The Kingdom of God and its rule

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Since the appearance of John the Baptist, the Bible has repeatedly spoken of the Kingdom of God. The Gospel proclaimed by Jesus' apostles dealt with the Kingdom of God. And Jesus himself urged his followers to seek first the Kingdom of God (cf. Mt 6:33). But what is the Kingdom of God, and where does it begin?

God alone is ruler

The aforementioned words from the Sermon on the Mount contain Jesus Christ's most important statement about the New Testament life of God's children. Here we encounter the concept of the "Kingdom of God," which Jesus says we should seek. This leads us directly to further questions: What is the Kingdom of God? Why should we seek it, and how can we do so?

The Bible teaches us that the Kingdom of God refers to God's rule and government. Furthermore, the Kingdom of God refers to the place or territory that belongs to Him and is subject to Him. It is clear that everything belongs to Him and He rules everything. God's Word says: "Forever, O Lord, your word is in the heavens; your faithfulness endures to all generations. You laid the foundations of the earth, and it stands firm; according to your decrees it still stands today, for all things must serve you" (Psalm 119:89-91) and: "For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45).

But when the Holy Scriptures—and especially the New Testament—refer to the Kingdom of God, God's Word tells us something entirely different. In contrast to the general rule of God over the entire universe, the Bible uses the concept of the Kingdom of God as a concrete description of the Lord's rule among and over specific people.

While Psalm 103:19 speaks of God's general, all-encompassing omnipotence, with which the Creator reigns over everything, Matthew 6:10 ("Your kingdom come," etc.) describes a reign of the Lord in which every individual loves their God as Savior, Lord, and King and serves Him willingly, gladly, and joyfully. The Apostle Paul says about this: "For the word of the Lord has been proclaimed from you—not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but everywhere your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak of it. For they themselves report about us, how we were received among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven" (1 Thessalonians 1:8-10).

In some biblical passages, especially in the Gospel of Matthew, we read the words "Kingdom of Heaven" or "Kingdom of the Heavens" instead of "Kingdom of God." Comparing parallel biblical texts where these different expressions are used reveals that they are synonyms. The word "Kingdom of Heaven" merely emphasizes the authority of the heavenly realm—that which is above, which belongs to God, which has heaven as its center, and which comes from above, from heaven. It is the transcendent. The term "Kingdom of God," on the other hand, clearly states that dominion belongs to the God of the Bible, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Holy One of Israel alone.

Without God's rule, we live in terror.

Essentially, the Holy Scriptures speak of the Kingdom of God from the very beginning. After the Fall, the part of humanity that remains in sin, vice, and depravity attempts to subjugate, enslave, and rule over all of nature, including other people. This leads to ever new forms of violence, injustice, and other evils. This violence manifests itself in everything from slavery of every kind to the establishment of earthly states. Everywhere we see the brutality of the powerful of this world toward people who are defenseless, weaker, poorer, and unable to defend themselves. All of this has been the cause of much suffering and pain for a great number of people.

But because it says, “ For the creation was subjected to decay, not willingly, but by him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to mortality and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21), it becomes clear that all the hope, the confidence in it, and the certainty of the coming victory promised by the Creator over all that brings wickedness, suffering, and all the torments that manifest themselves to humankind up to this day are connected with the appearance and strengthening of the Kingdom of God in the world.

The prophet Isaiah says the following about this: “Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice; and a man will be like a refuge from the wind and a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a parched land, like the shade of a mighty rock in a desolate land. They will neither harm nor destroy on all the mountain of my sanctuary, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 32:1-2; 11:9). This is what the Holy Spirit said about the promised, final victory of God’s goodness over all the forces of evil and over every kingdom of the world with all its inherent (i.e., inseparable) injustice, brutality, and violence.

This victory and triumph of the Kingdom of God is promised from the beginning and linked to the coming of the Redeemer and Messiah, the reconciler and bringer of peace, King and Ruler of the whole world (cf. 1.Mo 49:10-11).

God never stopped seeking us.

The Old Testament clearly demonstrates all of God's preparations for His coming kingdom on earth. Because humanity repeatedly and constantly rebelled against the Lord and His will after the Fall, our Creator began His work with just a few people (more precisely, with one person – Abraham). Abraham, who was first called Abram, believed God and thus became God's friend, the father of faith, and the father of many nations (see Romans 4:11-12, 16-17). These were the beginning and the first cornerstones of the kingdom of God in the created world.

