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Lecture 3 – The Message of Jesus: The Kingdom of God

Bibliography

I. Howard Marshall, “The Hope of a New Age: The Kingdom of God in the New Testament”,
available online at http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/kingdom_marshall.pdf
George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament, Revd Edn (Grand Rapids, 1993), 42-
78
C.C. Caragounis, 'Kingdom of God/Heaven', in J.B. Green (et al., ed.), Dictionary of Jesus and the
Gospels (Downers Grove 1992), 417-430.
G.N. Stanton, The Gospels and Jesus (Oxford 1989), 189-203
Darrell Bock, “The Kingdom of God in New Testament Theology” in D.W. Baker (ed.),
Looking into the Future: Evangelical Studies in Eschatology (Grand Rapids, 2001), 28-60
Stephen Voorwinde, “The Kingdom of God in the Proclamation of Jesus,” in M. Harding and
A. Nobbs (eds.), The Content and Setting of the Gospel Tradition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
2010), 329-353.

For advanced discussions see:

J.D.G. Dunn, Jesus Remembered (Grand Rapids, 2003), 383-487

J.P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus. Volume Two: Mentor, Message, and
Miracles (New York 1994), 237-506.

The danger (and value) of isolating common themes in the Synoptics.

If I were to ask a church audience – what was the central message of Jesus – I would
most likely experience two things:

1. The crowd would be very confident they knew the answer.

2. Most of their answers would be wrong.

• Love?
• Social Justice?
• Salvation by grace?

In the Synoptic Gospels, the absolutely crucial term for understanding Jesus is the
“kingdom of God”.

This is easy enough to demonstrate:

• “kingdom of God” = Matthew (4), Mark (14), Luke (32), John (4).
“kingdom of heaven” = Matthew (32)
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“kingdom” = Matthew (18), Mark (4), Luke (12), John (2) - most of these are
also references to God’s kingdom.

• Chrys Caragounis estimates that there are at least 76 distinct “kingdom”

sayings across all the Synoptic material.

o Cf. Love as an example – Matt 5:44//Luke 6:27, 35; Matt 22:37-

39//Mark 12:30-33//Luke 10:27.

• Whenever the Synoptic evangelists (explain) summarise the mission of Jesus

they invariably do so in terms of the Kingdom of God. See, for example,
Mark 1:15; Matt 4:23; 9:35; Luke 4:43; 8:1.

• When Jesus first sends out the Twelve (Matt 10:7) and the Seventy-Two
(Luke 10:9), the only specific instruction given in both instances is to say
“‘The kingdom of God has come near to you”. That is the message.

• Occurs in Mark, Q, M, L.

• Occurs in parables, admonitions, apocalyptic, beatitudes.

• Language peculiar to Jesus

Seize the kingdom

Seek the kingdom

Enter the kingdom

The mystery of the kingdom

Keys of the kingdom

• The early church largely does not pick up this kingdom language – Paul (10
times); Acts (8); Hebrews (1); James (1); Revelation (2).

How to define the term?

• Jesus never defines his terms.

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1. More a Reign than a Realm

1. We usually think geography

2. The Bible often thinks of “kingdom” as the abstract idea of a king’s

“rule” or “reign” (his “dominion” or “sovereignty”).

Psalm 145:13

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

and your dominion endures through all generations

synonymous parallelism i.e. the terms “kingdom” and “dominion” are parallel.

Daniel 7:14-15 - He [the one looking like a son of man] was given authority, glory
and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is
one that will never be destroyed.

The kingdom of God as the rule of God.

2. The Eschatological Reign of God

• Not God’s present, providential and universal reign (Ps 103:19; Isa 6:5; Jer
10:7; esp his reign over Israel - Exod 15:18; Num 23:21) = Nothing happens
which God does is not in control of.

Jesus’ announcement in Mark 1:15 is

"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the
gospel."

Talking about a new day, a new age.

The kingdom as an eschatological kingdom

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Eschatology = having to do with “last” things or the “end”; i.e. resurrection,

new creation, hell, etc – are all eschatological topics.

The “kingdom of God” as an eschatological hope.

• the OT is clear that although God rules in that present providential sense

• there is another sense in which God does not yet exercise his reign.

o The righteous are not always blessed

o the wicked (God’s enemies) are not always judged.
o Human beings sin (including Israel)
o death reigns
o the devil is active
o the blessings of God have not been extended to the nations (the
Abrahamic covenant).

