The story of the Kingdom of God

The history of the Kingdom of God

The kingdom of God was not a new concept suddenly introduced by Jesus in his preaching (even though it was the major aspect of his preaching and parables: The gospel of the Kingdom of God). It has a long history in the Bible… here is a short overview of the concept as it is revealed over time in the Bible. The Kingdom of God was not an afterthought, but it will become clear that this was the ultimate purpose of God right from the start of creation.

The whole universe, heavens and earth, was created by the LORD God for Himself (described in Gen.1-2). And He created mankind to rule over the earth as his representatives. This is our ultimate creation purpose, right from the start. Obviously, to rule as the representative of somebody else, you have to be in constant communication with who-ever you are representing. The image that you reflect, needs to be the image of the Person you represent (otherwise you are representing yourself or somebody else). And this is the relationship described in Gen.2-3 between mankind and the LORD God.

But then came the fall into sin and rebellion against God (described in Gen.3-4). Mankind gave their allegiance and obedience to the serpent, turning their backs on their Creator and King and on their whole reason for being; their creation purpose (to rule as his representatives). Satan became the de facto ruler of this earth as we (the rightful stewards of this earth) gave him our allegiance. Even during this time, a handful of people “walked with God” and were considered faithful to Him (e.g. Enoch and Noah).

But then, when the sinfulness and rebellion of mankind became too great, God disinhereted the nations. They were given over to worshipping “other gods”, lesser spiritual beings… who often followed the devil in his rebellion against God and became part of his “the kingdom of this world” – the nations at larger no longer served or worshipped the one true God directly, but served false gods of their own making and imagination, or even worshipped demons (this process is also referred to in some of the Psalms and in parts of Gen.6-11).

And then the Lord God intervened. He started again with a single person to whom He gave the promise that he would become the father of many nations and with a single country that would become his very own… although all of the earth belongs to Him as the Creator, He was not going to take it back with violence and judgement. He would start with a single nation through whom the world would see what He looks like and what it looks like if people followed Him and lived for Him. He would become their King and rule them through his righteous and holy teaching (Law/Torah). They would be separated to Him from among all the nations and be a Kingdom of priests to Him (Ex.19:5-6). Priests represent the people to God and Kings rule as his representatives over the earth (their land, which He would give to them as an eternal inheritence). But this position was also conditional; they had to keep his covenant, commands and Torah (Law) that showed them the way to live this holy lives as his representatives on earth. Deut.32:8-9 – “ When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He divided mankind, He fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.” It is among these “sons of God” that He will arise to judge them and ultimately inherit all the nations of earth again as described in Ps.82.

And herein lies one of the most basic aspects of the Kingdom of God… It is through our sin (disobedience to God and obeying the voice of the satan instead) that we have lost our position as his representatives and given rule over the earth to the enemy (satan, called the prince/ruler/god of this world in the New Testament). And even Israel, the chosen nation, disobeyed his Torah. The Good News of the Kingdom, is that God is going to take back the rulership that belongs to Him alone. And He is going to use people to do that. More specifically, He was going to use a very specific Person (the Son of man) to do it, as the representative of all mankind, the Anointed. Jesus of Nazareth came, proclaiming the Good News that the promised Kingdom of God has arrived (because the King has arrived). There were many promises through the ages given through the prophets about this promised King. And one of the main things He did, was to live 100% according to the Torah of God, even challenging his opponents, “Which one of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46) after having just convicted them all of their own sin (John 8:1-12). Thus He was the one righteous Man who could give a righteous offering of Himself to atone for all our sins (Is.53), according to the prophecies. Taking our sins and forever dealing with it as the Representative of mankind, He forever removed any claim that the tempter had on earth. Thus, through his death and resurrection, He freed us from sin, the law, fear of death, our flesh and this present world system (ruled by the “prince of this world”), into his new Kingdom as the true Representative of God the Father on earth – He showed us the face of God, his true character.

One of the promises about the coming Messiah, the Son of David according to the flesh, was that He would rule over all the nations (Is.9,11:10, Dan.7:14). However, He would also break every weapon of war and nations will no longer learn to make war (Is.2:4, Hos.1:17, 2:17,Mic.4:3). How then would He win the whole earth, all nations, as his Kingdom? “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” (Zech.4:6). This was the Kingdom demonstrated and established by Jesus on earth… like a mustard seed, smallest of all (cultivated) seeds, growing into a tree (Matt.13:31-32). And this was the method through which God chose to re-establish his reign on earth – not by a mighty display of his power as during the Exodus, but through the Spirit of his Son, changing us into the image of his Son when we enter into and become part of his Kingdom, through his Spirit (Rom.8:29,12:1-2, John 3:3,5).

