the Kingdom of God

What is the Kingdom of God? Jesus taught us to pray: 'Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven' (Matthew 6:10).

The kingdom of God is his rule coming from heaven to be expressed in human lives here on earth. God's will is done perfectly in heaven. Where it is done here on earth his kingdom rule is seen. The kingdom of God can thus be defined as the rule of God in action. It is the declaration of God's absolute sovereignty, of his total order of life in this world and the next. The Kingdom of God is primarily God's dynamic reign or kingly rule, his authority and government established under the kingship of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. His kingly reign produces the kingly order of God in our lives - righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). Through our salvation in Christ we are delivered from the bondage of Satan's domain and enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:3, Colossians 1:13-14). The fantastically good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ is the incarnate Son of God who was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins, rose again from the dead and ascended to the Father's right hand where he now reigns as Lord of all.

The Kingdom is consequently the sphere in which the kingly reign of God is experienced. His subjects are the people who enter the kingdom through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, and who live under his lordship, governed by his risen life in the power of the Holy Spirit (see Matthew 4:23, 3:2, 18:3, John 3:5-8). These subjects of the kingdom constitute the church - they are the kingdom community. At Pentecost all who received Jesus as Lord and Christ (the King of the Kingdom and Saviour of the world), were baptised and added to 'their number' (Acts 2:41). Therefore it is impossible to be in the kingdom of God without being part of the church.

The church is not the kingdom, but it witnesses to the kingdom. One of its main tasks is to display in this present evil age the life and fellowship of the 'age to come'. The church has a dual character: it is the people of the 'age to come', but it still lives in this age, being constituted of mortal men and women. This means that while in this age the church will never attain to perfection, it must nevertheless display the life and perfect order of the end time kingdom of God. Acts 2:42-47 gives us a model of such a community; even though it was imperfect they affected the whole of the known world within a generation with the gospel of the kingdom.

So, while there is an inseparable relationship between the kingdom of God and the church, they are not the same. The kingdom is God's reign and the realm in which the blessings of his reign are experienced. The church is the fellowship of those who have experienced God's reign and entered into the enjoyment, privileges and responsibilities of its blessings. The kingdom creates the church, works through the church, and is proclaimed in the world by the church (1 Peter 2:4-10).

The Kingdom of God will never end; it will last forever!