Consider this question. Why did God create the earth? What was His purpose? God is a purposeful God. So what was His purpose in creation? In the account of Creation given in Genesis, the term 'Kingdom of God' is not mentioned, but the reality is there.
God At Work in Creation:
Let's take a micro-outline of God at work as recorded in the Bible.
1. God creates the natural environment.
2. God creates mankind male and female, in his image and likeness. That is how God wants them to be in His Kingdom.
3. God unites the male and female together to be one flesh. Here God has laid the foundation for the family.
4. God blesses mankind. they are made to be blessed not to be cursed. He gives them power and dominion over his creation, and He commands them to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.
The Satanic Destructive Intervention (Gen. 3).
We soon discover the reality of The Evil One whose purpose was and always will be to destroy the purpose of God. He, who found it unacceptable to live in obedience to God, and tried to set himself up as equal with God, tempted the man and the woman to do what he did. They swallow his bait, and discover to their horror that a radical change has taken place in their lives by disobeying God and obeying the devil. They are ashamed of what they have become.
This alteration in human nature was to be forever manifested among mankind and their relationsips. In the first family, Cain murdered his brother Abel. We see it in theentire world of Noah's day. The world has become corrupt, wicked, full of evil. The thoughts of men's hearts are only evil continually. Why? Because human women married fallen, sinful angels called sons of God. The world became so evil that God decided to destroy it.
God Creates the Nations (Gen. 10).
But God cannot fail. His purpose cannot be destroyed. So he saved the only man whom He found to be righteous in His sight, and his family. With them, Noah and his family, God decided to make a new start. His purpose is not simply to create families, but to creat nations. So, from the families of the three sons of Noah, God created the nations(Gen. 10).
However, sin continued. Disobedience of God continued. Obedience of the devil continued. As it affected the family, so it will affect the nations. So God will have to deal with the problem of sin.
God's Redemptive Purpose
As early as Gen 3, we find what may be called a prophetic act on God's part, of how He purposes to deal with sin. When the man and the woman discovered what they had become, they tried to deal with their condition by sewing fig leaves together to cover their nakedness. This would not do. God, on the other hand, killed animals, and made garments out of their skin to clothe mankind's sinful nakedness with the skins. This is prophetic of what God would do in Christ Jesus. It speaks of the blood of Jesus Christ, and the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
The People of God (Gen. 12).
But God, as an essential part of His Redemptive Purpose, decided to bring into existence A New Nation - a chosen race, a holy nation, a peculiar people. He made a Covenant with this people. He said to Abraham, the father of this nation, and of manyu nations, "In thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed. Isaiah puts it this way. "I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth." (Is. 49:6). God's people, Israel was to be the Kingdom of God in the earth. They were to show to the other nations what God wanted them to be. They were to bring other nations to the God of their salvation.
Christ and The Church
Finally, God, because He loved the world; because He loved His creation, sent His Only Begotton Son into the world, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, bu have everlasting life. God, in Christ Jesus, bring about A New Creation. In Christ Jesus, He brings about A New People, the Church.
Jesus came Preaching, Teaching, Healing, and Delivering mankind from the powers of darkness. The central theme of His Ministry was, 'The Kingdom of God'. In all of His works, He manifested the nature and the power of the Kingdom of God. He gave His disciples a prayer in which He taught them to pray, "Thy Kingdom Come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The kingdom of God is perfectly established in heaven. It is God's purpose to establish His Kingdom on the earth.
But God, in Christ Jesus also established A New People, the Church. This people is commissioned to go into all the world, intensively, and extensively, and preach the gospel of the kingdom; to teach all nations, and to make disciples of all nations. This Church, like Israel, before it is a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, to show forth the praises of Him who has called them out of darkness, into His marvelous light. (1 Pt. 2:9).
The Resurrection of the Church
Transformation of the Nations believes that because the Church falls into sin, and allows itself to be affected by the world, the flesh, and the devil; because the Church as we know it is far from being the Church that God requires it to be; God must Resurrect the Church. Just as He showed Ezekiel the codition of Israel in his time, and what He purposed to do to Raise up His people from being a Church todayvalley of dry bones to an exceeding great army; so God must do with the Church today. He must raise up the Church to be An Exceeding Great Army, and use that Resurrected Church to Transform the Nations.
God's Man for the Hour
Ezekiel, was God's man for the hour in his day. God showed him the condition into which His people had fallen, and gave him a vision of what He wanted His people to be - An Exceeding Great Army. Ezekiel was God's man to be filled with His Word, and to be totally controlled by the Holy Spirit. He was God's man to speak His word to the people no matter what the price may be, and no matter how stubborn and stiff-necked His people were. He was God's man to call out for the Holy Spirit to come and breathe New Life into the people that they may live.
Is God raising up A Man for this Hour?
In Rev. 11: 15, we find the Fulfillment of God's Purpose. "The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, The Kingdoms off this world are become The Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever." Amen! So Let It Be!
