The missing Kingdom

[katiemygirl]

="e.r.m., post: 4423947, member: 32000"] I agree with Katiemygirl that the kingdom is the people of God, but not only. Jesus, Paul, and Peter also rheferred to it in other ways, such as in God's will Matthew 11:12, Luke 11:20 and going to heaven Acts 14:22, 2 Peter 1:10-11. However, with regard to the prophecies, they are speaking to the reestablishment of God's people, which happened at Pentecost Acts 2:39. According to John 10:16, Matthew 28:19, and Acts 2:39, God was now opening up His kingdom to the whole world.

Hi e.r.m.
Excellent post! Thank you. I couldn't agree more with what you've written.

I spent a good amount of time looking at the word "kingdom" in the N.T. It appears 163 times. If one takes the time to look at all 163, in context, the picture of what the kingdom is becomes clear. One also has to acknowledge, after reading all 163, that there is not one time when an earthly, political kingdom is in view.

Doing this word study was an eye opener for me. I pray our premillennialist friends would do the same.

One should also look at the definition of "kingdom."
932. basileia
Strong's Concordance
basileia: kingdom, sovereignty, royal power
Original Word: βασιλεία, ας, ἡ
Short Definition: kingship, sovereignty, authority, rule, kingdom

Definition: kingship, sovereignty, authority, rule, especially of God, both in the world, and in the hearts of men; hence: kingdom, in the concrete sense.

It's easy to see that God's will is a big part of what the kingdom is.

Jesus tells us to pray "thy kingdom come thy will be done. In EACH situation we encounter, we need to ask that God bring HIS RULE and HIS WILL into our lives and situations.

Jesus was not telling us to pray for some earthly, political kingdom.

When the apostles asked Jesus when He would restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 6), they understood the kingdom to be spiritual. Jesus had opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. He had just spent 40 days teaching them about the kingdom. It's hard for me to imagine that Jesus would have left them confused about the nature of His kingdom. The apostles simply wanted to know WHEN the kingdom would be restored.

It is assumed, but never said, that the apostles were asking about a physical, earthly kingdom.

We, of course, have the priviledge of knowing that the kingdom was restored on Pentecost with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The kingdom of God is CHRIST, His rule and His will, IN US, through the Holy Spirit."

Have a safe and blessed Labor Day!

Katie

 

[e.r.m.]

You too. Thank you.

 

[e.r.m.]

Hi e.r.m.
Excellent post! Thank you. I couldn't agree more with what you've written.

I spent a good amount of time looking at the word "kingdom" in the N.T. It appears 163 times. If one takes the time to look at all 163, in context, the picture of what the kingdom is becomes clear. One also has to acknowledge, after reading all 163, that there is not one time when an earthly, political kingdom is in view.

Doing this word study was an eye opener for me. I pray our premillennialist friends would do the same.

One should also look at the definition of "kingdom."
932. basileia
Strong's Concordance
basileia: kingdom, sovereignty, royal power
Original Word: βασιλεία, ας, ἡ
Short Definition: kingship, sovereignty, authority, rule, kingdom

Definition: kingship, sovereignty, authority, rule, especially of God, both in the world, and in the hearts of men; hence: kingdom, in the concrete sense.

It's easy to see that God's will is a big part of what the kingdom is.

Jesus tells us to pray "thy kingdom come thy will be done. In EACH situation we encounter, we need to ask that God bring HIS RULE and HIS WILL into our lives and situations.

Jesus was not telling us to pray for some earthly, political kingdom.

When the apostles asked Jesus when He would restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 6), they understood the kingdom to be spiritual. Jesus had opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. He had just spent 40 days teaching them about the kingdom. It's hard for me to imagine that Jesus would have left them confused about the nature of His kingdom. The apostles simply wanted to know WHEN the kingdom would be restored.

It is assumed, but never said, that the apostles were asking about a physical, earthly kingdom.

We, of course, have the priviledge of knowing that the kingdom was restored on Pentecost with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The kingdom of God is CHRIST, His rule and His will, IN US, through the Holy Spirit."

Have a safe and blessed Labor Day!

Katie

I quoted your post on another forum. I used the missing kingdom thread there too. Thank you.

