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| Audio (27:28)
James Tissot, detail of 'Curses against the Pharisees' (1886-96), watercolor, Brooklyn Museum, New York. Full image. |
Kingdom of Heaven vs. Kingdom of God
What Does 'Kingdom' Mean?
- Reign ('abstract'), kingly rule, or
- Realm ('concrete'), territory controlled by a monarch?
Old Testament Background
The Son of Man in Daniel
Jewish Expectancy in Jesus' Day
- God will come in judgment at the end of the age to punish the wicked and reward the just, and God will reign through his Messiah.
- The kingdom and Messiah will be transcendental, that is, heavenly realities that will deliver God's people from centuries-long Gentile rule over Palestine.
Kingdom of God in John's Gospel and Paul's Epistles
What Is the Kingdom of God?
- Ecclesiastical. The Kingdom is the Church was the prevailing view from the time of St. Augustine through the Reformers. Now, I agree that the Church is the people of the Kingdom, but the Church is not identical to the Kingdom itself.
- Personal. The Kingdom is the experience of God in a person's individual soul. It is spiritual and non-eschatological, and involves the Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, the infinite value of the individual soul, and the ethic of love (Adolf von Harnack, Wilhelm Herrmann).
- Social. The Kingdom is a present social order based on love and solidarity, epitomized in the Social Gospel movement (Walter Rauschenbusch).
- Futuristic. The Kingdom is entirely eschatological, in that it comes at the Eschaton, the end of time. It is also apocalyptic in the sense that it breaks in suddenly upon the present world (Johannes Weiss, Gustaf Dalman, Albert Schweitzer). C.C. Caragounis sees Jesus' miracles as the preliminaries, not the kingdom of God itself, which comes at the end of the Age.
- Present. This is known as 'realized eschatology,' which holds that the Kingdom is a present reality in the person of Jesus, that all the prophets had hoped for has been realized in history (C.H. Dodd).
- Present and Future. The Kingdom is present in the person and ministry of Jesus, but is consummated in the future at Christ's return, thus it is both present and future (Werner Kümmel, Joachim Jeremias, G.R. Beasley-Murray, George E. Ladd).17
The Kingdom as Present and Future
Luke 11:20 || Matthew 12:28 -- 'The kingdom has come to you'
Luke 17:21 -- 'The kingdom of God is within you'
Now and at the End
Now | End of the Age | Scripture |
This age30 | The age to come | Mark 10:30; Matthew 12:32 |
Last Supper | Feast in the Kingdom | Matthew 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:18; 1 Corinthians 11:26. |
The Centurion's faith | Sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven | Matthew 8:5-13 |
Mustard seed | Full-grown tree | Matthew 13:31-32 |
Yeast | Leavened bread | Matthew 13:33 |
Weeds sprouted | Weeds removed at harvest | Matthew 13:24-29 |
Talents/pounds distributed | Master returns for an accounting | Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-27 |
Virgins get oil for lamps | Bridegroom comes | Matthew 25:1-13 |
The Kingdom, the Son of Man, and the Cross
and he shall bear their iniquities.' (Isaiah 53:11)
Even in Jesus' last hours we see three clear indications of the Kingdom:
The cup of wine at the Last Supper was emblematic of 'my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins' (Matthew 26:28; cf. 1 Corinthians 11:25). The first covenant on Sinai was in the context of the kingdom of the Suzerain who covenanted with the vassal nation of Israel.33 This covenant, too, was about a kingdom. Jesus said he would not drink wine again, 'until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom' (Matthew 26:28; cf. 1 Corinthians 11:26).
Before Pilate, Jesus acknowledges his Kingdom, explaining: 'My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here' (John 18:36). As he was condemned, the Kingdom was ever before him.
The thief on the cross shows amazing insight when he says, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,' and, without skipping a beat, Jesus replies, 'Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise' (Luke 23:42-43). The cross was not an obstacle to the Kingdom; it was an open door to the Kingdom through which the thief walked, followed much later by you and me.
The Hope of the Kingdom of God
A book of the compiled lessons is available in both e-book and paperback formats. |
coming with the clouds of heaven.
He approached the Ancient of Days
and was led into his presence.
He was given authority, glory and sovereign power;
all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away,
and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.' (Daniel 7:13-14)
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