them. In closing, let me indicate several convictions central to his approach to conflict and war..
One conviction is that revenge, or punishing an enemy for harming oneself or one’s group, will never bring widespread, lasting peace. To be sure, when governments inflict punishments which are equivalent to the crimes committed, these can promote justice and stability. But people who desire revenge often inflict far greater damage on their enemies. This enflames their enemies’ desire for excessive retaliation, and initiates an escalating cycle of wrongs avenged by greater wrongs, sometimes continuing for centuries. Enemies, Jesus teaches, will not attain lasting peace until they stop seeking revenge-- unless they stop returning evil for evil, even when it seems justified, and bless those who persecute them (Romans 12:14-21). For this to happen, at least three things are necessary.
First, enemies must search for creative, non-violent ways to resolve their grievances and problems. When Jesus told people oppressed by Rome to carry a soldier’s pack an extra mile, he was not advising passive suffering, but creative, loving response. When people are hit on one cheek and turn the other cheek, they do something unexpected. This can unsettle aggressors and stop the cycle of violence before it starts. Jesus said, in effect: when you are wronged, and your immediate impulse is to strike back... Stop! The Kingdom of God is at hand! There must be a better way to overcome evil. Search for it!
Second, people must often accept the pain of being wronged and injured, and forgive their enemies instead. Christians believe that Jesus did this when he refused to defend himself against his killers, but prayed for them. Christians believe that this kind of response does not end in defeat, but unleashes the power that raised Jesus from the dead. This power will begin to overcome injustice and violence already, in this life, and will finally raise everyone who has been wronged unjustly and establish God’s righteous kingdom forever.
God “will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. The trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth will yield its increase. They shall be secure on their soil, and they shall know that I am the Lord....” (Ezekiel 35:26-27; cf. Isaiah 65:17-25)
Isaiah 2:2-4; cf. Micah 4:1-4; Psalm 46:8-10; Zechariah 2:10-13. Notice also Isaiah 56:6-7:
“to the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord...
These will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar;
For my house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples.” (cf. Isaiah 66:18-21)
“Listen, a tumult on the mountains, as of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together!
The Lord of hosts is mustering an army for battle.
They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole earth,
Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty!” (Isaiah 13:4-6; cf. 34:1-4; Joel 3:9-15)
The Messiah wages war in Psalms 2:9-11, 21:8-12, 89:23, 110:5-6; Isaiah 9:5 and possibly 1 Samuel 2:9-10. The Messiah does not wage war in Psalms 84:9, 132:10-17; Isaiah 32:1; Jeremiah 23:5, 30:9; Lamentations 4:20; Ezekiel 17:22-23, 34:23-31, 37:22-27; Amos 9:11-12; Micah 4:8; Zechariah 3:10, 4:1-6 and 10-14, 9:9-10.
Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:14-15. Scholars agree that the main theme of Jesus’ ministry was the Kingdom of God.
Jesus’ followers were often surprised or frightened when these appearances began (see Matthew 28:8-10, 17; Mark 16:5, 8; Luke 24:4-5, 11, 36-41; John 20:14-16, 24-28, 21:4-7).
1 Corinthians 15:20, 23. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was also called the “firstfruits” (Romans 8:23) as were the earliest converts (Romans 16:5, 1 Corinthians 16:15, James 1:18, Revelation 14:4).
For an explanation of this which includes the role of social forces, see Walter Rauschenbusch, A Theology for the Social Gospel (Nashville: Abingdon, 1917), 247-259.
See N.T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), esp. 477-539; cf. 274-319, 446-474, 651-653; cf. Oscar Cullmann, Jesus and the Revolutionaries (New York: Harper, 1970).
See John Driver, How Christians Made Peace with War (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1988).
Revelation 1:16; 2:12, 17;19:15, 21. Other passages which may possibly refer to Jesus destroying his enemies by force are Revelation 1:7; 2:23, 27; 6:16; 12:5; 14:10; 17:14; 19:11-21; 20:4 and 22:2.