Thus, in the presence of Abraham and his descendants, our Creator and Lord established His kingdom on our earth. “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty. Walk before me without reproach, and I will establish my covenant between me and you and will multiply you beyond measure.’ Abram fell on his face. God spoke further to him, saying, ‘Behold, I am he who is in covenant with you; you shall be the father of many nations, and your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth. You shall spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all peoples on earth shall be blessed through you and your offspring’” (Genesis 17:1-4; 28:14).

God reveals Himself in many ways

All these passages show us that the Lord chose and accepted a people (the Hebrews) to establish and strengthen His kingdom on earth. God began to focus all His work of grace on this people (see Amos 3:1-2). The Creator desired to have a very special fellowship with the Hebrew people, to teach and guide them according to His sublime and wonderful nature, and thereby to reveal His nature and Himself to the whole world. To prepare Israel for this task, God sent judges, prophets, and other ministers through whom He revealed His commandments, ways, and true worship to the chosen people.

And yet, “because the inclination of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it” (Romans 8:7), no human being and no nation could help the Lord to establish, develop, and strengthen the Kingdom of God on earth. But the Lord did not waver from His purposes, which He had conceived even before the foundation of the world. “What the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh , God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3).

Everything the Lord promised His chosen people—and, in essence, all of humanity—through the holy prophets, He intended to bring to fruition in the future. What was impossible for those steeped in sin, a man of God was to accomplish according to God's plan and His prophecies. Namely, the King who would come from God and establish the Kingdom of God on earth. As a human being, He was to come from Israel, from the tribe of Judah. "The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from his feet, until he who brings rest comes, and the nations must obey him" (Genesis 49:10). He was to become Israel's glory and a light for all nations (cf. Luke 2:29-32). Then the kingdom of righteousness and peace would come. The weapons prepared for war would be reforged into tools for work. The wild beasts would no longer kill and devour other animals. “And it will happen in that day that the nations will ask for the Root of Jesse, who will be a banner for the nations; and his resting place will be glory” (Isaiah 11:10).

Then all of life will come under God's rule, submitting to His righteous will, His just commandments, and His love for others. And throughout biblical history, one can see (and read) that those who walked the earth before their Lord in fear and trust in Him were all constantly filled with the expectation of the coming of this promised Kingdom of God. Among these people, we find, for example, the priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, the prophets Simeon and Anna, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and many others.

The Kingdom of God has come near.

As the time of Jesus' first coming drew ever nearer, the Israelites spoke much about their anticipation, and everyone had their own opinion on the matter. This went hand in hand with reflecting on the relationships between God and humanity that would arise and exist in this coming kingdom. These included topics such as:

• What awaits people in the coming Kingdom of God?
• How can a person enter the community of those whose lives are under God's rule?
• What does it mean for a person to live among those who – like him – are chosen by God for the Kingdom of God?
• How should each person live and act in order to best serve God as Lord and King?
• What hierarchy exists in the society of those who serve God as their king?

People who lived with such hopes and expectations for the Kingdom of God naturally had profound questions about their own preparation for entering and living in the Kingdom for which they had so eagerly awaited. This also affected their present lives, as one of their rabbis wrote even before Christ: “[God says:] Since you have acknowledged my rule over you, accept my commandments and fulfill them!”

Finally, God spoke through His Son.

A completely new era in the question of the Kingdom of God began in the New Testament. John the Baptist appeared in the Judean desert and preached: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” (Matthew 3:1-2). He also said that after him would come a man who would be indescribably greater than himself. He was the Christ promised by God, who would establish the Kingdom of God and powerfully spread it throughout Judea and the whole earth, and who would himself be the King and Ruler of this kingdom (see also Isaiah 9:5-6). “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).

This was the beginning and also the prerequisite for the establishment of the Kingdom of God on this earth. Jesus Christ, who is the true Son of God and “Lord over all” (cf. Acts 10:36), established it by purchasing the Church of God with His own blood (cf. Acts 20:28) and “rescuing us from the dominion of darkness and bringing us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Col 1:13).

