"Kingdom of God," "The kingdom of heaven," "the kingdom of Christ", "the kingdom of the Lord."
A study of the biblical references and the subsequent illustration can help our understanding of this major doctrine.
- Broad meaning: Pss 103:19; 113:5; Matt 5:34; Eph 1:20; Col 1:16; Heb 12:2; Rev 7:15
- Narrow meaning: 1 Chr 16:31; Ps 97:1-2; Matt 6:10.
- Inauguration: Matt 2:2; 4:23; 9:35; 27:11; Mark 15:2; Luke 16:16; 23:3; John 18:37
- Continuation: Matt 24:14; Rom 14:16-17; 1 Cor 4:19-20; Col 4:11
- Consummation: 1 Cor 15:50-58; Rev 11:5
During this week I have been engaging in this question below from a group of people who are on the Baptist Reformed FB site.
The Kingdom of God or Heaven! Are we living in the literal Kingdom or is this the spiritual kingdom in our hearts that we are living in? Reformed, maybe Reformed Baptist I beleive as well as calvinistist believe we are living in the Kingdom now. Which I have not yet accepted.
When you view from the Reformed point of view, verses the Baptist Reformed, and maybe even the Calvinistic point of view you have a different point of view.
Of course I well remember in a World Baptist Fellowship meeting in Kansas back in the 1980's this very discussion with the prechers. What we have always been taught is that the Kingdom is future which qill occure in the 1000 year reign of Christ. End of the issue.
And today I still accept this same position that I have held since the beginning.
The kingdom of God (also called "the kingdom of heaven," "the kingdom of Christ," "the kingdom of the Lord," "the kingdom," etc.) undergirds the teaching of the entire Bible. The Scriptures reveal God using a number of metaphors, but the primary imagery which biblical writers used for God was that of a divine King (e.g. 1 Sam 8:7). Alongside the basic conviction that God is the supreme King is the belief that he reigns over creation as his kingdom (Pss 47:1-9; 83:18; Dan 4:25-26; 5:21). In this general sense then, God has always been the sovereign reigning King who rules in heaven over all things (Pss 103:19; 113:5; Matt 5:34; Eph 1:20; Col 1:16; Heb 12:2; Rev 7:15).
The biblical concept of the kingdom of God also occasionally takes on a special sense. Jesus described this narrower sense of the kingdom of in this way: "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt 6:10). God's holiness and glory in his heavenly throne room is so overwhelming that all creatures there honor him with unqualified voluntary service. On earth, however, creatures rebel and refuse to acknowledge God as King, and evil kingdoms rise up to oppose God's Kingdom. The hope that Scripture presents from cover to cover is that this disparity between the heavenly throne room and earth will be eliminated one day (1 Chr 16:31). God will judge the wicked and bring redeemed humanity into a new creation (Isa 65; Zech 14). When this transformation takes place, only God's kingdom will stand and voluntary obedience to him will extend to the ends of the earth as it does in heaven (1 Chr 16:31; Ps 97:1-2).
The Scriptures reveal, however, that God determined to accomplish this
end through a lengthy historical process. With the choice of Abraham and
his descendants as God's special people (Exod 3:6-7; 6:2-8),
the kingdom of God was primarily limited to the people and land of
Israel. God asserted his kingship on earth when he delivered Israel from
the Egyptian empire and brought her to the Promised Land (Exod 15).
Under David and Solomon, Israel itself became a defined territory with
the sons of David sitting on the throne of God as his vice-regents (1 Chr 29:23; 2 Chr 6), and with God's royal footstool in the temple (1 Chr 28:2).
This ethnically and geographically limited form of the Kingdom was not
an end in itself. On the contrary, Old Testament Israel was established
as a stage from which the kingdom of God would eventually extend to all
peoples and lands of the earth (Gen 17:17-18; 18:18; Rom 4:13-17).
WHAT IS THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM?
Notice what Jesus focused on in His ministry. He preached the gospel
of the Kingdom of God. Let's read it in the Gospel of Mark. It says:
"Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching
the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled,
and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel'" (Mark 1:14-15).