The hope of God’s ultimate rule or reign as something that will come in the future.

The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and
his name the only name. (Zech 14:9; see also Zeph 3:15; Isa 24:23; 52:7, 10)

The hope for a “Day of the Lord” see Isa 13:6, 9; Jer 46:10; Eze 30:3; Joel 1:15;
Amos 5:18; Oba 1:15; Zeph 1:7; Mal 4:5

A decisive moment when God will intervene in royal, kingly power, gets pushed
further in the apocalyptic literature between the Testaments

See 4 Ezra 7:113-114

But the day of judgment will be the end of this age and the beginning of the immortal
age to come, in which corruption has passed away, sinful indulgence has come to an
end, unbelief has been cut off, and righteousness has increased and truth has
appeared.

The kingdom of God = the eschatological reign of God which sets the world right

Underneath the idea of the kingdom you can place a whole interconnected series of
hopes:

• New exodus (Isa 40:9; 52:7)

• Return from exile
• New creation (Isa 65:17-65; 1 En 51)
• Resurrection (Dan 12; 1 En 51)
• Triumph over the Gentiles
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• Destruction of Satan (T. Mos 10:1)

• End of evil, and the rise of righteousness

So if that is something of the OT and Second Temple background, what of Jesus?

The Eschatological Kingdom of God in the preaching of

Jesus.

Listen again to Mark 1:15:

"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the
gospel."

• about time not space

Luke 17:20

Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come

So what did Jesus say about the kingdom?

In many respects, he is conventional in seeing it as about the future

• “your kingdom come” (Matt 6:10a)

• The first shall be last and the last first – Matt 19:30//Mark 10:31//Luke 18:30

• A future great supper, a great messianic banquet – Matt 8:11//Luke 13:29

• At times he speaks of entering the kingdom in the future – see Matt 5:20; 18:3

• He speaks of an age to come – Matt 12:32; Mark 10:30//Luke 18:30

• There is a future coming of the Son of Man – Mark 8:38//Luke 9:26

See also Luke 14:25

But the uniqueness of Jesus’ ministry lies in his announcement that the great,
dynamic, eschatological kingdom of God is already at work in his ministry. This is
already suggested by Mark:

• “The kingdom of God has come near (or “is at hand”)”

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• Matt 11:22-29 (cf. Luke 11:15-22) - 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I
cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you.

• Luke 17:20-21: “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be
observed; 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact,
the kingdom of God is among you (or in your midst)”

• Luke 4:16-30 – the fulfillment is today

• Matt 13:16-17 (cf. Luke 10:23-24) – the prophets longed to see this day

Jesus continually refers to himself as bringing about some sort of epochal change. He
seems to believe the new age is beginning now.

New wineskins (Luke 5:36-39; cf. Matt 9:16-17; Mark 2:21-22)

Jesus sees a change of epoch between himself and John the Baptist (Luke 16:16)

This is the thing that sets Jesus apart – he says the kingdom has come in some sense.
The saving rule of God has invaded the present.

How is the reign of God present in Jesus?

1. The king of God’s kingdom is present

• Christ or Messiah is a royal office

o Matt 12:41-42 (cf. Luke 11:31-32) – “something greater than Solomon

is here!”

o Mark 2:18-20 (cf. Matt 9:14-15; Luke 5:33-35) – no fasting when the
bridegroom is present.

• the idea of a feast was often a symbol for the arrival of the
Messianic/kingdom age (Is 25:6–8; 65:13; 1 Enoch 62:14; 2
Enoch 42:5; 2 Apoc. Bar. 29:8).
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2. The eschatological blessings of the kingdom begin breaking in.

