Noordegraaf’s Weblog

For: The Institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt.

Origins

God said and it was. God created heaven and earth. He created people as the crown of His creation. God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God. He created man and woman to be His imagebearers on earth.

We are created to relate to God, to love Him, to worship Him, and to rule the earth. God is eternal, without limitation, complete in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. He is the Father, He is the Son, and He is the spirit.

What happened to us along the way, and what did God do?

Satan seduced the human, so they couldn’t live in His mercy anymore. They had to leave His garden. Sin, sickness and Gods judgement came on the earth. Creation is now facing the consequences of the sin of Adam and Eve; our sin. People are born in sin and are under the judgement of God. Death came, as a punishment for our sin, and we are caught in the darkness of Satan.

Then, God promised to David, that His heir would be the messiah, who would restore Gods eternal kingdom over His people. When the time had come, God the Father fulfilled His promise and sent His Son Jesus to the world. He conquered the darkness, released the oppressed and healed the sick. He called His people again, to be His people, as a community of followers of Christ. Jesus was and is the perfect answer to the law, and by giving His life on the cross, He took away Gods judgement over our sins, and disarmed the demonic powers. He rose from the death and now reigns from heaven again.

After Jesus resurrection and ascension, we (as single believers and as a church) weren’t left alone but received the Holy Spirit. He comforts, empowers and stirs us and brings us (over and over again) back through Jesus, to the Father.

What is the Kingdom of God, and how is it expressed in the world/in the human family/by the Church?

God’s kingdom has come through the life of Jesus Christ and is still coming through the church, as the living body of Christ, in the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. ‘The King turned everything upside down. He humbled Himself, became the lowest. In the eyes of man: He lost. He gave His blood and His spirit to us, so that we can function as transcendent places between heaven and earth. We are His kingdom on earth’(1).

The power of Gods’ kingdom is greater than the power of the kingdom of darkness. Anyone who believes in Jesus, trusts on Jesus Christ as Lord will be born again, free from the kingdom of Satan and with access to the place of Gods dominion. The church is Gods instrument to establish His kingdom. Those who believe in Jesus as saviour will together form the living body of Christ, where He is the head, and we are the other parts of the body.

Endings (where is human history going – what will be our final destiny?)

The kingdom will come in his completeness when Jesus will reappear as King on the earth. After his returning He will give Satan the final blow. The death will awake from the death, He will give the final judgement and the eternal blessing to the righteous ones. Finally, God will establish His Kingdom in all His completeness and it will fill the new born heaven and the new born earth, created again through His enormous power, where justice will live forever and where He will forever be worshipped.