Christ, as the Son of God, came in the flesh to preach the
good news of the Kingdom. This Kingdom had been long prophesied and
expected by the Jews of the first century. The Hebrew prophets, like
Isaiah, painted vivid pictures of that world and
people living under the way of God and all nations, all peoples living
in complete harmony. They anticipated the appearance of this Kingdom at
the same time Jesus came teaching about the Kingdom to come.
Now even then, there were many misconceptions about the Kingdom. For
one, it was felt that the Kingdom would appear in their day.
In Luke 19 as Christ was entering Jerusalem, they felt—the people,
the masses—that the Kingdom would immediately appear. And to counter
that idea, Jesus gave a parable—a story with a point—to show that it
would be some time in the future before the Kingdom would come. He spoke
about a man going into a far country to receive a kingdom and leaving a
work to be done by his servants.
On another occasion, Christ said the "kingdom of God is within you."
This phrase is better translated, "in your midst." The Kingdom of God
is really not some vague concept. Jesus, as the King of Kings, was right
there in their midst teaching about the Kingdom, and finding resistance
to the idea. People in Christ's day rejected His teaching about the
Kingdom.
When Jesus Christ returns to earth, the Kingdom will again be in the
midst of mankind! You may know Him as Lord, Master, Teacher, Savior,
Messiah and even High Priest in heaven, but most importantly, Jesus
Christ can personally be your King now! Christ as King of the Kingdom
can be "in your midst"—in your life—today.
Jesus Christ constantly taught about the Kingdom of God. It was on
His lips, wherever He engaged others in conversation or in His teaching.
No one within the range of His voice was left out of an opportunity to
hear the gospel.
When Christ taught, He gave definition to what the Kingdom of God
was to become. To His closest disciples, He described the Kingdom as a
government ruling the world and they would sit on thrones judging among
the 12 tribes of Israel.
Then Jesus said to His disciples on another occasion, "'Assuredly, I
say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of
heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.'
- "When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, 'Who then can be saved?'
- "But Jesus looked at them and said to them, 'With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.' "Then Peter answered and said to Him, 'See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?' "So Jesus said to them, 'Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life'" (Matthew 19:23-29 ).
We see here that eternal life is also a part of the Kingdom. It's God's great gift for all the world at the appointed time.
- He goes on in another location and He says, "...do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:31-33,
- "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32)
.
Notice
what it says:
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field,
which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all
that he has and buys that field.""Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful
pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold
all that he had and bought it" (Matthew 13:44-46).
While we know the Kingdom of Heaven is yet to come, Heaven is in the future, we so live in light of that Heaven where we as Believers will be with the Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity.
The central teraching of Jesus while on earth some sixty-one times in the Gospel.
The there is the "kingdom of heaven." = "kingdom of God"
- "Kingdom of heaven" used only in Matthew:
- Usually changes "k. of God" in Mark
- Reflects Jewish tendency to avoid direct reference to "God."
The "Kingdom" not spatial but dynamic.
- Malkut (Hebrew) and basilieia (Greek)
- Not so much a place but an activity in this sense (the king's reign).
- "Kingdom of God' is primarily = "God's kingly rule/reign."
- Does here not exclude physical image-gospels speak of "entering the kingdom" which would = God's new world.
Of course there are many books on this subject and blogs and articles One would be here
SO NOW AFTER THIS BRIEF BUT LONG ON A BLOG WHAT IS OUR FINAL ANSWER?
The reign of God or Christ in our lives begins with our salvation: John 3. God's kingdom plan has been from the very beginning. God looks at this as one unit, God sees from outside time and space and sees the whole plan as one. We see only in part God's plan. There are stages in God's plan. I believe that God's plan was to have a group of elect people who are going to be redemeed and are ask to fulfill their place in the time that they are on earth. There is a kingdom of heaven to come, if we want to use that term for Heaven our final place to live for ever, but in the present we as the "Church" or those who are presently born again, are ask to live in light of this coming kingdom and seek to do the work of the King. The Kingdom is yet to come in the sense that Christ will reign totally over all the land and people. I don't believe this present earth is the New Earth or the New Jerusalem. I beleive this present earth will be destroyed and God will re-created a New Earth.
