I want to try a wee experiment. It might not work; I might embarrass myself but can you suggest any passage from the Bible - a story, or prophecy, or unit of teaching.
If we were to summarise Jesus’ teaching in one phrase, what would we say?
The gospel writers did that.
Matthew 4:17
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Mark 1:14-15
14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Luke 8:1
After this, Jesus travelled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.
There are various other passages that summarise Jesus’ teaching as being about the Kingdom of God. Even after His resurrection, when He spent 40 days with His disciples, what was the core of His teaching?
Acts 1:3
After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
But it is not only Jesus. The preaching of each of the following is summarised as being about the Kingdom of God.
· John the Baptist (Matthew 3:2)
· Philip (Acts 8:12)
· Paul (Acts 19:8-9; 20:25; 28:23, 31)
Acts 19:8
Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.
The very last verse of Acts, after Paul had been arrested and taken to Rome, says…
Acts 28:31
He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!
Moreover, when the disciples were sent out on mission, during their training, (Matthew 10, Luke 9, 10) they were to tell people that the Kingdom of God had come near. Their message was also focused on the Kingdom of God.
If all of these people proclaimed the Kingdom, what do you think they said?
In general, Christians today have very little understanding of the Kingdom. How can that be? If the Kingdom of God was the message proclaimed by Jesus and His followers, shouldn’t it be central to our understanding of Christianity?
One possible reason is that the Bible does not provide some nice, neat definition of the Kingdom. Instead, it illustrates it, or reveals it, through stories, through examples, through teaching, from the very beginning of the Bible to the very end and everywhere in between. It is everywhere but there is the possibility that we see the trees and fail to see the wood – we see the individual stories but we might not relate them to the overall theme.
If there is no concise definition of the Kingdom of God in the Bible, do you have a definition?
I want to suggest a definition. You then can test whether you think it reflects what we see in the Bible.
We tend to think of a kingdom as a country or a territory. The United Kingdom is the geographical region containing England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Most monarchies today are constitutional monarchies. The monarch has very limited power. King Charles III is the head of state of New Zealand but has very little power. On the other hand, countries like Saudi Arabia and Oman still have monarchs who have absolute power. They can change laws, direct the military and appoint political leaders.
In the Bible, “kingdom” means not so much some defined geographical region but more an activity (although that tends to imply a geographical area). It perhaps helps to talk instead about the kingship of God, or the rule of God, or the reign of God. The Kingdom of God exists wherever God reigns. (That’s my definition – not original to me!)
In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray “Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. That might be the closest we have to a definition in the Bible: The Kingdom exists where God’s will is done. The prayer is that that will happen on earth as much as it does in heaven.
You might have noticed that several of the summary passages we mentioned earlier talked about the Kingdom of God being near. John the Baptist and Jesus preached that people should repent because the Kingdom of God had come near. The disciples were sent out to tell people that the Kingdom of God had come near. Jesus said the Kingdom is among you (Luke 17:20-21).
In what way had the Kingdom come near? The Kingdom was present in the ministry of Jesus.
Jesus Himself is the King. Again, the theme is everywhere. There are many Old Testament prophecies of the coming of a king, descendent of David, who would reign over an eternal kingdom.
Isaiah 9:7
Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
The magi asked where was the one born to be king of the Jews.
Matthew 27:28-29
28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said.
The notice on the cross said, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”. Undoubtedly that was mockery but it spoke an unintended truth. When we start noticing them, there is a surprising number of references to Jesus as a king. Even the words Messiah and Christ mean “the anointed one”. Kings were anointed. So were priests, but that title indicates a king (and a priest).
Matthew 25:31-32
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Notice the indications of kingship there: His glory, seated on a glorious throne, with the authority to summons all nations and the authority to judge. Jesus Himself claimed to be the king.
The King was present but that does not necessarily mean the Kingdom was present. The Kingdom of God exists wherever God reigns. Was God’s will being done on earth? Many people rejected Jesus. In the end, He was killed. He didn’t reign. On the other hand, there were many indications that God was reigning; the Kingdom was in their midst.
Every miracle was evidence of the reign of God. Every time someone was healed, or delivered of a demon, or forgiven, or chose to follow Jesus, God won a victory; God prevailed, and the devil was defeated. In Luke 11, when Jesus was accused of using the power of Satan to drive out demons, He said, “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20). When God drives out a demon, the reign of God is being exercised and is visible.
Again those summary statements frequently link the proclaiming of the Kingdom with miracles, healing, deliverance etc..
Matthew 4:23
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
The disciples were sent out to heal the sick, raise the dead and drive out demons and say that the Kingdom of God had come near. The Kingdom was demonstrated by these acts of God’s kingship and people were challenged to respond. God has revealed Himself in your presence; what is your response?
And all of this was good news. People being set free and forgiven and relationships restored is good news. God is good. God’s reign is good. The Bible frequently refers to the good news of the Kingdom.
Many passages do not use the words king or kingdom but they reveal the kingship of God. What characteristics or actions do you associate with a king or the subjects of a king?
· Majesty, authority, power, rule, reign, justice, judgement, Lord, sovereignty, throne, sceptre, will (desires, commands). (We pray for the kingship of God on earth.)…
· obedience, submission, honour, worship, servants…
Any passages dealing with those sorts of themes are pointing to a king.
Let’s go back to the passage of scripture you suggested. Does it point to kingship?
The question all through scripture is: Will God be acknowledged and served as king? Will the King be allowed to be king? All through scriptures we see examples of people who submit to the kingship of God, or Jesus, and examples of people who refuse to allow Him to be King.
The concept of the kingship of God is absolutely central to the Bible. It might be the most central theme. That, of course, should raise questions for us. Is Jesus king in our lives? Not a constitutional monarch with little power but an absolute monarch who can call the shots? Do you see yourself as a servant of the King? The Kingdom of God exists wherever God reigns.
1624