By Neil Earle
“To miss the meaning of the phrase Kingdom of God is to miss Jesus altogether,” asserts historian Gordon Fee. For Fee the “Kingdom of God” is the essential term for understanding Jesus.
That’s why, at the beginning of a new year, a new decade, it might be good to go back and reflect on the very essence of the Gospel, what it is, what it means and where Jesus the Christ fits in. In the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus clearly sees His Mission in terms of the Kingdom of God. “The time is fulfilled, the Kingdom is at hand, repent and believe the Gospel” (Mark 1:15).
This is the opening theme and it gets amplified powerfully. His miracles represented the breaking in of the Kingdom here and now (Luke 11:20). The Sermon on the Mount represents the Life and Morals of the Kingdom here now. Matthew 24 and 25 speaks to the inevitable triumph of the Kingdom. The Mystery of the Kingdom (Matthew 13:11) is in part the fact that Jesus sees God’s Rule already acting in His ministry but present in the weakness of servant-hood and suffering (2 Corinthians 13:4).
Yet in John’s Gospel the Kingdom is only mentioned twice! Think of that. And St. Paul has numerous terms such as the Gospel of Grace, the Gospel of your Salvation, the Gospel of Peace, the Gospel of our Lord, the Gospel of Christ, and the Gospel as the Power of God (Romans 1:16). How can this be? Part of the answer lies in the fact that by the time John was writing the disciples saw the Kingdom in much more holistic terms. They saw it as centered in the Ministry of Jesus Himself (John 11:24). In its final development, it meant a strong emphasis on the re-creation of the entire universe in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
This should not surprise us for the Kingdom of God is a phrase that kept evolving in Bible history and a phrase Jesus himself reworked in His teaching.
When King David made his offerings for the Temple he knew that his kingdom was subservient to the overarching Kingdom and Rule of God. First Chronicles 29:11 gives us the phrase “for Thine is the kingdom” which anticipates the teaching of Jesus. Numerous psalms say “The Lord reigns.” But…as time went on the Jewish nation interpreted the Kingdom in narrow nationalistic terms, they looked to the Kingdom of God as future time when their nation would be Boss Nation over all the Gentiles. The Prophet Amos tried to warn them against this narrow interpretation of the Kingdom (Amos 5:18). Isaiah insisted over and over that the Kingdom was for all the nations (Isaiah 54:3).
Jesus came along and by the authority he possessed he reinterpreted that older message of God’s Rule and Reign and gave it newer life. “The Kingdom is here,” he taught the Jewish leaders, “but it’s not like you expected.”
The Jewish hierarchy expected a physical nation with a King, Laws, Territory and Subjects in which they would be top dog. Those terms fit the concept in the English word “kingdom” that even many Christian groups espouse today. This includes us in Grace Communion International when we were known as Worldwide Church of God. But in the Greek the word “kingdom” (basileia) is much more abstract and open-ended. It has the meaning of “sovereignty, royal power, dominion” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, page 294). Perhaps the Spanish Bible describes it best as “el reino de dios” – the Reign of God. How long has God been reigning? Forever. David and Isaiah knew that. This is one reason when Jesus came he sharpened the Kingdom message more considerably, reaching back behind Rabbinic Judaism to an earlier concept. Notice Luke 11:20, “But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
That is why he did his mighty works – as a token that the Kingdom of God was among the people. It was breaking in already. It was “at hand.” It was a spiritual kingdom but one that packed a powerful worldly wallop.
— In Jesus' teaching the Kingdom came as a sheer surprising gift for publicans and sinners, for harlots and outcast. Jesus warned that the overly strict Pharisees would be shut out during the final consummation of the Kingdom but the Gentiles would be welcomed (Matthew 8:11). The last shall be first and the first, last.
— Jesus explained that the ones in on the Kingdom were those who relieve suffering, who serve their fellow man. As they did it to the least of these, they did it to Him, the Suffering Servant of Isaiah (Matthew 25).
— For Jesus the Rule of God was already active (Matthew 11:5). Those who saw him do his mighty works of healing and raising the dead were witnessing the Presence of the Future. Healing, rescue and salvation already at hand.
— The kingdom came in great weakness – like a mustard seed now – but climaxes in mighty power. The King is killed, the flock is scattered but the ultimate triumph was assured.
— The accent is on help, healing compassion, seeking the stray sheep (Matthew 9:35-38). Those who respond are usually the less, the least and the lost.
Now we can understand why the words “Grace,” “Hope” and “New Creation” become attached to the Gospel message in the writings of Paul. The disciples and apostles saw that Gospel and Kingdom went hand and hand in the ministry of Jesus. So Colossians 1:12-13 very boldly says that we are already qualified by the Father to be translated into the Kingdom of the Son he loves. This is marvelous teaching. Attached to the Kingdom message in the Gospel of the early church was the certain knowledge that wherever Jesus was, there the Kingdom was already acting with grace and eternal life for all who would receive it (John 11:24).
May God help us all to understand more fully and to never let go of that message.