If I were to ask you what the main message of Jesus’ teaching was, my guess is you would say love. In light of the series we just finished on love, we can easily say that love was central to all Jesus said and did, but if you read through the gospels, you will see that Jesus talked about love 28 times while He talked about the Kingdom of God 112 times. If we really want to understand the message of Jesus, we have to understand what He means when He talks about the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven, or just, The Kingdom. Gordon Fee, a New Testament scholar, said, “you cannot know anything about Jesus, anything, if you miss the kingdom of God.”
Today we are starting a series that will look at some of the messages we find in the teaching and preaching of Jesus. Jesus' words are filled with different themes and ideas that not only changed people’s lives, but have the power and potential to change our world. There is perhaps no greater message than the one we find in Jesus' very first sermon. The first message of Jesus was short and simple. “The time has come,” Jesus said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:15
While love might be a hallmark and value of God’s kingdom, it was the Kingdom of God itself that Jesus came to bring. To help us understand what Jesus means when He talks about the Kingdom of God we need to go back to the Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament, to get a proper background. Psalm 99:1-5
The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble;
he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake.
Great is the Lord in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations.
Let them praise your great and awesome name—he is holy.
The King is mighty, he loves justice—you have established equity;
in Jacob you have done what is just and right.
Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy.
This scripture, and many like it, talks about God as a king over all of creation. This passage led to a prayer that rabbis say often, Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe.
God is the ultimate king of the universe. He is the ruler of all things, at all times, and in all places. God’s dominion and authority over the universe is greater than we can even imagine because the universe is larger than our minds can comprehend.
This is a picture taken from the hubble telescope deep in space. What you are looking at are thousands of galaxies, which each contain 100’s of billions of stars. The universe is larger than anything we can imagine and God knows it all. He knows every star by name. He knows when stars are formed and when they die. He knows where there is life and where there is no life. He knows how they spin and turn. I also have to believe that God has somehow placed His hand around us so that we are still here in our own tiny corner of the world, spinning away unharmed and with the ability to see all of creation and know the One who created it all.
God created this. God spoke it into being. God sustains it, keeps it spinning, and as we hear from many scientists, God keeps it growing - ever expanding. This is part of the Kingdom of God. God is the King of this Universe. While we can’t comprehend the power, strength and vastness of God, He is truly HOLY, we are told some of what is important to God and therefore are values and principles of His Kingdom.
If we go back to Psalm 99, we see that God wants justice. He established equity. He does what is right. And yes, God loves. This is what God wants for His creation, His Kingdom, and it is what God established in the Garden of Eden. God created the perfect, peaceable, loving kingdom and gave it to us to enjoy and rule over. Instead of living in God’s kingdom the way God called us to live, we turned away. We fell short of God’s rule and instead of putting God first, Adam and Eve put themselves first, and that has been the human story, our story, ever since. We have made ourselves king of our own universe.
Instead of striving for justice, love, mercy and righteousness, we wrestle with gluttony, greed, lust, sloth, anger, rage and pride. These are 7 deadly sins that pull us apart and destroy the kingdom we live in, and yet in all of us, and in our world, there is a longing and a desire for another kingdom, God’s kingdom.
When the nation of Israel was faced with devastation and destruction brought on by their own sin and failures, the prophets started talking about a coming kingdom of God. The prophets, and the people, longed for a day when God would rule on earth as He did in heaven and they began to provide pictures and images of what this kingdom would be like. It was these images and ideas that shaped what Jesus was talking about when He talked about the Kingdom of God. So let’s look at what the prophets said.
Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Isaiah 2:3-5
This is what we still long for in places like Ukraine and Gaza. We hunger for a place where nations would not take up swords against one another or train for war anymore. It’s a kingdom of peace and justice. It will be a place where righteousness and love will prevail.
Isaiah also said: A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord —and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:1-9
Isaiah wrote at a time when the Assyrians were bearing down to destroy Israel and they were looking for God to bring a lasting peace. The prophet Ezekiel wrote during a time of Babylonian oppression of the people. Ezekiel 34:23-24
I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken.
While all of these pictures of the Kingdom of God came when Israel was facing destruction or after they had been defeated by earthly kingdoms, it was the prophet Jeremiah who proclaimed that the Kingdom of God wasn’t going to come from outside forces that would compel people to behave a certain way, the power of God’s kingdom was going to come from within. Jeremiah 31:33-34
This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
The Kingdom of God, and the kingdom Jesus talked about, was not going to come by force from the outside but by a transformation of people's hearts on the inside. Governments can be good and kind and gracious, but no government, not even ours, will be the kingdom of God. While our first leaders talked about us being a city on a hill for the world to see and we might aspire to be a light to the nations, we are not the kingdom of God because the kingdom of God doesn’t come from declarations and constitutions, it comes from Jesus and it comes from the Holy Spirit working within individual people. The kingdom of God comes when you and I decide to follow Jesus.
