{"id":1250,"date":"2012-06-14T03:58:55","date_gmt":"2012-06-14T03:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/june-qthe-kingdom-of-god-in-the-gospelsq\/"},"modified":"2014-01-21T06:53:28","modified_gmt":"2014-01-21T06:53:28","slug":"june-qthe-kingdom-of-god-in-the-gospelsq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/june-qthe-kingdom-of-god-in-the-gospelsq\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kingdom of God in the Gospels"},"content":{"rendered":"

Few subjects have been of greater interest to me in my ministry as a pastor and teacher than that of the Kingdom of God.\u00a0 Coming out of high school and going to Bible College I knew nothing of its doctrinal significance.\u00a0 I must confess that I knew little more than that coming out of Bible College.\u00a0 The gospels especially were confusing to me and my \u201cLife of Christ\u201d class consisted only of lists of miracles, parables, and people.\u00a0 Seminary did not have a class on the Life of Christ as such, but it had something that opened my eyes and broadened my understanding of the Bible, and that was a class on the kingdom.1<\/sup> In addition, understanding the kingdom in a traditional premillennial, dispensational setting even further broadened my perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, putting Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John together in a consistent way that made sense without destroying each book\u2019s individual purpose was challenging.\u00a0 Even more so was the definition of the kingdom in the gospel record.\u00a0 But God forced the issue.\u00a0 I began teaching in a West coast Bible College in 1978 and the first class I was given to teach was The Life of Christ.\u00a0 The two required texts were A.T. Robertson\u2019s Harmony of the Gospels<\/i> (a valuable tool in any day) and Philip Vollmer\u2019s The Modern Student\u2019s Life of Christ<\/i> which was anything but modern, being published in 1912.\u00a0 Robertson lists 184 events in the life of Christ, so we took out a piece of paper and put #1 at the top and started there.\u00a0 In a year\u2019s time we went through 184 events, studying the time, place, and context. I did that for the next ten years and learned far more than any of my students.\u00a0 In 1981 J. Dwight Pentecost published his Words and Works of Jesus Christ <\/i>which became the text for my class.\u00a0 Interestingly he goes through the events of Christ\u2019s life paralleling Robertson\u2019s harmony but with his own titles.\u00a0 To me it is still the best book on the subject.\u00a0 (It was my privilege again to teach a module version of the class in Kiev, Ukraine to pastors and teachers this past April).<\/span><\/p>\n

It is because I love the subject of the kingdom of God that today\u2019s lax use of the term catches my attention.\u00a0 An insufficient understanding of the kingdom, especially in the gospels, can lead to all kinds of theological and practical errors. McClain begins his book with eight interpretations of the kingdom.2<\/sup> None is more liberal than the Social-Kingdom idea.\u00a0 He says, <\/span><\/p>\n

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In the long history of special interpretations of the Kingdom of God, there has been none more one-sided or guilty of greater excesses than this Social-Kingdom conception.\u00a0 With fanatical zeal some of its champions have been ready to scrap almost anything in the realm of Christian faith and morals if only the process of \u2018social reconstruction\u2019 could be somehow advanced.3<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

McClain cites liberal thinkers such as Walter Rauschenbush, Shailer Matthews, and E. Stanley Jones as examples of liberals who were able to advance their causes (especially of a social gospel) when the definition of the kingdom was bent to suit their purposes.\u00a0 It continues today.\u00a0 If we used the word \u201cchurch\u201d as loosely as we use the word \u201ckingdom,\u201d heretical fires would begin to burn.\u00a0 That is why I was interested when, browsing the marked-down section of a book store, I saw a title by W.B. Riley (a champion of fundamentalism from the generation prior to ours), The Only Hope of Church or World.<\/i> Upon opening the book I had turned to chapter II which is titled \u201cThe Church and the Kingdom A Distinction.\u201d\u00a0 The chapter begins this way,<\/span><\/p>\n

