Kingdom Ready

101 is a slang term that means “basic introduction”. Many in our society use the term, especially in academics, when designing short courses to introduce students to the basics of a given subject.

Eg. “Geometry 101, Physics 101, Chemistry 101, Biology 101, etc…”

Within Christendom, there are many evangelists, preachers and pastors who are trying their very best to present Christianity and the Bible’s primary message to a lost world and to those who have questions and are seeking to know about God. Sadly, many of these ministers have failed to accurately convey, even the simple facts of the faith. The results are half-converts, living without any sense of purpose, lacking vision, ignorant of God’s plans; they live without a spiritual compass in their life.

It may be that some of you are still not convinced that people will live on the earth, during the kingdom of God. If so, that is not very surprising – because after all, 99% of Christian churches believe that people go to heaven when they die.  So, there is one final thought that I would like to share with you, about where people will live during the kingdom. In order to discuss that item, we need to go back to the very beginning of the Bible – to the creation of Adam and Eve.  Here are three questions, about Adam and Eve – along with the answers to those questions:

As I have mentioned previously, the kingdom of God is the primary message of the Christian gospel. As a result, you may be wondering: why isn’t the kingdom discussed more often? (From what I have seen, most Christian churches do not discuss the kingdom at all.)  Jesus gave us an indication about why the kingdom of God is not preached more frequently, in one of his parables – the parable of the sower. That parable is listed in both Matthew 13, and in Luke 8.

Luke 8:5-8 (ESV):

The Christian Hope

As we have seen, God made very specific promises to Abraham and his descendants, about inheriting land on the earth, in the future.  At this point, you may say: “Those promises are all well and good for Abraham; but what does that have to do with me?” After all, most Christians are not literal descendants of Abraham. Scripture has an answer to that question:

Galatians 3:29 (NIV)

²⁹If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Romans 4:16 (NIV)

God’s promise to Abraham also shows us that people will live on the earth, during the kingdom. God made a very explicit promise to Abraham: He promised that Abraham would inherit the land of Canaan (modern day Palestine) – and that he and his descendants would own that land forever. That promise was then repeated to Abraham’s son Isaac, to his grandson Jacob, and to his 12 great-grandsons:

Genesis 13:14-15 (Abraham)

¹⁴The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;

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.

Micah 5:2 (ESV) – ²From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel.

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.

Synonyms for the Kingdom

Before we go into what the kingdom is, it is important to note that the kingdom of God is referred to by several different terms in scripture. In other words, there are several “synonyms” for the kingdom of God. Here are some of the most common synonyms:  The kingdom, itself, is known as the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Heaven, and the kingdom of his beloved Son.  Information about the kingdom is called the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of God, the gospel of Christ, the word of the kingdom, the word of God, the word, and the seed.

What Did the Apostles Preach About?

Some Christians believe that the apostles – especially Paul – preached a completely different message than Jesus did. In other words, some Christians assert that the apostles’ message has absolutely no relation whatsoever to Jesus’ message. So, let’s take a look at what the apostles preached about:

Acts 8:12 (Philip) – ¹²But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.

Acts 19:8 (Paul) – ⁸And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

Introduction

In this series of posts, I would like to discuss information about the kingdom of God.  From my experience, there is quite a bit of confusion about what the kingdom of God actually is, among the various Christian churches.  In other words, different Christian denominations have completely different ideas about what the kingdom of God really is.  So, I would like to discuss my understanding of the kingdom of God, in this presentation.

What Did Jesus Preach About?