Kingdom of God

Kingdom of Heaven is used by Matthew since he was writing to Jewish readers who might have been offended by the use of the word “God”. To this day, many Jewish writers will not spell out the word but will insert an underline in place of the “o” (G_d)

Used 85 times in the Bible. “repent. The kingdom of God is near.” “Thy Kingdom come.” “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of heaven”

4 views on the Kingdom of God

Political Kingdom - presence of a tax collector is impossible to explain if the disciples were supposed to be revolutionaries.

Matt 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
Matt 5:38-42 “If a soldier asks you to go one mile, go two”
Matt 5:43-47 “Love your enemies”
Matt 26:52 “all who live by the sword, die by the sword.”
Mark 12:13-17 “Give unto Caesars that which is Caesar”

Spiritual Kingdom – God’s rule of the heart –
Luke 17:20-21 “The kingdom of God is within you”
Based on the fact that God ruled our spiritual life
As God ruled our spiritual life, we are to be more moral, ethical, loving
World Wars and continued selfish and materialistic behavior has reduced believers of this view to near no one.

The Future Kingdom – The kingdom to come – Millennial and Heavenly
This was the thought of the typical first century Jew – a future, supernatural kingdom that would bring history to a close
Jesus never made any efforts to correct this view – simply made the statements with the assumption that it would be properly understood.
This kingdom was near and would come about soon. Soon, the kingdom would come, judgment would be passed and history would cease.
However, until that time, believers would be asked to live a heroically ethical, moral life. This life would not be able to be lived by ourselves because we are unable to do so, so God sent His Holy Spirit to live in us to assist us in this life.
This takes seriously the commands of Jesus to love each other, care for those in need, forgive others and live sacrificially.

However, there are also statements that Jesus makes that say that the kingdom has already come…

The Present Kingdom – the kingdom has come in Jesus’ ministry
Nothing was left to come – the kingdom had come in Jesus

Both the Future and the Present Kingdom options are biblically based – as opposed to the Political or Spiritual Kingdoms, which are interpreted. However, it would seem that the Future and Present Kingdom views contradict each other. How do we resolve this?

Future:
Luke 11:2 “Your Kingdom come”
Matt 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'”
Mark 14:25 "I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God."

Present:
Matt 12:28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Luke 17:20-21 Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."

2 things make up a kingdom: a land or a place; and a king or a ruler who reign

We can see that there is no land or place where God’s kingdom is, yet we know that over and over again in the Bible, we are told that there will be a land. We can assume then that the kingdom has not yet come since there is no land.

However, in the Old and New Testament, the word kingdom is seldom used to mean a place. It is typically used to mean a reign of a king. In this understanding, it would be better for us to recognize that when Jesus says the “ kingdom of God,” he really means the “rule of God”. Matt 6:33 “seek first His kingdom” Mark 10:15 “receive the kingdom like a little child”

Hence, we can recognize that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies and in this, the kingdom has come. However, it may have come but it is not yet complete. There is still the second coming of Jesus, the resurrection of the dead, faith turning to sight. The completion of the work of God in building his kingdom is still in the future. In this way, the kingdom is both now and future. He has started His kingdom and we are citizens of it, but until the completion of His work, we are to be good and faithful servants.

We cannot emphasize one over the other. The kingdom is now and we must realize this and live the life that God has called us to live. We cannot make excuses or pretend like this life doesn’t matter since the kingdom has not come fully. We have been given gifts from God, the joy of the Lord and the power of the Spirit. Yet we cannot also pretend that since the kingdom has come, that this is all that matters. We must continue to place our treasures in heaven, recognize that we will still need to carry our cross and strive to bring in the harvest – those who do not yet know Jesus but need to know Him if they are to have eternal life. We still long for our immortal bodies, to meet the Lord in the air and to reign with Him. We must treat both aspects of the kingdom reality as equally important.

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Last modified: Aug 20, 2007