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There are certain words that distinguish the liberal theologian as perfectly as ever the ranchman\u2019s brand indicated his ownership.\u00a0 Among them no word is more suggestive of loose thinking and liberal theology than the word \u2018kingdom.\u2019\u00a0 They not only employ it as a synonym for the church, but as an all-inclusive term that covers every spiritual, moral, ecclesiastical, social, and now even party and political interest.4<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is not a fault just of liberals.\u00a0 All of us are guilty at times of using biblical terms to suit our own purposes.\u00a0 However, it seems the broad use of \u201ckingdom\u201d is as loose as ever.\u00a0 In preaching through the Beatitudes (part of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5-7), I constantly read of the struggle on how to understand Jesus\u2019 use of the term. \u00a0If it can be taken to mean something in the present age (whether in addition to, or in place of, the coming age) one can find almost any social, political, or moral issue one wants.\u00a0 James Boice, for example (perhaps bouncing between his predecessor\u2019s premillennialism and his church\u2019s amillennialism) takes the \u201ckingdom\u201d of the Beatitudes as somehow present and says of the second beatitude (\u201cBlessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted\u201d), \u201cTo each of us, therefore, the second beatitude is a call to involvement in the social arena.\u201d5<\/sup> Why?\u00a0 Because if the kingdom is now, so must be the results of the kingdom.\u00a0 It is more difficult, of course, for him to apply the pure in heart seeing God now, or the meek inheriting the earth now. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is much more consistent and satisfying to read John Walvoord when he writes, \u201cAs in every text of Scripture, the truth presented must be first of all seen in its context.\u00a0 In the gospels, Jesus was presenting Himself as the prophesied King, and the Kingdom He was offering is the prophesied kingdom.\u201d6<\/sup> Stanley Toussaint also correctly writes, \u201cThe basis of each blessing in every case is a reference to some phase of the Jewish kingdom prophesied in the Old Testament.\u201d7<\/sup> Yet many who are premillennial struggle with the concept of the kingdom NOT being present today.\u00a0 Maybe they just can\u2019t understand how God can really be in control of all things if the kingdom isn\u2019t existing now.\u00a0 Or maybe they can\u2019t stand the thought that the Church isn\u2019t the final phase of God\u2019s program.\u00a0 After all, aren\u2019t we the culmination of all of God\u2019s plans?\u00a0 And, of course, it is much more pleasing to people and easier to preach a social\/political gospel than a spiritual gospel because, basically, it takes no faith to believe, no hope in what is not seen.<\/span><\/p>\n

We need the kingdom of God today to be right where it has always been\u2014coming in the future at the return of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Any lessening of the kingdom into some allegorized version is a disappointment in the great prophecies of that golden age. \u00a0We ought to pray, \u201cThy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven\u201d (Matt. 6:10).\u00a0 We need to hear, \u201cSeek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you\u201d (Matt. 6:33).\u00a0 We should believe that when Jesus the Messiah is accepted there will be \u201con earth peace, good will toward men\u201d (Lk. 2:14).\u00a0 Every believer ought to look forward to the time when \u201can entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ\u201d (2 Pet. 1:11).<\/span><\/p>\n

The following are some of the concepts of the kingdom found in the gospels with which I struggled for years.\u00a0 I am not saying there are not other ways in which good men take these statements, but I think these help find the consistency for which we look.\u00a0 I do not have space to give and answer all of the opposing views.\u00a0 Admittedly my view is a premillennial and dispensational view.\u00a0 But I think these are great helps and not hindrances, and have been the main stay of prophetic preaching before and throughout my lifetime. <\/span><\/p>\n

The kingdom predicted in the gospels was a continuation of the Old Testament theocratic kingdom.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This is the only way the Jews would have understood the concept of the kingdom.\u00a0 In the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 12:1-3) God made a 3-fold promise of land, seed, and blessing.\u00a0 The promise of land will be fulfilled by the Palestinian covenant (Deut. 30:1-10); the promise of a seed will be fulfilled by the Davidic covenant (2 Sam. 7:12-16); and the promise of a blessing will be fulfilled in the New covenant (Jer. 31:31-34).\u00a0 None of these have been fulfilled completely to this day and it will take the second coming of Christ to complete these three promises.\u00a0 Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, realized that the birth of John and Jesus would be \u201cto perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; the oath which he sware to our father Abraham\u201d (Lk. 1:72-73). <\/span><\/p>\n

The kingdom offer to the Jews was a bona fide offer.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Jews were to pray for the kingdom to come (Mt. 6:10) and to see that their righteousness (inward) exceeded the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (outward) or \u201cye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven\u201d (Mt. 5:20).\u00a0 When the Jews attributed the power of Christ to Satan, He responded by saying, \u201cBut if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you\u201d (Mt. 12:28).\u00a0 George N.H. Peters concluded, \u201cIt follows, then, that the Jews had the privilege <\/i>accorded to them of accepting the Kingdom, and if the condition annexed to it had been complied with, then <\/i>the Kingdom of David would have been most gloriously re-established under the Messiah.\u201d8<\/sup> The fact that the offer was rejected in no wise annuls the offer any more than the Jews rejecting the land at Kadesh-Barnea annulled the offer of the land, or that rejecting Christ as Savior annuls the offer of salvation.<\/span><\/p>\n