Revelation 12:11. Passages in Revelation which are sometimes said to show Christians harming their enemies are 2:27, 8:4-6, 11:5-6, 19:14 and 20:4. But I find such interpretations very unconvincing.
His victory over Maxentius at the Milvian bridge near Rome, which gave Constantine rule over the Roman Empire’s western half. On the night before the battle a promise of victory conveyed by Christian symbols appeared to him.
In 381 C.E. the Emperor Theodosius raised Christianity to the official and the only legal religion in the Empire.
Eventually a third possibility emerged: individuals who were Christians, but still committed many sins, were assigned to “Purgatory:” an experience of being cleansed or purged from their sins. Only afterwards would they finally enter heaven. This experience of purgation, however, was often pictured as fiery torment, not much better than Hell.
St. Augustine, The City of God (Middelsex, United Kingdom: Penguin, 1984) Book 20, Chapter 6:3-29.
“If at this juncture we can rally sufficient religious faith and moral strength to snap the bonds of evil and turn the present unparalleled economic and intellectual resources of humanity to the development of a true social life, the generations yet unborn will mark this as the great day of the Lord for which the ages waited....” (Walter Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis [New York: Harper and Row, 1964], 422).
H. Richard Niebuhr, The Kingdom of God in American (New York: Harper and Row, 1937).
Such as the Anti-Christ (1 John 2:18, 22, 4:3, 2 John 7), the beast with seven horns and ten heads (Revelation 13:1-8), etc.
The Torah’s formula for this is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth (Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21).
In western Christianity, however, wealthy and powerful people have often told those who serve them to routinely accept wrongs, and expect a reward in heaven. Jesus did not have this kind of passive suffering, which justifies oppression, in mind. Though his way can lead to suffering, it is the way of active, creative love, which opposes oppression. Suffering is not good in itself, but only when it expresses God’s forgiving, renewing love.
This hope first appeared in the Torah and the prophets, which both Christians and Muslims accept. It was usually voiced when Israel’s leaders were corrupt and unjust, and when wars and fears of war spread through the nations. This hope included six main features.
1.) The Righteous King. According to the prophet Isaiah, “the spirit of the Lord” would rest on him,
“the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord....
with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he will slay wicked.” (Isaiah 11: 2, 4; cf. 9:6-7, 32:1-2)
This king was often called the Messiah, which comes from the word for “anoint,” since kings were anointed when they began their reign
2.) The Kingdom of Justice and Peace. This King would reign over a world where all people would live together in harmony, and would treat each other justly. At that time “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14; Isaiah 11:9) The earth would yield abundant fruits for everyone.
3.) The Gathering of God’s People. The prophets often declared that Israel that would be conquered and taken captive into many foreign countries for their sins. Yet they added that God would eventually bring their descendants back. The hope for God’s Kingdom began to include their return, along with many natives of those foreign lands.
“In the days to come....
Many peoples shall come and say, `Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord....
that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ ....
God shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall the learn war any more.”
4.) The Judgment of the Nations. As the previous passage indicates, the gathering of God’s people from all nations would be connected with God’s judgment on all nations. This was often portrayed as a great battle, where God would wage some kind of war against disobedient nations.
But would the Messiah fight for God at that time? While some texts in the Hebrew Scriptures picture this, the majority do not. For example, the prophet Isaiah, whom I recently quoted, prophesied that the Messiah would slay the wicked-- but “with the breath of his lips” (Isaiah 2:4). This passage seems to be figurative. However, since the Messiah would be a king, and since kings wage war, most people who embraced the Messianic hope before Jesus came assumed that the Messiah would be a warrior king.
5.) The Outpouring of God’s Spirit. God would not only gather the people and establish justice and peace, but would also become more present among them than ever before:
“I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.” (Joel 2:28-29)
Notice that God’s Spirit would come not simply to a few leaders, but to all people, including slaves, which implied that social inequality would be overcome.
Other prophets described this coming of God’s Spirit as a renewal of peoples’ hearts:
“I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them;
I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
so that they may follow my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them.”
