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The Kingdom of God

The Kingdom of God Defined

When the Bible speaks of the kingdom of God, it is not talking about
a geographical region such as the Kingdom of Swaziland or the United
Kingdom. It cannot be identified with any country anywhere in the world
today, or for that matter, at any other time in history. Rather, the kingdom
of God is the sovereign rule or reign of God over His creation. As we shall
see more clearly as we move through this study, the kingdom of God can
be viewed in three ways:

• The rule or reign of God.
• A present Kingdom already at work in the world, and into which
people are now entering.
• A future Kingdom into which the righteous will enter at the end
of the age.

The words translated “kingdom” in the Old and New Testaments both
mean the same thing: a rule, realm, reign, or kingship.

The two main names for the Kingdom found in the New Testament are
the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. In the Gospels these two
names are used interchangeably, as seen in Matthew 19:23–24: “Then
Jesus said to His disciples, ‘I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man
to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to
go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of God’” (emphasis added). The two terms are simply different ways of
saying the same thing. The phrase “kingdom of heaven” is used only in
Matthew (33 times). This is possibly because Matthew was writing to
Jews who thought it disrespectful to use God’s name too often. In parallel
passages one Gospel writer will use “kingdom of God” while another uses
“kingdom of heaven” (see Table 1.1 below). Other New Testament terms
used for the kingdom of God are as follows:

• “My Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29).
• “Kingdom of the Son of Man” (Matthew 13:41).
• “My kingdom” [spoken by Jesus] (Luke 22:30).
• “Kingdom of Christ and of God” (Ephesians 5:5).
• “Kingdom of light” (Colossians 1:12).
• “Kingdom of the Son he loves” (Colossians 1:13).

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