Redemptive Kingdom Diversity: A Biblical Theology of the People of God
Introduction
On September 28, 2021, Baker Academic will publish and release my new book Redemptive Kingdom Diversity: A Biblical Theology of the People of God. In this book, I argue for a biblical and theological vision of redemptive kingdom diversity with an eye toward connecting that vision to the current conversation related to race and related matters and with an eye toward applying the biblical exegesis and theology to selected issues related to how the ethnically diverse people of God throughout the world should live as the transformed people of God in this present evil age as they love God and their neighbors as themselves. My thesis in the book is the following:
My specific focus is on the creation and transformation of the people of God and on the redemptive kingdom diversity of the people of God. By redemptive kingdom diversity, I mean God’s holistic redemption of the entire creation through Jesus’s death for diverse Jews and gentiles and through his victorious resurrection from the dead with an eye toward the transformation of sinners and the entire creation. Redemptive kingdom diversity refers to God’s work to crush the seed of the serpent by means of the woman’s seed, Jesus Christ, so that all the redeemed people of God would live as transformed and Spirit-empowered followers of Christ. The transformed people of God live in a broken world now in both church and society in anticipation of and as signposts of the redemption accomplished by Jesus, a redemption that we taste in part now but that will be fully realized in the new heavens and the new earth. From Genesis to Revelation, we see that God has always intended to restore diverse humanity’s vertical relationship with himself, humanity’s horizontal relationship with one another, and the entire creation through Jesus, the seed of the woman.
In this short piece, I do three things in relation to my book’s thesis and in relation to Harbor Network’s diversity value.
First, I simply introduce the readers to redemptive kingdom diversity with a succinct exegesis of one NT text (Rev. 5:9-10).
Second, I connect redemptive kingdom diversity to Harbor Network’s value of diversity.
Third, I offer one simple next step for readers and current and future partners with Harbor Network.
Redemptive Kingdom Diversity in the New Testament
John the apostle wrote the book of Revelation to Christians suffering at the hands of the Romans empire because of their testimony about Jesus Christ (Rev. 1-3). John’s basic message in the book is that Christians should continue to persevere in their faith in and loyalty to Jesus Christ because the devil, the evil Roman empire, and their agents will fall (cf. Rev. 2-3; chp. 18). Those who persevere in their faith will receive the crown of eternal life and conquer the devil, the evil Roman empire, and their agents, because Jesus (their crucified and exalted Lord) is risen from the dead and promises to return triumphantly to vindicate his people on earth (Rev. 2-3; 19-20).
In Rev. 5:9-10, John records he sees a vision of one sitting on a throne (i.e., God the Father) (Rev. 5:1). In his hand, there was a scroll (5:1), but no one was able to open the scroll (5:2-3). The scroll likely represents human history since Revelation unveils God’s redemptive plan in Jesus Christ within history (e.g., Rev. 6-18), a plan that will culminate when Jesus returns a second time to earth to destroy evil, to save the people of God, and to transform and recreate the new heavens and the new earth (Rev. 19-22).
Once John saw that no one was founded to be worthy to open the scroll, he began to “weep loudly” (5:4), until one of the elders said to him: “weep no more; behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals” (5:5). Then, John turns and sees the crucified and risen Lamb of God (Jesus Christ) standing between the throne, the heavenly creatures (i.e., angels and the people of God), and the seven spirits of God (i.e., the Holy Spirit) (5:6). Once the lamb received the scroll from the one sitting on the throne, the heavenly hosts worshipped the lamb (5:8), singing the following “new song”:
Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth (Rev. 5:9-10).
Key parts of this verse exclaim God’s vision for redemptive kingdom diversity. First, in heaven, where God, the risen Christ, and the Holy Spirit sovereignly reign over all things in heaven and over the earth, the holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Spirit) controls redemptive history. This is seen in that the one sitting on the throne (God) gives the scroll to the crucified and risen lamb (the Son), who alone was able to open the book in the presence of the heavenly hosts and the seven spirits (symbolically representing the Holy Spirit [cf. Rev. 5:6 with Isa. 11:2]). Second, the heavenly hosts fall-down and worship the lamb, saying that he was slain (crucified) and that by his blood he “ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation…” (Rev. 5:9). Third, John records the heavenly hosts proclaim that Jesus made this ethnically diverse people, for whom he died, to be “…a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth” (Rev. 5:10). That is, this ethnically diverse people, redeemed by the blood of Christ, are now a transformed people filled with many ethnically diverse people, and they will reign with God in Christ forever together as the unified ethnically and beautifully redeemed people in a renewed creation (Rev. 11, 19-22). We know from other texts in the NT that this future reign has already begun in part now because of the indwelling presence and power of the Spirit (Acts 2; Gal 3:14; 4:5-6; Eph. 1) and because Jesus is risen from the dead (Acts 2; Eph 1:20-23).
Redemptive Kingdom Diversity and Harbor Network’s Diversity Value
The biblical and theological vision of redemptive kingdom diversity is consistent with Harbor Network’s value of diversity. I quote Harbor’s diversity value below:
We empower a diverse group of leaders from all people groups to plant churches in diverse areas because God values all people. Our leaders embrace humble equality as we pursue unity in diversity in our local contexts and in the life of our network.
As one should see from the quote, Harbor’s value on diversity is not unique. Instead, it’s grounded in God’s redemptive plan for all ethnically diverse people in Jesus Christ. The diversity value uses the language of “we,” “diverse group of leaders,” “from all people groups,” God’s value of “all people,” “equality,” and the pursuit of “unity in diversity” to describe the network’s vision to “empower” leaders to plant churches in their specific social locations. This vision and their diversity value are consistent with God’s redemptive vision in Christ for every tribe, tongue, people, and nation in Rev. 5:9-10.
Next Step
Finally, I offer one next step for readers, current, and future partners with Harbor Network. Since Rev. 5:9-10 teaches that redemptive kingdom diversity is God’s redemptive vision for the world, ask the Spirit to help you, your families, and your churches to grow in learning how to live redemptively and to pursue this vision in your ordinary rhythms of life where you live, work, worship, play, and plant. As you do that, look for opportunities and think creatively to work out this redemptive vision where you live, worship, work, play, and plant with your family and with your team. The goal is not to work out God’s redemptive vision the same way in every context. Rather, the goal is to live redemptively in pursuit of redemptive kingdom diversity in ways consistent with your gifts, calling, context, church’s vision, and with your church’s context.
May our Lord give us, his people, a biblical and theological vision for redemptive kingdom diversity, and may he give us the spiritual energy to pursue this vision with joy.
Dr. Jarvis J. Williams is an Associate Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Seminary and has taught there since 2013. He has published numerous works that can be found here. He also serves as Preaching Pastor at Sojourn Church Midtown. Follow him on Twitter.
