Andrew wrote to us about our discussions over what the good news might look like.
He wrote:
It remeinded me of discussions I have had with a friend about how we could describe the good news of the gospel. This is what we came up with…
The Returning King
There was once a kingdom where the people lived under the good and rightful rule of their king. His reign was marked by justice and peace. Neighbours trusted one another, the weak were protected, and the land flourished. It was a kingdom of freedom and joy.
But long ago, the king had departed to fight a great enemy in a far-off land. In his absence, another rose up and seized the crown. This ruler was unjust and cruel. He cared only for his own power, twisting the laws and burdening the people. Many who once remembered the freedom of the king’s reign began to forget. Others, though they remembered, grew weary under the weight of injustice.
Some chose to serve the false ruler. They bent the knee to him, gaining comfort, wealth, and safety in exchange for their loyalty. Others would not bow. They formed a resistance, small bands of men and women who lived by the ways of the true king. They sought justice, mercy, and truth, even though it brought them into conflict with the unjust ruler. Their loyalty came at a cost — they were mocked, threatened, and sometimes even killed. Yet they would not yield, for they remembered the king.
Then one day, news reached the kingdom. The king had conquered the enemy in the distant land. His victory was certain, and he was on his way home.
Suddenly, everything was different. The subjects now faced a choice. Would they continue living under the ways of the unjust ruler, seeking only their own safety and gain? Or would they live for the true king, resisting the false rule and ordering their lives by the ways of the kingdom that was coming?
They did not know the day or the hour when the king would return. But they lived with the hope that he was on his way — and with that hope came a calling: to live as loyal citizens of his kingdom, even before his arrival, even in the shadow of danger.
This is the good news of the gospel. The world was created under the just and loving reign of God. But humanity turned away, and the world has fallen under the grip of a false ruler — sin, injustice, death. Some people embrace this ruler’s ways, shaping their lives around selfish gain and compromise. Others, remembering that there is a true King, long for something better.
The message of Jesus is that the true King has won the decisive victory. At the cross and resurrection, he defeated the enemy. He is coming again to set his kingdom fully in place — a kingdom of justice, freedom, and joy.
Until that day, his followers are called to live in the present world as citizens of the coming kingdom. We are called to resist the ways of the unjust ruler, even when it costs us, and to live in hope, ordering our lives by the ways of the King who is returning.
The good news is this: the victory is already won, the King is alive, and he is on his way. And so the question for each of us is whose kingdom will we live for while we wait?