Yes, there is also a future fulfillment, when the power and authority of the Lord (and our sonship) finally becomes visible in its glory (2 Thess.1:7-10). Then, He will recreate a new heaven and earth, uncorruptable and where it will literally and vissibly be heaven on earth (Rev.21-22). The Kingdom that He planned when creating mankind originally, where we rule as his representatives, will finally become a reality, but even more glorious than the first creation (just compare Gen.1-2 with Rev.21-22). But in the meantime, for now He is establishing his Kingdom in and through all those who willingly join themselves to Him and give themselves fully to Him, through repentance and faith (trust) in Him. We are being prepared in this world for our future with Him – by learning how to live in communion with Him (and each other). We are completing the mission with which the Father sent Jesus (John 20:21), establishing the Kingdom of God on earth, not in our own strength or through our own power, but through our unity with Him (John 15:1-16:11).

The gospel of the Kingdom of God

The gospel of the Kingdom

Jesus started his public ministry with these words: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark.1:15) Right from the start it is all about the Kingdom of God. The single object of most of the parables and teachings of Jesus is about the Kingdom of God (just read the gospels).

Jesus starts his ministry with the Good News of the Kingdom of God, “And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.” (Matt.4:23); He ends his time on earth teaching about the Kingdom, “To them he presented himself alive after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3); the early disciples continue to preach the Kingdom of God, “But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.” (Acts 8:12), “And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.”; and the book of Acts ends with Paul preaching the Kingdom of God, “He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of Godand teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.” (Acts 28:30)

In What is a disciple? The true Good News, we read a little bit about the true gospel in contrast to various false gospels. But the word “gospel” (Besorah in Hebrew / Euangellion in Greek) means something like “Good News”, “Happy Message”, “Joyful Proclamation”, “glad tidings”. It is used in the Old Testament already (e.g. after victory over enemies - ) and in New Testament times it was often used for the glad tidings that a new king or emperor has been crowned and the uncertainty of deciding who will reign has been settled. One of the clearest passages in the Old Testament is part of the introduction to Isaiah 53, “How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’” (Is.52:7) What is the content of the message of peace, happiness and salvation? “Your God reigns” (He is King!). This Kingdom of God has been promised in connection with the Messiah, the Son of Man, in multiple Messianic prophecies, e.g., “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as King and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ … But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.” (Jer.23:5-6, 30:9) 
“I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. … And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.” (Ezek.34:15-16,23)
“I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.” (Dan.7:13-14)

These are the promises to which Jesus was referring when He said “the time is fulfilled”. This is a whole different viewpoint of the Good News – it is not primarily about us being saved from our sins and eternal death, but about the righteous King coming to take his rightful place. More about this story of the Kingdom in the next piece. But here I want to mention some practical implications to the fact that the gospel is all about the Kingdom of God:

1. We enter the Kingdom by repentence and faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the anointed King, High Priest and Prophet of the New Covenant. “Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”” (John 3:3)
2. We are saved into something. From the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of light. We are not simply saved for ourselves and our own “eternal life in heaven” (pie in the sky someday when we die).
3. The whole purpose of the Kingdom of God is to re-establish the Kingdom of God (his reign) on earth as it is in heaven. Mankind, who was put in charge of the earth, has rebelled against Him, serving the “prince of this world” and He has overlooked this rebellion for some time. But now He is re-establishing his reign over the earth, through a Man, Jesus the promised Messiah King.
4. The Kingdom is all about the King. It is all about Messiah Jesus. All of our previous posts about the church and revival comes back to this principle… it is all about Jesus.
5. He, Jesus, the Messiah, is the King. We follow Him. We obey Him. We serve Him… when we enter his Kingdom. This is a voluntary decision. He never forces anybody to enter the Kingdom. But if we do it, we belong fully to Him. He created us, and He bought us back from sin, in order that we may belong to Him. He has a double claim on our lives.
6. The Kingdom is built on foundations of righteousness and the love and mercy of God, not on military power or earthly authority. There is only one King, and He rules in our hearts when we enter his Kingdom. He makes us new people that are able to keep his cmmands of love, by coming to live inside us (How to follow Him).
7. The Kingdom starts small (like a mustard seed) and grows slowly to become big (like a large tree). It involves individuals entering in, not nations “converted” by the sword. It grows through discipleship, becoming like Jesus, and disciple-making, helping others to become like Jesus. All living born-again Christians are part of the physical representation of Messiah on earth, his body. While the Kingdom of God is already here on earth where-ever Messiah reigns in the hearts of his disciples, this is just the beginning. The future involves the Kingdom being established in its full power, when Messiah returns in glory and power, and all those who have died in Him are resurrected to eternal life (1 Cor. 15). Then the original creation purpose of God, why He created mankind in the first place, will be fulfilled.