The Original Vision: Humans as God's Image Bearers

• 👑 The Bible begins with God as King, sharing His rule and asking humans to embody it over creation, acting as His representatives.
• 🌳 This role of ruling and reigning was intended to be a cultivation and ordering of creation, not an abusive domination.
• 💡 Humans were meant to be cultivators, harnessing creation's potential and bringing order out of chaos, reflecting God's own reign.

The Fall and the Rise of Alternate Kingdoms

• 💔 Genesis 3 describes a breakdown in relationship due to distrust, leading humans to define good and evil for themselves.
• 🏙️ This rebellion resulted in humans setting up their own alternate kingdoms, beginning with Cain building the first city and culminating in Babylon.
• 🌍 These human kingdoms, often characterized by injustice and rebellion against God, are referred to as "the world" or "this age."

God's Response: Exodus and the Formation of Israel

• 🌊 God's response to human rebellion is to liberate His people from these oppressive kingdoms, exemplified by the Exodus from Egypt.
• 👑 The first time God is explicitly called King in the Bible is at the climax of the Exodus story, after defeating Pharaoh and his army.
• 📜 Israel is then invited to live under God's reign, entering into a covenant and following His laws as a contrast community.

The Israelite Kingdom and its Shortcomings

• 👑 The people of Israel eventually desired a king like other nations, rejecting God's direct kingship, a desire God allowed but warned against.
• 📜 The ideal Israelite king, as described in Deuteronomy, was to be humble, a scholar of the Torah, and not amass power or wealth like other rulers.
• 📉 Despite the ideal, Israelite kings, including David and Solomon, imperfectly realized God's reign, and the kingdom eventually fractured and declined.

The Now and Not Yet of God's Kingdom

• 📖 The Psalms explore the tension of God being King while His full reign is not yet realized on Earth, a concept of "the now and not yet."
• ⚖️ God's coming judgment is seen as a positive act to establish equity, justice, and care for the poor and vulnerable.
• 🕊️ Isaiah prophesies the arrival of good news – the gospel – signifying that God is still King and will bring peace and salvation, a message Jesus saw himself fulfilling.

Jesus: The True Image Bearer and King

• 🌟 Jesus came not to flex power, but to show and enact how to be the true image bearer of God, restoring humanity's intended role.
• 👑 The good news is that the Kingdom of God has arrived in Jesus, who is the truly human one addressing the core problem of rebellion and broken relationship.
• 🤝 Through Jesus, humanity is invited to be re-attached to God, becoming the humans they were made to be, and participating in ruling and reigning with Him.