More than 700 years before the birth of Christ, the
prophet Isaiah was able to look into the future and prophesy, "And
it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s
house shall be established in the top of the mountains . . ."
(2:2). A younger contemporary of Isaiah, Micah, prophesied about the
same event: "But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the
mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established . . ."
(4:1). The phrases, "in the last days" and "the mountain
of the house of the Lord" have always sparked the quest to
understand the establishment of the "mountain of the house of the
Lord" and exactly when it would occur.
Several years after Isaiah and Micah, Daniel, revealing the dream of the
king of Bablyon, again spoke of "a great mountain [that would fill]
the whole earth" (2:35). In the interpretation, the
"mountain" is revealed to be the coming kingdom of God
"which shall never be destroyed" and "stand for
ever." The interpretation, also, revealed when it would be
established. God would destroy the kingdoms of men and establish His own
kingdom by sending His Son into their world. Daniel told the king:
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image.
This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee;
and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine
gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of
brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou
sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the
image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to
pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the
gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the
summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place
was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great
mountain, and filled the whole earth. (Dan. 2:31-35)
After revealing that the head of fine gold
represented the king of Bablyon, Daniel proceeded to reveal how
the kingdoms of men would degenerate from brilliance to drabness, from
strength to weakness. The golden age of man declined through silver,
brass, iron, and finally to a mixture of iron and clay until it would be
broken and scattered by the wind. And in the aftermath, "shall the
God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed . . . and
it shall stand for ever" (2:44). Daniel’s interpretation of the
coming kingdom of God set the standard for Israel’s prophets in the
following centuries. They also prophesied of the coming Messiah (the
anointed One) to establish His reign of peace, joy, and righteousness in
the kingdom of God. For Daniel and all the succeeding prophets, the
establishment of God’s kingdom would be the consummation of the ages.
The expectation of the long awaited Messiah who would come to destroy
evil and establish a kingdom of righteousness began in the days of
Abraham, patriarch of the Jewish nation. Long before the people of
Israel began to conceive of themselves as a nation, God spoke to
their father Abram:
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred,
and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And
I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make
thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them
that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall
all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:1-3).
God promised a great nation would come to Abraham and
his descendants. The nation would be blessed by God. He would not only
bless the descendants of Abraham, but he promised to bless the people
that would honor and revere the nation that God would establish. He also
promised to curse the people who would curse this nation. This promise
of God to Abraham forever produced in his descendants the expectations
of a coming kingdom of God that would be blessed and protected by God
Himself.
The descendants of Abraham have never been confused by the fact that God
had promised a coming kingdom of peace, prosperity, and justice. The
wrongs of evil would be punished and the righteousness of the good would
be rewarded. This expectation and hope has grounded the people of
God for centuries.
The confusion occurs as to when this promised kingdom would be
experienced in all of its glory. The descendants of Abraham, during the
time of David, knew without question that they were experiencing the
realized kingdom, the fulfillment of the promise of God to their father
Abraham. Their hopes and dreams of experiencing the glory of the kingdom
that would never end was shattered, however, when the kingdom of Israel
under David began to deteriorate.
The Northern ten tribes of Israel were eventually defeated and deported
by a foreign power. They would never be heard from again. When the holy
city and the holy Temple were destroyed in the south, the destruction of
the glory of the kingdom of David was completed.
During Israel’s captivity that followed the fall of the southern
kingdom, the prophets held to their belief and with visionary zeal
proclaimed that the promise of God was still true. There would be a
kingdom of God that would not be destroyed. It would stand forever. This
latter house of the Messiah, which will have no end, would be greater
than the former house of David, which came to an end. Many of the
descendants of Abraham are still waiting in expectation for the
establishment of that kingdom.
After the advent of Jesus with its renewed emphasis on the kingdom of
God, the Christian church eventually, around the year of 500 A. D, came
to believe that the physical presence of the organized church was the
promised kingdom of God. The material and temporal kingdom of Roman
Catholicism became the fulfillment of the expectation of that kingdom.
With its desire to spread peace and justice, the visible church spread
throughout the world with the hope of bringing the righteousness of God
to the world.
