It seems odd to me that Biblical scholars are still uncertain over what Jesus meant by the Kingdom of God, and have so many theories to explain what it might be. Why would this be so nearly 2000 years after Jesus’ ministry, in which he proclaimed the Kingdom of God to the Jews of his day? Has the Church lost its meaning over the years? One thing seems certain, when John the Baptist and Jesus came preaching that the Kingdom of Heaven or Kingdom of God was near (Matthew 3:1-2; 4:17), the Gospel writers didn’t feel the necessity to explain what the term meant. The Jewish people seemed to at least understand what both Jesus and John meant when they spoke of the nearness of the Kingdom of God. No one believed it would be established 2000 years into the future. On the contrary they looked for it to come in their expected lifetimes (Matthew 2:1-2; Mark 15:43; cf. Luke 2:25, 36-38; 24:21; Acts 1:6).
Furthermore, it also seems that the Kingdom of God is the fulfillment of Davidic Kingdom (2Samuel 7:12, 16), under the governorship of David’s Seed, or greater Son (cf. Psalm 110:1), the Messiah (Psalm 2), whose throne would endure forever (Psalm 89:29). Moreover, when the promised Messiah had finally come into the world, Magi from the east (probably high ranking Jews in the Persian Empire) came seeking “he who was born King of the Jews” (Matthew 2:1-2). Folks around the time of Jesus’ birth and during his public ministry looked for the Messiah to come and set up his Kingdom (Mark 15:43; Luke 2:25, 36-38; 24:21; Acts 1:6).
The Messiah would arise out of the house of David and gather all the outcasts of Israel and Judah a second time (Isaiah 11:1-12). Notice, that the prophecy is for the outcasts of Israel. It doesn’t claim the gathering would be of the entire nation. It is more like the righteous remnant would return (cf. Isaiah 10:20-22).[1] Moreover, the text doesn’t specifically claim that the regathering of Israel would be out of the nations and into what is called the Promised Land. Rather, the regathering would be to God (Isaiah 10:21). Did that ever occur? According to a previous study of mine, it did.[2] The outcasts of Israel and Judah or the righteous remnant were gathered by the Lord through the Gospel in the first century AD (cf. Jeremiah 23:5-8).
The Gospel calls out to all people, both Jew and gentile to repent and cease their rebellion against God and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior or their Messiah. This is Jesus, David’s greater Son, whom even King David called Lord (Psalm 110:1).
The Kingdom of God exists on earth today, but it has no national borders. It doesn’t spread through the military might of a conquering king (Isaiah 2:1-4), neither are our weapons of warfare the weapons of the nations. Rather they are strong through God for the pulling down of strongholds of the mind (2Corinthians 10:3-5). Our sword is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17), not a sword of men. Jesus rules the earth from the heavens (Revelation 11:15-18), where he sets up the kings of this world and removes them according to his will (cf. Daniel 2:21).
It is also important to point out that Jesus not only rules as King, but also as Priest. The scriptures inform us that God rejected the Levitical priesthood (Malachi 2:1-3; cf. 1Samuel 2:27-31) and promised to raise up a faithful Priest (1Samuel 2:35). God made the Messiah both King and Priest (Psalm 110:4). Nevertheless, because the Messiah obviously doesn’t spring from the tribe of Levi, but of Judah, of which Moses said nothing concerning the priesthood (cf. Hebrews 7:14), the Law needed to be changed (Hebrews 7:12). So, those of us who are called and believe the Gospel, submitting ourselves to Jesus, our Messiah, have become a kingdom of priest to God (1Peter 2:5, 9).
Therefore, while it is true that the Kingdom of God had been set up on earth during the first century AD (Daniel 2:44; 7:13-14), it is a priestly Kingdom that works out God’s will here. Just as the Levitical priesthood performed its office in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land and before the rest of their brethren received their inheritance, so, too, the priesthood of the Messiah performs its office, while in the wilderness of men (Ezekiel 20:35), i.e. the wilderness of unbelievers. Just as Jesus was tried in the wilderness of people (unbelievers), so was the first century church tried there, in the wilderness of men (unbelievers) and there they carried out the will of their God and Messiah.
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[1] This alone would preclude modern Israel from being God’s Kingdom. It was established in 1948 by atheists, agnostics and unbelievers. Today, it forbids Christian evangelism. How could such a nation be considered the work of God or the Kingdom of God? Where in the pages of the Bible do we find that God is pleased with, or establishes the desires of unbelievers?
[2] See my study, The Second Exodus.
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