THE KINGDOM OF GOD

The Subject of Our Preaching

Some Leaders of the Church of Pentecost in 2015

The Kingdom of God

This refers to the reign of Christ in the hearts of His followers, and therefore the benefits of His reign as well as the collective constituents. Merrill F. Unger points out that it “embraces all created intelligences both in Heaven and on earth, who are willingly subject to God and thus in fellowship with Him” (Unger’s Bible Dictionary, 1988, p740). Easton’s Bible Dictionary notes that the term is synonymous with the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of Christ and of God, as well as the Kingdom or even the Kingdom of David in the New Testament.

First use of the Term and Definition

The in the New Testament, the term appears first in the Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of St. Matthew. However, it developed in the Old Testament, as the Jews always looked forward to the restoration of their independence perpetually under a righteous King, the Messiah. This might be the reason why the Lord did not offer further definition of the term, as He used it among Jews. Subsequently, He spoke a lot about the nature of the Kingdom, who would enter it, who would not, and the superiority of its constituents and standards, often to the amazement of even His disciples. It was the central theme of The Lord’s teaching and He said the mysteries of it were then made available only to His disciples, but not the generality of the people (Mt 13:11).

Commencement and Constituents of the Kingdom of God

The Lord clearly gave the impression that the Kingdom had not commenced on earth by the time of John the Baptist (Mt 3: 2; 11:10-11), and that it was near (Mt 4:17: 10:7), although certain things that pertained only under the Kingdom of God had already begun to appear in His ministry (Mt 12:28).  The Kingdom was ushered in fully on the earth by His death and resurrection, and all who believed the Good News that the true atonement of sin had been made in His death would have Him reign in their hearts.

Blessings or Benefits of the Kingdom of God

The Key benefits of the Kingdom on earth are decipherable from Isaiah’s proclamation that was reiterated by the Lord in Luke 4:18, 19, and are as follows:

1. Complete forgiveness of sin was available for all who repent
2. The power of sin that held people captive was broken, and the Holy Spirit moved in to inspire righteous living as primary motive in the believer.
3. Believers were authorized to become children of God, granted such personal knowledge and access to God that was hitherto unprecedented.
4. The penalties of the Laws of Moses were no longer strictly applicable to the Jews, nor were they enforceable on gentiles who repented and put their faith in Jesus.
5. A grace period that made room for the proclamation of the Gospel to the ends of the earth was ushered in.

Life in the Kingdom of God

1. Entry is by repentance and faith in Jesus (Mt 3:2; 4:17, Lk 3:3,5)
2. Admission of insufficiency without God, sincere selflessness and joyful endurance under hostility marks those who are true constituents of the Kingdom (Mt 5:1-12)
3. Personal conduct that is superior (not inferior) to what obtains under the Law of Moses is the code of the Kingdom (Mt 5:19, Ro 14:17)
4. Those who have settled for a lifestyle only up to the requirements of the Law of Moses would not enter the Kingdom (Mt 5:20)
5. The King is the Father and therefore the provider of all (Mt 6:33)
6. Those who merely profess submission to Christ but do not live in submission to Him will not enter the Kingdom (Mt 7:21)
7. The Kingdom will admit people from every corner of the earth who have faith in God (Mt 8:11)
8. Citizens of the Kingdom have at work in them superior power unlike all who lived before (Mt 11:11, 1Cor 4:20, Heb 11:39-40)
9. Although it proclaims peace since John started preaching it, the Kingdom of God attracts violent attacks (Mt 11:12)
10. It would be imitated but eventually purged (Mt 13:24-30, 47-50), will begin small but surely grow and spread like mustard and leaven (Mt 13:31, 33)
11. It will mean much more than any possession to those who enter it (Mt 13:44, 45)
12. Its legitimate acts on earth will have Heaven’s backing (Mt 16:19)
13. The humble and those who serve are the greater in the Kingdom (Mt 18:1-4; 19:14)
14. Those who do not want others to have its benefits will not enter it (Mt 18:23-28)
15. The enticement of wealth offers a strong disincentive to entering the Kingdom (Mt 19:23,24)
16. The rewards of the Kingdom have no respect for those who came first or worked the longest (Mt 20:1-16)
17. Participation in the Kingdom is not to be taken for granted as one can lose his place in it (Mt 21:1-14; 25:1-13)
18. Productivity in the Kingdom would prove crucial in determining one’s eternal fate (Mt 25:14-30)

Questions and Answers

Q1. Jesus said we should pray for our enemies, as in Matthew 5:43-45 and Luke 6:28. What kind of prayer should we pray for them?