 

[katiemygirl]

I quoted your post on another forum. I used the missing kingdom thread there too. Thank you.

Here is a link to the 163 occurrences of "kingdom" in the N.T. You might want to share it as well.

Reading each occurrence in its context is a real eye opener.

http://biblehub.com/greek/strongs_932.htm

 

[e.r.m.]

Here is a link to the 163 occurrences of "kingdom" in the N.T. You might want to share it as well.

Reading each occurrence in its context is a real eye opener.

http://biblehub.com/greek/strongs_932.htm

Thank you.

 

[Rise]

Leaders at my church have taught on it. I've seen other leaders in the broader "spirit filled" church movement teach on it as well, like Bill Johnson and Todd White.

I think it is important to define what it is before asking the question. The Kingdom of God is the rulership of God. This is both a reference to submitting ourselves to the rulership of God in our life, as well as referring to God's rule being manifest in world on a global scale to bring right order to creation, justice, peace, etc. In that sense it applies both to the here and now individual of our submission to God's will as well as the future rule and reign of Jesus Christ over the whole earth in a physical way. From what I've seen some get it wrong by focusing on one aspect over the other instead of realizing it's both.
I've heard it best said that the Kingdom of Heaven is "now but not yet". It is manifest now in our obedience to God and demonstrations of power by His Spirit (ie. miracle healing), but it's not yet in the sense that we are still waiting for a greater and complete fulfillment of God's Kingdom where everything in creation is brought under submission to Him.
The NT refers to the gift of the Holy Spirit as a downpayment and guarantee of our full inheritence. Seeing God's Kingdom (his truth, his goodness, his ways) manifest into our world today through His Spiritis therefore a taste of what is to come and an assurance that He will deliver what He has promised in full at some point.

As fo the question: From what I've seen I don't believe it's talked about in most churches.

Why is that? I'd also say because it's not commonly understood or even recognized as something that needs to be understood.
I believe the main reason we don't see an emphasis on it in churches is because there is no emphasis on it in seminaries or bible colleges. There's little to no systematic doctrinal study of the Kingdom in the way other topics are covered. So leaders that come out of the system often tend to emphasize the things their teachers emphasized.
Some doctrines and colleges are against the idea that God's Kingdom could be manifest today in miraculous power. Others are so secular and liberal in their approach to the scripture that they probably don't even believe in prophetic fulfillment of anything in the bible - so how can they be expected to believe in a literal return of Jesus to rule over the earth; let alone demonstrations of his rule over creation in the present?

Which is sad because understanding the Kingdom is actually central to what we should know, and central to what we should share with others. Matthew records we are to go into all the world and preach the good news of the Kingdom. How can we do that if we don't have a solid idea of what the bible says the Kingdom is?

I was asking my wife what she thought about the question from her perspective of someone growing up and being educated in a cessationist church culture. She wondered if it was related to a time in the protestant reformation where there was a backlash against the idea of miracles happening today because the catholic church pointed to the miracles of their historic saints as proof of their God ordained authority over the natural world. In that same sense, perhaps the protestant reformation also carried with it a backlash to the idea that God's Kingdom could be made manifest in the present natural world, in any way, because of how the catholic church leaders had abused that idea to commit evil and say they were given the authority to do it simply by virtue of their institution's heritage. As a result, the protestants put it all off until the end time when Jesus returns physically, so it ceases to have much relevance to the modern believer as something worth preaching about or sharing as a part of the gospel.
So bringing people into the Kingdom of God became seen more about being saved from your sin so you can get to heaven, instead of being seen as God's transforming spirit moving to bring us and the world into alignment with Heavenly will. Which is not the same as the abusive and unchristlike way the Catholic church tried to practice the concept, which resembled the pharisaic religious system of Jesus's day more than the disciples and early church of Jesus.

The upside is that I've noticed a lot of people who learn from the bible inductively, take it as inspired truth, and seek to be led by God's spirit into all truth, generally tend to focus more on the things of the Kingdom.
Over the last century we've seen a reawakening to the truth that miracles are still for today, and in the last generation or two we've seen the church move more into an awareness of the concept that the Gospel is not only about getting to heaven one day; but about seeing the world brought into alignment with Kingdom of God through our life lived. Through loving influence, standing for truth, and the demonstration of a life lived in alignment with God's Spirit, we can see the world choose to submit to Him in the same way. For those that don't, He will one day return to bring judgement on those who chose evil, and set up His righteous Kingdom over the earth in fullness.