The kingdom predicted in the gospels is always to be taken as the future millennial kingdom.9<\/sup><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This is the only conclusion that can be drawn if the kingdom in the gospels is the same as the Old Testament theocratic kingdom.\u00a0 McClain says, \u201cThe gospel records always connect the Kingdom proclaimed by our Lord with the kingdom of the Old Testament.\u201d10<\/sup> Pentecost says, \u201cThe kingdom announced and offered by the Lord Jesus was the same theocratic kingdom foretold through the Old Testament prophets.\u201d11<\/sup> The only kingdom the prophets foretold was the future millennial kingdom which will be on this earth at the return of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Jesus never had to give further explanation as to what He meant when He used the term \u201ckingdom.\u201d\u00a0 The disciples\u2019 question at His post-resurrection appearance shows this clearly, \u201cLord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel\u201d (Ac 1:6).\u00a0 There is no rebuke, correction, or redefinition of the term.\u00a0 If the future kingdom is not here intended, either Jesus did a poor job of teaching for three years or the disciples were incredibly poor students.<\/span><\/p>\n

A further comment is in order here.\u00a0 We have been so influenced by non-millennial views in our Christian literature, hymns, and common talk, that we hardly pay attention to how we denigrate the kingdom of God.\u00a0 From Catholic to Protestant to Reformed, all speak freely as if the kingdom Jesus spoke of were existing now.\u00a0 If the reader of the gospels would simply place a future definition on the word \u201ckingdom\u201d each time he reads, he would be amazed at what clarity it would bring to the meaning of the text.<\/span><\/p>\n

The millennial kingdom of God was near at hand in the life of Christ.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Expressions of this abound in the gospels:\u00a0 \u201cThe kingdom of heaven is at hand\u201d (Mt. 4:17); \u201cThe kingdom of God is come nigh unto you\u201d (LK. 10:9); The kingdom of God is come upon you\u201d (LK. 11:20); \u201cThe kingdom of God is within you\u201d (Lk. 17:21); \u201cThe kingdom of God is nigh at hand\u201d (Lk. 21:31).\u00a0 This must refer to something that isn\u2019t existing now but may exist if the conditions are met.\u00a0 Pentecost says, \u201cBy the term \u2018at hand\u2019 the announcement is being made that the kingdom is to be expected imminently.\u00a0 It is not a guarantee that the kingdom will be instituted immediately, but rather that all impending events have been removed so that it is now imminent.\u201d12<\/sup> Toussaint says, \u201cIt was the Jewish eschatological kingdom which had drawn near.\u00a0 The verb here is eggizw <\/span>which means to draw near<\/i> and not to be here<\/i>.\u201d13<\/sup> He then uses the example of when Jesus \u201cdrew nigh unto Jerusalem\u201d (Mt. 21:1) showing that He was near but not there yet.<\/span><\/p>\n

The kingdom of God is \u201cwithin you.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you\u201d (Lk. 17:20-21).\u00a0 Perhaps no verse has been so used (and abused) to argue for a spiritual, invisible kingdom existing now in our hearts than this verse.\u00a0 It is a classic case of one difficult verse being used to explain the many clear verses, rather than the many clear verses explaining the one that is difficult. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cObservation\u201d is from the word paratere? <\/i>which means that the kingdom is not coming with predictability<\/i>.\u00a0 \u201cWithin\u201d is from the word entos,<\/i> an adverb which can be translated a number of ways including within, among, in the midst.\u00a0 It should also be noted that Jesus was talking to unbelieving Pharisees and not to believers.<\/span><\/p>\n

George N.H. Peters took this to mean that the kingdom would have to come from within the nation of Israel if it were to come at all.14<\/sup> Both Pentecost and McClain, however, have taken this to mean that the King Himself was among them. <\/span><\/p>\n