Many in Catholicism still believe that they are the physical
manifestation of the kingdom of God promised to their father of faith,
Abraham. But, many within the Roman church have also had their dreams
and hopes shattered. They have accepted that the visible church has
fallen far short of the promised kingdom of peace, joy, and
righteousness. Many participants today in Roman Catholicism are again
waiting in expectation for the fulfillment of the realized kingdom of
God.
After the Reformation primarily led by Luther and Calvin, the emphasis
of the visible church in Protestantism turned to the experiencing of God
in the individual’s life. The birth of modern day denominationalism
gave rise to a diversity of ways to explain how believers were to
experience their salvation in this life. With their time being taken by
defending and promulgating correct doctrinal beliefs, the various
factions in Christendom lost sight of the realized kingdom of God. The
importance of experiencing the kingdom of God and the preaching of Jesus
to come and establish that kingdom was gradually replaced with a focus
upon a heaven and a hell in the next life.
It was not until the beginning of the 20th Century that a renewed
interest in the physical kingdom of God being established on earth came
to the forefront of man’s thinking. With the rise of conservative
Biblical scholarship, a rekindled emphasis on the last days became
prominent. This modern revival of the last days began when a group of
Christians around the turn of the century began to interpret a biblical
concept of history. It was suggested that the entire history of man
would eventually come to its consummation with the end of the present
world and the beginning of a new world. They would later become known as
premillenialists, because their emphasis was upon the return of Jesus to
rapture the church into heaven before the literal 1,000 years physical
reign of Jesus on earth. This "second" coming of Christ for
the raptured church would be established as the "realized"
kingdom of God in all of its glory. Most conservative and fundamental
Christians today are waiting for Jesus to come and establish this
physical kingdom of peace, joy, and righteousness upon the earth.
Since the topic of the kingdom of God is once again so prevalent in the
preaching of many today, perhaps a fresh look back to the earliest
writings of Christianity would be beneficial. In that record, it can be
seen that the main topic of the preaching of Jesus was the kingdom of
God. The earliest written history of the church begins and ends with
statements concerning the kingdom of God. It can be justifiably set
forth from those records that the kingdom of God experienced by the
disciples of Jesus was the basis for the radical change in their lives.
The first recorded words of Jesus when He began His ministry were:
"Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the
gospel" (Mark 1:14-15). Matthew recorded, "From that time
Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand" and "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in
their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom . . ."
(4:17,23).
At this point, a brief explanation of the phrases "kingdom of
heaven" and "kingdom of God" would be advantageous. Both
phrases are referring to the same entity. When the phrase "kingdom
of heaven" is used, it has reference to the domain of the kingdom.
It is of the heavenly realm as opposed to the earthly realm. When the
phrase "kingdom of God" is used, it refers to whom the kingdom
belongs. It is the kingdom of God as opposed to the kingdom of men.
The preaching of this domain and realm of God was so powerful by Jesus
that the people who heard Him speak desired that He would remain with
them. The response of Jesus to their request was, ". . . I must
preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I
sent" (Luke 4:43). Luke would add, "And it came to pass
afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and
showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God" (8:1). Jesus stated
that "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all of the
world for a witness unto all nations . . ." (Matt. 24:14). The
preaching of the kingdom of God was so prevalent by Jesus that there are
fifty-eight references to the kingdom in the gospel of Matthew alone.
The longest recorded message contained in the Scriptures is where the
principles of the kingdom of God were given by Jesus. This Sermon on the
Mount is a powerful discourse on how the kingdom of God would now be
experienced. The kingdom of God would be so revolutionary to the kingdom
of men that Jesus taught his disciples to pray continually, "Our
Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy
will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:9-10).
The last recorded words of Jesus just before He ascended, as recorded in
Acts, consisted of ". . . speaking of the things pertaining to the
kingdom of God" (1:3). The Acts also recorded that Philip preached
". . . things concerning the kingdom of God . . ." (8:12) and
Paul "spake boldly . . . disputing and persuading the things
concerning the kingdom of God" (19:8). Finally, the Acts closed its
record: "And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and
received all that came in unto him, Preaching the kingdom of God, and
teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all
confidence, no man forbidding him" (28:30-31).
