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 31      God's Coming Kingdom

The final vestige of the Kingdom of God disappeared in AD 70 when the Romans brutally crushed the rebellion of Jewish radicals. The rebels were doubtless aware of Daniel’s remarkable prediction, in chapter 9, of Messiah’s coming in the era in which they lived.

They evidently held out the hope that with the impending arrival of Messiah, they would be enabled to repeat the sort of victory as that of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Greeks.

But like all religious Jews of the time, they expected Messiah to restore the Kingdom of God in a short time after his coming. They had rejected Jesus, who had come forty years previously because he died on the cross and disappeared, not having brought the expected restoration.

The disciples of Jesus asked him after his resurrection, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” The kingdom of God which they had in mind was a literal, real and substantial kingdom, in which they clearly nursed a heart-felt hope of seeing.

It was a kingdom about which they had more than once argued, which man or men among them would Jesus, as King, make second in command, for example in Mark 9:34. Now if the apostles were mistaken to hope for such a literal kingdom, here was the perfect opportunity for Jesus to set the apostles straight.

But Jesus would not have commissioned the apostles to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” if they were mistaken about such an important part of that Good News as shown in Mark 16:15. And we know that the gospel which they afterwards preached not only included “the name of Jesus Christ” but also “the things concerning the kingdom of God” - Acts 8:12.

So we should not be surprised to hear Jesus clearly confirming the apostles’ perception of the Kingdom of God when he replied to their last recorded question when “they asked him, saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’”

Jesus’ reply was, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” - Acts 1:6-8. In effect, the apostles asked ‘when?’ and Jesus replied ‘some time after your preaching.’

Ezekiel had pronounced concerning the Kingdom of God, over which the last ruling descendant of David’s dynasty, Zedekiah reigned as king - “Now to you, O profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose iniquity shall end, thus says the Lord God: 'Remove the turban, and take off the crown; nothing shall remain the same. Exalt the lowly, and abase the exalted. Overthrown, overthrown, I will make it overthrown! It shall be no longer, until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him” - Ezekiel 21:25-27.

The kingdom of God which was overthrown so very long ago in 586 BC will surely be restored. God will give the crown to him “whose right it is,” the one, of whom David wrote, “He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God” - 2 Samuel 23:3-4.

Of that “Just One” - Acts 7:52, the angel said to Mary about Jesus, “the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David” - Luke 1:31.