Think on
These Things
July 1997
3. When Did the Kingdom "Come"?
As you read through this issue keep repeating the following passage to yourself over and over (Luke 17:20-21): Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; "nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."
This certainly required a new mindset for the Pharisees, and other than some notable exceptions (e.g., Paul) they never were able to bring themselves to change their way of thinking about the kingdom. In this issue we hope to set forth the biblical teaching with regard to the kingdom of God. Among the things we hope to establish are: (1) the kingdom of God is synonymous with the church that Jesus promised to build in Matthew 16:18, (2) this has never been and will never be a political kingdom, (3) citizenship in this kingdom is attained by the prospect rendering obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and (4) the nature of this kingdom cannot be understood in terms of denominational practices. This is a major undertaking for such a short paper as this one, so we implore you to open your mind, look up the scriptures, and assure that what we are presenting is the truth.
For the most part these doctrines are contrary to common religious thinking. If you feel that either the message or the way that it is presented is in error, we would count you as a friend if you would make that known to us and give us the chance to either explain ourselves further or to make a correction if we are in error. And remember: "... the kingdom of God is within you."
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These bible study questions provide assistance to you in studying and teaching God's word. The answers are quite clear, and they prove that we can have the same understanding as the apostles had by reading what they wrote (Ephesians 3:4). We challenge you to open your bible and establish the truth.
NATURE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD (MATTHEW 13)
Why did Jesus speak to them in parables? (11)
What did the seed sown by the wayside represent? (19)
To what was Jesus likening the kingdom of heaven? (24)
Will there be only perfect people in the kingdom? (26-28)
Is it possible for us to weed out all of the evil? (29)
Who will make the separation? (30)
Will the kingdom of heaven be impressive to this world? (31)
Is the unimpressive seed representative of its power? (32)
Does leaven appear to have power? (33)
Used properly, does the leaven produce a powerful effect? (33)
What is the meaning of the parable of the tares? (38-43)
What do the filed and the pearl have in common? (44-45)
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We put the word "come" in quotes in our title for two reasons: (1) there is a sense in which there was a literal kingdom of God in Old Testament times, but clearly this is not the kingdom that both John the Baptist and Jesus stated was "at hand" -- Matt. 3:2; 4:17; 10:7 -- and (2) since "the kingdom of God is within you" and does not come by observation, we would not expect it to "come" in a literal sense.
Just what did John the Baptist and Jesus mean when they said that the kingdom was "at hand?" It is clear that they were trying to give the impression that it would not be far off, certainly not several thousand years off. Jesus confirmed this when he stated (Luke 9:27): "But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God." This infers that they were not then seeing the kingdom of God, and that some event would occur shortly in which they would "see" it.
It is clear that the "coming" of the kingdom did not precede Jesus' death. After his death his disciples asked him if he was going to restore it, seemingly still expecting a physical kingdom (Acts 1:4-8). Meditate prayerfully on this passage and see that Jesus responded by telling them exactly when the kingdom would come: on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon them.
It was at this time that Peter was led by the Holy Spirit to proclaim that (Acts 2:30-31) "... God had sworn with an oath to him [David] that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption." Thus, Jesus took the promised throne at the point of his resurrection. A throne implies a kingdom; if not it is a sham.
After pentecost the kingdom is spoken of in the past tense as being in existence. Example (Col 1:13): "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love ..." and Christians are called "a holy nation" (1 Pet. 2:9). This spiritual kingdom fits Jesus' teaching perfectly -- a kingdom that does not come by observation but is within. It also maps perfectly to the church as to it membership (citizenry), ruler (king), and time of establishment (coming).
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"... all you have to do is to call Jesus Lord"
but Jesus said (Matthew 7:21):
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."
Citizenship in God's kingdom is for those who do the will of God; all of His will to the best of one's ability. This does not merit salvation, since we can never justify ourselves and earn it (Eph. 2:8-9). Salvation is a gift of God. But God requires that we believe and seek after him (Heb. 11:6). It is God's will that this belief motivate us to turn from our sins in repentance (Luke 13:3). It is God's will that we continue to replace our sinful nature with a life of confession of Jesus as Lord of our lives (Mt. 10:32). It is the will of the Father that we be born again into his kingdom, as Jesus said (John 3:5) "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. We see that terms of entering the kingdom are identical to those of salvation -- identical to those for becoming part of the body of Christ (Rom. 6:3). Indeed, the word kingdom is used figuratively to demonstrate certain aspects of the church that can be described in no other way. Those who differentiate between the church and the kingdom do so with no biblical basis (Heb. 12:23,28).
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