 

[Notaclue]

Matt.13:36. Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38The field is the world; the 'good seed' are the 'children of the kingdom'; but the 'tares' are the 'children of the wicked one;' 39The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world(age). 41The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of "his kingdom" all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the "kingdom of their Father". Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.


Matt.13:24. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30. "Let both grow together until the harvest:" and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.


Kingdom of the Son has tares in it..........Kingdom of the Father has no tares in it.


Matt.25:31. When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33And he shall set the sheep(children of the kingdom) on his right hand, but the goats(tares) on the left.
34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed "of my Father" "inherit the kingdom" prepared for you from the foundation of the world:


Peace.

 

[Hawkins]

One of the NT revelation is that "Earth is not the final place to be built, earth is not God's final goal". God's Ultimate Plan (or part of it) is to build an eternal world called heaven, earth is just a temporary place where the sheep and goats are to be separated and wheat and weeds are to be identified. The final Kingdom of Heaven is where the sheep and wheat will belong. It's a place where they will live together with God and His angels.

Kingdom of God is in a broader sense that those sheep and wheat are currently on earth, they will be in Heaven in the future yet now they can already be inside the Kingdom of God. Kingdom of God is "thy Kingdom of Heaven come on earth, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven".

 

[Notaclue]

One of the NT revelation is that "Earth is not the final place to be built, earth is not God's final goal". God's Ultimate Plan (or part of it) is to build an eternal world called heaven, earth is just a temporary place where the sheep and goats are to be separated and wheat and weeds are to be identified. The final Kingdom of Heaven is where the sheep and wheat will belong. It's a place where they will live together with God and His angels.

Kingdom of God is in a broader sense that those sheep and wheat are currently on earth, they will be in Heaven in the future yet now they can already be inside the Kingdom of God. Kingdom of God is "thy Kingdom of Heaven come on earth, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven".

What about the "New" Earth?

 

[rusra02]

Jesus spoke so much about the kingdom.
A phrase he used often was "The kingdom of heaven is like..."
The fish, the weeds, the tenants, the seed, the pearl, etc.

The apostles (including Paul Acts 20:25, 28:23, 31) spoke much about the kingdom of God. I can come up with a number of scriptures.

Yet, with as much attention given to it in the NT, in my experience the gospel of kingdom rarely gets spoken of off the pulpit. I stress "in my experience". I obviously won't claim to have been everywhere and seen everything. In my experience, the groups I've heard mention it the most are Churches of Christ, JWs (although I disagree with their view on what the kingdom is), and spanish speaking churches of whatever belief system "El Reino de Dios". I'm not asking specifically to discuss what the kingdom is, but if others have had the same experience not being taught or preached about the gospel of the kingdom, and if so, what you think the reason for it is.

Thank you.

What do you think the reason might be? Perhaps because they are part of this world, and not following the Christ? Jesus said of his disciples; "They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world." (John 17:16) In contrast, you are more likely to hear a political pitch than a discourse about God's kingdom in many churches. BTW, what do you believe the kingdom if God is?

 

[e.r.m.]

What do you think the reason might be? Perhaps because they are part of this world, and not following the Christ? Jesus said of his disciples; "They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world." (John 17:16) In contrast, you are more likely to hear a political pitch than a discourse about God's kingdom in many churches.

I believe churches who subscribe to the by grace alone, through faith alone belief system treat the gospel of the kingdom as inconsequential to or interfering with "the program"/the "simplified gospel", which says
"God loves you and wants to have a relationship with you. All ya gotta do is accept the gift He is holding out, which He made possible through the DBR of Jesus Christ." To them, that's the entirety of the Gospel. The gospel of the Kingdom, which Jesus, Paul, and others preached extensively about, doesn't fit into this program.

BTW, what do you believe the kingdom if God is?

I've seen the kingdom referred to two things in the Old and New Testaments, God's dominion & His people on earth (the church) Exodus 19:5-6, John 3:3,5 and Heaven Acts 14:22.