The Kingdom of God, Part I

I’ll give you a clue. It’s near (Mk. 1:15), it’s not of this world (Jn. 18:36), it’s like a mustard seed (Mat. 13:31), it’s like treasure hidden in a field (Mat. 13:44), it’s like a merchant looking for fine pearls (Mat. 13:45), and it’s harder for a rich man to enter than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle (Mat. 18:25).

It’s the Kingdom of God.

But what exactly is the Kingdom of God? Let’s take a quick trip back into the history of the Israelites and find out.

Israel and the dream of the Kingdom

The history of the Israelites is a familiar story for anyone who’s been through Sunday School. God chooses a random guy named Abraham and out of the blue promises to bless him, give him a name, some land, and to make his descendents into a great nation (Gen. 12:2, 15:18). A few hundred years go by and hey presto- Abraham’s got millions of descendents but they’re all slaves in Egypt. Things aren’t going great.

But then God steps in and saves his people out of slavery, gives them his law, and settles them in a new land. Thus begins the notion of the Kingdom of God: a people belonging to God who live under his rule and submit to him as king. It was a dream for a land “flowing with milk and honey” (Ex. 3:8) where Israel was a mighty nation (Gen. 12:2). Where God would defend them from their foes (Num 23:21-24), where he would make them great (Num. 23:9-10), and he would enable them to live in unimagined peace and plenty (Gen. 49:25-26) until the divinely sent leader showed up and won the allegiance of the nations (Gen. 49:10). They had a destiny to serve God’s purposes in the world (Gen 12:3)!

Now admittedly there was a stage in Israel’s history where some believed the Kingdom of God had already come. Under the leadership of King David’s they went from being a loose confederation of tribes to a respectable and united Kingdom within the space of a few years. But it was only a matter of time before they realised that the Kingdom of Israel was not the same thing as the Kingdom of God, and that God was under no obligation to protect them from their enemies. And so in judgement of their blatant idolatry, God banished his people into exile.

However it was during this time that the remnant of Israel began to long for a time when God would vindicate them and finally bring about his Kingdom on earth. They longed for a return to the golden era of King David, when they were a united people living and prospering under God’s appointed King. And so in his mercy God sent prophets to satisfy the longings of his people and give them a vision of his future Kingdom:

Isaiah prophecies about the King who would bring in the Kingdom,

“For to us a child is born
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Jeremiah speaks of the new relationship between God and men in the Kingdom,

“The time is coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the LORD.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 32:36-41)

And again, Isaiah depicts the Kingdom as a return to Edenic bliss:

“The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:5-9)

God had not forgotten them. He was still going to send his King to bring about the Kingdom, but he would do it in his timing!

And so they waited…

Come back tomorrow for Part II of this article.

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Tags: bible, God, Israel, Kingdom, Messiah

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