Most of us Christians have ever wondered what is God’s kingdom and heard a lot of answers that relate. However, it is impossible to define it with a single concept because it covers a lot of realities. and “What are those realities?” The following Bible study will reveal them to you.
What is the kingdom of God?
The Kingdom of God, also called Kingdom of heavens, is the spiritual government over which God reigns, or the fulfillment on Earth of God’s will. The phrase appears frequently in the New Testament and is used primarily by Jesus Christ in the first three gospels.
It is generally considered that is the central theme of Jesus’ teachingbut very different opinions have been held about Jesus’ teaching on the Kingdom of God and its relation to the vision developed by the church.
Although the phrase itself rarely appears in pre-Christian Jewish literature, the idea of God as King was central to Judaism, and Jewish ideas on the subject undoubtedly underlie it.
In fact, to some extent, these ideas determine the use of the New Testament. Behind the Greek word for kingdom (basileia) is the Aramaeomalkut term, which Jesus may have used.
according to the jews
To most Jews in Jesus’ day, the world seemed so completely removed from God that nothing would take care of the situation except direct divine intervention on a universal scale.
The details were variously conceived, but it was widely expected that God would send a supernatural, or supernaturally gifted intermediary (the Messiah or Son of Man).
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The functions of the Messiah according to the thoughts of these people would include a trial to decide who was worthy of “inheriting the Kingdom of God”, an expression that emphasizes that the Kingdom was intended as a divine gift, not a human achievement. That is, it could not be earned by works.
According to the first three Gospels, most of Jesus’ miraculous actions should be understood as prophetic symbols of the coming of the Kingdom, and his teaching was related to the correct answer to questions about his arrival.
According to scholars
Scholarly opinion is divided on the question of whether Jesus taught that the Kingdom had actually come during his lifetime. Possibly, he recognized in his ministry the signs of his imminence, but nevertheless looked forward to his arrival “with power” from him. He may well have regarded his own death as the providential condition for his full establishment.
However, he seems to have expected the final consummation in a relatively short time (Mark 9:1). Therefore, Christians were perplexed when the end of the world did not occur in a generation, as Paul, for example, expected.
However, Christian experience soon suggested that, as a result of Christ’s resurrection, many of the blessings traditionally reserved until the life of the age to come were already available to the believer at this time.
The Kingdom of God would be fully realized only after the end of the world, and also the final judgment. John’s writings in the New Testament played an important role in the transition to this traditional Christian understanding of the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God is not a physical place? So what is it?
Many people think of the kingdom of God as heaven or as the church. However, the kingdom of God is not an actual physical place. A working definition of the kingdom of God from a biblical perspective it can be seen as the universal kingdom of God as Creator and the comprehensive work of Christ as Redeemer. Since God is eternal, his kingdom is eternal. The Kingdom of God transcends time and space.
10 things you need to understand about the kingdom of God
Below are 10 traits about the kingdom of God that are important for the believer to understand:
1. God reigns over all things
Since God is the Creator of everything, He rules over everything. His role as Creator God establishes his authority over the earth and all of his creation. We can verify this in his word, specifically in Psalm 24: 1, Psalm 103: 19 and Colossians 1: 16-17.
Out of love, God created man and gave him dominion and responsibility over the earth. This was a wonderful opportunity for man to participate in the kingdom of God.
All things have been devised and materialized by that Divine being whom we all adore (YAHWEH, that is, God), therefore, he reigns over all of them.
2. Sin challenged God’s authority over his kingdom
In Revelation 12:4 and 2 Corinthians 4:4, the Scriptures speak of Satan’s rebellion against God, which consequently led to the institution of the establishment by the fallen angel of a false kingdom on earth.
In Genesis 2, Satan convinced the first humans to trust in themselves, rather than in God’s wisdom, leading them to break fellowship with their Sovereign Creator.
Man wanted to trust half-truths and personal desires. The consequence of his sin was that they had to leave the garden, symbol of the perfect provision of his Sustainer.
3. God promises a kingdom
Although sin now permeated humanity, God called a people for His own blessing, through Abraham.
Through a covenant, God promised that through Abraham, he would re-establish the authority of his kingdom on earth: Genesis 12:2-3, Genesis 17:8, Genesis 26:4.
Abraham and his descendants would have three things: a land, a nation, and a blessing. This shows God showing his kingdom through a chosen people who would be permanently set apart for God’s purpose.
