Emmanuel Evangelical Church Chippenham

Background

God’s plan is to (re-)establish the Kingdom of God - the Bible is the account of what God does to bring that about.

In Study 5 we saw that the message of the prophets indicates that Israel’s historical experience of God’s salvation is but a shadow of a final and true work of salvation.

Summary: The Kingdom of God will be established when God does a new work that will bring about the redemption of a faithful remnant along with the regeneration of creation in the new heavens and a new earth centred on a new temple in a new Jerusalem.

The Kingdom of God

The term first appears in the Bible with the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. His “good news” is to announce the kingdom! (Mark 1:14-15) In fact the kingdom has now come (Matthew 12:28). Some people living at the time were to see the kingdom come in power (Mark 9:1). While there are references to the kingdom being something future (Matthew 6:10; 25:1; Mark 14:25), it is certainly also something that people can enter now (Mark 9:47; 10:23; 12:34).

We are seeing that God’s plan involves a new creation or regeneration. The pattern is shown to be:

‘Creation’ -> ‘de Creation’ -> ‘re Creation’.

In this study we will look at God’s final and fullest revelation - Jesus Christ, in whom the fulfilment of the kingdom is revealed. (Hebrews 1:1)

The question we will seek to answer is this: What is the Kingdom of God? (“Kingdom of Heaven” and “Kingdom of God” are interchangeable terms in the gospels.)

Again we will examine this using the rubric “God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule”. Who is the ruler? Where is the place? Who are the people?