Interestingly, we find ourselves in a unique moment in Western civilization: At once, the faith that fueled the apostles’ earnest expectation for a Kingdom restored to Israel is being scorned worldwide as carnal nationalism, while many who decry this testimony are themselves attempting to leverage the Gospel of the Kingdom for political power and influence in non-covenantal nations—as if God mandated all Christians everywhere to fight for a kingdom that is of this world. As if Jesus did not say what He did to Pontius Pilate. As if He did not allow the Romans to spit on Him, to lash Him, to beat Him bloody, or to hammer rusty nails through His body to hang Him in the air on splintered wood until He asphyxiated.

But He did, and He did so “for the joy set before Him.”[Hebrews 12:2]

That joy is synonymous with Abraham’s dream, the provisions promised to him that he pursued in faith all his days—breathing his last before being buried in Hebron never having seen his promises come to pass [Genesis 25:8-10]. The three provisions of the Abrahamic Covenant [Hebrews 11:8-16] include seed: making mankind eligible for redemption, land: that creation can be restored, and blessing to all nations ensuring all sons and daughters of Adam have access to the first resurrection and can live in the renewed heaven and earth.

This is the Kingdom for which Jesus shed His blood; these are the provisions He secured the day Pilate sentenced Him to a criminal’s execution. Abraham staked his entire life—and that of his covenantal son—on the dream given to him through promises: the city whose builder and maker is God. John the Beloved saw this city in his own dream, the “wife of the Lamb,” the new Jerusalem which will descend “out of heaven from God.” He is her builder; He is her Husband. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth: the City of the Great King. Her gates will never be shut, yet no immorality will ever be permitted to enter her jurisdiction. It is from this city the law of the LORD will go forth, the knowledge of the LORD will “cover the earth as waters cover the seas,” and from this city the healing of the nations reach even the very ends of the earth, teaching mankind to unlearn his ways of war and Cain. This is Abraham’s city—and it is Jesus’ city. This is what the apostles asked Him if He would ignite two thousand years ago. - Stephanie Quick, Promise and Pursuit: Abraham's Holy Dream