What is the kingdom of God according to Jesus?

The Kingdom of God is the authority and power of God exerted for the preservation of its subjects from the evil by which they are afflicted, and for subduing everything under His sway of blessing. It was exhibited in the Lord's works while He was here.

I now turn to some notices of the kingdom, which shew how it is not now His kingdom, properly speaking. He reveals to His disciples that it is a kingdom which is not one. And the Scripture is more full on this than is supposed. The kingdom of God is the general idea of the king of God's power, and the rule of God's principles. Hence, Jesus could say, "the kingdom of God is among you," "come nigh to you": for He was there. He could not then call it "the kingdom of heaven," because the kingdom was on earth, not in the heavens. This was only at hand. Matthew alone uses the expression, "kingdom of heaven." But what, when it comes, is its character? A kingdom is the government of a king over his sphere of rule. A great tree, three measures of leavened flour, a field sown with tares and wheat, and the like - these are the characters the kingdom takes, the mysteries of the kingdom; because the king took no direct rule. Secretly, He orders all things with divine power; but as the Christ He lets all go on without direct intervention of His power: so the Lord teaches in Mark. "It is as if a man should cast seed into the ground - that Christ did personally - and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how … But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come." Christ acted personally at the beginning, then leaves it to-spring up without interfering (though secretly ministering grace), and at the harvest acts personally again. He is sitting hid in God, though seen by faith, in the holiest during all this time.

"The Kingdom of God" occurs five times in our Gospel. It clearly expresses a different idea from the above. It has been described as "the exhibition of the ruling power of God under any circumstances." It was thus manifested when the Lord was here. So He could say (Luke 17:21), when unbelievingly asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God was coming, "the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you." It was there represented in His Own Person.

This is the second way in which I see it presented in scripture—as come. Authority and might were vested in Jesus. He says, “If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you” (Matt. 12:28). It was there present; but, as I have already said, without subject or territory; neither could it be entered into unless by one born again (John 3:3). The authority and might of that kingdom were being put forth by Jesus, for the deliverance of man from the thraldom of Satan, and from the consequences of sin. God had intervened on man’s behalf for his salvation. In this way the kingdom was there in their midst. It was come.

The kingdom of heaven never means heaven itself; but rather the rule of the heavens over the earth. When the actual departure on high of the Lord Jesus is spoken of, it is always said to be into heaven, and not into the kingdom of heaven. When the Lord, then, was here below, and manifested His power over Satan, it was the Kingdom of God: it could be so called because the King — the power of God — was there. So here in this place He, by the power of God casting out demons, proved that the kingdom of God was come. What better proof could be asked? Man was totally insufficient for such a work; others might have done so in special answer to prayer. God is always superior to the devil, and it was important that He should prove this from time to time in expelling demons by the sons of Israel who possessed the place of relationship to God that no other people had. But in the Lord's case it was not occasional, exceptional, or partial, but uniform and universal: even where the disciples themselves, using His name, failed to cast them out, He always did it with a word. The Kingdom of God, therefore, was come as a witness of His power, not yet as a state and sphere of manifestation. Both morally and in power, the kingdom of God was come in Him Who bound the strong man and stripped him of his goods.

