Sunday Sermons

The Kingdom of God

Mark Dunagan
01/25/09 - Sunday Morning

The expressions “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of heaven” can refer to a couple of things, for instance, it can refer to heaven itself – the final rest for the righteous (Galatians 5:19), yet it often refers to something that is here, on the earth and that has been here since the First Century. When John the Baptist started preaching, one of the first things that he said was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). Jesus repeated this message, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17), and He also tied the existence or coming of this kingdom to the gospel message, “proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom” (4:23). Jesus then commissioned His apostles to preach the same message, “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 10:7).

The Kingdom is Here

Various passages can be presented which establish the fact that the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God (expressions that are used synonymously in Matthew 19:23-24) has been on this earth from the days of the apostles:

John the Baptist, Jesus and the Apostles all announced that it was at hand.
Jesus said it would come within the lifetime of the apostles (Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27).
The Christians in Colossae had been translated into this kingdom (Colossians 1:13).
Christians had received this kingdom (Hebrews 12:28).
John was in this kingdom (Revelation 1:9).
The kingdom is not to be set up when Jesus returns, rather it is already on this earth, and will be delivered up (1 Corinthians 15:24).
Daniel said this kingdom would be set up during the days of the fourth empire, that is, the Roman Empire (Daniel 2:44-45).

The Kingdom is the Church

Even though the word “kingdom” and the expression “kingdom of heaven” do not always refer to the church, it often does:

The relationship that was “at hand” in the gospels is the church in Acts and the Epistles.
The terms “church” and “kingdom of heaven” are used interchangeably in Matthew 16:18-19.
The church is purchased with the blood of Christ (Acts 20:28), and people purchased with the blood of Christ are said to be a kingdom (Revelation 1:5-6).
The Lord adds forgiven people to the church (Acts 2:38, 41, 47), and God translates forgiven people into the kingdom (Colossians 1:13-14).
The Lord’s Supper is in the kingdom (Luke 22:16, 18), yet the church partakes (1 Corinthians 11:18ff; Acts 20:7).

The Everlasting Kingdom

When the prophet Daniel laid out the successive empires (Persian, Greek and Roman) that would follow the Babylonian Empire (Daniel 2:36-44), he noted that not only would the kingdom of God be established during the days of the fourth empire (2:44), but that the kingdom of God would be very different. One key difference is that all world empires come and go. The Babylonian Empire was “left for another people”, and so was the Persian, Greek and Roman (2:44). The Roman Empire was not a contemporary empire with the Babylon, but rather had absorbed or inherited territory that had belonged to these previous empires. Not only here in Daniel, but in a number of other places, it is made clear that the kingdom of God will never end:

“He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end” (Luke 1:33).
“The gates of Hades shall not overpower it” (Matthew 16:18).
“To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations” (Ephesians 3:21)
“Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken” (Hebrews 12:28). “Believers are now receiving (present participle) an unshakable kingdom” (Reese, p. 233). Consider the context here, this kingdom that believers are presently enjoying is placed in contrast with “those things which can be shaken” (12:27).

What Can Be Shaken

“And this expression, ‘Yet once more’, denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, in order that those things which cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:27). Obviously, created or material things can always be shaken or removed, yet at times we forget this. Recent events in this country have reminded us all sorts of things can be shaken:

The value of our homes.
The Stock Market and banks.
Mutual funds and retirement accounts.
Jobs, employment, and the economy.
The government, businesses, all human organizations.
Our health and all our earthly plans.
Our relationships.

I hope we realize that God gave Christians a relationship that cannot be shaken. Many governments, entire civilizations and businesses have come and gone in the last two thousand years, and yet the Lord’s Church remains.

Applications

“Stuck in the Past?”

Sometimes people will complain that the church is “stuck in the past” and needs to get up to speed with the times. Yes, the church can embrace and use new technology to teach the gospel, but when it comes doctrine, Jesus designed a relationship that was to remain unchanged, because the kingdom of God is founded upon a foundation that never changes, and that foundation is truth (1 Timothy 3:15). This is one reason why Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:37). While governments and human organizations are always evolving, and often evolving in the wrong direction (i.e. away from the principles upon which they were founded), the kingdom of God remains unchanged. The Lord’s church in the year 2009 will be preaching the same message as revealed in the year 33 A.D. Paul said, “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14). In the prophets, the “world” (unbelieving society) was pictured as a restless sea, “But the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet. And its waters toss up refuse and mud” (Isaiah 57:20). The church is the one place on earth where you will find a truth that does not change. It does not change because God does not change, “For I, the Lord, do not change” (Malachi 3:6), and the head of the church, the king of the kingdom, Jesus, does not change (Hebrews 13:8). His word will be the standard by which we are judged at the last day (John 12:48).

“Will we die out?”

Depending upon where you live, it may seem like no one wants the gospel message and that what the gospel teaches is very unpopular, and yet the gospel message from its very beginning has been an unpopular message, “It is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere” (Acts 28:22). Men have often proclaimed the end of Christianity and yet those men and their views may have faded, Christianity however, remains. Obedient believers in God have been on this earth from the time of Abel (Hebrews 11:4), and obedient faith and trust in God is as old as the universe. Despite the fact that unbelief is often very popular and has many resources, the faithful remain.

Kingdom People

These are people who are willing to submit to God’s rule and acknowledge the most basic of principles, (that is, God is God and I am not). God therefore does have the right to instruct me. Kingdom people are those who are willing to change, and who realize that the statement, “but I am a good person why do I need to change?” is an opinion that is naïve, blind and untrue (John 3:5; Romans 3:23). Kingdom people are humble, and admit their ignorance, they come to God as a little child (Matthew 18:17) willing to learn and willing to be re-educated. Kingdom people are also people who are willing to live a life that is stable and consistent (Luke 9:62), they do not quit when the going gets tough and neither are they constantly following the latest fad, secular or religious. Kingdom people also are grateful. Christians experience a relationship that makes them greater than even John the Baptist (Luke 11:20), and we have been given all the secrets or previously unrevealed mysteries concerning the kingdom of God (Matthew 13:11). Having the truth may not result in being popular, but it does result in being saved, right, forgiven, blessed, a friend of God, and having eternal life when you have lost everything else.