God's Coming Kingdom

God, in the pages of the Bible, often speaks about the coming kingdom of God on earth. This page is a continuing series of articles about this coming kingdom, as shown in the Bible.

Part 1      God's Coming Kingdom

From the previous series of articles review of the Old and New Testament scriptures it is clear that a great political revolution is soon to overtake all world governments when Jesus returns. The current system of human government is well represented by the Statue of Liberty, the colossal statue on Liberty Island in the Upper New York Bay, U.S.A.

This figure of Liberty as a woman holds a raised torch in one hand, and in the other a tablet showing the date of the Declaration of Independence. The plaque at the entrance is inscribed with a sonnet, “The New Colossus” (1883) by Emma Lazarus, expressing the high ideals of that Declaration, in which are the lines,

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome...

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The question now occurs, how well has this Liberty, together with the promised Equality and Fraternity, been shared among all inhabitants? After the revolutionary events in America, democratic governments, which were eventually elected by everyone having the freedom to vote, were established in many countries around the world. During that time many authoritarian and totalitarian states adopted outwardly democratic governments.

Disciples of Christ, in the New Testament sense of this expression, take no role in any of these governments. Jesus prayed, “they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world... keep them from the evil one” - John 17:14 (nevertheless, Christ’s brethren must “be subject to the governing authorities” - Romans 13:1).

The “evil one” is one of God’s expressions for human nature, whose thinking and actions naturally oppose the law of God, as Paul said, “if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit [the instructions of God in the inspired scriptures] you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” - Romans 8:13.

The governments of the nations give scant regard to the Creator or to His promises and plans with His earth, even though He has caused them to be written down in the Old and New Testament scriptures. Each national government concentrates on what is best for that nation or for the ruling class of that country.

This will come to an end when the kingdom of God replaces the current kingdom of men. In the symbolic language of Revelation 20:1, John “saw an angel coming down from heaven, having...a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of ... the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years” which predicted the suppression of all human governments during the Millennium.