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The Kingdom that Turned the World Upside Down  /  Chapter 24, How Christ's Teachings Disappeared  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 1
The chapter describes the Church making a “retro paradigm shift” by using ancient Israel as its role model; what assumptions about God’s intentions for His people made that move seem reasonable to them, and what assumptions in Jesus’ teaching made it a misfit?
Another way to ask: Why did the Church think copying ancient Israel fit what God wanted for His people? What in Jesus’ teaching makes that comparison not work?

Direct Answer Based on David Bercot’s teaching, the shift seemed reasonable because many Christians assumed God was now bringing a “golden age” of safety, power, and prosperity—so they searched Scripture for a model that matched that. It was a misfit because Jesus’ Kingdom teaching didn’t describe an earthly empire, and his “Kingdom laws” were largely incompatible with wealth, coercive power, and violence.

Support from Transcript:

  • Christians believed “God was ushering in a new golden age” where they could “enjoy worldly power and luxuries.”
  • “Nothing in the New Testament fit the model of this new supposedly golden age,” so they “had to dig back to the Old Testament.”
  • The Church went “backward to ancient Israel” and made a “retro paradigm shift.”
  • The new model tried to combine “the Kingdom of God with the kingdoms of the world,” making it a “tangible, visible empire.”
  • Under the hybrid, the Church “explained away all of Christ’s Kingdom teachings except where his teachings also fit the Old Testament model.”
Discussion Follow-ups What “success” indicators would make us tempted to reach for an Old Testament kingdom model today? Where do Jesus’ teachings most resist being reshaped to fit cultural expectations?

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