What is Kingdom of God?

The concept of the Kingdom of God is a vast subject. It spans through the entire Bible, particularly in the New Testament. The central theme of the teaching of Jesus Christ is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is also called ‘the Kingdom of Heaven'. Both these phrases are used interchangeably in the Bible. The idea of God’s sovereign rule and authority and care and protection is deeply embedded in the entire thought of the Old Testament, and it underlies the theme of his kingship over everything in his creation. And this constitutes the key message of Jesus’ teaching and preaching in the New Testament. To teach about this, Jesus used many parables.   In his Gospel, Saint Matthew uses many times the phrase ‘the Kingdom of heaven’ to mean the same (32 times). This is because he addressed the gospel primarily to the Jewish people, and, as such, he wanted to avoid sensitivity to the Jewish mind by directly taking God’s name often, as it was commanded in the Old Testament Scriptures not to “take God’s name in vain”. It can be noted that during the first Christian century, for pious Jews, ‘Heaven’ was a synonym for ‘God’. Ten other New Testament books, including particularly the Gospels of Luke, Mark and the Acts of the Apostles.
The Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven, means the reign of God and his protection and sustenance of Creation and nature. The synoptic gospels (i.e., Matthew, Mark and Luke) and the Acts of the Apostles use these phrases around one hundred times. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, exhorted people in his preaching to repent and believe in the good news as the Kingdom of God was in hand. Likewise, Jesus himself, in his public ministry, asked people to repent and believe in the gospel of the Kingdom of God. The Acts of the Apostles, the first Church history book written by Doctor Luke, who is the only Gentile author of a Biblical book, concludes with the information of the preaching about this very theme (Acts 28:31). The Kingdom of God refers to the spiritual reality of God’s sovereign and caring authority and rule in the human heart. Not only in the human heart.   The basic idea conveyed is God’s kingly rule in the entire creation starting rightly from the human heart and mind. The Kingdom of God is what the prophecies in the Old Testament pointed to because they all pointed to Christ’s coming into the world. Christ came to destroy the work of the Devil. St John wrote, “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (1 John 3:8).
God’s rule and dominion over his creation is set against the rule of the evil one, the Devil or Satan. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught the disciples to pray to God: “May your Kingdom come.” (Matthew 6:10, Luke 11:3). It is God’s will to restore back his own rule from the evil rule of the adversary, Satan. In the coming of Jesus to the world, the Kingdom of God has been ushered in. But it has to consummate. The throne of God in the human heart must be established for it to become a reality in our life. It is the eternal rule of Almighty God, which will consummate the Kingdom when all the work of the devil will be destroyed. Then Christ will eternally rule.
The idea of the Kingdom of God is related to a radical change of human mind, repentance for sin and turning to God and embracing his Kingdom values of righteousness, selfless love and justice in our lives right here and now. The Kingdom of God has already dawned with the coming of God’s Son to the world. To quote St Paul, “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit…” (Romans 14:17). Righteousness calls for right believing and living, which is pleasing to God. This results in goodness for others. It leads to just peace for all people accruing from godly values of justice and peaceful co-existence. The right doctrine should promote the right relationship in the end. Authentic righteousness, peace and joy are based on a godly life of love and holiness. It comes from a right and respectful attitude to God and his creation. Led by the Holy Spirit, man can be God’s co-workers.
Life in the Kingdom of God is about quality of life, not the length of its duration. Again, the Kingdom of God has already arrived in the coming of Jesus and in his work for man’s salvation from the bondage of sin. And it will be consummated in the future. That’s when God will make it so happen for the future. The Kingdom of God does not come with pomp and grandeur (Luke 17:20, 18:18-30). It has come into the hearts of those who have believed in him. And it will be fully revealed in the glorious future at the end of history (Luke 21-22). That is when salvation from the bondage will be complete. Till then this life is going on through the period of struggle. God strengthens the believer to lead the life of the faithful.

The writer is a Christian Theology teacher and Church leader