Jesus as Moral-Kingmaker: Gatekeeper for a Co-Owned Dual Kingdom

Abstract

If we know anything about Jesus of Nazareth, we know that he had a message about the “kingdom of God.” The synoptic Gospels confirm this, if they confirm anything. A challenge arises, however, in our identifying what Jesus thought of the arrival of this kingdom, especially regarding its timing and its role for divine judgment, and what he considered its intended impact on a person’s experience, beyond talk about it. If the kingdom in question is just talk, with no intended impact on human experience, it will lack (a) needed supporting evidence (for its reality) and (b) motivational power (for its being compelling). This article examines (a) and (b) in order to arrive at Jesus’s core understanding of the kingdom of God. It contends that Jesus presented a dual, two-phased kingdom, with the first phase anchored in a distinctive human experience, but that this dual status prompted widespread misunderstanding among his audience. The article identifies a neglected self-understanding of Jesus as a moral-kingmaker and gate-keeper for God who portrays divine judgment as postponed for the sake of God’s redemptive reign.