• Salvation hopes in the OT were for a comprehensive transformation in

material circumstances.

o Bodies being restored from disease to wholeness (Isa 35:5-6; which is

alluded to in Matt 11:2-6)

o People being liberated from the clutch of Satan and evil spirits

Picks up on the holy War motif from the OT – see Mic 4:11-
13; Joel 3:9-15

Now transposed into a higher plane spiritually (holy war
against the devil)

cf. the apocalyptic literature of the Second Temple period,
which developed a far richer demonology/angelology – already
suggested by the kingdoms of Daniel 7-12, which are
undergirded by superhuman spiritual powers; cf. 1 Enoch
10:11–12; 1 Enoch 90:18–27; 91:12–15; Jubilees 23:29;
11QPsa Plea 15–16, “Let not a satan rule over me, nor an
unclean spirit. Neither let pain nor evil inclination have control
over my bones”; 4Q213a [Levib] 1–2 17, “let not any satan
have power over me”), the Qumran community in general and
their belief in a War between the Sons of Light and the Sons of
Darkness

God’s stronger man has come, and bound the strong man, and
by casting out demons is spoiling the house (so Mark 3:27)

• But more importantly are the more spiritual, relational, and oftentimes,
invisible blessings of the kingdom:

o The good news is being proclaimed to the poor (see – Isa 61:1-2)
• The outcasts and the brokenhearted are already experiencing
God’s forgiveness and acceptance
• Luke 6:20 – Blessed are the poor, yours is the kingdom
• Matt 5:3 – Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom.

o “sinners” are assured of final forgiveness now – (see Jer 31:31-34; Isa
53:4-6).

• Mark 2
• Matt 1.21
• Matt 26:28
• Luke 7:47
• Luke 24:47
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• Jesus restores the marginalized to community (Isa 56:3-5) by welcoming all

who will follow him to his messianic feast (Matt 9:10-13; 21:31; Mark 2:15-
19)

The mystery of the kingdom – how can it be both present and

future?

Jesus does something radical with kingdom expectations = “the mystery of the
kingdom”.

This has 2 sides to it:

1. The kingdom is already at work in the present in Jesus ministry

2. It is present in weakness – in Jesus himself.

The kingdom inaugurated but not yet consummated

for all the present blessings Jesus does bring, it is clear that:

• the desert hasn’t bloomed

• evil still abounds
• injustice reigns
• people get sick
• even the healed still die

“[The mystery is that] the kingdom of God is present in the ministry of Christ but not
with irresistible power.” (Craig Blomberg)

Hence the disturbing language of the parables of Jesus.

• Mustard seed (Matt 13:31// Mark 4:31//Luke 13:19)

• Yeast (Matt 13:33)

• Hidden Treasure (Matt 13:44)

The common dynamic of the kingdom beginning in smallness.

The future age of God’s eschatological rule has broken into our present without
ending the old age.
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We therefore live in a unique time period – we live “between the ages”.

The Kingdom is now, and the kingdom is not yet.

Thus the ministry of Jesus is filled with a sort of paradoxical tension:

• The power of Jesus is present in weakness

• The royal Messiah is a suffering servant

This is the eschatological framework for all New Testament theology. Every NT
book lives within this tension.

“The early believers, therefore, learned to be a truly eschatological people. They lived
between the times – that is, between the beginning of the end and the consummation
of the end. ….. Already they knew God’s free and full forgiveness, but they had not
yet been perfected (Phil 3:7-14). Already victory over death was theirs (1 Cor 3:22),
yet they would still die (Phil 3:20-22). Already they lived in the Spirit, yet they still
lived in the world where Satan could attack (Eph 6:10-17). Already they had been
justified and faced no condemnation (Rom 8:1), yet there was still to be a future
judgement (2 Cor 5:10). They were God’s future people; they had been conditioned
by the future. They knew its benefits, lived in light of its values, but they, as we, still
had to live out these benefits and values in the present world.” (Fee and Stuart, How
to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 2nd edn, p.133)

Some lingering questions

Why does Matthew use kingdom of heaven?

Matthew alone employs the phrase “kingdom of heaven” in place of “kingdom of

God.” Though some have tried to make a distinction in the referents of the two
phrases, the presence of numerous parallels nullifies this claim (e.g., Mt 5:3 par. Lk
6:20; Mt 8:11 par. Lk 13:29; Mt 11:11 par. Lk 7:28; Mt 13:11 par. Mk 4:11 and Lk
8:10: Mt 13:31 par. Mk 4:30 and Lk 13:18; Mt 19:14 par. Mk 10:14 and Lk 18:16).

If Kingdom is primarily about the “rule” of God, how does one explain the
idea of entering the kingdom (Mark 9:47), receiving the kingdom (Mark
10:15) or inheriting the kingdom (Matt 25:34)?

It does appear that at times kingdom refers to the things the reign brings about
(salvation, a new community, etc.)