Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters

by N.T. Wright

Even when looking back at a fairly godless and arrogant set of regimes, the book of Daniel affirms again and again the sovereignty of God over the nations of the world, the kingdom of God over the kingdoms of the world.

Third, then, God will in the end call the nations to account.

Daniel 7 it is “one like a son of man,” representing God’s people.

But we do not, because of that, lose sight of one of the church’s primary roles: to bear witness to the sovereign rule of Jesus, holding the world to account.

They must weigh it, sift it, hold it to account, affirm what can be affirmed, point out things that are lacking or not quite in focus, critique what needs critiquing, and denounce, on occasion, what needs denouncing.

“When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong on three counts: sin, justice, and judgment.

the Spirit will do all this through the church. That is the mandate.

each generation and each local church needs to figure out wise and appropriate ways of speaking the truth to power. That is a central part of the present-day meaning of Jesus’s universal kingship.

But Paul is clear that we do not have to wait until the second coming to say that Jesus is already reigning.

From his own perspective, he was himself both upstaging the power structures of his day and also calling them to account, then and there.

First, didn’t Jesus explain his own actions by talking about the smallest of the seeds that then grows into the largest kind of shrub? And second, it is remarkable how one small action can start a trend.