Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was

So we must not talk only about the time of the reign of God; we must apply the same intensity and clarity to the search for its relationship to the people of God. Is that being adequately pursued? That is the subject of this chapter. Despite a number of brief excursions into the history of theology, this will not lead us away from Jesus but will bring us closer to him.

Is It Addressed to “Humanity”?

In professional exegetical literature there are long chapters and treatments of Jesus’ idea of the reign of God in which the question of time is shoved back and forth. But the explicit question of its place, that is, of the relationship between the reign of God and the people of God, is lacking in many cases, or else it appears only indirectly. This is demonstrated in almost exemplary fashion by Andreas Lindemann in a long article, “Herrschaft Gottes/Reich Gottes” [“Reign of God/Kingdom of God”] in the Theologische Realenzyklopädie.¹ Obviously much of what Lindemann writes is quite correct, but nowhere does he reflect on the theological relationship between Jesus’ preaching of the reign of God and Israel. Instead, he speaks emphatically and repeatedly of “human beings” or “people” in general. God pursues the human being. A person’s sins are forgiven. The reign of God has consequences for human behavior; God’s forgiveness must be matched by human forgiveness. Human beings must be responsible before God. God makes demands on people. The inbreaking reign of God establishes new and definitive standards for human action.

A reader cannot entirely avoid the impression that Jesus apparently had nothing to say to Israel in his preaching. Instead, as a citizen of the world, he wanted to address all humanity. His message about the reign of God was directed to all people of good will throughout the world. The fact that it had its beginning and crucial situation in Israel was probably just an accident.

All this is the more strange in that Erich Zenger, in the Old Testament section of the same article, insistently emphasizes the connection between the sovereign rule of God and the people of God, Israel.² Apparently the connection is still not sufficiently present in New Testament exegesis. Therefore, it seems good at this point to consider at least one Old Testament passage at greater length. Many such texts could be used, but in some of them the dimension of the reign of God is especially prominent.

The Beasts and the Son of Man (the Human One)

My choice is the great apocalyptic vision in the seventh chapter of Daniel.³ It not only has the advantage of speaking explicitly about the connection between the reign of God and the people of God; as regards the time of its composition, the book of Daniel, as one of the last books in the Hebrew Bible—it was created in the second century BCE—comes relatively close to the time of Jesus. Here is the vision in Daniel 7, slightly shortened:

I, Daniel, saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea, and four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings.… Another beast appeared, a second one, that looked like a bear. It was raised up on one side, had three tusks in its mouth among its teeth and was told, “Arise, devour many bodies!” After this, as I watched, another appeared, like a leopard. The beast had four wings of a bird on its back and four heads; and dominion was given to it.

After this I saw in the visions by night a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth and was devouring, breaking in pieces, and stamping what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that preceded it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, when another horn appeared, a little one coming up among them; to make room for it, three of the earlier horns were plucked up by the roots. There were eyes like human eyes in this horn, and a mouth speaking arrogantly.

As I watched,

    thrones were set in place,

    and an Ancient One took his throne,

his clothing was white as snow,

    and the hair of his head like pure wool;

his throne was fiery flames,

    and its wheels were burning fire.

A stream of fire issued

    and flowed out from his presence.

A thousand thousands served him,

    and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him.

The court sat in judgment,

    and the books were opened.

I watched then because of the noise of the arrogant words that the horn was speaking. And as I watched, the beast was put to death, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away.…

As I watched in the night visions,

    I saw one like a human being [lit.: son of man]

        coming with the clouds of heaven.

    And he came to the Ancient One

        and was presented before him.

    To him was given dominion

        and glory and kingship,