Thursday, April 5, 2012

Horton on the Kingdom of God

In his book, The Christian Faith, A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way, Dr. Mike Horton comments on the Kingdom of God in a way that I'd never seen before. In the middle of his chapter on The State of Exaltation: The Servant Who Is Lord, Horton draws a parallel between Christ and the Kingdom God. In the middle of his discussion about the humiliation of Christ including his trial before Pilate Horton makes this statement:

"What a paradox: The King of kings and Lord of lords standing bound and silent before an officer of Caesar and the rulers of his own people, reigning even as he submits voluntarily to the cruelest human judgment.

"In its present phase, the kingdom is like its King before he was raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of the Father. It can only appear weak and foolish to the world, even though this kingdom is more extensive in its global reach and more intensive in its redemptive power than any earthly empire in history. In the old covenant the kingdom was typologically concentrated in the outward glory of Israel's cultic and civil structures, but during 'this present age' its glory is hidden under the cross. It claims hearts, not geopolitical lands. It brings new birth (Jn. 3:3-7) from the future reign of the Spirit and as a prolepsis of the consummation that the 'Lord and giver of life' will bring in 'the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.'"

Source: The Christian Faith, A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way, Dr. Mike Horton, pp. 524-525.

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