What is the Kingdom of God???

How should we understand the kingdom of God? When does it appear in God’s plan? Where will it be? What does “Kingdom of God” mean? And we could go on, and on, and on with such questions.

I would argue that if you have been a regular part of or member of a church for at least one year you have heard the phrase: “kingdom of God.” You may remember the great promise of our Savior, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” For others the phrase may have arisen in a question similar to those above: What is the Kingdom of God? The topic and questions arise because this is a crucial part of not only understanding eschatology but the story of the Bible as a whole.

Any effort one can put into understanding the Bible’s teaching on the Kingdom of God will be of great benefit. Now I confess, I am not an expert on this topic. However, my goal for this post…and possibly the next is not to give THE ANSWER. My goal is to present questions and ideas which hopefully provoke thought as you read. To this end I plan to share the very things which have been most helpful to me in my searching for answers. With that I will make particular assertions which I have grown confident of yet I am open to correction and alteration.

First: One Point of Clarity

Although I do not have nearly as much figured out on this topic as others do, here is what I do affirm up front. God as King and the ultimate Authority has been the ever present reality from creation (Ps. 90:2; 93:2; Jer. 10:10). However, at the end of this world as we know it His kingdom will be manifest on this earth with Christ ruling on earth in the full glory of his divinity and humanity. Please keep this affirmation in mind as I move forward. I do believe one day the Son of Man will physically sit enthroned on this earth.

“Already But Not Yet”

The term “already but not yet” is a common way of describing the time frame of God’s kingdom as it arrives. The Bible, specifically the New Testament, at times speaks of it as “already” here yet in other way it has “not yet” arrived. Allow me to give an example.

Imagine you are standing at a train station waiting for the next train. It should be pulling in at any moment. You hear the whistle blow as it comes into sight down the tracks. A minute later the first cars of the train pass in front of you….PAUSE. There you stand frozen in time. The first few cars out of 100 cars have pulled into the station…QUESTION: Has the train arrived? Yes. You would not be lying if you told someone the train had arrived. Yet, there are still train cars which have yet to pull in. The train has “already” arrive d “but not yet.”

This idea shows itself in the earthly life and ministry of our Lord. He began to bring into reality that which for centuries was thought to arrive only at the end of time. Here are two examples: The Resurrection and The Promised New Creation.

• The Resurrection: The Judaism which Jesus was born into believed in the resurrection of the dead, but that it would only happen at the end of time. Remember Martha’s words to Jesus after Lazarus’ death: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” We see a confession of it there in John 11 however we get an even better example in Mark 9:10. Right before this verse Jesus has told his disciples that he will rise from the dead. However the way he says it is to convey the idea: to rise from among the dead. We read in 9:10, “So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.” Their question makes it all the more clear that the rising Jesus spoke of was something other than the traditional belief of a resurrection at the end. Jesus was speaking of an unexpected event which no one or hardly anyone expected. In this we find a helpful point for our current discussion. Jesus’ resurrection began the promised end times. What the prophets had looked ahead to, Jesus was beginning to bring into reality. We could say that Jesus grabbed ahold of the last events and brought them into the now, into reality. In Jesus the resurrection has “already” begun “but” it is “not yet” complete.
• The Promised New Creation: The Old Testament is rich with images as well as written out promises of a new beginning to this world. God promised through the prophets that a day would come when creation was not simply “good” as it was in Eden, but that it will be “glorious” as God always planned. The clearest and most useful example for our purposes is Isaiah 65:17, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.” Although the timing of the fullness of this promise to be realized is debated (whether in the millennium or new creation) what is clear from the apostle Paul is that the promise from Isaiah 65 has already begun to be fulfilled. Paul teaches us this in a verse which is a favorite to many, 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Here the apostle Paul is explaining that God’s promised work to renew or redeem creation as begun with the redeeming of humanity: “If anyone is in Christ, he is new creation.” You may notice one word missing in that last quotation, the word “a”. Chris Bruno in his book The Whole Message of the Bible in 16 Words (highly recommended) he points out that “a” has no equivalent in Greek. Therefore the NIV’s translation is preferable: “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.” Jesus’ work of renewing has “already” begun “but” it is “not yet” complete.

Notice how the realities of these two New Testament topics are clearly seen, however, they are not in their fullness. They are already among us but not yet in their fullness.

“Paul is saying that when someone is united by faith to Christ, that is an evidence that the new creation has dawned.”

-Christ Bruno, ‘The Whole Message of the Bible in 16 Words

I propose that we see the same thing with the Kingdom of God. In the scriptures we see a similar development as the “already but not yet”. The teaching of the kingdom goes from vague to growing in clarity. The presence likewise develops in its fullness and how it is manifest.

Further Thoughts for the Next Post

Finally I desire to put a few thoughts forward regarding this to set up the next blog post. In part two I will further elaborate the ideas given below.

1. Kingdom & Kingship: In the Bible God’s kingdom is not always a reference to a earthly, tangible structure with Jesus sitting on a throne. As we will see the next post kingdom (or like phrase) can also be a reference to the concept of God as Lord and King of all (“kingship”). The distinction of these two should be made so that when we read and study our Bibles we do not fall into error. The errors we might make could be a confusion of the two, a conflating of the two, or criss-crossing the two and thus lacking consistency. We see both of these in scripture and in the now. It is at The End that we see both fully manifest in one singular glory.
2. God’s People, Place, & Rule: Bible teacher Graeme Goldsworthy is noted for defining God’s kingdom as “God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule.” I believe this to be a very helpful view, broadly speaking, of the kingdom, from Genesis to Revelation. I do not believe, neither does Goldsworthy claim, that this definition is exhaustive. However, the principle works as an excellent guide through the big picture of scripture (the forest, not the trees) from which we can begin to dig deeper (looking at the trees). I would recommend googling him and reading his material.

These two points will form something of a grid by which I will begin to present the kingdom of God. This presentation is in line with the biblical data as we will see later.

Conclusion

The pursuit of better understanding the kingdom & kingship of God is worthy of our mental effort. It is worthy and beneficial as it provides stability in how we read the details of the Bible which tie to it. The study of the kingdom of God places continuity within the bible’s historical timeline yet also the timeline for all of time. It reaches into our lives today and forms how we view life. In it we are guided in how we look to the future and see the hope that we have.

PS – If you like videos and want some material to go to on this issue check out Vaughan Roberts’ God’s Big Picture. In my opinion this material is the best introductory resource regarding the study of the kingdom of God. Each video is only 10 minutes long. Below is the introductory video.