The kingdom of God and of Heaven is a sphere on earth where the rule of God is maintained. It is not heaven nor in heaven as some have thought. Since it had to be set up here by the Spirit, it must be different from the rule of the heavens spoken of by the prophet, Daniel 4:26, which is true from the beginning of time. Romans 14:17 explains it. Negatively — it is not meat and drink, i.e., not concerned with temporal things. Positively — it is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. It is a sphere of good and blessing where grace reigns through righteousness in contrast with the world where sin reigns. Three things mark it. The Lordship of Christ; the will of God which is salvation, and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Thus the whole Trinity is at work on behalf of guilty man. The saints are subjects of divine grace and fitted to stand as good soldiers of Jesus Christ in the conflict which rages with the fallen hosts who have their head-quarters in the heavenlies. They are also consistent with the testimony of God's grace which is the Gospel of the glory of the blessed God. In fidelity to their Lord, the rejected King, they stand for His inheritance during His absence and are provided with the whole armour of God, in a power that is not carnal but mighty through God. It is true that this kingdom is spoken of as a lodging place for mere christian profession, and by the working of man's mind, to the exclusion of the Spirit, it has become an inflated mass. Luke 13:18-21. But it must be remembered that, though people get much of the light and beneficence of heaven in this land by a nominal profession of christianity, the real entrance into the kingdom of God is by being born again. John 3:5. "Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 18:3. It began at Pentecost and goes on till all things are brought into subjection to God by the Man of His purpose; all enemies put down and even death itself destroyed. 1 Cor. 15:2-28. The kingdom is confined to the Assembly during the reign of grace but when that company is summoned to be at home with the Lord, the testimony will pass into other hands by the resumption of divine dealings with Israel the covenant people. Judgments of various kinds both providential and governmental shall then be executed, in view of the kingdom being established on the earth in full regal display. Matt. 13:30, 41, 48. Matt. 25:31-46. The kingdom today is a bulwark for the House of God and all the treasures that are there — the precious things of heaven. As the warriors in Israel stood for the protection of the Tabernacle, the Priests, the Levites and the wives and children, so the church militant stands in the conflict for the maintenance of all that is of God. The place of the Holy Spirit in all this can be gathered from the place where the conflict is described and the way He is mentioned there twice. "And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel." Eph. 6:17-19.

The Coming of the Kingdom. — To the advent of the kingdom in power attention is now to be directed. And this branch of the subject is introduced by a question addressed by Pharisees to the Lord. They asked Him when the kingdom of God should come [or, comes]. Often of course had they heard Him speak of the kingdom of God, which they connected with external displays of Divine power on Israel's behalf. There was truth in that. But as yet nothing of it had been seen. What prompted their question at this time is not apparent. The Lord's answer, however, was calculated to correct their mistake. The kingdom of God was already upon earth, though they were in ignorance of it. "The kingdom of God," He said in reply, "comes not with observation; neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, Lo, there! for the kingdom of God is within [or, in the midst of] you." There was to be the kingdom in mystery before its advent in power. Now whilst it is on earth in mystery those only see it, as we learn from the Lord's discourse with Nicodemus (John 3), who are born again. And none can enter it save those born of water and of the Spirit. The important thing then for any who had not then entered into it was to learn that it was already upon earth, so that they were not to be looking for displays of delivering power on behalf of Israel ere the kingdom could be said to be in existence. It was there. And, as the Lord had previously told the same class of people — Pharisees (Luke 16:16) — men were violently pressing into it; or, as Matthew writes (11:12), "the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." Without external show or observation it came, and was noiselessly spreading. The King was there, so the kingdom was already in existence in their midst. For in this sense it seems best to understand the term "within you," here used by the Lord, since probably none of His questioners had entered into it by being born again. They were most likely unbelieving Pharisees, not teachable disciples.

Here, then, the Lord connects the new birth and the kingdom; later He will speak of heavenly things, His own work, and eternal life. The kingdom was not presented, at that time, in its material and outward form which nature could recognise; it was presented in Christ in its moral characteristics. The King was present, but rejected; and its moral features were seen in Him, "righteousness, peace and joy". These are the blessings that will indeed characterise His Kingdom in the day of His reign, and are known now in the power of the spirit by those who believe in Christ in the day of His rejection. To see the kingdom in this moral way, in the King, was impossible to nature. For this there must be a work of God in the soul, here spoken of as new birth.

