God promises David a Kingdom that will last forever (2 Sam 7:13), and then in Daniel we get the promise of a Kingdom starting small and growing to fill the world (Daniel 2:31-35). Jesus' parables about the Kingdom flesh out more of how the Kingdom works, how it grows and what it's like. Like everything else in the Bible it's only a partial picture, we need to fill it out with logic and imagination. What's important here though, and this is one of NT Wright's themes but he's only echoing earlier Reformed thinking, is our glimpse of the meta-narrative. The story we are being saved into. Salvation is for being rescued from the shadowlands into eternity with God and all the adventures that follow. This is more than recognising a biblical or earthly pattern, this is moving from the perspective of character to narrator. There is an uncompromising cultural authority about this viewpoint and the exclusive Christian glimpse of it. This may not be the starting point for apologetics or preaching but it should lurk behind every statement behind every motivation, as God's people we have been given access to a greater story.
[Digory in the Garden of Youth, Magicians Nephew]
[Digory in the Garden of Youth, Magicians Nephew]