During the preaching of Jesus, He spoke so much on the kingdom of God
that finally the Pharisees demanded, ". . . when the kingdom of God
should come" (Luke 17:20). The response of Jesus to their demand is
perhaps the most precise teaching on experiencing the kingdom of God
contained in the Scriptures. It is a powerful discourse on the mysteries
of the domain and the reign of God in the lives of believers.
The first and most difficult aspect of the mysteries of the kingdom is
given to the Pharisees when they asked when the kingdom of God should
come. Jesus simply stated, "the kingdom of God cometh not with
observation" (17:20). The kingdom of God would not be seen.
Perhaps, they were thinking that the kingdom of God would be as the
kingdoms of men--physical, earthly, and experienced with the senses.
Jesus stated, however, it would not be seen by the natural eye.
In addition, to the Pharisees, He said, "Neither shall they say, Lo
here! or, lo there! for, behold the kingdom of God is within you"
(17:21). With the emphasis being "among" you (plural) as
opposed to being within an individual, Jesus is again revealing an
enigmatic feature of the kingdom of God. How do physical people with
natural senses experience the spiritual domain of a supernatural
existence? How do flesh and blood people experience the kingdom of God,
when Paul stated that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom
of God" (1 Cor. 15:50)?
When an individual enters into a relationship with another person (be it
superficial or intimate), a third entity is formed between the two flesh
and blood people. It is within this incorporeal existence of the
connection between the two that the kingdom of God is experienced. Thus,
Jesus stated that this kingdom of God is among you, or in the midst of
you.
The second great mystery of the kingdom of God and perhaps as equally
difficult for the rational mind to grasp is illustrated in Jesus’ next
statement concerning the kingdom of God. After addressing the Pharisees,
He stated to His disciples, "The days will come, when ye shall
desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see
it" (17:22). First, it should be pointed out that days is
plural in both the "days will come" and the "days of the
Son of man." There will not only be many times in the life of an
individual that he will desperately desire for Jesus to break through
into his life but there will also be numerous times when Jesus will come
to bring salvation for the desperate soul. The early followers of Jesus
never saw the second coming of Jesus as a single day in the future when
He would return but that He would come whenever the need for Him to come
was apparent.
The coming of Jesus into the lives of people would only occur after
certain things had transpired. Thus, many would desire to see Jesus
break through immediately in a special way in difficult times, but will
not be able to see it even though they desire it. Or, as Paul would
later say, Jesus does not come until the man of sin has been revealed (2
Thess. 2:1-4).
All dependency upon anything earthly must come to an end before an
individual can experience the heavenly. As Daniel would also say, the
kingdoms of men must come down before the kingdom of God can come forth
in its full glory (Dan. 2:35). This is also the reason why Paul would
state, "we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your
patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye
endure: Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that
ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also
suffer" (2 Thess. 1:3-5). The bloom of a flower cannot occur until
the planting of the seed.
When the struggles of life come, most men, if not all men, are
susceptible to turn to anyone or anything for immediate help. What often
looks like a quick, successful answer to afflictions and sufferings is
usually more detrimental than beneficial. Thus, Jesus would state that
in these times many "shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go
not after them, nor follow them" (Luke 17:23). You do not have to
go to any physical place or to any physical person (which usually offers
only physical cures) to find your help in the time of trouble. Jesus, in
His day (His coming to you), will be apparent to all. He will make
Himself known in your life with the ultimate cure just as surely as the
streak of lightning lights up the entire night (17:24). You will know
that Christ has come to bring deliverance.
Jesus revealed how an individual experienced the kingdom of God. He not
only revealed that great truth in these words but also by the
experiences of His own life. Just as every created entity must be
planted to enable the essence of life to come forth in the harvest,
Jesus Himself, being in the form and likeness of a man, also had to
"suffer many things, and be rejected of [his] generation"
(17:25). He, too, had to be planted in order to experience the harvest.