(Ezekiel 11:19-20, cf. 37:14, Jeremiah 31:31-34)
6.) The Resurrection of the Dead. In earthly life, numerous righteous people suffer while many unrighteous people prosper. If God is just and rewards people according to their deeds, this will have to happen after death. At the End time, then, “many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Daniel 12:2) At that time, God will “swallow up death forever!” (Isaiah 25:7) The “dead shall live, their corpses shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth will give birth to those long dead.” (Isaiah 26:19)
II.) The Future Kingdom of God and Jesus
When Jesus appeared, the land of Judah had been ruled by foreign empires for centuries. Hopes for a Messiah who would liberate the Jews from the current oppressor, the Roman Empire, ran high. Several Messianic pretenders had already declared war on the Romans, but had been terribly defeated.
Jesus’ main message was: Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand! His followers believed that he was the Messiah. But then something very unexpected occurred. Jesus never called his followers and legions of angels to fight the Romans. Instead, the Romans captured Jesus and, Christians believe, they crucified him. People at that time interpreted Jesus’ crucifixion as God’s judgment on him-- as evidence that his Messianic claims were false, and that those who crucified him were in the right.
But several days later, other unexpected events occurred: Jesus’ followers began seeing him and hearing him speak. What could these appearances mean? The way that Jesus’ followers interpreted them, and several events that followed, is extremely important for understanding the Christian hope for God’s Kingdom. Jesus’ followers came to believe that through those later events, the Kingdom of God had already come to earth-- not yet in a complete, final way, but still in a very important sense. To explain this, let me indicate how those six features anticipated in the Torah and the prophets occurred in these events.
1.) The Resurrection of the Dead. Jesus’ followers understood his appearances to mean that the resurrection of the dead, which was expected at the End of history, had already occurred-- yet in a very unexpected fashion. They had expected that all humans would arise at the same time. Yet only one person, Jesus, had risen. The rest would not rise until he returned.
To express this, Jesus’ early followers called his resurrection “the firstfruits,” and the future resurrection of everyone the full harvest. A harvest begins when the first grapes or ears of grain are ripe. Yet that harvest continues until everything ripens and is harvested. So if Jesus’ resurrection is “the firstfruits,” his resurrection and the final resurrection are not really two separate events. They are the beginning and end of one event: the resurrection which many generations hoped for when God’s Kingdom finally came.
2.) The Righteous King. When Jesus was crucified, it seemed that God was judging him for making false claims to be the Messiah. But when God raised Jesus from the dead, his early followers believed, this verdict was reversed. Jesus’ resurrection showed that God favored him, and that he was the long awaited righteous King. However, he was a very different kind of King than they expected. He was not a warrior, who killed his enemies, but a Messiah who taught people to love their enemies, and not to resist them violently, even if their enemies wanted to kill them.
3.) The Judgment of the Nations. When Jesus’ enemies killed him, it seemed they were in the right and had God’s favor. But when Jesus was raised, this verdict also was reversed. Now those who had crucified him were guilty of killing God’s Messiah. The Romans and Israel’s religious leaders played the main role in this crime, and the crowds who supported this were Jewish. Western Christianity has often blamed the Jews for Jesus’ death, and persecuted them horribly. But this is not the true Christian understanding of who killed Jesus.
Christians believe that all people, in all places and times, have sinned, and are under God’s judgment. Although some people seem to be better than others on the surface, they all, in the deepest sense, oppose God, and are God’s enemies. Christians believe that if they had been in Jerusalem in Jesus’ time, they would have participated in his crucifixion in some way. If you ask a Christian, “Who killed Jesus?” the honest answer would be “I did. Although I was not actually there, I have committed the same kinds of sins as those who killed Jesus.” If all people participate in Jesus’ death in this way, then everyone, not only the people in Jerusalem at that time, is guilty of his death, and is judged guilty by his resurrection. This is how God’s judgment of all nations, expected at history’s End, was executed in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
This means that Jesus’ death cannot be blamed on any one race or people more than on others. It also means that Christians, who claim to be saved through Jesus’ death, cannot deserve salvation more than others. People receive this salvation not because they are better than others, but only when they repent and confess that, if anything, they are worse than others. Consequently, Jesus’ true Church, or those who receive the benefits of his death, cannot belong to any one, superior nation. If most Americans claim to be Christians, this does not make America closer to God than other peoples. It only makes Americans who call themselves Christians more responsible to live as Jesus taught, and more guilty if they do not.
