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Exodus 19:1–6
“‘You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel” (v. 6).
God’s goal from the beginning was to see His blessed kingdom cover the earth. His reign in the sense of His sovereign control over all details of space and time has never been in doubt (Eph. 1:11). Yet His blessed kingdom—that place where human beings willingly and eagerly love Him, obey Him, and bring order to creation as rulers subject to Him—was at first planted only in Eden. Humanity was commissioned to reproduce and take dominion, extending the blessed kingdom’s boundaries. The Lord chose mankind to achieve His eschatological goal, His last-days purpose, His final intention for creation (Gen. 1:26–28; 2:15–17).
We know that Adam and Eve fell by sinning and plunged creation into sin and death (3:1–7; 1 Cor. 15:22). Yet by grace, God did not abandon or destroy creation. Neither did He change His eschatological goal. Retaining His intent to fill the earth with His blessed kingdom, the Lord promised to defeat sin, Satan, and death through the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15). Christ did this decisively, but redeemed sinners, under the reign of the Lord Jesus their covenant Head, have been granted a role in extending His blessed kingdom.
Redeemed sinners play their part in this great work as members of the corporate body of the church. Under the old covenant, this body was the nation of Israel, whom God called to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:1–6). Thus, the blessed kingdom of God was the theocratic nation of Israel that He created to declare His glory to the gentiles. By trusting in God alone and demonstrating that trust through obeying His commandments, Israel would show the nations the greatness of the Lord. The nations would come to understand, John Calvin comments, that “no kingdom is more desirable, or more happy, than to be the subjects of God.” Moreover, Israel itself would enjoy an exaltation appropriate to the people’s status as kings accountable to administer the blessed kingdom according to the will of God, the great King. Gentile nations would recognize Israel as a “great nation” in comparison to the others (Deut. 4:1–8).
The story of the theocratic nation of Israel, the blessed kingdom of God under the old covenant, is not pretty. Sin, defeat, division, and exile marked the history of old covenant Israel. Nevertheless, God’s intent to establish His blessed kingdom across the earth was not thwarted. The old covenant prepared people for Christ and the new covenant church.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
God did not intend for the theocratic nation of Israel to be the final form of His blessed kingdom on earth. Instead, God gave Israel and the law of Moses to prepare people for the decisive inauguration of the blessed kingdom through Christ and its final form as the consummated new covenant church. The history and laws of old covenant Israel teach us much about the coming kingdom of God, so we would do well to read and study them.
For further study
- Isaiah 42:6
- Micah 4:1–5
- John 4:22
- Romans 9:1–5
The bible in a year
- Ezekiel 47–48
- 1 John 1