If we go back to Mark and the first sermon of Jesus, Jesus said, “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
The kingdom of God had come near because Jesus was there. The kingdom of God was near the people because it was in Jesus and He was near the people. The kingdom of God was found in how Jesus lived, how He loved, what He did, how He healed, and forgave, and changed people’s lives. Everywhere Jesus went, the kingdom of God broke through, it was near.
When the dead were raised by the touch or voice of Jesus, it was the kingdom of God breaking into our world. When the blind could see and the deaf could hear, it was the kingdom of God breaking into our world. When the hungry were fed and sinners forgiven and outsiders welcomed to the table, it was the kingdom of God breaking into our world. The kingdom of God was near in Jesus and through Jesus the world began to see what the kingdom of God was like and that it was possible to experience it, to live in it, here and now.
The kingdom of God is the life Jesus lived. It was filled with the righteousness and peace Jesus gave to people. It’s the picture of love and relationship and community that Jesus formed. It’s the power of healing and forgiveness and hope He showed us. It’s the way God always wanted life to be lived and experienced and Jesus is inviting us to be part of that kingdom. The message of Jesus wasn’t just for people 2000 years ago. The kingdom of God is near us today. It is here, and we can experience it and live in it, if we will repent and believe.
The word repent simply means to turn. Maybe a better way to think about repentance is to return to the life and kingdom God has for us. While God created us and called us to live in His kingdom, we too often miss the mark and pursue our own desires. In sin, we turn away and repentance is simply returning to living in the kingdom of God. Can we invite the holy spirit to change our heart so that we seek the things of God and not the things of this world? Can we get ourselves back on track and live and love the way we see in Jesus so that we begin to experience the power of God’s kingdom in our own hearts and lives and families?
As we wrestle with this message of Jesus, that the kingdom of God is near, I want to invite you to reflect on two things.
How have you strayed from life in God’s kingdom? From what you now know about the Kingdom of God, or how God wants us to live, how have you strayed from that life? How have you missed the mark in love and justice and righteousness?
What do you need to do to return to Jesus? What practical steps can you take to return to Jesus? Maybe it’s to read the prophets that show us what Jesus was talking about when He talked about the Kingdom of God. Maybe it’s to read one of the gospels and identify all the ways we see God’s kingdom breaking through in the words and actions of Jesus.
Let me close with one more thought about the kingdom of God. As powerful as the kingdom of God is and as powerfully as it was breaking through in and through Jesus, there were forces fighting against that kingdom and against Jesus. The kingdom of religion and the kingdom of Rome fought against Jesus and had Him killed because He was bringing in the reign and power of God’s kingdom. There is still a battle that continues in our own hearts and lives and there is still a battle going on in our world against God’s kingdom.
While the world put Jesus to death, we know it was not the end of God’s kingdom. We know it’s not the end because Jesus rose from the dead to keep bringing near to us the Kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is still near in and through the church. Every time we offer healing and hope to others, we are bringing the kingdom of God near. Every time we live not for ourselves but for others, we are bringing the kingdom of God near. Every time we love God and love others, we are bringing the kingdom of God near. Every time we repent of living the way we want to and return to living the way God created us to, we are bringing the kingdom of God near. Every time we point people to Jesus by our words and actions, we are bringing the kingdom of God near. The message of Jesus is just as true today as it was when Jesus first preached it.
“The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Today Jesus is inviting us to be part of His kingdom and to be part of a movement that can continue to bring the kingdom of God near.
Next Steps
Words that Changed the World - The Kingdom of God
What do you think of when you think of the Kingdom of God?
What pictures come to mind when you think of life in God’s kingdom?
What might we learn about God’s kingdom by looking at the creation story and Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden?
Read what the prophets said about the Kingdom of God.
Isaiah 2:3-5, 11:1-9
Jeremiah 31:33-34
Ezekiel 34:23-24
What picture begins to emerge about life in God’s kingdom?
How were people able to experience the kingdom of God in and through Jesus?
How have you strayed from life in God’s kingdom?
What do you need to do to return to God?
How can you help bring the kingdom of God near to people today?
