Colour Code:

…… - Scriptural Verse
…… - Quote from a Non-Biblical text
…… - My own extrapolations/inferences
…… - NB

One of the most important biblical themes is the Kingdom of God:

● God’s kingdom is related in His presence,love and judgement (the
Consummation of God’s love)
● Divine presence is experienced as His love
● Also relates to a place:
○ Eden
○ Canaan
○ The New Creation
● We must not focus on divine reward so much as our divine
habitation
God as the creator
● God is the creator (Genesis 1:2)
○ And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon
the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the
waters
■ Although the writer may not have understood it, this
may be interpreted as a trinitarian verse; the world was
created by the Father,Son and Holy Spirit (word).
■ It can be inferred that John was meditating upon
Genesis when he wrote John 1:1
● God has no rivals (Psalms 96:5)
○ For all the gods of the nations [are] idols: but the LORD made
the heavens.
○ The conflict between God and Satan is not ontological but
historical (Satan cannot oppose God’s greatness because he
himself does not have the power to oppose Him.)
● Creation exists as a reflection of God’s beauty
○ St. Thomas Aquinas writes that ‘God is above all things by the
excellence of His nature; nevertheless, He is in all things as
the cause of the being of all things’ - God’s beauty is reflected
in His creation as a result of His essence being in all things
○ Psalms 19:1 - The heavens declare the glory of God; and the
firmament sheweth his handywork.
■ The beauty of the world is evidence of God Himself.
Genesis
● The Image of God is such that humans are to be Vice Regents
 ■ Ancient rulers would set up their images to indicate their
rule. (Ancient equivalent of territorial flags)
● Adam was a king and priest of Eden.
● The same responsibilities Adam had in Eden, the priests had within
their tabernacles.
● The temple is an extension of Eden before the Fall of Man
● It is the responsibility of man to spread the blessing of the Lord
across this world
● This responsibility is only insofar as we submit to God
● The heart of sin is the displacement of God
● As man fell, so did creation
● Hell is eternal exile (as from Eden), and heaven is reunion (as with
Eden)
● God establishes enmity between man and Satan in Genesis after
the Fall.
○ Genesis 3:15 - And I will put enmity between thee and the
woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
■ This enmity was likely only established after the fall
because this was the serpent’s first act (not necessarily
desire) of rebellion. God could have been willing to
extend His love to all beings (including apostate spirits).
This may be interpreted as a demonstration of both
God’s divine mercy (not punishing evil desires despite
being well within His right to do so) and His divine
justice (punishing those who act upon their rejection of
God.
■ Galatians 3:16 - To Abraham were the promises made
and to his seed. He saith not, And to his seeds, as of
many: but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. -
Again we see a reference to (Eve’s) seed, with the
additional revision that Christ is the seed of Eve who
‘shall bruise thy (the serpent’s) head’
● Humans are born either the seed of the serpent or the seed of the
woman
○ Matthew 13:37-39 - Who made answer and said to them: He
that soweth the good seed, is the Son of man. And the field, is
the world. And the good seed are the children of the kingdom.
And the cockle, are the children of the wicked one. And the
enemy that sowed them, is the devil. But the harvest is the
end of the world. And the reapers are the angels.
○ John 8:44 - You are of your father the devil, and the desires of
your father you will do. He was a murderer from the
 beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not
in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he
is a liar, and the father thereof.
■ It would seem that Christ says each person is, by
default, a child of the devil. This would seem to tie into
what Christ says to Nicodemus in John 3:3-6 : Jesus
answered, and said to him: Amen, amen I say to thee,
unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. Nicodemus saith to him: How can a man be born
when he is old? can he enter a second time into his
mother’s womb, and be born again? Jesus answered:
Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again
of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh, is flesh;
and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit.
● The Children of God are in constant conflict with the Children of the
Serpent
● The evil in humanity is so great that a redeemer is necessary
○ St. Thomas Aquinas writes - God, for His own part, has mercy
on all. Since, however, His mercy is ruled by the order of His
wisdom, the result is that it does not reach to certain people
who render themselves unworthy of that mercy, as do the
demons and the damned who are obstinate in wickedness.
And yet we may say that even in them His mercy finds a
place, in so far as they are punished less than they deserve
condignly, but not that they are entirely delivered from
punishment
● The covenant with Adam was reestablished with Noah. However,
there is no return to paradise with Noah because he was already a
sinner. Instead, mankind must wait until the redemption of Christ to
return to paradise.
● Laws were given for man to rule himself because man was not able
to adhere to the fullness of God’s law
■ Mankind has no authority to alter the laws given by God
because we, in our errancy, are unable to make moral
argument against Scripture.
● Even after Noah, those building Babel attempt to reach paradise
without atonement for their sin. Similarly incorrect would be to
attempt moral perfection without acknowledgement of and
atonement for original sin.
○ It can be noted that, similarly to the way God divided the
tongues of men, so are those attempting moral perfection
divided by their differing ideas of what is good. This difference
can even be seen within the church (Catholicism vs Orthodoxy
vs Protestantism). A further parallel can be drawn when you
note that, as division came from a rejection of God, unity can
be achieved in the opposite fashion; a full devotion of the
world back unto God. This is not to diminish the value of
differing opinions in manmade systems; the Church benefits
from different denominations holding each other accountable,
but an organisation in full union with a perfect Creator need
not differ from His perfect wisdom.