The New Testament has much to say about the kingdom Jesus established. Yet, there is a lot of confusion about that same kingdom. There was confusion during the time of Jesus, which He tried to set straight.
Before the governor, Pontius Pilate, when asked if He was the king of the Jews, Jesus responded, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm” (Jn. 18:36).
In that short summary, we learn a few things about the kingdom. Yes, Jesus is a king but His kingdom is not a physical kingdom (see Romans 14:17). Christ’s kingdom is not to be spread through the use of the sword. If the Old Testament teaches us anything, it is that killing your enemies (the Canaanites) does not get rid of the power of temptations and the desire to sin. No, we wrestle against spiritual forces.
Jesus will go on to tell Pilate in verse 37, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Please observe here that Jesus says He came into the world to testify to the truth. That was, in this text at least, the purpose of the incarnation.
Consider the truth about the kingdom, the reign of God. Perhaps Pilate had heard the commotion going on earlier that week when Jesus rode into Jerusalem as a triumphant king. That entry was done, Matthew writes, to fulfill some Old Testament predictions. In Matthew 21:5, Matthew begins by quoting from Isaiah 62:11 – “Say to the daughter of Zion.” Then he quotes Zechariah 9:9 about the King riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
But, a further phrase from Isaiah 62:11 is instructive: “Lo, your salvation comes,” especially when it is put in parallel with the corresponding phrase from Zechariah 9:9: “Behold, your king is coming to you.” There was a combining of the ideas of “kingship” with “salvation” in these passages.
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It seems that the Jews themselves were able to draw that connection as well for they cried out, quoting from Psalm 118:26: “Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!” The “Son of David” is a reference to the King. That is made plain in John’s parallel (12:13): “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.” Hosanna, of course, means “salvation.”
When the King came, there would be salvation. That salvation came when Jesus died for our sins, rose from the dead, and sent the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Paul draws the ideas together for us in Colossians 1:12-14, a passage he addresses to the church, the saints of Jesus Christ (1:2):
“the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
The truth, to which Christ came to testify, is that redemption, the forgiveness of sins, salvation, is found in His Kingdom, under His domain. There is no other location for salvation.
The point to be made here is that salvation is associated with the kingdom. Where the kingdom is, there is salvation. Where the rule of Christ is not followed, there is no kingdom and consequently, there is no salvation.
–Paul Holland