4.) The Kingdom of Justice and Peace. Jesus was the righteous king, who promoted righteous laws and social behaviors. His teachings were designed to create a new kind of social group. In Jesus’ time, rich people were valued much more highly than poor people; similarly, men were valued over women, Jews over Gentiles (non-Jews), and strict religious people over unreligious people. But Jesus’ teachings “reversed” these ways of evaluating people..
Jesus sharply criticized wealth and showed special concern for the poor. Jesus valued and welcomed women, Gentiles and unreligious people in remarkable ways. He did not mean that rich and poor social classes should literally exchange places, as in some versions of Marxism. Jesus meant that wealthy people should give up their quest for and dependence on wealth, so that all people could share the riches of the earth. Similarly, he meant that women and men, Gentiles and Jews, and religious and non-religious people should not change places, but develop fruitful and just relationships with each other. In this way God’s Kingdom, expected at the End of history, would become present in some real sense.
To an oppressed people, Jesus’ taught an even more remarkable change of attitude. Rather than hating or fighting your enemies, he said, show them love. If a Roman soldier forces you to carry his pack for one mile, voluntarily carry it another mile (Matthew 5:41). Jesus followed his own teaching when he refused to fight the Romans, and as he died, he prayed: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:24)
5.) The Outpouring of God’s Spirit. Fifty days after Jesus ascended into heaven his followers were still gathering secretly, because they were afraid of his enemies. But suddenly “a sound like the rush of a violent wind... filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.” (Acts 2:2-3) In this way the outpouring of God’s “spirit on all flesh... Even on the male and female slaves,” which was expected at history’s End, began. (Joel 2:28-29). In this way also, God’s Kingdom arrived in some real sense.
The Holy Spirit enabled Jesus’ followers to shake off their fears, and gave them the strength to follow his teachings. This was that renewal of people’s hearts which the prophets had also foretold.
6.) The Gathering of God’s People. When the Holy Spirit first filled Jesus’ followers, they were also enabled to tell the good news about Jesus in many languages. On that day, Jews who lived in almost every foreign country were in Jerusalem to celebrate a festival. With them were many “proselytes:” natives of those countries who wanted to join the people of Abraham. When this crowd heard the good news in their own languages, 3,000 of them were baptized and joined Jesus’ followers. This was the beginning of a distinct social group called the Church.
Although the good news was first addressed mostly to Jews and proselytes, before long it spread to many other countries where multitudes accepted it. In this way, another event anticipated at the End, the ingathering of God’s people from all nations, began to occur, and would continue until Jesus returned. In its first few centuries, the Church spread far to the east of Judea as well as far to the west. From the beginning, the Christian faith aimed to bring justice, peace and harmony to all nations.
These relationships between the Torah’s and the prophets’ hope for God’s future kingdom and the appearance of Jesus are extremely important for understanding the Christian expectation of Jesus’ coming. Christians believe that in Jesus’ history and the other events just mentioned, that earlier hope was already fulfilled in some significant sense, although it was not yet fulfilled in a complete sense. The final “harvest” had arrived because the “firstfruits” had already appeared. Yet it would continue until all fruits had ripened and been harvested. This tension between God’s Kingdom already being present and not yet being present may sound like a contradiction. Nevertheless, it is central to the biblical understanding of Jesus’ coming, for this is a two-fold coming.
III.) The Future Kingdom of God in the Western World
In my view, it is partly an accident of history that Christianity became the official state religion of many western nations. As it did, its views changed in some significant ways from the teachings of and about Jesus found in the Bible. I can trace only one change in a very general way: its expectation of the future coming of Jesus and of God’s Kingdom.
