Finding Jesus in the Bible…So We Can Follow Him in Life
Bible Reading Plans
- Plan One: New Testament Only
- Plan Two: New Testament + Psalms
- Plan Three: New Testament + History
- Plan Four: The Entire Bible – Year 1 of 3, Year 2 of 3, Year 3 of 3
Don’t know which plan? Go to A Christ-Centered Bible Reading Plan: Quick Start.
Extras
Verse of the Day, Audio Capsule, and Video Minute
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(Today’s Book Installment)
Living in the Kingdom of God
Chapter 7 – “…the Kingdom of God”
The kingdom of God was not just the central theme of Jesus’ parables, but of all His teaching. He explicitly referred to it – either as “the kingdom of God,” “the kingdom of heaven,” or simply “the kingdom” – more than a hundred times in the four Gospels.
Further to the point of the kingdom being top of mind, Matthew presents it not just as the first thing out of Jesus’ mouth as He began His ministry, but also as the headline of John the Baptist’s ministry.
Matthew 3:1 Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
Mathew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Crowds did not express surprise upon hearing such proclamations because the Old Testament prophets had prepared them to expect a coming kingdom.
In the 8th century BC, for example, the prophet Amos made a veiled reference to a future kingdom of glory by relating it to the glory of David’s kingdom.
Amos 9:11 “In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David,
And wall up its breaches;
I will also raise up its ruins
And rebuild it as in the days of old;
Later that century, the prophet Isaiah was more explicit about what was to come.
Isaiah 9:6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
But no Old Testament prophet could have been more explicit about the future kingdom of God than Daniel in the 6th century BC. Here’s just the most notable example of the many things he wrote about it.
Daniel 7:13 “I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
Daniel 7:14 “And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.
Thus were 1st-century Jews primed by their prophets to hear about the kingdom of God. And the words “at hand” would have intensified the issue for the crowds who heard John and Jesus.
The meaning of the phrase was obviously “the rule of God.” But no one could have known what that meant until Jesus came to demonstrate and explain it.
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