4. God displays his standard of holiness within his kingdom
After Israel escapes from Egypt, God establishes a covenant with his people at Sinai. He reveals his name to Moses as I AMestablishing His character as the All-Supporting (Exodus 3:14).
When he gives the law to Moses for the people of Israel, he does so to separate the nation from all others on earth.
God’s holiness was the standard for the people’s obedience. The faith of the Israelites was to guide their actions.
The conditional nature of the covenant reveals God’s standard of holiness to be upheld in His kingdom. Exodus 19: 3-6 tells us about the moment in which the Creator shows Moses how the people should act from now on.
5. God foreshadowed his kingdom on earth
God promised David that someone from his family would always sit on the throne of Israel (2 Samuel 12-14). Israel’s anointed king was to be a just king who set a standard by which the nation was to live.
It is through this ruler that God would express His government in Israel. Even though the kings of Israel were unfaithful and lost their throne because of their unfaithfulness, God kept this promise: Isaiah 7:13-25.
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6. The Kingdom of God was established on earth when Jesus Christ came into the world
When the angel Gabriel announced the birth of Jesus to Mary, he confirmed that the birth of Christ fulfilled God’s promise to David. The purpose of John the Baptist was to prepare the way for the ministry of Jesus.
One of the ways he did this was by calling the people of Israel back to God through repentance: Matthew 3:2, John 1:29.
7. The Kingdom of God must be received
In Mark 10:13-16, Jesus teaches that the kingdom of God is to be received like a little child.
This teaching indicates that it is not something we have to achieve on our own, but a benefit that we must humbly accept. By grace we are saved:
Jesus uses a child to illustrate our dependence, which means that we must trust Christ for the privilege of entering the kingdom.
Philippians 2 illustrates the exceptional obedience of Christ. He traded all of his heavenly rights for a crown of thorns, so that we could receive salvation freely.
8. Entry into the Kingdom of God requires faith and repentance
Both John the Baptist and Jesus preached repentance as a prerequisite for belonging to the kingdom of God: Mark 1:15, Matthew 3:2.
Repentance and faith in Christ lead a person to a spiritual birth that guarantees entrance into the kingdom (John 3:3-5). As believers, the kingdom of God resides within us (Luke 17:21).
When Jesus taught that the kingdom of God was within the believer, his intention was to show the believer the new spiritual realm in which the person now lived. The Church is part of the kingdom but it is not the totality of it.
9. The Kingdom of God is Mysterious
Jesus teaches the mysteries of the kingdom of God through parables in the New Testament. matthew 13 it presents a different form of the kingdom that had not been revealed in the Old Testament.
Through these parables, Jesus teaches about the spiritual reign of Christ after his absence on earth, before his second coming.
In this chapter, listeners learn that this age will encompass both those who will believe and those who will not believe (13:11-23). The second metaphorical story shows how there will be a time of judgment that will separate the believers from the non-believers (13:24-30).
The parable of the mustard seed describes the kingdom of God as a movement of believers that will start small, but then experience rapid growth.
The kingdom of God (the kingdom of heaven) seems the opposite of what the world expects. Jesus teaches in the Beatitudes about the blessings that the poor, merciful, hungry and humble will receive in heaven. Those who suffer on earth will be rewarded in heaven. Even though we don’t understand everything about the Kingdom, we trust the Master.
10. The Kingdom of God has implications for believers today
If we consider ourselves believers in Christ, we must worship him. To acknowledge Christ as Lord is, in effect, to acknowledge his kingdom. We must practice his teaching and live in anticipation of his return.
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, part of the orientation focused on prayer dedicated to the desire for the kingdom of God to come true on earth: Matthew 6:10.
Although the Kingdom of God has been established on earth, it is not yet complete. There is a future coming of the kingdom at the end of the era that has not yet occurred.
We must pray for the coming of the fullness of the kingdom of God. As Christians, we are God’s ambassadors on earth (2 Corinthians 5:20). Our duty is to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to others. This is our Great Commission.
final teaching
You must realize that you are not the author of your drama. Rather, just a small actor in God’s great story. It is necessary that you make a drastic change in mentality so that you can change the priorities in your life; prestige and popularity are not important when you take into account God’s sovereignty and the redemptive work of Christ on the cross.
On the other hand, trust in God must be more secure than it was before. Your Creator has worked throughout time to protect the world and redeem the people from it. His loving and just character allows you to realize that He will fulfill…