1.) The Early Christian Hope. Until the 4th century C.E. Christians were a small minority in the Roman Empire. Many of them came from the lower classes or from slavery. Yet the new kind of social group that Jesus talked about was visible among them. For instance, some Roman families left infants whom they didn’t want out in the fields to die. Christians often gathered up these infants and raised them. When plagues struck cities, most people fled. But Christians often stayed behind to minister to the sick, and sometimes died themselves. Christians avoided occupations that involved immorality, and with very few exceptions, service in the Roman armies.
Since Christians believed in a King whose Kingdom was already present in some real way, they refused to worship the Roman gods or the Emperor. Consequently, the Romans persecuted them often, as they had persecuted their Lord. Most Christians expected that Jesus would return to this earth, and that God would punish the Romans when he did. This is expressed most fully in the New Testament book of Revelation, usually in highly symbolic ways which are difficult to interpret.
Revelation portrays God’s final destruction of those who oppose him. Jesus also returns, but it is not clear that he is directly involved in this. For example, while Jesus strikes down the nations with a two-edged sword, this sword comes from his mouth. This recalls Isaiah’s prophecy: the Messiah “shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he will slay wicked.” (Isaiah 11:4) Any such sword or rod must be figurative, and refer to persuasion or preaching.
According to Revelation, Jesus’ followers also “conquer” evil, but only in the way their leader had: “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.” Early Christians opposed the Roman Empire only by faithfulness to Jesus and his teaching, and by witnessing, through their way of life, to the reality of his Kingdom
During their first 300 years, most Christians expected Jesus to return to this earth, and for the earth to be transformed into a just, peaceful, prosperous society of those from every nation, tribe, people and language. These people would live forever. But they would not “go to heaven,” or to some realm entirely different from the earth. Instead, the powers of heaven would come down to earth, and transform humans and their environment. Although the nature of this transformation would surpass human understanding, humans would continue to be social, bodily creatures.
Because God’s final Kingdom would differ so greatly from earthly societies, and because God would destroy empires like Rome at its coming, the Christian hope sharply critiqued contemporary politics and social life, even though it contained no specific earthly agenda. The Roman authorities found it dangerous, subversive, and a good reason for persecuting Christians.
2.) The Common Western Hope. In 313 C.E. the Roman Emperor Constantine won a major battle and thought that the Christian God had given him the victory. Constantine soon stopped persecution of Christians and made Christianity the favored religion of the Empire. Suddenly Christians ceased being a persecuted minority mostly from the lower classes. Large masses of people, including some wealthy and powerful ones, joined them. For many of these new people, becoming Christian did not involve significant changes in their lifestyles. As time passed, fewer and fewer people who called themselves Christians followed the way of Jesus’ Kingdom: the way of sharing, peace and equality with people from other nations, races and social classes.
Most of these Roman “Christians” and their rulers were uncomfortable with the early Christian eschatology, which prophesied the Empire’s destruction and a very different society on earth. Gradually, the standard western expectation of Jesus’ coming changed in two main ways.
First, three of its main features-- the resurrection of the dead, the judgment of the nations, and Jesus’ coming-- came to be understood individualistically and were relocated from the future earth to heaven. The rising of the dead into God’s presence was shifted from one future historical moment to the countless moments when individuals died. Each one would encounter God when one’s body ceased to function and one’s soul rose up into heaven.
The final judgment was also transferred from God’s single, future dealing with all nations to the multiple moments when departed souls were assigned to heaven or hell. Concern for the destiny of the human race was replaced by individual anxiety about entering heaven or hell. Hope for the righteous King’s coming changed into awaiting Jesus as a judge, often with fear. Jesus would no longer transform the world, but would finally save, or damn, souls.
The other three features of early Christian hope-- the Kingdom of righteousness, the gathering of God’s people, and the outpouring of God’s Spirit-- were still interpreted socially and historically, but in a very different way. Jesus the righteous King, who had been relocated in heaven, was also assigned a new role in this history.
