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The Kingdom and the Ministry of Jesus

The Purpose of the Kingdom

Jesus taught that the purpose of the kingdom of God is to fulfill
the mission of God. He summed up God’s plan to fulfill that goal in
Matthew 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the
whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
According to this verse, God’s plan for achieving His mission is threefold:

1. It involves preaching the gospel in kingdom power.
2. It involves preaching the gospel in every part of the world (Acts 1:8).
3. It involves preaching the gospel to every nation (Revelation 5:9; 7:9).

In Matthew 24:14, Jesus told us where history is headed. He also told
us what must happen before the end of the age comes and God sets up
His eternal kingdom. The gospel “must first be preached to all nations”
(compare Mark 13:10). Then—and only then—will the end of the age
come. Then, “the kingdom(s) of the world [will] become the kingdom(s)
of our Lord and of his Christ” (Revelation 11:15). At that time, Jesus will
“hand over the kingdom to God the Father” (1 Corinthians 15:24), and
together, “they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).

Someone asked, “Why does God allow the kingdom of Satan to
continue? Why does He not simply destroy Satan’s kingdom and be
done with it?” It is because God’s goal is not just to defeat the kingdom
of Satan. He could easily do that. God’s goal is to get people out of the
kingdom of Satan, lest they be destroyed with it. The purpose of His
kingdom is to accomplish that aim.

The Mystery of the Kingdom
Jesus spoke of the secrets, or mysteries, of the kingdom of God. He
said to His disciples, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given
to you” (Mark 4:11). In the New Testament, a mystery is a part of God’s
eternal plan that was once hidden but has now been revealed (compare
Romans 16:25–26; Ephesians 3:3; 9–11; Colossians 1:26). The mysteries
of the Kingdom are those truths about the kingdom of God that were not
revealed to the Hebrew prophets but have now been revealed through
Christ and the apostles. According to George Eldon Ladd, “This is the
mystery of the Kingdom: Before the day of harvest, before the end of the
age, God has entered into history in the person of Christ to work among

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