What is the Kingdom of God?

You are here

What is the Kingdom of God?

Login or Create an Account

With a UCG.org account you will be able to save items to read and study later!

Sign In | Sign Up

×

The word translated "kingdom" throughout the New Testament is the Greek word basileia, which denotes "sovereignty, royal power, [and] dominion" (Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, "Kingdom"). A careful examination of the Bible reveals that the next phase of the Kingdom of God is nothing short of a world-ruling monarchy that God will establish on this earth through Jesus Christ!

The focus of Jesus Christ's message was the announcement of a coming world government.

A vision explained in the book of Daniel covers prophecies from the time of Daniel to the time of Jesus Christ's second coming. Daniel understood that there would be four major world-ruling empires during that time. Daniel explains that in the days of the fourth empire God will replace these human kingdoms with the Kingdom of God.

"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" (Daniel 2:44). We see that the fourth kingdom continues to rule until Christ returns to establish His Kingdom on earth.

God's Kingdom—foretold repeatedly in Daniel—is the same Kingdom Jesus Christ preached about. The nature of this Kingdom is clear. The four kingdoms described in Daniel 2, 7 and 8 ruled over people and lands. They were great world empires with dominion and power to rule, warring against and conquering other nations. They had kings, governments, laws and subjects. They were literal kingdoms, whose ruins are visible to this day.

So, too, will the Kingdom of God be a literal kingdom ruling over the whole earth. Daniel 7:27, speaking of the establishment of this Kingdom, adds:

"Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him" (New International Version).

The wonderful news of the coming Kingdom of God is the heart and core of Jesus Christ's message for humanity. Jesus will return to earth and establish this Kingdom. He will be the Ruler of the Kingdom of God. Consider this prophecy of Jesus Christ's return: "Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!'" (Revelation 11:15). Jesus Christ will rule over literal kingdoms on earth.

The governments of mankind, with their inherent inability to solve human problems that are rooted in humanity's inability to choose the right way to live (Proverbs 16:25), will be replaced by a form of government that can at last solve those problems. Jesus Christ Himself will rule the nations of the earth!

This is the gospel—the good news—that Jesus Christ taught. The focus of Jesus Christ's message was the announcement of a coming world government (Luke 21:31). This government will not be ruled by selfishly motivated humans but by Jesus Christ Himself, and it will continue forever!

    Comments

  • rwp_47
    God created the material universe - among other things, he created it to be inhabited. But prior to creating the universe he devised a great plan that would accomplish a great many things. One of the premier purposes of the plan was to create his own children (who would be God beings like himself) - to become a universe ruling family. Originally the earth was inhabited by angels. God evidently placed about one third of the angels on the earth and placed over them a ruler named Lucifer. Lucifer was given the responsibility to administer the God's government on the earth. But Lucifer rebelled and persuaded the angels under him to rebel too (they have become known as demons). This was in accordance with the original plan as it demonstrated that only God could be entrusted with such responsibility of rulership. Since the angelic rebellion God's government hasn't been administered on the earth. The world, since that time, has been invisibly ruled by Lucifer (Satan). He is identified in scripture as being the god of this world (2Cor:4:4). God hasn't yet removed Satan from earthly rulership. One of the reasons Jesus was born as a human was to qualify to replace Satan as the earth's ruler (Rev.5:1-10) and to afterward reestablish the Kingdom of God on the earth. Another reason for Jesus' appearing two thousand years ago was to bring "the message" that God's Kingdom would again be reestablished on earth (Satan's rule would be ended) and that humans could be born into (and become citizens of) this reestablished Kingdom of God. This "message" is called the "Gospel". In Mark:1:15 Jesus preaches this message - "... The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." For humans to be born as citizens of God's coming Kingdom, among other things, one must repent of not believing Jesus' message (of not believing the gospel) - and instead believe it. The earth will be the Kingdom of God once God's government (consisting of the saints - with the chief saint, Jesus, as the head of that government) has replaced Satan's government on earth. So actually, the earth is the future Kingdom of God (Rev.11:15). And it shall be an eternal, everlasting, unending kingdom.

Join the conversation!

Log in or register to post comments