Around 400 C.E. the great Christian writer Augustine of Hippo acknowledged that the biblical hope included the destruction of all empires, including Rome. But, Augustine added, this was valid only as long as the Roman Empire was persecuting the Christian Church. Beginning with Constantine, however, the Roman Emperors, with very few exceptions, favored and promoted the Church.
One biblical name for God’s future Kingdom of righteousness is the “millennium,” which means a period of 1,000 years. Revelation 20:4-6 pictures Jesus reigning on earth with his saints during such a period (though it may not mean a literal 1,000 years). Augustine argued that since Christian Emperors now rule society, aided by the Church, the millennium was no longer future, but had already begun. The rule of the Roman Empire and the Roman Church was in fact the reign of Jesus the righteous king through his saints during the earthly millennium. The heavenly Jesus was, in effect, disengaged from human history. Though his earthly coming was occasionally mentioned, it was postponed to the millennium’s end-- far too distant to affect the present society.
God’s Kingdom of justice and peace, then, was not really future, but present in the Roman Empire, aided by the Church. The Romans prided themselves in spreading peace, justice and civilization through the world. To be sure, Roman engineering, architecture and law contributed lasting benefits to civilization. But for most conquered peoples, this came at the price of brutal warfare and oppression.
While Augustine’s eschatology gained favor in the western, or Roman, Church, it and the Eastern, or Byzantine, Church drew further and further apart until they separated in 1054 C.E. This is western Christendom’s eschatology, for it had little impact on the Eastern churches.
In the west, the gathering of God’s people became identified with missionary work within the Roman Empire and in European lands beyond it. These efforts were distant from Eastern Church missions, except for a few countries where the two competed. As Islam arose, this western “millennial” Christianity became increasingly hostile to it, and could attack it as God’s direct enemy, as in the Crusades. Western Christianity aligned itself more and more with European civilization, and often sought to defend it against other nations, and even to destroy others, instead of extending the good news of Jesus and his Kingdom of justice and peace to everyone.
Finally, God’s Spirit was no longer poured out on the whole world, but mostly on the Roman Church, enabling its leaders to define doctrine, perform sacraments, and govern through Church law.
3.) From the Protestant Reformation to the Present. During the 16th century C.E. many European political territories, from city-states to entire nations, rejected Roman Catholicism when their leaders established new Protestant Churches. The unity of western Christendom was fragmented by wars among Protestants and Catholics for at least a century. But by the 18th century the common western hope reappeared in a more secularized from. Western nations now considered themselves superior to others due to their advances in science and technology, and their “enlightened” social outlook, which promoted freedom and democracy.
“Progressive” thinkers believed that these new scientific and political procedures could bring prosperity and justice to the world very quickly and initiate, in effect, a millennium. This vision inspired a western “mission.” As they conquered or took control over much of the globe, westerners supposed, like the old Roman Empire, that they were bringing other countries the benefits of their advanced civilization. But for most conquered peoples, as for subjects of the Roman Empire, these came at the heavy price of brutal warfare and oppression. Some Christian missionaries, remembering the early Christian hope of Jesus’ peaceful Kingdom, opposed these evils. But too many other missionaries were guided by the common western hope instead of this Biblical vision.
In North America the common western hope reappeared much earlier than in Europe. No symbol inspired its rise to power more than “the Kingdom of God. Many early settlers believed that God had called them to build that Kingdom anew on their unexplored continent. This task drew successive generations 3,000 miles from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific, almost annihilating the Native Americans in the process. Then it expanded into the Enlightenment mission of bringing science, education, and democracy to the rest of the world.
This secularized millennial mission is still rooted deeply in the American psyche. The present government invokes its symbolism very often. It leads countless Americans to consider the tremendous cost of their involvements overseas-- in human lives, environmental damage and billions of dollars-- necessary, and therefore justified, for completing this mission. Many American Christians seem to be blind to these horrible consequences, because they view this “mission” as God’s.
