A gracEmail subscriber from Hawaii asks what the Bible means when it speaks of the kingdom of God.
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The Hebrew and Greek words translated "kingdom" in the Bible both essentially mean "reign," "rule" or "dominion." In the most fundamental sense, God's kingdom exists throughout all time and encompasses the entire universe. The psalmist declares: "The LORD has established his throne in the heavens and his sovereignty rules over all" (Psalm 103:19).
About 1,000 B.C., God associates his own divine reign in a special way with the dynastic kingdom of David, whom God took from among the flocks to govern Israel and Judah in God's name (2 Sam. 7:8-16; Psalm 45:3-7). David understands, however, that God's reign is larger than his own kingdom, that he reigns at God's pleasure, and that God holds him accountable for how he exercises kingship. As David's descendant, Jesus is heir to the Old Testament's kingly and messianic promises involving the house of David (Psalm 2; Psalm 110:1, 4; Dan. 7:14ff).
Three hundred years after David, the writing prophets envision a future when God's kingdom will transcend nationalistic bounds and peace and justice will fill the earth (Isa.11:6-9; Micah 4:1-4; even later, Dan. 7:13-14). The Old Testament closes with this hope dangling before us. Four hundred years later, the New Testament opens with a voice in the wilderness, announcing that the long-awaited kingdom is "at hand." No one then could have imagined that it would arrive in two phases, with an interminable interruption in between.
As the New Testament opens, we see John the Baptist announcing the Kingdom "at hand," as do Jesus and his first disciples (Matt. 3:1-2; 4:17; 10:7). Jesus heals the sick, casts out devils, teaches about God's kingdom and forgives sinners, claiming to do it all by God's direct and immediate power. Jesus' ministry thus embodies God's kingdom on earth in a way more complete and concrete than it had been seen since before sin first entered Eden (Luke 11:14-23; Matt. 12:22-29).
In the person of Jesus, God's kingdom comes with tumult and force, waging unrelenting assault on the fortresses and strongholds of Satan, the great usurper. Yet, ironically, God's reign cannot be "forced," and Jesus resists every temptation to bring in the kingdom of heaven through raw power or other human effort (Matt. 4:1-11; John 6:14-15; Luke 22:49-51). That does not mean there were not those who tried -- either by political maneuvering (the Sadducees), pietistic posturing (the Pharisees), armed revolution (the Zealots), or separatist asceticism (the Essenes).
This kingdom of heaven constitutes Matthew's great theme, and he builds his Gospel around five teachings of Jesus -- concerning kingdom righteousness (Matt. 5-7), kingdom proclamation (Matt. 10), the nature and growth of the kingdom (Matt. 13), kingdom relationships (Matt. 18) and kingdom power and consummation of the kingdom (Matt. 24-25). Sandwiched between those teachings runs the Gospel narrative -- stories of the King in action. Matthew shows us the Kingdom in word and in deed, by what Jesus said and by what he did.
But Jesus also foretells a future consummation of God's kingdom, far brighter and greater than anything yet seen on this earth. He tells his disciples to pray for the time when God's kingdom will be as fully present on earth as it is already in heaven (Matt. 6:10). He tells parables which urge watchfulness, for none but God himself knows the day and hour of the kingdom's final revelation in power and glory (Matt. 25).
Because Jesus personally embodies God's kingdom, New Testament writers do not mind saying that those who believe in Christ through the gospel even now participate to some extent in kingdom membership and blessings (Rom. 14:17; Col. 1:13; Rev. 1:9). Yet the church as institution is not the kingdom. A simplistic identification of the two always results in self-conceit and triumphalism by the church and disillusionment and unbelief by the world.
The church must continue to pray for God's kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10). We live in hope, awaiting entrance into the kingdom's eternal fullness (2 Pet. 1:11). Then all that can be shaken will have fallen and only God's immovable kingdom will remain (Heb. 12:26-29). Then God will swallow up death for all time and wipe away tears for ever (Isaiah 25:7-8; Rev. 21:4). Cleansed of all evil, the universe will resonate with the song "Glory to the Righteous One!" (Isaiah 24:16; 2 Peter 3:14.)
The surprising element in all this, from the standpoint of human expectation, is the gap in time between the Already and the Not Yet -- the centuries between the Messiah's suffering and his visible glory, the interval between the kingdom's past inauguration and its future consummation.
The earliest apostolic preaching summarized the past, present and future aspects of God's kingdom program in these words: "The things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ should suffer, He has thus fulfilled [past]. Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord [present]; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things [future] . . . (Acts 3:18-21). So much has occurred already, but so much also remains. We serve God during this interim between the times, our eyes fixed on Jesus who has come and who is coming, waiting expectantly . . . "until."
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