Talking About the Kingdom of God
There is a good reason why many churchgoers have a very vague idea of what the Bible says about the future of our world. (Surveys continue to show that a majority of churchgoers who think the Bible is “a good thing” have very little idea of its contents.) The truth is that Jesus’ teaching about a future Kingdom of God, a new divine world government, is very unpopular also in religious academic circles. Academic theologians train pastors who teach churches.
Christianity appears to be the only world religion which begins by discarding the teaching of its own founder! Do churches conscientiously begin with Jesus’ first command that we are to repent, change our minds and lives, and believe the Gospel about the Kingdom of God? (Mark 1:14-15). Was Kierkegaard so wrong when he said that Christians have abolished Christianity without being quite aware of it? Was Professor Hiers not pointing to a potentially eye-opening fact when he remarked that “Interpreters of Christian persuasion have ordinarily not been especially interested in what Jesus intended and did in his own lifetime”?!
Scholars would much prefer a Jesus who taught an ethic of timeless love and fellowship with God — a hazy spirituality. They are much less enthusiastic about a God who promises to send His Son to introduce, by cataclysm, a new political and social world order on a renewed earth. Yet Jesus promised his followers that they would inherit and manage just such a new society on earth, the Kingdom of God (Matt. 5:5; Dan. 7:27). (Jesus never promised anyone “heaven.” He did say that a Christian’s reward is presently stored with God in heaven. Jesus will reward his faithful followers with positions of rulership as royal family when he arrives back on earth.) The reward is to inherit the promised renewed earth of the future, the Kingdom of God (Matt. 5:5; Rev. 5:10). Belief in a brand new world coming is the essence of the Hebrew prophets’ message, and it is the heart of what Jesus taught under his banner: “The Gospel about the Kingdom of God” (Matt. 4:23; 9:35; Luke 4:43; Acts 8:12; 19:8; 28:23, 31). It is also the heart of the Gospel about land inheritance, prosperity and progeny announced to Abraham. “The Gospel was preached ahead of time to Abraham,” Paul says brilliantly (Gal. 3:8). But we hear very little about this in correspondence directed to correcting us!
If one reads scholarly analyses of the Kingdom of God in the teaching of Jesus it is easy to see that Jesus’ emphasis on the Kingdom to come at his return to the earth is bypassed and ignored. Some scholars, finding this information about a future apocalyptic (i.e. by spectacular intervention) Kingdom uncongenial, argue that the disciples, in their misunderstanding of Jesus, must have read the future Kingdom of God back into Jesus’ words and thus misrepresented him.
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Jesus died a torturing death to guarantee us forgiveness for our sins and with his blood to ratify the Kingdom covenant described by him in Luke 22:28-30 (note the original Greek, “covenant” here).
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Theology has some serious unfinished business. It must come to terms, courageously and candidly, with the fact that the Christian Gospel, as Jesus preached it, announces a coming catastrophic intervention by God to put an end to present injustice and human mismanagement of the planet. Jesus spoke always about the Kingdom of God, as did Paul. It is fascinating to observe how minutely Paul followed his lord in this matter. Jesus “welcomed [the people] and began speaking to them about the Kingdom of God” (Luke 9:11). Paul “welcomed all who came to him and preached the Gospel about the Kingdom of God” (Acts 28:30-31).
But do Christians today follow this example? When did you last hear an evangelist on radio or TV invite people to “repent and believe the Gospel about the Kingdom” (Mark 1:14-15)? I have seen scores of tracts claiming to offer the Gospel, which contain not a single reference to the Kingdom. When did you last share the precious information about the Kingdom and what we need to do to enter it when it comes?
May we invite you to view our new ten-minute video at Youtube, “Jesus Is Still a Jew!”
We challenge the viewing public, via this amazing internet tool — which reaches about a third of the world’s population — to take seriously the first and basic commands of Jesus. We note that Christianity has chosen not to follow the creed of its founder. It has chosen rather to substitute a so-called Nicene Creed, or Chalcedonian Creed. Was the creed of Jesus, which he labeled as the most important command of all (Mark 12:29-34), deemed inadequate? I pose this question to the Bible-reading public, hoping that they will take it as a challenge to the comfortable status quo, which apparently involves the rejection of Jesus in the name of Jesus! Would Jesus happily enter a church society which records its Triune or Trinitarian creed in terms which Jesus did not support? ... Can we really afford to found our churches on creeds so obviously at variance with the words of Jesus whom we claim to follow as lord and rabbi?
Paul obviously expected church members to play their part in the propagation of the Gospel Message about the Kingdom. He noted that when he was in prison “most of the brethren...have far more courage to speak the Word of God [the Gospel] without fear” (Phil. 1:14).
It is our Christian duty to be evangelists for Jesus and his Kingdom. Timothy was instructed to “proclaim the word” of the Kingdom (Matt. 13:19) at every opportunity (2 Tim. 4:1-2). The treasure of the Kingdom message given to us (Matt. 13:11, 44, 46) is not to be hoarded. It is to be passed on to others who have never perhaps even heard about it.
A fierce judgment awaits those who do nothing with the talent they have been given. They don’t just miss out on rewards in the Kingdom; they are excluded from the Kingdom itself (Matt. 25:28-30).
The New Testament is held together by a single concept which provides unity to all its parts. The church will become unified again when it adopts this New Testament pattern of teaching.
The unifying heart of the New Testament is the Gospel Message of salvation as it came from Jesus. This Gospel is called the Gospel about the Kingdom of God (Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; Mark 1:14-15; Luke 4:43; Acts 8:12; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31). It is known as the “Word” or Message about the Kingdom (Matt. 13:19) or simply the Message (“Word”) or Message of God/Gospel of God (Luke 8:11; Mark 1:14-15). Throughout the New Testament it is abbreviated to “the Word/Message.” Sometimes it appears as “the Gospel,” “the Gospel of Jesus Christ” (i.e. the Gospel which he preached as well as the Gospel about him). The same saving Message is called “the Message of the Truth,” or simply “the Truth.” In John’s gospel it is called “the witness” or “my [Jesus’] word or words/teaching.” Sometimes in Paul’s letters it is called “the mystery,” reminding us of Jesus’ “mystery of the Kingdom” (Matt. 13:11). Daniel and all the prophets are the firm basis for this.
At present evangelicals strangely avoid the obvious content of the Gospel as the Gospel of the Kingdom. This is a departure from the teaching of the Lord Jesus whom they claim to serve. Revival will come when the Gospel of the Kingdom is made the center of all preaching. Ministries of all types can compare their own writing and preaching with that of Paul and Jesus. Could it be said of modern evangelicals that they “welcome the people and begin talking about the Kingdom of God”? (see Luke 9:11; cp. Acts 28:30-31).
Talking about the Kingdom of God is one of the most satisfying activities a Christian can enjoy. It is nothing less than his duty as a servant of the Lord Messiah. What else ultimately matters, other than gaining immortality in the coming Kingdom? That immortality is to be found revealed in the Gospel (2 Tim. 1:10).
Some editing has been done.
The above was taken from
Focus On The Kingdom Vol. 12. No. 9