Every essence of physical dependency for life must come to an end before
the vitality of spiritual life can break forth.
Jesus illustrated His teaching concerning the manifestation of the
kingdom of God with His examples of Noah and Lot. He simply stated that
before God could establish the new world with the saving of Noah and his
family, all of the old world had to be destroyed (17:26,27). Likewise,
the same day that Lot was delivered out of Sodom, all of the city was
destroyed (17:28,29). The examples may seem to be severe or
catastrophic, but Jesus is emphasizing that to experience the glory of
the kingdom of God, the manifestation of Jesus, the old world order must
come to a complete end. Jesus is manifested in the life of an individual
only when one comes to the end of himself (17:30).
The coming of the spiritual kingdom of God at the ending of the old
world order always occurs in earth-shaking moments of life. Although the
natural tendency for everyone is to hold on to the past (after all, it
is the only foundation on which we stand regardless of how shaky it
might be), Jesus admonishes that the new way must be fully accepted with
haste. Or, as He stated, "In that day, he which shall be upon the
housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it
away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return
back" (17:31). In another message concerning the events of these
moments, Jesus simply stated that the believer must flee immediately
(Matt. 24:16). The believer must turn completely from his old ways and
embrace the new manifestation of the coming kingdom of God.
In His final admonition, Jesus revealed how difficult this turning from
the old to the new can be. When the circumstances of life bring an
individual to the threshold of the coming kingdom of God, the individual
often longs to hold on to the old world order (17:32). As Lot and his
family were being delivered out of Sodom (a salt producing economy),
they were told not to look back to the old way of living. Since Lot’s
wife was turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back, she probably
was having great difficulty in giving up that which had produced their
livelihood in Sodom. One thing is certain, all people become exactly
that thing to which they turn for life. Jesus would add, "Whosoever
shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his
life shall preserve it" (17:33).
Jesus then illustrated that because of this longing to hold on to the
past and the failure to understand the ways of life, many would miss the
opportunity to experience the glory of the manifestation of the kingdom
of God in their lives. He said that where there were two men in the same
bed, two women grinding at the same mill, and two men in the same field
"one shall be taken and the other left"(17:34-36). With the
word taken literally meaning, "to receive near" and the
word left literally meaning, "to send forth," these
apocalyptical moments would produce in some the nearness and presence of
Christ while others would continue in their ever descending paths away
from God. Each moment of the pressures of life, more pointedly each
major crisis of life, presents the opportunity to experience the
heavenly realm (to experience the nearness of Christ). It also may mean
the emotional fires of hell can be encountered (to experience distress,
despair, a sense of being forsaken, and a sense of being destroyed).
The challenge of these defining moments of life is simple. Can the
believer trust Christ? Can the believer rest in the understanding that
God is in control of these challenging moments? Or, will the believer be
persuaded away from the gospel of the kingdom by the many enticing words
of false "prophets"? In these troubling times, when God is
actually bringing down our dependency upon the physical realm to rebirth
in us a new, fresh spiritual reality, there will be many that will prey
upon those who are currently suffering the birth pains of new life. Or,
as Jesus stated, "Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles
be gathered together" (17:37).
The dying of the physical domain will always bring out those who attempt
to be "the Christ," the anointed One, who can bring relief to
the suffering saints. They offer quick, superficial remedies that look
enticing, but are empty promises. While appealing to the physical flesh
of man, they diminish the opportunity for spiritual renewal. Jesus
simply said, "go not [after them]" and "believe [them]
not" (Matt. 24:22-26).
The good news of the gospel of the kingdom of God is that every time a
seed is planted, it brings forth a harvest. The glory of the
manifestation of the kingdom of God can be experienced by every
believer. The power of the realized kingdom of God has been available to
all people since the death, resurrection, ascension, and return of
Christ through the Holy Spirit to His people. Jesus simply said, when He
began His earthly ministry, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom
of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15).
Then, He said, while addressing a large crowd of people, "Verily I
say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall
not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with
power." (Mark 9:1). Jesus has come, and He will come again and
again to enable all to experience the power and the glory of His kingdom
that knows no end.
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