This present study marks two dozen studies I’ve done concerning the nature of the Kingdom of God. Of course, we have seen that, with a few exceptions, all three futurists’ views—premillennialism, amillennialism and postmillennialism—look for a physical Kingdom at the still future (according to them) Second Coming of Christ. Moreover, they look for a visible return of Jesus, i.e. he will be in a physical body, when he sits on a physical throne in physical Jerusalem. However, as I have already pointed out, the scriptures do not support the futurists’ point of view on eschatology.
Notice what the writer of Hebrews says as it pertains to the nature of the Kingdom. He says: “You have not come to the mount that might be touched…” (Hebrews 12:18). Rather:
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are written in Heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (Hebrews 12:22-23; emphasis mine)
If Mount Zion cannot be touched, then it can’t be physical, can it? The writer of Hebrews told his readers in the first century AD, that they were come to Mount Zion, to heavenly Jerusalem, or the church of the first born. It seems abundantly clear to me that the book of Hebrews is not speaking of a physical city. It is spiritual, and Zion is defined here, not only as the heavenly Jerusalem, but also as the church of the firstborn or the Church of Christ (the firstborn).
The writer goes on to say that Jesus is the Mediator of a New Covenant (verse-24), and his word is not to be disobeyed. Since Israel in Moses’ day didn’t escape him who spoke on earth, neither would Jesus’ disciples escape, if they refused him who spoke from heaven (verse- 25). Notice that the King of the Messianic Kingdom speaks, not from earth, but from heaven. He who spoke from earth shook the earth when he spoke (Exodus 19:18), but God promised he would shake the earth yet again, and not only the earth, but heaven also:
For so says Jehovah of Hosts: Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. And I will shake all the nations; and the desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, says Jehovah of Hosts. (Haggai 2:6-7)
Yet, this is not a literal earthquake or shaking. Notice that the writer of Hebrews interprets Haggai to mean: “the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made…” That is, the physical (things that are made) are removed when the Lord shakes the earth a second time and the heavens also. So, let’s think about this. The readers of Hebrews in the first century AD had come to mount Zion, a spiritual city, not a physical, geopolitical city, not a city that could be touched (Hebrews 12:18, 22), and not only so, but they were come to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant (Hebrews 12:24), and remember, this couldn’t be in a literal sense, because Jesus spoke out of heaven (Hebrews 12:25). All these things existed in a spiritual reality during the first century AD. Jesus was not ruling from physical Jerusalem, but out of Mount Zion, the spiritual City of God, which was in heaven—where Jesus was and still is.
It seems clear to me from the above verses that believers in the first century AD had already received the Kingdom of God in the sense that it had been inaugurated (Hebrews 12:28). The verb receiving (G3880) is a present active participle, meaning it was then taking place and continued to be taking place. In other words, they were then receiving the blessings of the Kingdom, but in part, not in the complete sense. Rather, as in Hebrews 13:14, the believers had no continuing city on earth (i.e. no physical city). Instead, they looked for one to come—i.e. for the fulfillment.
Paul told Timothy in his second epistle that the Lord was about to judge the living and the dead. In other words, the resurrection of the dead was about to occur (2Timothy 4:1). Moreover, Paul declared that he hoped to receive a crown of righteousness on that day (2Timothy 4:8). What day was Paul referring to? He says when the Lord appears (2Timothy 4:1, 8), i.e. his Second Coming, which was about to occur, according to Paul, when Jesus would judge the living and the dead, at the time of the resurrection!
Hebrews 13:14 tells us that believers were anticipating the fulfillment of the promises at the time of the coming of the City of God (Zion) out of heaven, and Paul told Timothy that that was about to take place at the appearing of Jesus in the heavens when he would judge the living and the dead, which he did, the proof of which is his judgment upon Jerusalem and the Temple, which occurred in 70 AD (cf. Matthew 16:27-28; 24:29-31). So, those who look for Jesus’ coming nearly 2000 years after the fact, are maintaining a useless watch.
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