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Lesson #20

• The Doctrine of the Kingdom
  • When we think about the Kingdom of God we usually think of it as a heavenly kingdom as Jesus said at one point in his ministry.
    • Read Joh 18:36
    • However Jesus was speaking only of the time of His first coming.
    • We, therefore, need a broader understanding of what the Bible means by the phrases, Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven.
  • Speaking generally a kingdom has to have a king, a throne, a territory, and a people to govern in order to be called a kingdom.
    • These elements are not always obviously present for the Kingdom of God to exist.
      • Through the Old Testament the King (Jesus) is physically absent from the earth.
      • However, God rules over His people (the Jews) through appointed leaders and rulers like Moses, King David, etc. and dispensing His word through prophets of the King like Isaiah and Jeremiah, etc.
        • Read Isa 6:5
        • Read Jer 46:18
        • Read Dan 4:25
      • God’s throne is in heaven.
        • Read Psa 11:4
        • Read Psa 45:6
        • Read Psa 47:8
    • Therefore Jesus could say that His Kingdom was not of this world. At that point in time, His Kingdom was spiritual and existing in heaven.
      • Jesus Christ was ruling the universe and the angels with God, the Father, in Heaven during the Old Testament dispensation of time as a member of the Holy Trinity.
      • In this aspect of the Kingdom, it was not easily observable by man on earth.
    • However, through the Old Testament the prophets prophesied a greater kingdom to come with the Messiah as King.
      • Read 2Sam 7:11-13, 16
      • Read Zec 9:9-10
      • Read Dan 2:44
      • Read Dan 7:13-14
  • The Kingdom at hand
    • Read Mat 3:1-6
    • Read Mat 2:2
    • John the Baptist announced that the Kingdom of God was at hand. What did he mean?
      • Jesus is the King.
      • The announcement referred to the beginning of Jesus ministry on earth for 3 ½ years.
        • Jesus claimed to be a king.
        • Where the King is, there is His Kingdom. The Kingdom is present in the person, the presence, and in the ministry of Jesus on earth for 3 ½ years.

Read Mar 15:2

Read Mat 4:23

• • • • • Read Mat 12:28
      • With the coming to this earth of King Jesus, the kingdom came into being physically on earth.
        • Therefore, at the first coming of Jesus Christ, for the first time there was an observable King.

This manifested the spiritual Kingdom of Heaven in a physical way on earth.

Read Mat 6:10

Jesus told His disciples to pray that the Kingdom of heaven be manifested on earth through the authority given to believers in Jesus Christ.

Therefore, during this New Testament church age, aspects of the heavenly kingdom are manifested on earth through prayer and faith according to the authority given to believers in Jesus Christ.

• • • • • During the church age (after the ascension of the King and before His second coming to earth) the Kingdom exists in the hearts of believers.

We could say that the human heart is the throne on which Christ rules in the lives of His people.

His people are those who believe and are born again.

• • The absence of the King on earth (The mystery of the Kingdom)
    • With Jesus’ ascension into heaven after the resurrection in Acts 1, the King acts now as the heavenly High Priest.
    • Jesus Christ fulfills the roles of prophet, priest, and king in the following way:
      • Jesus Christ fulfilled the role of prophet during his 3 ½ years of ministry on earth.
      • Jesus Christ fulfills the role of priest during the New Testament church age.
      • Jesus Christ will fulfill the role of king during His millennial reign for 1000 years on earth.
    • Read Mat 13:1-52 (The eight parables of the mysteries of the Kingdom)

Mat 13:3-23	The parable of the sower and the seed People react to the Word of the Kingdom in different ways
Mat 13:24-30, 36-43	The parable of the tares and the wheat The manifest Kingdom on earth will consist of true believers and false ones until the final judgment.
Mat 13:31-32	The parable of the mustard tree and the birds The true church started small and grew rapidly but became more concerned with building the large institution of Christendom in which Satan is present and working in order to stop the true spread of the gospel that would save people
MAT 13:33-35	The parable of the leaven and meal Sin, false teachings, and false doctrine will permeate the church during the church age.
Mat 13:44	The parable of the treasure and the field Jesus Christ seeks faith in the hearts of people. Faith in the heart (the soul) is a valuable treasure. Christ paid the redemption price with his blood on the cross for the sins of all the world in order to purchase the faith of a few for His Kingdom.
Mat 13:45-46	The parable of the merchantman and the pearl Jesus Christ is the merchantman who leaves his home in heaven and searches the world for a body of believers (both Jews and Gentiles) in a sea of godless people. He plumbs the depths of a degraded, godless society. He takes a life imbedded in a mass of living, corruptible flesh, a life invaded and injured by sin, and covers it over with his righteousness. He purchases this most valuable body of believers with the ultimate price of his blood on the cross. He gradually and in secret makes the universal church something beautiful.
Mat 13:47-50	The parable of the good and bad fish Everyone who has a heart for God has an opportunity to hear the gospel. Each has an opportunity to be a good fish or a bad fish. The good are saved for eternal life, and the bad spend eternity in the lake of fire. It is the preaching of the gospel that makes the difference.
Mat 13:51-52	The parable of the scribe and the householder This last parable represents the millennial kingdom of Christ on earth when everyone will know Christ face to face, when everyone will know and be taught the Word of God.

