Smoodock's Blog

When Jesus told his disciples to pray that God’s Kingdom would come (Matthew 6:10), what did he mean? Many biblical scholars believe, because the Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah, the Kingdom of Heaven (or of God) was delayed, until Jesus’ Second Coming. So, God’s plans for mankind have been delayed for at least 2000 years, and counting! Logic demands that such a conclusion on our part means God has erred in his judgment! In other words, when he sent Jesus into the world, what God thought was the “fullness of times” (Galatians 4:4)[1] actually wasn’t! I see no other way to put this; do you? Either God was correct and the scholars are wrong, or God was wrong and the scholars are correct, vis-à-vis Jesus either came “in the fullness of time” or he didn’t!

For the sake of argument, if Jesus set up his Kingdom in the first century AD, what would that have looked like? According to the scholars, Jesus would have had to have been set up as a literal, physical king in Jerusalem and reigned on a literal, physical throne (probably in the literal, physical Temple), defeating all the armies of the world, and bringing them into submission to God. So, instead of preaching the Gospel, where men willingly submit to God, Jesus would conquer the world by force and bring men in submission to God through a literal, physical war.

Since this didn’t occur during the first century AD, the Kingdom of Heaven was delayed until sometime in our future, vis-à-vis 2000 years later, and counting! Think about it, how many wicked men have tried to rule the world, and how many lives were lost, innocent or otherwise? If these men were wicked, because of what they did, what does that make God, if Revelation 14:20 is literally, physically true—men’s blood on the ground rising several feet high and stretching over almost 200 miles? According to the scholars, this is what must be true, sometime in our future, if, indeed, God was wrong and he didn’t send his Son, Jesus, “in the fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4).

However, according to Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven doesn’t come with observation. Folks won’t be able to point to it and say “It’s here, or it’s there!” (Luke 17:20-21)! Why won’t folks be able to see it? According to Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven (or the Kingdom of God) is within you. You see, if God cannot rule our hearts, he will never rule us by force. He may be able to force men to submit to him, because he is stronger, but even by force, God cannot rule a man’s heart. A man’s heart must be given freely, it cannot be conquered by force. Countless wars in men’s history have proved this to be so. While men can be conquered, their hearts remain their own, until they give them willingly. This is why the Gospel is so important. It speaks to a man’s heart, and doesn’t conquer his will by force.

If the scholars are wrong, then Jesus would have had to return in the first century AD, just as he said he would (Matthew 16:27-28), before that wicked generation that rejected him had passed away (Matthew 23:34-36). Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven, according to Jesus, is a spiritual Kingdom (Luke 17:20-21), not what the Jewish authorities were looking for, and the physical kingdom, in which they had placed their trust, was destroyed in AD 70, just as the Lord said would be done through the prophets:

And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off (crucified), but not for himself: and the people of the prince (Titus, the prince, and the Romans) that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary (Jerusalem and the Temple); and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined (Daniel 9:26 – parenthesis mine).

Thus, the Kingdom of Heaven was established with the disciples of Christ, as the only way in which the Lord God Almighty intended to deal with mankind. The disciples would continue to preach the Gospel, and people would believe or not, and would be judged accordingly.

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[1] According to Collins Dictionary, “in the fullness if time” means something will happen after a long time or after a long series of events. Thus, the coming of the Messiah occurred after a long time, predicted from Eden and continually by the prophets. So, Jesus came, according to the scholars, but the Jews/mankind weren’t ready, even though it was “in the fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4), according to God. Therefore, according to the scholars, they, vis-à-vis men (intelligent men) are correct, and God was wrong! Setting up the Kingdom of God, must be done with man’s permission. God’s hands are tied, at least, according to these intelligent scholars, whom we have come to believe!