“The Kingdom of God is near”, that is what John of the Baptist declared. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…”, that is what Jesus often said. Are they the same thing? What exactly is being referred to? What is “near”?
It would be nice is the Bible had a glossary. Then you could know for sure the meaning of every term. As it stands you largely have to depend on context to figure out certain terms.
So what context do we have? Let’s start with the definition of a “kingdom”. That is where a king reigns. When talking about Jesus, you might want to say that He reigns everywhere, since He has created the universe with the Spirit and His Father and has been given authority over all things; but the wording of the Bible suggests that Jesus isn’t the “King” of this world, at least not yet. The Bible speaks like Satan is more of the ruler here:
2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
Ephesians 2:2 (ESV)
Heaven is surely different. But when you look in the Old Testament for references about Satan, you find Him in Heaven. He may not be in charge, but He seems to have free rein. What is going on?
When John the Baptist or Jesus said the Kingdom of God is near, they were not being fast and loose with the definition of near. Within a few years there would be a major event that not only changed leadership in Heaven but it is also created a change of leadership within individuals on Earth. It did not create a worldly political kingdom, just yet. Jesus’ successful obedience to God’s Law all the way to death, and His subjection to being forsaken by His Father essentially broke the legal leverage that Satan held over all human beings. That “leverage” was the if Satan were damned for his disobedience, humanity would have to go with him. We were “captives” or better yet “hostages”. God didn’t want to damn all of humanity, nor is He the type of being to arbitrarily suspend His own Law. Having Jesus do the work and creating a means that we can be connected to Jesus, was God’s way of fulfilling His Law and saving people.
Jesus’ life and death changed the leadership in Heaven. Without the leverage mentioned above, it was just Satan’s power against God’s and Satan lost.
7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
Revelation 12:7-10 (ESV)
Notice that when Satan and his angels are cast out of Heaven, only then the Kingdom of God and the authority of His chosen one (Christ) has come to Heaven, not before. This is why Jesus tells Pontius Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world.
For those who expect God’s kingdom to be an earthly, political entity this is disappointing, and they tend to deny that Jesus is the Christ. The benefits to people are far superior this way, however. First, we didn’t have a place in Heaven. There is not promise of our dwelling in Heaven ever in the Old Testament. This is a big add-on.
Also, God can now reign in us. We may still have a sinful nature that influences our will, but Satan has no internal influence. The Holy Spirit does. Satan must work with externals. In that situation, the Kingdom of God has come to us. It is what we pray to continue or to come to others when we say in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come.”
Will there ever be an earthly “political” kingdom of God? Yes. In due time. When God brings about Judgement Day and creates a New Earth, God will live and reign here. In this arrangement Jesus fulfills all of the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah being a King and having a reign.
afterdeathsite 