What Is the Kingdom of God?

Suppose someone asked you the question: What is the kingdom of God?  How would you respond?  The easy answer would be to note that a kingdom is that territory over which a king reigns.  Since we understand that God is the Creator of all things, the extent of His realm must be the whole world.  Manifestly, then, the kingdom of God is wherever God reigns, and since He reigns everywhere, the kingdom of God is everywhere.

We see this when John the Baptist comes out of the wilderness with his urgent announcement: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”  We see it again when Jesus appears on the scene with the same pronouncement.  If the kingdom of God consists of all of the universe over which God reigns, why would anyone announce that the kingdom of God was near or about to come to pass.  Obviously, John the Baptist and Jesus meant something more about this concept of the kingdom of God.

At the heart of this theme is the idea of God’s messianic kingdom.  It is a kingdom that will be ruled by God’s appointed Messiah, who will be not just the Redeemer of His people, but their King.  So when John speaks of the radical nearness of this breakthrough, the intrusion of the kingdom of God, he’s speaking of this kingdom of the Messiah.

At the end of Jesus’ life, just as He was about to depart from this earth, His disciples had the opportunity to ask Him one last question.  They asked, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6b).  He said: “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority… But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:7-8).  What did He mean?  What was He getting at?

When Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world,” was He indicating that His kingdom was something spiritual that takes place in our hearts or was He speaking of something else?  The whole Old Testament called attention not to a kingdom that would simply appear in people’s hearts, but to a kingdom that would break through into this world, a kingdom that would be ruled by God’s anointed Messiah.  For this reason, during His earthly ministry, Jesus made comments such as, “If I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20).  Similarly, when Jesus sent out seventy disciples on a preaching mission, He instructed them to tell impenitent cities that “The kingdom of God has come near you” (Luke 10:11b).  How could the kingdom be upon the people or near them?  The kingdom of God was near to them because the King of the kingdom was there.  When He came, Jesus inaugurated God’s kingdom.  He didn’t consummate it, but He started it.  And when He ascended into heaven, He went there for His coronation, for His investiture as the King of kings and Lord of lords.

So Jesus’ kingship is not something that remains in the future.  Christ is King right this minute.  He is in the seat of the highest cosmic authority.  All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to God’s anointed Son (Matthew 28:18).

When His disciples asked Jesus how to pray, He said, “Your kingdom come.”  What does this mean?  What are we praying for when we speak this petition?  Each of the petitions is connected to the others.  The first petition Jesus taught us was, “Hallowed be Your name,” which is a plea that the name of God would be regarded as holy.  Manifestly, unless and until the name of God is regarded as holy, His kingdom will not and cannot come to this world.  But we who do regard His name as holy then have the responsibility to make the kingdom of God manifest.

John Calvin said it is the task of the church to make the invisible kingdom visible.  We do that by living in such a way that we bear witness to the reality of the kingship of Christ in our jobs, our families, our schools, and even our checkbooks, because God in Christ is King over every one of these spheres of life.  The only way the kingdom of God is going to be manifest in this world before Christ comes is if we manifest it by the way we live as citizens of heaven and subjects of the King.

Note: The content of this posting is largely attributed to the scholarly work of R.C. Sproul in his article entitled, “What Is the Kingdom of God?” dated June 25, 2018.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel