- Photograph by Davide Cantelli from unsplash
What did Jesus mean?
The Kingdom of God is at Hand
This phrase was a key part of Jesus'
preaching, at least at the beginning
of his public ministry, as we learn
from the Gospel records:
"From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
And not only did he speak this
message himself, but later, when
he sent his twelve disciples out to
preach, he taught them to say the
same (Matthew 10.7).
However, Jesus wasn't the first to
use this phrase. The message was started by his relative John:
"In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"
The words carry a sense of urgency, exhorting the hearers to take
action. The implication is that if they did not repent of their sins
soon, they would lose out when the kingdom of heaven comes. The
window of opportunity was short.
The kingdom of heaven
Before we consider what was
meant by "at hand", we should first
explore what "the kingdom of
heaven" is. The phrase occurs 33
times in Matthew's Gospel, which
is an indication of its importance
in the teaching of Jesus.
Surprisingly, it is found in no other
book of the Bible, but comparison
with the other Gospels shows that
the expression in Matthew is
equivalent to "the kingdom of God"
elsewhere.
Presumably, the difference arose as
an alternative way of translating
Jesus' words, probably spoken in
Aramaic or Hebrew, into the Greek
of the New Testament manuscripts.
There is no difficulty in seeing the
two phrases as equivalent. As God
Himself declared:
"Heaven is my throne"
- Isaiah 66.1; see also Matthew 5.34
A ruler's throne is a
symbol of his authority, so it is
reasonable to say that the kingdom
that belongs to God belongs to
heaven. It is also worth noting that
the words "the kingdom of heaven"
do not necessarily imply that the
kingdom is in heaven.
Long-promised
Laying aside whatever preconceptions
we may have about the
expression 'kingdom of heaven', it
is worth considering what it is
likely to have meant to those who
first heard it. Matthew records John
and Jesus warning people that the
kingdom was at hand, but with no
explanation of what the kingdom is
– as though they expected their
Jewish audience to already know,
and with good reason.
The Old Testament contains many
prophecies of a future kingdom of
God, and of the man chosen by God
to rule over it. One example, a
foundation for this subject, is the
promise made by God to David the
great king of Israel:
"When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be my son"
God, through the prophet Nathan, spoke
about a kingdom that will last
forever, to be ruled over by a
descendent of David who will also
be the Son of God.
A similar prediction is found in the
prophecy of Daniel:
"And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever"
So this kingdom, to be set up by God, will
replace all human governments.
The son of David
Against this Old Testament backdrop, the kingdom of heaven
spoken of by John and Jesus must be the same kingdom as foretold in
these prophecies. And in case we should miss this link, the beginning
of the New Testament serves to underline it:
"The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David"
There would be no reason to mention Jesus'
descent from David unless he is the
promised descendant who will reign for ever.
The matter then becomes beyond
question when we read the angel
Gabriel's announcement to Jesus' mother Mary:
"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call his name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."
A kingdom on the earth
Summarising what these prophecies
tell us about the kingdom of
heaven, we know that:
- Jesus Christ, the seed of David, will reign forever.
- The kingdom will never be destroyed.
- It will replace the political powers of the earth.
- It will be a re-establishment of David's ancient kingdom.
- Its principal subjects will be the descendents of Jacob (Israel), also known as the Jews.
These facts describe a literal kingdom located on the earth, like
David's kingdom, ruling over the land and people of Israel. The
prophecy of Isaiah adds further detail, identifying the capital city,
legal system and the extent of Jesus' dominion:
"The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; he will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths". For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords unto ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."
We can now add to our list:
- The capital city will be Jerusalem, also known as Zion, David's ancient capital.
- All nations will come to worship God at His temple in Jerusalem.
- Jesus will rule the nations according to God's law.
- His rule will bring lasting peace to the earth.
Steve Allen/shutterstock.com
The gospel of the kingdom
It is quite clear that these prophecies have not yet been
fulfilled – the kingdom of heaven is
yet to come. So why were John the
Baptist and Jesus, 2,000 years ago,
urging people to repent of their
sins if they would be long dead by
the time the kingdom came?
