the kingdom of God<\/a> is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel\u2019\u201d (Mark 1:14, 15). This theme of Jesus\u2019 preaching was rooted in what the Holy Spirit had revealed to Israel\u2019s prophets as Israel was called to be a witness to God\u2019s kingdom. (See Isaiah 2:2-4; 25:6-8; 43:10; 45:14, 15; Daniel 4:1-3, 34; 6:25, 26; 7:13, 14.)<\/p>\nThis reign of God, first directly manifested in Abraham, Israel, then the Messiah, found its continued faithful witness in and through the body of the Messiah, the church of Jews and Gentiles from across the generations and around the globe. This kingdom to which we belong by faith in Christ is greater than any economic, political, national, social, race, or class identity which seeks to mark us.<\/p>\n
We gain a sense of the reconciling work of Jesus on the Cross when we consider that it’s there that Christ Jesus broke \u201cdown the middle wall of separation\u201d between Jews and Gentiles and the Father (Ephesians 2:14ff). A verse earlier in Ephesians 2 Paul writes that \u201cyou who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.\u201d We know that Jews and Gentiles conspired together, and watched together, as the Lord of glory was crucified (1 Corinthians 2:8). On Good Friday when you read the Gospel accounts of Jesus\u2019 death, you find all humanity represented there, and at Jesus\u2019 dying breath, a Roman centurion declares, \u201cTruly this Man was the Son of God!\u201d (Mark 15:39).<\/p>\n
The resurrection is the life-sign of how the new community of faith is meant to live. Rowan Williams expressed it in these words: \u201cHope is in trusting whatever God may will; and this is pre-eminently the gift of the Spirit. The presence of this hope is what makes us alive with \u2018newness of life\u2019 (Rom. 6:4), in the sharing of Christ\u2019s risen life. Christ\u2019s risen life is a life free from the threat of death and annihilation (\u2018Christ being raised from the dead will never die again\u2019 \u2013 Rom. 6:9), the \u2018threatenedness\u2019 that is part of the condition of human sin and distance from God. In sharing this life, we share his freedom from \u2018threatenedness\u2019, it is never \u2013 as is perfectly clear in all Paul\u2019s epistles \u2013 a freedom from exposure to suffering or from fear, but it is a decisive transition to that new level of existence where God is the only ultimate horizon \u2013 not death or nothingness.\u201d<\/p>\n
I encourage you to read again Revelation 7:9-17 and note the references to Jesus as \u201cthe Lamb.\u201d That is the language of sacrifice and atonement. Note also that \u201cthe Lamb\u201d is the risen, victorious Lamb, who wipes away every tear and leads to fountains of living water in the presence of God.<\/p>\n
The death and resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of our conviction of the certainty of Christ\u2019s kingdom, and the fact that His kingdom is not limited to just us. It is the reason the church has a mission in the world, inviting \u201cwhosoever will,\u201d to live in the blessings of the benefits of Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":5086,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[965,3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5085","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-7-core-values","8":"category-bishops-blog","9":"entry"},"title_es":"","content_es":"","author_name":"Doug Beacham","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/pexels-mike-189528-e1649955270838.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb62Bx-1k1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}