Pentecost says, \u201cThe Lord is not asserting that His kingdom was to be a spiritual kingdom in the hearts of men.\u00a0 Such is contrary to the entire tenor of the Word of God.\u00a0 He is asserting that the kingdom to which they were looking was already \u2018at hand\u2019 in the person of the king.\u201d15<\/sup> McClain says, <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cSurely in no sense could the Kingdom of God have been \u2018within\u2019 the hearts of the Pharisees to whom our Lord was speaking, and who had charged blasphemously that His miracles were being accomplished through the power of the devil (Matt. 12:24).\u00a0 But in the person of its divinely appointed King, visibly present in incarnate form on earth where He must eventually reign, the Kingdom was in that sense already \u2018in the midst of\u2019 men regardless of their attitude, whether for or against Him.\u201d16<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And So . . .<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I know I have been preaching to the choir.\u00a0 These are familiar lessons to most of us and contrary lessons to many.\u00a0 Yet a clear understanding of the kingdom of God is as crucial today as it has ever been.\u00a0 Toward the end of W.B. Riley\u2019s book he wrote,<\/span><\/p>\n

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The time has come when thinking churchmen recognize the fact that the Second Coming of Christ is creating and completing a definite fellowship.\u00a0 The men who entertain \u2018the Blessed Hope\u2019 are bound together in a peculiar brotherhood; a brotherhood of increasing sweetness and deepening strength.\u00a0 No single denomination, of the many that go to make up modern Protestantism, is as definite in its fellowship and as distinct in its doctrinal teaching as is the brotherhood of pre-millennialism.17<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is one of the reasons why the Blessed Hope is so blessed.\u00a0 \u201cFor theirs is the kingdom of God.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Notes:<\/span><\/address>\n
1. My M.Div was done at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Minneapolis.\u00a0 In those days Dr. Rolland McCune taught the course on the kingdom using Alva J. McClain\u2019s book, The Greatness of the Kingdom.<\/i> Dr. McCune also taught Dispensationalism.<\/span><\/address>\n
2. Alva J. McClain, The Greatness of the Kingdom <\/i>(Winona Lake: BMH Books, 1974).\u00a0 First published by Moody Press in 1968.<\/span><\/address>\n
3. McClain, 11.<\/span><\/address>\n
4. W.B. Riley, The Only Hope of Church or World<\/i> (London:\u00a0 Pickering & Inglis, nd.) 33.<\/span><\/address>\n
5. James Montgomery Boice, The Sermon on the Mount<\/i> (Grand Rapids:\u00a0 Zondervan, 1972) 31.<\/span><\/address>\n
6. John Walvoord, Matthew\u2014Thy Kingdom Come <\/i>(Chicago:\u00a0 Moody Press, 1974) 45.<\/span><\/address>\n
7. Stanley D. Toussaint, Behold The King<\/i> ( Portland:\u00a0 Multnomah Press, 1981) 96.<\/span><\/address>\n
8. George N.H. Peters, The Theocratic Kingdom<\/i>, vol. I (Grand Rapids:\u00a0 Kregel, 1978) 377-378.<\/span><\/address>\n
9.\u00a0\u00a0 Mention should be made in this article that I recognize the existence of a universal usage of the word kingdom in a few OT passages (e.g. Psa. 103:19).\u00a0\u00a0 McClain devoted a whole section to it (Chapt. IV) and referenced other premillennialists who do the same. Yet, no one was more insistent on a future definition of the kingdom in the gospels than McClain. <\/span><\/address>\n
10. McClain, 281.<\/span><\/address>\n
11. J. Dwight Pentecost, Things To Come<\/i> (Grand Rapids:\u00a0 Zondervan, 1969) 447.<\/span><\/address>\n
12. Pentecost, Things To Come, <\/i>449-450.<\/span><\/address>\n
13. Toussaint, 63.<\/span><\/address>\n
14. Peters, 390.<\/span><\/address>\n
15. Pentecost, 452.<\/span><\/address>\n
16. McClain, 272.<\/span><\/address>\n
17. Riley, 118.<\/span><\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Few subjects have been of greater interest to me in my ministry as a pastor and teacher than that of the Kingdom of God.\u00a0 Coming out of high school and going to Bible College I knew nothing of its doctrinal significance.\u00a0 I must confess that I knew little more than that coming out of Bible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[183,176,157],"class_list":["post-1250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-eschatology","tag-gospel","tag-modern-authors-theological-issues"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Kingdom of God in the Gospels - Aletheia Baptist Ministries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/june-qthe-kingdom-of-god-in-the-gospelsq\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Kingdom of God in the Gospels - 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