Kingdom Ready Blog

Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was near, but that there would be an interim period before it was fully inaugurated. The Kingdom, to him, was primarily the eschatological (end-times) reign and judgment of Messiah on earth. It is in this sense that it would fulfill the promises to Abraham and David, and the many prophecies of the Day of the Lord and the coming of the Son of Man.

The seeming discrepancy between the announcement of the Kingdom and the fact that it did not appear is, as mentioned, one of the major reasons for the Jews’ rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. Similarly, the long delay since the announcement of the Kingdom has caused some to question the validity of that announcement. But it is not necessary to redefine the Kingdom in order to solve these discrepancies. The new light he shed concerning the Mysteries of the Kingdom and the New Covenant provides the solution. The kingdom is “present” in a preliminary, preparatory phase for a time, prior to its establishment, and certain aspects are previewed. During that time, the King is identified, and the news of the New Covenant which he made available is proclaimed. Those individuals who are heirs of the inheritance experience a foretaste of Kingdom power as they grow and receive training and preparation for their roles in ruling with Jesus the Messiah. It is in that proleptic sense that any reference to a present kingdom must be understood.

Ever since Jesus Christ’s first coming, the period of anticipation and preparation for the Kingdom has been in effect. While the Kingdom has not begun yet, it is “present” in the sense that the New Covenant has been ratified, the good news and the promises of the Kingdom are proclaimed, and the power and authority of the Kingdom are seen in a foretaste.

There is now a schedule for new blog posts, with a different writer each day of the week.  From this point on I will be posting once a week, on Mondays.  Today I will finish the article I started, and continue with another one next week. (Please note I added another passage of Scripture to Part 1 which I had missed before.)

What Jesus proclaimed about the Kingdom of God was straight out of the Hebrew Scriptures. He claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of God, who would restore Israel and cause them to triumph over their enemies. He claimed to be the King of the long-promised Kingdom of God, who would begin to reign at the end of this age, and usher in an era of peace and prosperity in which God’s will is perfectly carried out, and the resurrected faithful would rule with him over the nations.

By way of review, many misconceptions about the Kingdom of God come from interpreting the few passages which speak of the Kingdom of God as being present in some sense without keeping in mind the great majority of Scriptures which present it as an eschatological event.  Most often when Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God, he meant the future time when he would rule over the nations on a restored earth. This period of time would be preceded by God’s cataclysmic intervention (Matthew 24:27-31; Mark 13:19-27; Luke 17:24-37; 21:20-28), ushering in a new age. The new age that is to come was the hope of Israel, as well as that of the early Christian Church.

In addition to the references to the Old Testament understanding of God’s Kingdom, the Gospels also contain other references to the Kingdom which show that it is literal yet future. The phrase “in the Kingdom” is always presented as something that will happen in the future. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will sit down “in the Kingdom” (Matthew 8:11) and Jesus said he would not eat the Passover again until it is fulfilled “in the Kingdom” which is parallel with the Kingdom “coming.”

Matthew 26:
29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

As requested, I will begin posting excerpts from my web site (God’s Kingdom First) here.  There has been much discussion lately about the Kingdom of God and whether Jesus taught it as a literal Kingdom on earth.  There is an entire section of my site devoted to the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Kingdom, which I will leave to the reader to examine.  This series of studies will look at the New Testament and what it tells us about the Kingdom, and about the King, Jesus the Messiah.  Many of the Scriptures are presented right in the article, while others are linked to Bible Gateway, which will display the Scriptures referenced.

There is another important item to note about where the kingdom will be located. Scripture indicates that both Jesus, and God himself, will live with us – on the earth – during the kingdom of God:

Psalm 2:6 – ⁶But as for me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.

Psalm 132:14 – ¹⁴Zion is my resting place forever; in her I will dwell, for I prefer her.

Isaiah 24:23 – ²³For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem.

Now that we know what the kingdom is, the next question to ask is: where will the kingdom be located? That is, where will people live, when the kingdom is established?  To start with, here are some descriptions of the kingdom:

Ezekiel 34:25-29 – ²⁵“I will make a covenant of peace with them and eliminate harmful beasts from the land so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.

²⁶“I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. And I will cause showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of blessing.