All of this was filled with heavenly glory (cf. John 1:14). It was of such a nature that neither angels nor humans could ever have imagined it (cf. Isaiah 53:1-2). The coming of the promised Messiah was to be surprising and unexpected, as our God and Creator announced several centuries beforehand. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will do this” (Isaiah 9:5-6).

A different kind of realm

The Son of God came—contrary to expectations—in the humiliation of a servant and the weakness of human form into our midst, even though the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in Him (cf. Col 2:9). He served humanity gently and humbly, to save us, to teach us, and to prepare us for life in the future, eternal kingdom of righteousness (cf. 2 Pet 3:13; 1 John 3:1-3). And in the same way, the Savior revealed to those who believe in Him that the kingdom of God would not come “in a way that could be observed. People will not say, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ For, behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Lk 17:20-21).

Of course, believers who love their Savior place their hope in Him and await His second coming, when He will gather His church into the eternal dwelling places. “But according to his promise we are looking forward to new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). But at His first coming, when the Son of God became flesh “to take upon Himself the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:28), our Savior revealed the kingdom of God in this world. He did so quite imperceptibly—entirely in keeping with His nature—without earthly pomp, splendor, or prestige, but as He appeared on our earth in the form of a servant and in human humiliation, and yet in heavenly glory and holiness.

God wants to transform us

Through the manner of His appearance, our Lord and Savior revealed to His followers the essential meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven. This was also the most important thing God desires to see in the inhabitants of His Kingdom. For God's goal for His children is that we be "conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 8:29). This is why every Christian should strive for the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (cf. Matthew 6:33). Our Savior spoke of this in His Sermon on the Mount: "For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20). The Lord does not demand of His redeemed an outward, "legalistic" holiness and righteousness (as required by the Mosaic Law), but rather our constant pursuit of absolute transformation into the image of the Son of God! “But we all, who with unveiled face contemplate the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

It is noteworthy that here—as in almost every passage in the New Testament concerning the godly life—the primary focus is not on our efforts to lead a righteous and spiritual life (although these are not excluded), but rather on our search for the Lord. And this, in turn, is strongly and inextricably interwoven with the pursuit of the Kingdom of God. This is because only Jesus Christ can bring us liberation from the bondage of sin. Therefore, we need faith in Him, genuine repentance, and the constant development of our relationship with Him, as well as an understanding of His ways and His holy name. Repentance, a change in our way of life and our attitude toward our Lord and God, manifests itself equally in all areas of life, "to turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the disobedient to the mind of the righteous" (Luke 1:17).

The new way

The first in this series, the foundation of everything else, is true repentance: faith in the gospel and in the death of our Savior on the cross at Golgotha, and in His resurrection from the dead. This is the only door that leads every soul into the kingdom of God (cf. Luke 13:3; Romans 10:8-11; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; 2:1-4). As a person grows in the knowledge of His holy name and His grace, they will increasingly understand what God has prepared and is doing for their salvation. Then they will understand how to respond, with faith and action, to the effect of His grace upon us. Through this, our lives are completely transformed spiritually. Jesus comes into our hearts through our faith, and God saves us from the dominion of darkness and brings us “into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Colossians 1:13).

Then follows the pursuit of righteousness (cf. Mt 6:33). This is what our Creator and Lord absolutely desires to see in His people. However, this by no means implies self-made righteousness, but rather complete dependence on God and His grace (cf. Mt 5:3), a broken spirit (v. 4), meekness (v. 5), a hunger and thirst for righteousness (v. 6), and a constant life lived for the Lord Jesus. “For the love of Christ compels us, because we are convinced of this: If one died for all, then all died; and he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and rose again” (2 Cor 5:14-15).

Such a faith and understanding of our life in the Kingdom of God, which our Lord and Savior invisibly brought from heaven to earth, frees us from various temptations related to legalism and grants everyone the gracious opportunity to seek God and His grace. Through this, we can draw closer to Him and only then be freed from our own problems, vices, and lack of spirituality, so that we may be transformed into His image. On the other hand, it gives everyone the understanding and ability to serve and worship God and the Lord Jesus in spirit and truth, without error or mistake. “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and also appreciated by men” (Romans 14:17-18).

May the Lord bless everyone, that we may all grow in the grace of God and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Richard Zimmermann

Municipality of Bremen