To nations which feel its heavy impact, however, it looks much more like the violent expansion of self-interested power and wealth. I am deeply grieved by the incalculable suffering this “mission” inflicts on Iraquis, Palestinians, Lebanese and many others. As an American, I also fear that it is making my country not safer from, but much more vulnerable to, attack-- on my children, my grandchildren, my friends, and millions of Americans who oppose it. I notice many parallels between my governments’ efforts and those of the Roman Empire to dominate the world. While I would not identify America with any eschatological figure, Christian eschatology warns that nations who follow this path will overreach themselves, arouse widespread hatred, and eventually bring on their own destruction.
IV.) The Reappearance of the Early Christian Hope
Hope for the earthly coming of Jesus and his Kingdom never died in the West. It flared up often among people who felt heavily oppressed by their churches and governments, and could hardly regard them as rulers of the millennium. Many of these people, as in the early church, hailed from the lower classes.
Some of these millennial movements took up arms to further their cause. So far as I know, nearly all of them were viciously persecuted and defeated. Other movements which were not mainly religious, but political and/or nationalistic, described themselves in eschatological terms and took up arms. Some of these overthrew governments, but afterwards they often portrayed their own rule in millennial imagery.
Still other movements anticipated the full, earthly coming of God’s Kingdom, which was not yet present, but like the early Christians they already lived by its teachings, such as non-violence, equality and sharing. Their lifestyle differed so greatly from European societies that it sharply critiqued them, as early Christianity had critiqued Roman society. Governments felt threatened, and often persecuted them as the Romans had persecuted early Christians, even though neither movement had a political agenda. Despite this, these groups inspired some social reforms. But can this early Christian hope offer any realistic guidance for today’s world, which is torn by many conflicts and threatened with global destruction?
Consider how the Soviet empire collapsed. One would suppose that so oppressive and scientifically sophisticated a system could be toppled only by bloody wars or revolutions. Yet most communist governments capitulated with hardly a shot being fired. When enormous numbers of citizens staged protest marches, work stoppages and simply refused to co-operate, they collapsed. Other oppressive regimes, like El Salvador’s, finally succumbed to courageous but non-violent opposition of large citizen groups. Quite recently, massive demonstrations brought down the Kingdom of Nepal.
I do not think that non-violent approaches will always succeed. Yet it is obvious that war, which is far more damaging and expensive, often does not work. Still, Christians who use only peaceful means do so not simply because these might succeed, but because Jesus teaches them. In closing, let me indicate several convictions central to his approach to conflict and war..
One conviction is that revenge, or punishing an enemy for harming oneself or one’s group, will never bring widespread, lasting peace. To be sure, when governments inflict punishments which are equivalent to the crimes committed, these can promote justice and stability. But people who desire revenge often inflict far greater damage on their enemies. This enflames their enemies’ desire for excessive retaliation, and initiates an escalating cycle of wrongs avenged by greater wrongs, sometimes continuing for centuries. Enemies, Jesus teaches, will not attain lasting peace until they stop seeking revenge-- unless they stop returning evil for evil, even when it seems justified, and bless those who persecute them (Romans 12:14-21). For this to happen, at least three things are necessary.
First, enemies must search for creative, non-violent ways to resolve their grievances and problems. When Jesus told people oppressed by Rome to carry a soldier’s pack an extra mile, he was not advising passive suffering, but creative, loving response. When people are hit on one cheek and turn the other cheek, they do something unexpected. This can unsettle aggressors and stop the cycle of violence before it starts. Jesus said, in effect: when you are wronged, and your immediate impulse is to strike back... Stop! The Kingdom of God is at hand! There must be a better way to overcome evil. Search for it!
Second, people must often accept the pain of being wronged and injured, and forgive their enemies instead. Christians believe that Jesus did this when he refused to defend himself against his killers, but prayed for them. Christians believe that this kind of response does not end in defeat, but unleashes the power that raised Jesus from the dead. This power will begin to overcome injustice and violence already, in this life, and will finally raise everyone who has been wronged unjustly and establish God’s righteous kingdom forever.
God “will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. The trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth will yield its increase. They shall be secure on their soil, and they shall know that I am the Lord....” (Ezekiel 35:26-27; cf. Isaiah 65:17-25)
Isaiah 2:2-4; cf. Micah 4:1-4; Psalm 46:8-10; Zechariah 2:10-13. Notice also Isaiah 56:6-7:
“to the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord...