Ans: It should be a prayer of intercession out of love, that they would realize their wrong, repent and be saved. This is the kind of prayer that we received from the Lord when we are sinners (Is 53:12; Joh 17:14-18, 20, 21, Lk 23:42). The earliest disciples also interceded for even those who threatened them with death (Ac 4:29-30). Jesus described the enemies as people who hate you, curse you and mistreat you (Lk 6: 28, 29).

At another place, Jesus mentions the enemy, Satan (whose works He had come to destroy, 1Joh 3:8) and demons. Jesus did not pray for Satan and demons, and does not require us to pray for them. Rather, He resisted Satan (also referred to as the devil, the adversary, the father of lies) and we must resist him, by refusing to give in to his temptations, (Mt 4:1-11, Ja 4:7, Eph 6:11, 1Pe 5:8, 9). He cast out demons (also referred to as evil spirits, unclean spirits, devils, or the spirits) and gives us power to cast them out of the persons they possess (Mt 8:16; 16:17).

Q2. Should “Your Kingdom come” in the Lord’s Prayer be part of the prayers of the first disciples alone, or of all us disciples of Jesus?

Ans: In the hearts of those who believe in Jesus the Kingdom of God has come. However, we must continue to intercede that it comes in the hearts of those yet to believe. In any case the Bible’s teaching about the Kingdom of God looks beyond the period when children of the Kingdom co-exist with those outside it to its full consummation, when (after the Gospel has reached all corners of the earth), non-adherents shall be dealt with, and there shall be none to raise a finger to question Christ (See Mt 13:37-43; 24:14)

Q3. When is judgment after death? Is the grace period the period between death and judgment?

Ans: The Bible teaches that once a person dies, his/her fate is fixed, and no grace can work for him/her again (Heb 9:27). So if you die a sinner, your condemnation is sealed and on the Judgment day your sentence will only be confirmed. The Day of Judgment is also called the Day of the Lord (1Thess 5:2, 2Pe 3:10) or the Last Day (Joh 12:48). The righteous, those who lived by faith in God, will upon the resurrection enjoy eternal life with God, and those who did not will enter condemnation (See 2Pe 3:7, 2Thess 1:5-10, Rev 20:11-21:8). Between the period of a person’s death and the Day of the Lord, no help can be given the dead, since judgment will be according to what a person did while he/she was alive in the body (2Cor 5:10, Rev 22:12)

Q4. Did Christ die to restore the lost dominion in the Garden of Eden to us?

Ans: There is every evidence that man, even in his fallen state, retained dominion over the creation of God, and the creation is subjected together with him under the banishment from Eden and the fellowship of God (Ro 8:19-22). Christ’s death is therefore not directed at restoration of this dominion, but primarily at the restoration of the broken fellowship with God (1Col 1:20).

Q5. How do we apply “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God” as students, and still pay adequate attention to our books?

Ans: Seeking first the Kingdom of God means prioritizing doing the will of God in your life. This is well illustrated with the Lord’s Parable of the laborer who discovered treasure in a piece of land, sold all he had to acquire that land. The laborer objective for working was to earn a living, and so when he found something which could make him earn more than a living, he went for it (Mt 13:44, 45). The student’s temporal objective may be to excel academically. Working in the church and determining in your heart to live according to the righteous standards of God can give you more than academic excellence: It gives you an eternal objective with you peace of mind and moral excellence.

Q6. Is it bad to pray for earthly things such as (prosperity and success)?

Ans: The Bible teaches that while it is right to ask God to supply our needs, while we work hard at same, it is wrong to make such earthly possessions your priority, major occupation, or things to worry about (Mt 6:11, Php 4:6) . Also, we must not look at success in the same way that unbelievers look at success or prosperity: for them, it is the accumulation of earthly possessions and rest from labor that signify prosperity and success. The child of God, however, counts success as walking in the ways of God and using what he/she acquires to bring others into the Kingdom of God. These guarantee treasure in Heaven (Mt 6:19-21; 31-32, Lk 12:16-21).

Q7. Why do we suspend people in the Church, if God has set us free from the penalty of the Law?

Ans: Penalties under the Law of Moses included sin offerings (Lev 4), restitution (Nu 5:5-10) and death (Ex 22:18-20), and were at best prohibitive. Church discipline, however, includes rebukes (1Tim 5:20), suspensions and even excommunication of erring believers, and is primarily aimed at correcting them. It they mended their ways, they were to be restored to fellowship (Mt 18:15-18, 1Cor 5:1-6, Gal 6:1).