The Kingdom of God is the kingly domain of God the Father where Jesus the Son of God rules and reigns as its Inheritor and King. It is also known as the Kingdom of heaven, where God dwells (or exists).
Mark 12:32-34
The scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE’S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.
For an Israelite who believed that the Kingdom of God was, or was represented by, the nation of Israel, it must be confounding for the scribe to hear Jesus saying, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
So, where was, or is, the Kingdom of God? How near or far is the Kingdom?
Luke 11:20
“But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
Matthew 12:28
“But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
The Kingdom of God is inextricably tied to the body of Jesus Christ.
Through the set-apart incarnate-body of Jesus Christ filled with the Spirit of God, the Kingdom of heaven was brought near, or brought at hand, on earth with full power of expression.
Through the set-apart incarnational-body of Jesus Christ filled with the Spirit of God on Pentecost, the Kingdom of heaven was established on, or has come upon, the earth with full power of expression.
Mark 9:1
And Jesus was saying to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
Matthew 16:28
“Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Without going into theological details, during the lifetime of some of the disciples – all except Judas Iscariot – who were standing with Jesus, the Son of Man had come in His Kingdom with all authority in heaven and on earth after His resurrection, and had entrusted it to his disciples who were sent in His stead (c.f. John 20:21-22; Matthew 28:18); and the Kingdom of God had come with its full power from on high, and was embodied on earth through the temple of Christ’s body on Pentecost (c.f. John 2:19-22; Luke 24:49; Acts 2:1-4).
Thus, the Kingdom of God is not the ancient nation of Israel nor a future Millennial Kingdom, but a present Kingdom of Jesus Christ that is embodied by the incarnational-body of Jesus Christ – the ekklesia – with full authority, power, and glory of expression extending from heaven to earth, and even under the earth. This Most-High Kingdom is an all-prevailing and all-consummating Kingdom, which the gates of hell and evil schemes of men cannot overcome.
Matthew 19:23-24
And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Matthew 7:21
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”
So, the ekklesia, being the embodiment of Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God, is the embodiment of the Kingdom of God. No one can enter this Kingdom-embodiment called the ekklesia, and become sons of the Kingdom, unless he does the will of the Father – with the two foremost commandments being foremost (c.f. Mark 12:28-31).
While the Kingdom of God is larger than the ekklesia, being the Kingdom of heaven over time and space, it is embodied, expressed, and extended into the whole world by the ekklesia. In other words, the kingdom of God is immanent, and “immanuel”, on earth through the ekklesia. Indeed, without the ekklesia on earth, the Kingdom of God remains a “distant” kingdom in heaven; and without the hand of His incarnational-body on earth, the sceptre of Christ cannot be extended beyond the right-hand side of God in heaven.
Therefore, as the ekklesia that Jesus is building (c.f. Matthew 16:18-19), let us not come short of the complete embodiment, full expression, and boundless extension of the authority, power, and glory of the Kingdom of God in the nations.
When the Son of Man comes to survey His Kingdom in person, will He find faithful representation and expression of His Kingdom by His incarnational-body called the ekklesia?
Jesus said to the scribe, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” Are we in, near, or far from the Kingdom of God?
How can the ekklesia truly embody and exercise the kingly authority and Kingdom values of the Kingdom’s King in the nations of the world?
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