Wednesday 1 October 2014

Jeremy Treat on the Kingdom and the Cross


A while back, I posted (here) on Jeremy Treat’s excellent book, The Crucified King: Atonement and Kingdom in Biblical and Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014).

The Gospel Coalition have posted a short piece by him – ‘Kingdom and Cross: What God Has Joined Together, Let Not Man Separate’ – which does a great job of summarising the overall gist of the book.

Here are some taster paragraphs:

‘The kingdom and the cross ultimately are held together by the Christ, the one who reigns over the kingdom and suffers on the cross. But Jesus is no generic superhero; he is the messiah, the promised one of the unfolding story of a gracious God who has covenanted with Israel to restore his broken creation. This grand story of redemption provides the proper framework for understanding the connection between the kingdom and the cross.’

‘In short, the kingdom and the cross are held together by the Christ – Israel’s messiah – who brings God’s reign on earth through his atoning death on the cross. The kingdom is the ultimate goal of the cross, and the cross is the means by which the kingdom comes. Jesus’ death is neither the failure of his messianic ministry nor simply the prelude to his royal glory, but the apex of his kingdom mission; the cross is the throne from which Jesus rules and establishes his kingdom.’

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