These will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar;
For my house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples.” (cf. Isaiah 66:18-21)
“Listen, a tumult on the mountains, as of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together!
The Lord of hosts is mustering an army for battle.
They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole earth,
Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty!” (Isaiah 13:4-6; cf. 34:1-4; Joel 3:9-15)
The Messiah wages war in Psalms 2:9-11, 21:8-12, 89:23, 110:5-6; Isaiah 9:5 and possibly 1 Samuel 2:9-10. The Messiah does not wage war in Psalms 84:9, 132:10-17; Isaiah 32:1; Jeremiah 23:5, 30:9; Lamentations 4:20; Ezekiel 17:22-23, 34:23-31, 37:22-27; Amos 9:11-12; Micah 4:8; Zechariah 3:10, 4:1-6 and 10-14, 9:9-10.
Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:14-15. Scholars agree that the main theme of Jesus’ ministry was the Kingdom of God.
Jesus’ followers were often surprised or frightened when these appearances began (see Matthew 28:8-10, 17; Mark 16:5, 8; Luke 24:4-5, 11, 36-41; John 20:14-16, 24-28, 21:4-7).
1 Corinthians 15:20, 23. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was also called the “firstfruits” (Romans 8:23) as were the earliest converts (Romans 16:5, 1 Corinthians 16:15, James 1:18, Revelation 14:4).
For an explanation of this which includes the role of social forces, see Walter Rauschenbusch, A Theology for the Social Gospel (Nashville: Abingdon, 1917), 247-259.
See N.T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), esp. 477-539; cf. 274-319, 446-474, 651-653; cf. Oscar Cullmann, Jesus and the Revolutionaries (New York: Harper, 1970).
See John Driver, How Christians Made Peace with War (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1988).
Revelation 1:16; 2:12, 17;19:15, 21. Other passages which may possibly refer to Jesus destroying his enemies by force are Revelation 1:7; 2:23, 27; 6:16; 12:5; 14:10; 17:14; 19:11-21; 20:4 and 22:2.
Revelation 12:11. Passages in Revelation which are sometimes said to show Christians harming their enemies are 2:27, 8:4-6, 11:5-6, 19:14 and 20:4. But I find such interpretations very unconvincing.
His victory over Maxentius at the Milvian bridge near Rome, which gave Constantine rule over the Roman Empire’s western half. On the night before the battle a promise of victory conveyed by Christian symbols appeared to him.
In 381 C.E. the Emperor Theodosius raised Christianity to the official and the only legal religion in the Empire.
Eventually a third possibility emerged: individuals who were Christians, but still committed many sins, were assigned to “Purgatory:” an experience of being cleansed or purged from their sins. Only afterwards would they finally enter heaven. This experience of purgation, however, was often pictured as fiery torment, not much better than Hell.
St. Augustine, The City of God (Middelsex, United Kingdom: Penguin, 1984) Book 20, Chapter 6:3-29.
“If at this juncture we can rally sufficient religious faith and moral strength to snap the bonds of evil and turn the present unparalleled economic and intellectual resources of humanity to the development of a true social life, the generations yet unborn will mark this as the great day of the Lord for which the ages waited....” (Walter Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis [New York: Harper and Row, 1964], 422).
H. Richard Niebuhr, The Kingdom of God in American (New York: Harper and Row, 1937).
Such as the Anti-Christ (1 John 2:18, 22, 4:3, 2 John 7), the beast with seven horns and ten heads (Revelation 13:1-8), etc.
The Torah’s formula for this is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth (Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21).
In western Christianity, however, wealthy and powerful people have often told those who serve them to routinely accept wrongs, and expect a reward in heaven. Jesus did not have this kind of passive suffering, which justifies oppression, in mind. Though his way can lead to suffering, it is the way of active, creative love, which opposes oppression. Suffering is not good in itself, but only when it expresses God’s forgiving, renewing love.
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