In Romans 14:17, we read, we have been brought under the sway of God, in contrast to the dominion of sin. You are under God's will, the sway of God in grace; the kingdom of God is set up in your soul. When one is saved and put under the will of God, what is begun in the soul is but the forecast of what is going to be established in a world-wide way by and bye. When the kingdom of God is outwardly manifested, and Christ has come as God's King over the whole earth, there will be three great marks which everybody can recognise: — (1) It will be a righteous rule, all wrongs will be righted, and the reign of that wonderful King will be righteous. (2) There will be peace. The nations will not learn war any more, nor will there be international strife, nor class war, but the will of God will be dominant; and in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ, it will be absolute autocracy linked with absolute justice, what has never been known on earth yet; the effect of righteousness will be peace; (3) There will be joy. The ransomed will return with songs to Zion, everlasting joy will be upon their heads, and the sounds of sorrow will be hushed. These are the three great marks of the coming kingdom of God, which will then be universal. But the Holy Ghost dwelling in you sets up the rule of God in your heart, and these three marks are exemplified in the Christian now. The Christian under the rule of Christ is righteous, (i.e., speaking of him characteristically, and as subject to the will of God), he is peaceful, and happy. "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink"; it does not consist in your being a vegetarian, but the Holy Ghost brings you under the sway of God in grace, making you righteous and peaceful (i.e., you are not a disturber of the peace), and happy. The gospel lays the foundation in your soul for the kingdom of God. Yet while the kingdom of God is referred to, the doctrine in its immensity is not developed.

That it is not a different kingdom in these passages in Matthew will be seen at once by comparing the other two Synoptic gospels, where what is said of the Kingdom of the Heavens in Matthew is said of the Kingdom of God in Mark or Luke. Take Matt. 4:17, Matt. 5:10, Mark 1:14-15, and Luke 8:1; Matt. 10:7, Luke 9:2; Matt. 11:11, Luke 7:28; Matt. 11:12, Luke 16:16; Matt. 13:11, Mark 4:11, and Luke 8:10; also the parables of the mustard seed given in Matthew of one and Mark and Luke of the other — of the leaven in Matthew of one, in Luke of the other. Also Matt. 18:3; Luke 18:16; and these are not all. We can then study the subject of the Kingdom from the point of view of its ordinary designation, "Kingdom of God," and then and thus learn best to understand the exceptional term applied to it in Matthew (and there only) as to what is indicated by it.

In Luke 17:20 (cp. 10:9) I learn that the power of it was present in the Person of the Lord Jesus "among you" (not "within" Pharisees) though not yet "come," not yet established as a formal relation in which men stood to God. Hence — as not yet set up — the least in it (Luke 7) would be greater in privilege than the greatest that went before it, in testimony of the King. John 3 states how only it can be really seen (its power in Him when present) or entered into when formally set up. Romans 14:17 describes its moral characteristics, and 1 Corinthians 4:20 contrasts its power with men's pretensions. Compare further 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Ephesians 5:5. It forms the subject of the intercourse of Jesus with the eleven in resurrection — "The things pertaining to it." (Acts 1) And then we find it promulgated as formally established by the testimony of the apostles in the Acts, and of the Holy Ghost with them, to the exaltation of Christ to the right hand of power. See the effect of Philip's testimony at Samaria (Acts 8:12, also Acts 14:22, Acts 19:8, Acts 28:23). But the effect of the testimony was not all real, hence the application of the passages that speak of it as a professing sphere, as the mustard seed and leaven, and the special parable of it given in Mark 4: only. Nor is it limited to the present form in which it is established by, and as the result, whether real or professed, of testimony to, the absent King. It will be still the Kingdom of God generally in the millennium as, for example, Luke 13:29, Luke 21:31, when the dispensational form it takes will be that of the Father's Kingdom in its heavenly part (1 Cor. 15:50; 2 Thess. 1:5) where the righteous shine forth, and the Kingdom of the Son of Man in its earthly part. Nor is it limited to time, but in a very general sense at least it is applied when the kingdom proper is given up to the Father and God is all in all. (1 Cor. 15) When the Lord Jesus gives up His reigning place as Man to take His subject place with the Father (though the Kingdom be thus an everlasting one (2 Peter 1:11), for it never passes to another). I say in a very general sense, for kingdom properly supposes those who have to be subjected to or reigned over by authority. This is done completely in the millennium, when at least at the end the last enemy is destroyed, so that the kingdom proper is over as such when God is all in all, save as it remains the general description of the eternal blessedness to which we are called. (1 Thess. 2:12; 2 Tim. 4:18.)