God's Eschatological Kingdom

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Question
How did the Old Testament prophets characterize God's eschatological kingdom?
Answer
The Old Testament prophets conceived of God's end-time kingdom, his eschatological kingdom, in several ways: One, when the kingdom does come, it's going to arrive all at once, for the most part. I mean, everything I'm saying is fairly general. I can find some we can find some niggles here and there, but for the most part. The kingdom is going to arrive all at once. It's not going to be staggered. Secondly, it's going to be very physical, very political. It's religion and politics in one. Thirdly, it's going to happen through the Messiah. The Messiah appears to suffer and die. We can see this from Zachariah and from Isaiah, maybe even from Daniel. So, the Messiah's going to usher it in, he's going to lead the revolt. Lastly, it's going to there's going to be a considerable amount of bloodshed, because Israel is going to have to completely dominate the surrounding neighbors and bring everybody into subjugation around them. It's very physical, very it happens all at once, very cataclysmic in other words, very terrifying. Yet it's restoration in a very full sense. But what's also attached to this I mean, this is part of God's larger program. It's not just the kingdom that is coming in, it's God's Spirit is coming down, there's forgiveness of sin, there's resurrection, there's the new heavens and new earth. It's part of a larger program. The kingdom's arrival does not arrive does not happen in piecemeal. It's kingdom and everything is working together, which is part of God's larger program which will obviously climax in the new heavens and new earth.

Answer by Dr. Ben Gladd

Dr. Benjamin Gladd is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS.