The Return of the Kingdom:
A Biblical Theology of God’s Reign
DETAILS: Series: Essential Studies in Biblical Theology Publisher: IVP Academic Publication Date: March 19, 2024 Format: Paperback Length: 202 pg. Read Date: April 14-28, 2024
What’s The Return of the Kingdom About?
I’m low on energy, so I’m just going to copy the back of the book here:
The biblical story begins and ends with God as king. Human beings rebel, however, rather than fulfilling their royal calling to rule creation on behalf of their Sovereign—and the world became enslaved to the rule of a dark, serpentine lord.
In this volume of IVP Academic’s Essential Studies in Biblical Theology, Stephen Dempster traces the themes of kingship and kingdom throughout Scripture, illuminating the challenges, pain, and ultimate hope that the Bible offers. The story of God’s kingship is ultimately the fulfillment of a promise, a promise to restore the rightful rule of humanity over creation by defeating sin and death and to establish a world of peace and justice.
After a quick overview of his approach in this book and his understanding of the Kingdom, Dempster surveys the story of the Bible highlighting the teaching of the Kingdom throughout. After spending three chapters covering Creation and the Fall, he then covers Redemptive History–with two chapters on the Gospels. Then he wraps things up with a look at Revelation and the current status of the Church and Kingdom–and what we should expect after the present.
So, what did I think about The Return of the Kingdom?
Dempster’s survey was helpful, and on more than one occasion, insightful. But at the same time, it was a little too much like the other surveys in this series. What he brought wasn’t all that distinctive from the rest.
On the one hand, this is a very good thing–while focusing on other themes and motifs than the others, he’s picking up the same overarching storyline in the Bible the others were. And there should be a lot of overlap between those.
On the other hand, for the reader, while we can draw confidence from the unity, we can also get bored.
I thought the introduction (“The Return of the Kingdom: The Biblical Theology of God’s Reign”, the first chapter “The Big Picture: The Bible’s Bookends”), and the last chapter (“Grand Finale and Kingdom Come: Revelation and the Present”) were very strong and helpful. And they pretty much justified the time and money I invested in the book. The rest was utterly fine. I wanted more, but I can be satisfied with what I got.
For people who haven’t read all/most of the books in this series, you could probably gain a lot from this book. For those who have read the rest? Go in with the right expectations and you’ll be okay.
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