The Kingdom of God

Part 1 - How it was

Part 2 - How it is
Part 3 - How it should be

Part 1 - How it was

In Genesis 1:26-28 NIV, we see the reason for which God made man and the
instruction he gave to man. In verse 26, 'let us make man in our image, in our
likeness, and let them rule over…' The original idea was for man to exercise his
rule and authority over everything that was on the earth. After God made man, he
instructed them to be fruitful, to multiply and to subdue the earth among other
things. The essence of examining how it was, before sin came into the world, is to
identify the fact that God's intention was for man to rule all over the earth in the
same manner as he rules in heaven. (Isaiah 66:1 Acts 7:49). God was not after
setting up his throne on the earth, that was why he made man to exercise authority,
exert influence and extend dominion on his behalf after all man is made in his
image and with the potential and ability of God!

Part 2 - How it is
Let us look at the place of first mention (by Jesus) in the Scriptures, the term is
first used in Matthew 4:17 and the same account is recorded in Mark 1:15. Here
Jesus was telling everyone to 'repent for the kingdom of heaven is near'. In
Matthew 19:23-14, the terms 'kingdom of heaven' and 'kingdom of God' are used
interchangeably thus affirming that they mean the same thing. Usually the kingdom
of God has dual interpretation as it could refer to the church, which is the body of
believers (Colossians 1:13, 1 Thess. 2:12) or it could be a reference to the second
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 21:31, Luke 13:28-29, Matt 8:11).

What Jesus went about saying in Matthew 4:17 and Mark 1:15 was also what John
the Baptist said, as recorded in Matthew 3:1-2. The gospel that John the Baptist
preached was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Mark 1:4).
Never before in their lives had the people in John's time heard such a message! For
them to obtain forgiveness of sins, all they had to do was sacrifice animals and that
through a high priest who would purify himself first before purifying the people.
All they had then were the Law and the Prophets so John's teaching was 'strange'
to them and for them to believe and repent, there had to be a drastic shift from
what they had always been used to. This is what Jesus meant when he talked about
the forceful advancement of the kingdom and the forceful nature of those who lay
hold of it. (See Matthew 11:12 NIV). For the purpose of illustration, if someone
from God were to tell us that grace, faith, righteousness by faith and not by works,
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit etc are all a farce and that there is a better way, I
am sure it would take more than just wishing to get us to accept this 'truth'!

The kingdom of God in time - In Matthew 12:28 and Luke 11:20, Jesus gives
pointers to how the kingdom of God operates which is essentially via a destruction
of the works of darkness. The Pharisees wanted Jesus to tell them exactly when
the kingdom of God would come but he told them that it was not about visible
signs and physical manifestations (Luke 17:20-21). Jesus went on to tell everyone
who cared to listen at the time that some of them would not die until they had
seen the kingdom of God come with power. Those people all died so if Jesus'
statement were to be true then the kingdom of God did come with power. (Luke
9:27, Mark 9:1, Acts 1:3, 8). In essence, the Holy Spirit came to give power so that
what was initially within (Luke 17:20-21) would be released for the good of the
world. We are not church for the church but for the sake of the world!

That brings us to yet another interesting dimension in this discourse! In Matthew

6:9-13, we see the Lord's teaching on prayer, what we usually refer to as the Lord's
Prayer. When the disciples went to meet Jesus on this matter, they asked him to
teach them to pray and not to teach them what to pray! Technically, that means
Jesus did not expect them to recite this prayer verbatim every time they stood
before God to pray. What Jesus gave them was a model of prayer containing many
principles they were supposed to incorporate into their own prayers. The main
thrust therefore is this: rather than pray for a kingdom that has come to come (the
church), we should be busy praying for the expansion of the kingdom of God on
the earth.

On the other hand, it is not the primary responsibility of Christians to be praying

for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ instead they should concern
themselves with preparing the earth for the second coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ (Matt 28:18-20, Mark 16:15). There can be no judgement until the world has
had the opportunity of listening to the gospel of the kingdom (Matt 24:14) and for
the gospel to reach others we must take up the responsibility of preaching it
(Romans 10:13-15). Neither Jesus nor the angels know when that will be, only the
father in heaven (Matt 24:36). When we pray out of an ignorance of the Scriptures
we do ourselves great harm as that is an error all by itself (Matt 22:29).

Part 3 - How it should be

One of the benefits that the new covenant gives us is the dual role of kings and
priests. We are kings (who can exert influence, exercise authority and extend
dominion) and priests (who can intercede for others, make petitions and stand in
the presence of the Lord) at the same time just as Jesus is (Revelation 1:5). What
we should do as those who work with and not for God (1 Cor. 3:9) is to be get
busy with the work of the kingdom preaching the gospel to all men in like manner
with Jesus (Matt 9:35).

Author’s note: This message was first preached at the Parish Youth Chapel,
Church of the Pentecost (Anglican Communion), 21 Road, Festac Town, Lagos on
Sunday, 27th March 2011 in my capacity as Coordinator.