• • • Therefore, the Kingdom becomes an internal kingdom in the Church Age.
      • Read Luk 17:20-21
      • For the New Testament believer in Jesus Christ, the Kingdom becomes an internal reality the minute the believer receives Jesus Christ, the King, into his heart.
      • In other words, Jesus rules in our hearts.
        • Our will becomes His will.
        • Our life becomes His life as we serve the King.
        • Read Gal 2:20
        • Read Heb 12:28
  • The offering of the Kingdom to the Jews
    • Read Mat 10:7
    • Jesus Christ, the King, sent his disciples out to make an offer to the Jews to establish the Kingdom on earth.
    • With the rejection by the Jews, the earthly Kingdom is postponed until the second coming of Christ.
  • The counterfeit kingdom
    • In the 7 year tribulation period, the counterfeit king is the Antichrist who rules the nations for 7 years.
    • The Jews will be deceived into thinking the Antichrist is the true Messiah King for 3 ½ years.
    • At the end of the tribulation period, at the second coming of Christ, they will realize their error and receive Jesus Christ as their King and true Messiah.
  • The physical presence of the manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth:
    • Read Mat 6:10
    • The King receives His Kingdom in heaven from God, the Father, at the rapture of the church.
      • Read Dan 7:9-10, 13-14, 18
    • The King receives His bride, the church, at the rapture of the church.
    • Read Rev 19:6-9
    • The King comes to earth to establish His Kingdom at the second coming of Christ.
      • Read Rev 19:11-16
    • The Kingdom is only for believers. They receive their King with joy and obedience.
      • Read Mat 25:34
      • Read 1Cor 6:9
        • The purpose of the earthly Kingdom is to fulfill all the prophecies that God gave to Abraham that are yet unfulfilled.
        • The purpose of the earthly Kingdom is to bless believers for their faithfulness in this life.
        • The purpose of the earthly Kingdom is to fulfill the promises that God made to David about an earthly kingdom that would extend into eternity.
        • The purpose of the earthly Kingdom is so that God, the Father can bless His Son, Jesus, with a throne, a crown, a kingdom, and a people as a reward for His faithfulness on the cross.
    • The King reigns for 1000 years on earth.
      • Read Rev 20:4, 6
      • The Law of the earthly kingdom for 1000 years is found in the Mat 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount.
      • Read Mat 5:3, 10
  • The eternal Kingdom of God
    • At the end of the Millennial Kingdom of 1000 years, the believers (the wheat) and the nonbelievers (the tares) are separated. (Mat 13:24-30, 36-43)
      • Believers continue on with Jesus Christ in the eternal presence of God. This will become the eternal kingdom.
      • Nonbelievers are separated from God for eternity in the Lake of Fire.
      • Read Rev 20:10
    • The Millennial Kingdom is given to God, the Father, by Jesus, the Son.
      • Read 1Cor 15:24-26
      • The perfect eternal Kingdom for eternity
      • Read Rev 22:3-4
  • The Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God:
    • Some Christians make a distinct difference between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God.
    • However, the Bible uses the two phrases interchangeably to refer to the same thing.
      • Matthew uses the phrase, “Kingdom of Heaven”.
        • Matthew uses both phrases to mean the same thing in Mat 19:23-24
        • Read Mat 19:23-24
      • Mark and Luke use the phrase, “Kingdom of God”.
  • Summary:
    • We have seen that the concept of The Kingdom in the Bible has various aspects of its manifestation.
      • Sometimes the Kingdom is spiritual and sometimes the Kingdom is physical.
      • Sometimes the Kingdom is in heaven and sometimes the Kingdom is on earth.
      • Sometimes the Kingdom is internal in the hearts of God’s people and other times it is external.
      • Sometimes the King is present and at other times the King is absent.
      • Sometimes the Bible speaks of the Kingdom as present and other times the Bible speaks of the Kingdom as coming in the future.
    • However, at all times aspects of the Kingdom are present somewhere.
    • And at all times the Kingdom is eternal just as the King is eternal.