October 2007 Book Review

South African theologian Derek Morphew, author of Breakthrough: Discovering The Kingdom, has provided possibly one of the best works on the in-breaking Kingdom of God as announced, demonstrated, and commissioned by Jesus.

Earlier books by people like John Wimber, in Power Evangelism and Power Healing, articulated a view of the already-and-not-yet Kingdom of God that linked demonstrations of the Spirit’s power with the spreading of the Gospel, while authors such as John White (When The Spirit Comes In Power) and Jack Deere (Surprised By The Power Of The Spirit) provided a more psychological and theological understanding of the present-day ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Morphew’s Breakthrough: Discovering the Kingdom is an extremely thorough, yet very readable, exploration of the theology and praxis-implications of the Kingdom of God. Morphew’s impetus for writing was his own observation, confirmed by leaders from many different countries, “(w)e need to lay this foundation once again. The subject is so fundamental to Scripture and to our spiritual genesis that we cannot allow a single generation, church, or group of churches to miss it”.

What follows this observation is one of the most thorough, scholarly, yet popularly-accessible books on the Kingdom theology that shaped, among others, the Vineyard movement. As the book’s dust cover states: “The theology of the Kingdom provides the best framework for understanding the life and ministry of Jesus, signs and wonders, healing, revivals, missions, and the Christian life.”

Morphew builds this insightful book around the theme of the “already and not-yet” Kingdom motif, and along the way, he deals very practically and pastorally with things like the Old Testament understanding of the in-breaking Kingdom, which Jesus came to fulfill, the place of Mystery in the Kingdom, the centrality of Christ, parables, the Messianic banquet, the relation between the Kingdom and the Church, and some great insights and implications of Kingdom theology on eschatology. The range of the book is large, but the book does not bog down into over-analyzing or theorizing; it remains theologically thorough and imminently practical.

Some gems:

Wherever there are truths in Scripture that are in creative tension with each other, the danger exists that people will try to explain away one side of the tension in favour of the other. This is especially true of the Kingdom. Many have wanted to choose certain texts about the Kingdom and use them to explain away others. (page 58)
The mystery of the Kingdom is the key to understanding the New Testament and the Christian life: It is the only perspective from which one can understand why healing occurs sometimes but not at other times. (page 68)
This understanding of Pentecost makes one realize just how profound the baptism in the Holy Spirit really is. It is an empowering for service, enabling believers to witness to the ends of the earth. But it is far more. It is an experience of a future age... The experience of the Spirit is a Kingdom experience. (page 76)
The Rabbinical concept of repentance placed the initiative with man and his responsibility to repent. Jesus places the initiative with God and the dynamic intervention of His reign... When God’s power is not evident, a powerful call to repentance only produces legalism. (page 121)
It seems to me that the ‘Eucharist’ is one area of church practice taht remains peculiarly resistant to reform. How did we get from the feast of the Kingdom to the ‘nip and sip’ of the church today? How did we get the meal where sinners have the grace of the Kingdom extended to them to the exclusive sacramental ceremony that only those within the community can ever comprehend? (page 147)
The duality we experience is eschatological. Two coexist within us... The spirit/flesh language of Paul is expressing the ‘already’ and ‘not yet’ of the Kingdom, not a division of the human person into inherently holy and sinful inner parts. (page 159)
A totally future view of the Kingdom leads to defeatism, escapism, and world denial that makes people negative about this world. A totally present view of the Kingdom leads to triumphalism and utopianism, so that people confuse worldly developments with the Kingdom of God. (page 208)
Any teaching that does not present a clearly Christ-centred focus will fail to testify of the Kingdom. Because God’s rule broke through in Jesus, we have concluded Jesus is God. Because God’s rule broke through in the Pentecostal outpouring, we have concluded that the Holy Spirit is God... Kingdom theology forces us to be Trinitarian. (page 225)

Bottom line? This book should be put into the category of “MUST READ” for anyone seriously seeking understanding about the Kingdom of God that Jesus announced, demonstrated, and commissioned. HIGHLY recommended!

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