by Peter Phillips
The Present Reign of God in Christ
Some people tend to object to a present reign of Christ in the “Kingdom discussion,” because it is clear that Christ has not conquered in the fullest sense, so as to be coercively reigning over his enemies. However, when discussing this issue it is helpful to think of Christ’s reign as something that comes in degrees over time as God’s Kingdom plan is being worked out in history. That is why the claim is not to say that Christ is reigning entirely, but in some sense, and a sense that is definitely worthy of note. Therefore, the operative question is, in what sense is Christ reigning presently? To some extent, this question has been answered in the prior section, namely, that Christ is reigning in the sense that he has ushered in the last stages of God’s Kingdom plan. These include the inauguration of the blessings of the new age, which are salvific in nature, but will one day include the whole cosmos and a political Kingdom ruled by the King Jesus. In his book Progressive Dispensationalism, Craig A. Blaising points out, “Both physical and spiritual blessings are given by Jesus. He makes atonement and forgives sins. He will give the Spirit, and He will raise the dead. He will bring peace to the earth and make it fruitful. He will give both joy and gladness.” Therefore, part of the salvific blessings that are apart of the present reign of Christ are his atonement, forgiveness of sins, His resurrection (which is a firstfruits of our own), peace with God, and the joy and gladness that is a result of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 15). After all, Paul speaks of the present reign of Christ in this context when he says, “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Cor. 15:25 ESV). It seems clear that Paul sees a present reign of Christ in some sense, and in light of the fact that His enemies have still yet to be put under His feet (Heb. 10:12-13). New Testament Scholar Darrell Bock gives us several clues as to what sense Christ is reigning:
Jesus rules in the present Kingdom over the whole earth, but it is not yet a full, direct rule over every person (Heb. 2:5-8), nor does it reflect its future political and sociological character. And yet as Acts 2 suggests and other passages make clear, Jesus does have authority over every person now, for those who do not join him now will one day face him as Judge. Then Jesus will visibly demonstrate and assert the rule he has now (Acts 10:42-43; 17:30).
Therefore, regardless of the fact that Christ’s enemies are not “under his feet,” one still has good New testament grounds to say that Christ is reigning in a significant sense, yet not entirely or directly over every person. However, one does not even need these stronger claims to defend the thesis the author is proposing, but rather can demonstrate it from the life and teachings of Christ.
When one looks at the life and ministry of Christ they can also see clear signs of the present reign of God in Christ. Hoekema notes that there are at least five signs of the presence of the Kingdom, which for our purposes, can be seen as signs of the present reign of Christ—power over demons, the fall of Satan, the proliferation of miracles, the proclamation of the gospel, and the bestowal of the forgiveness of sins. The first evidence of the present reign of Christ in some sense is the power and authority he displayed over demons. Jesus clearly demonstrated rule over the demonic realm (Mark 5, Mt. 12), even to the point that they displayed fear in his presence, because they knew he had the power and authority to cast them into judgment (Mark 5:1-20). After being accused of casting out demons by the power of Satan, Jesus told the Pharisees, “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you” (Mt. 12:28). Here he equates the power to cast out demons as being evidence that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Therefore, in a certain sense, Christ is reigning over the demonic realm.
The second sign of the present reign of Christ is the defeat and fall of Satan, although not in the fullest sense. Hoekema points out that Luke’s Gospel speaks of Satan’s fall from heaven, and just after a demonstration of Christ’s power over demons. Therefore, the Gospels go out of their way to point to the defeat of Satan by the Messianic King, but in what sense has Christ defeated Satan presently. The New Testament points to the death and resurrection of Christ as part of Satan’s undoing, which are clearly a part of our present reality (1 Cor. 15). However, the Gospel of Mathew goes so far as to say that Christ has bound Satan in some sense (Mt. 12:22-32). Perhaps it would be helpful to look at this text in light of the reign of Christ. After being accused of casting out demons by the power of Satan, Jesus says:
Every Kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house (Mt. 12:25-29).
A few things are necessary to point out with respect to this passage. First, as has already been noted, Jesus declares that the kingdom is present as evidenced by his power to cast out demons. Second, he makes clear that Satan must be bound in some sense, in order to plunder his goods. Part of the reign of Christ then, includes the binding of Satan in such a way that the King can plunder the strong man’s goods. The present reign of God means that Christ has the power to plunder the souls of men from the kingdom of darkness and transfer them to the kingdom of light.
A third sign that the reign of God had begun in the person of Christ was the performance of miracles by the Lord Jesus and his followers. When John the Baptist begins to doubt the identity of Jesus as the Christ, Jesus points to his performance of miracles as a sign that the Messianic King had come, and the kingdom had arrived with him in some sense (Mt. 11:4-5). Christ’s miracles display that on one level His reign extends over all of creation. It is also worth noting that the fourth sign of the coming Kingdom would be that the poor would have the gospel preached to them, which Jesus regards as evidence worthy to share with John. The power of Satan has been curtailed on a significant level, because the gospel can set men free (Rom. 1:16).
Lastly, the ability of Christ to forgive sins and redeem humanity is a sign of the presence of the Kingdom of God. After healing the paralytic in the second chapter of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus declares that the ability to forgive sins was proof “that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (2:10). Furthermore, several places in the Gospels either equate the Kingdom of God with salvation or make clear that salvation is the entry point for the Kingdom (Mk. 10:30; Jn. 3, 5:39). Gushee and Stassen strongly emphasize the reign of God (in Christ) as being realized through the deliverance and salvation of God in their book. They state, “God’s salvation is the kingdom of God, and it means that—at last—God has acted to deliver humanity and now reign over all of life, and is present to and with us, and will be in the future.” Admittedly, Gushee and Stassen can tend to speak of reigning language in a very strong sense, but in their book Kingdom Ethics there are plenty of arguments rooted in the fulfillment of Isaiah that can motivate the idea of a present reign of Christ in some sense.
After investigating this issue more fully one might be compelled to ask why so much evil exists if Christ is reigning. However, as has been noted before, Christ’s reign is not fully manifested in its present state, but He will eventually settle all accounts as Judge. Additionally, Christ taught parables that directly spoke to this issue, in which he describes the progressive nature of the Kingdom of God (Mt. 13). It would not be hard to motivate a progressive reign of Christ, in fact, that is exactly what this paper has argued. The reign of Christ is like a mustard seed, but it will become a giant bush eventually. The Kingdom of God is advancing as God is executing His salvation program throughout history.