The answer is of course the hope of
salvation, the opportunity God has
given us to be raised from the dead
to everlasting life, made possible
by the death and resurrection of
Jesus and the forgiveness of sins.
This was the gospel message
preached by John, Jesus and the
apostles; this was the reason they
were urging people to repent and
change their way of life.
The hope of salvation is bound up
with the coming of the kingdom of
heaven, because it is in the
kingdom that the faithful will be
rewarded, as Jesus taught:
"Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord", shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven"
When Jesus returns to the
earth to set up the kingdom, the
dead will be raised and judged, and
then all the faithful will be made
immortal and will enter into the
kingdom. This is why Jesus'
teaching is sometimes called the
gospel of the kingdom (e.g. Matthew 4.23).
This painting by Edward Lear shows Jesus' route as he rode a donkey down the slopes of the Mount of Olives towards Jerusalem. Here was Zion's future king, but his time was not yet.
The kingdom is "at hand"
So in what way was the kingdom of
heaven "at hand"? Strong's Concordance
defines the word used in
the original Greek text of Matthew
as meaning: "to make near, to approach", and defines the root
word as meaning: "near (literally or figuratively, of place or time)".
So John and Jesus were saying that the
kingdom of heaven had come near,
but the nearness could either be in
place or time and might not be
literal – it could be figuratively
near, for example that the kingdom
had become better known or more
accessible.
As we have seen from the Scriptures
and the evidence of history,
the kingdom was not literally near
in time when these words were
spoken, far from it. But certain
things very closely linked with the
kingdom were literally near at that
time.
Firstly, of course, there was its
future king, Jesus Christ himself. In
a sense he embodied the kingdom
that was to come, as was clearly
shown when he rode into Jerusalem
on a donkey. He was hailed
by the crowd as "the son of David"
and fulfilled a prophecy from the book of Zechariah:
"All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: "Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey"."
He came as Zion's king, but not to rule just yet.
Secondly, God's Holy Spirit power was in evidence, by which Jesus performed many miraculous signs.
He declared:
"But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you"
The power Jesus exercised then is the same
power by which he will rule the
earth, so his miracles were a
foretaste of the kingdom to come.
Thirdly, the law Jesus taught is the
law by which the kingdom of
heaven will be ruled, referred to in
the quotation from Isaiah chapter
two (earlier). If we wish to
become citizens of that kingdom
when it comes, we must subject
ourselves to its law now.
The kingdom figuratively near
In addition to these representations
of the kingdom of heaven
being literally near, there is a way
in which the kingdom was
figuratively near at the time of
Jesus. The statement that "the
kingdom of heaven is at hand" was
coupled with an urgent call to
repent, so it must relate to the
individual's personal opportunity for salvation.
The gospel of the kingdom was
revealed by God from the earliest
times, in His promises to Abraham
and David, in the words of the Old
Testament prophets and even in
the rituals of the Law of Moses, but
the message could easily be missed
by those who did not seek to
understand it. When John the
Baptist came, the gospel was
proclaimed plainly and with a
direct personal call to repent and
do what God requires.
The preaching of John was a
watershed in the revelation of
God's plan, as Jesus taught:
"The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it"
So the preaching of the kingdom of heaven by John, Jesus and his
disciples, greatly increases our awareness and understanding of
the kingdom, and of what we need to do to enter it. Their words, both
when they were spoken and now through the pages of the Bible,
have brought the kingdom of heaven near to our minds, made it
more accessible, more pressing.
Be ready!
Although the kingdom of heaven
must be much closer now than in
New Testament times, the urgency
of the call to repent and get ready
has not changed:
"But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect him."
The call is urgent, not only because
we do not know when Jesus will
return, but also because our lives
may be cut short unexpectedly.
Whether we will receive the gift of
everlasting life and enter the
kingdom depends on how we respond now.
Author Nigel Neate
Country Nottingham UK
Source Light on a New World reprint from Volume 30.1
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