Surprisingly, the Kingdom of God isn’t mentioned much these days in the church. It’s surprising because it’s the one thing that Jesus talked about most often. Jesus’s life and ministry were shaped around the concept of the Kingdom of God and its arrival on earth. The first words of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel are, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (ESV)
In fact, all four Gospels are centrally concerned with the single concept that Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection, are the Kingdom-inaugurating events of human history. In other words, the Kingdom is what these events are all about. Yes, these events are also about other things, like the forgiveness of sin in believers and the future hope of resurrection upon Jesus’s return, but ultimately, these are simply the means to the greater end of the arrival of the Kingdom of God.
The Gospel is indeed concerned with the justification of sinners, but it is much summed up in the phrase, “Christ Reigns!”.
A lot of people get uncomfortable with the idea of a theocracy (i.e., a government in which God reigns as King) because this very idea has been the basis and justification of despotic regimes many times in human history. Any claim to absolute power smacks of fascism and totalitarian authority and rule. One of the examples of this is Caesar himself as the Emperor of Rome. He claimed to be the son of God and on that basis made further claims to power that would not, and could not be challenged.
In a sense, then, Jesus and Caesar are very similar. Both claim to be King of the universe on the basis of divine sonship.
As the same time, however, Jesus was very different than Caesar. People follow Jesus because they desperately loved him, not because they feared him.
“Pax Romana” was a buzzphrase during the time of Jesus. In Latin it means “Roman Peace”, and it signifies the peace that existed between nationalities within the Roman Empire (see wikipedia). Even though there were cultural and ethnic differences across the Roman empire, all lived in peace. The catch, however, was that this peace was only possible because of Rome’s military might. It was peace by coercion. People got along because if they didn’t, if they challenge the reign of Rome, they would be nailed to a wooden cross.
Compliance that is motivated by fear and intimidation is not peace.
My concern for today is that buzzwords of contemporary culture like “harmony”, “tolerance”, “egalitarian”, and the likes are much like the peace of Pax Romana. If you don’t adhere to the worldview of secular humanism, there will be consequences. If you don’t get in line with the popular agenda, you will be outcast and socially crucified. You will be labeled as a fascist. You hate people who do not share your worldview.
This is not peace. This is compliance through intimidation and fear.
The Kingdom of God knows another kind of peace. The Kingdom of God knows a peace that comes with the forgiveness of sins and the reign of the One who is filled with grace, mercy, wisdom, gentleness, respect, and great power. It’s power, however, that’s best illustrated by the image of a slain lamb. One who is innocent, broken, and poured out for the world.
This is peace. A peace that is not coerced by intimidation.
The peace of God be with you.
That’s a great connection to make – between the enforced Pax Romana and the current ‘popular agenda’ of toeing the line of political correctness. It’s like a fake love of others; a trendy thing, and like you write here, it really is enforced by intimidation. It can be confusing to someone who believes in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which does promote peace and love, but which feels different to this prescribed tolerance and pretend love. But this is a good, clarifying reminder that these things actually come from that Gospel, and the light of Christ within all of us, not from regulations and popular worldviews.