What is the kingdom of God?

xdx,

bmerr here. The kingdom of God is the church. Paul was in it (Col 1:13), as was John (Rev 1:9). If it was not in existence when these inspired men wrote, then the Holy Spirit lied through these men.

We need to understand that the church, or kingdom had not yet been established when Christ was on the earth. In Matt 16:18-19, Jesus said that He would build His church, and that He would give Peter and the apostles the keys to the kingdom. It wouldn't make much sense for Christ to build one thing, and give the apostles the keys to something else.

That's also why in Matt 6:10, Jesus taught the disciples to pray "thy kingdom come". It hadn't come yet. But it has come now, so it is incorrect for us to pray "thy kingdom come" now.

In Acts 2:47, we see that the Lord added those who were being saved to the church, which is the kingdom, so it was on Pentecost of Acts 2 that the kingdom came.

In Mark 9:1, Jesus promised that some of those who were standing there with Him would not die before they saw the kingdom of God come with power.

In Acts 1:8, Jesus said the apostles would receive power when the Holy Ghost came upon them.

In Acts 2:1-4, the Holy Ghost came upon the apostles, bringing them power. Since the kingdom would come with power, and the power would come with the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost came in Acts 2, then the kingdom came in Acts 2.

Hope this helps your confusion.

In Christ,

bmerr

 

xdisciplex

Hi xdisciplex,

I saw your question and thought this link might help. Dr. MacArthur starts out talking about dispensationalism, but once you get a few paragraphs into it, I believe he gets to your question. It's a short read. Hope it helps.

http://www.biblebb.com/files/macqa/70-16-9.htm

 

My pastor preached an interesting sermon on the topic a while back.
http://www.kingdombaptist.org/Has_The_Kingdom_Come.wma
I'll have to discuss it tomorrow.

 

Those who hold to the concept of the Universal Church say that the Church and the Kingdom are the same thing.

bmerr espouses this view in the previous post. I believe the two are different.

In fact, both had. The kingdom is made up of subjects of the King. Jesus added many to the kingdom during his earthly ministry.

He also established the first church when he called his disciples. He gave them marching orders early on, sending them out. He established baptism and the Lord's Supper as the ordinances. It had a Pastor (Shepherd), it had a treasurer, and he gave them the Great Commission right before he ascended.

When Jesus said he would build his church, he already had something to build. The assembly was small, but it was a functioning entity.

When he shed his blood on the cross, it was for his already existing church (Acts 20:28), and each church which came after.

When the Lord saved me, he placed me into his kingdom. My baptism placed me into the church.

Aha, you say, you said the church. Gotcha! Naw. The local church into which I was baptized is the church of God, just like the one at Ephesus (Acts:20:28 again) and at Corinth (I Corinthians 12:27 "YE (the church at Corinth, to whom Paul was writing) are the body of Christ...."

Not just a body--the body.

 

The phrase “kingdom of God” appears in 68 verses of the NT, "Kingdom of the Heavens" is found in 32 verses, and the single word “kingdom” appears 158 times in 150 verses. The majority of the passages on the kingdom can be easily proven by plain reading to be something that is literal and future and will last a thousand years.



However, there are those who try to take five exceptional passages in the NT and try to simply say that the Kingdom is some mystical experience, or it's all around us, or something else that is equally contradictory to the Scriptures.[FONT=&quot]
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[FONT=&quot]These passages are: Luke 17:20-21; Romans 14:17; 1 Corinthians 4:20; Colossians 1:13; and Revelation 1:9.
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Nice post, Hope. I agree completely.
:wavey:

 

OP:

Yes.

God is a Triune Unity,
He can have three kingdoms if He chooses, you have
noticed two of them.

The third Kingdom of God is with us today,
the sum of those saved on earth right now.

 

"Thy Kingdom COME Thy will be done"

"When the SON of man COMES into His Kingdom" is seen in Dan 7 to happen long after the fall of the 4th beast - Roman Empire.

At the FIRST resurrection described both in Rev 20:4-5 and 1Thess 4 the "dead in Christ are raised" the "blessed and holy" and taken to heaven.

During the 1000 years the earth is "formless and void" (And I looked and behold there was NO MAN) and Christ is not ruling on earth because He is with the saints - in Heaven. "And so shall we ever be WITH the LORD" 1Thess 4.

"I GO to prepare a place for you and if I GO I will COME AGAIN and RECEIVE you to Myself that WHERE I am there YOU may be also".

In Christ,

Bob