III. Jesus’s Message
Verse 17 brings us to Jesus’s message. There we read, “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” The message was a simple one. Basically Jesus was declaring that the King (who has drawn near) will receive His kingdom; you, however, must receive the King. It wasn’t just a declaration that the kingdom was near, but a call to them to receive it, to enter in by the narrow gate.
Jesus spoke about a real kingdom. Some spiritualize His words and say that Jesus did not come to establish a kingdom on earth. They say that He did not intend to bring to earth a kingdom that would include Israel as its center. But Jesus didn’t redefine the kingdom. He proclaimed the kingdom that the Jews were expecting. He came as their King, their Messiah and deliverer. They didn’t understand, however, the necessity for Him to die first before He set up this kingdom.
Some who say that Jesus was only talking about a spiritual kingdom of salvation quote from Luke 17:20-21. The King James Version says, “The kingdom of God comes not with observation… for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” They will say there is only an inner spiritual kingdom with no earthly kingdom for Israel because Jesus said the kingdom is within you. There are two reasons why this is not what this verse is teaching. First, this phrase is poorly translated. It is best rendered, “The kingdom of God is in your midst.” Jesus was telling them that the kingdom is right here because the king is right in front of you. Secondly, Jesus was not addressing saved people in the context. Who was He speaking to? The Pharisees. Would you say that the kingdom of God was in their hearts? No. The kingdom was in their midst because the King had come to them.
This kingdom is going to be both an earthly kingdom with Israel as its center and a heavenly kingdom. Where does the idea for this kingdom come from that the Jews were so intently waiting for? How could Jesus call out the drawing near of the kingdom of heaven and find a ready following? The Old Testament Scripture is replete with references to God’s working with the nation of Israel in a future kingdom. But I think that its character is most clearly portrayed in the book of Daniel.
I want to cover the two salient aspects of this kingdom.
A. The kingdom is an earthly kingdom
The kingdom that Jesus proclaimed is an earthly kingdom. It will be an earthly kingdom because from Daniel 7:13-14 we learn that the Son of Man will rule over it: “I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.”
Daniel uses the term Son of Man to set Jesus apart as the paramount human ruler. Literally as “the Son of Adam” He is the one who is to take the authority to rule the world even as the first Adam had been given that authority in Genesis 1. Daniel portrays Him coming before the Ancient of Days (God the Father) and receiving His dominion directly from Him, even as Adam had. The very fact that Jesus is the Son of Man, the chosen human to rule, shows that He will reign over an earthly kingdom.
Secondly, this will be an earthly kingdom because Jesus will rule over all the nations. We see this in Daniel 7:12, 14. Verse 14 says “all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him.” His kingdom will consist of all peoples of every place. It is not that they will just be subsumed into one group in heaven, but that they will, for a period, live under Jesus’s rule here on earth. Verse 12 helps us to see this. The beasts mentioned in verse 12 are the nations coming under the rule of the Messiah. Daniel says, “As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time.” There is a temporary extension of life to national entities after Jesus returns, though their power now comes under the authority of Jesus Christ. It is a short period in relation to God’s economy, one thousand years according to Revelation 20. But though the dominion of these nations is taken away and given to Jesus Christ, nonetheless they continue to remain as nations.
Thirdly, this will be an earthly kingdom because Jesus will center this kingdom in the nation of Israel. In Daniel 7:22, the prophet writes, “the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.” The term “saints” refers to the Jewish people. It is at this time, when Jesus returns, that they will take possession of the kingdom. So it is an earthly kingdom, with a national focus on the people of Israel. But this verse also shows that this is not just a spiritual kingdom, nor is it speaking of God’s universal over the world. There is a time in the future when the Jewish people will take possession of the kingdom. They will seize it, but that it will be given to them. There is no doubt that there is a universal aspect to God’s kingdom. The Scripture says, “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.” God is always the ruler. No one can remove Him from His throne, but regardless of God’s universal reign, there will be a time in the future when God’s people, Israel, will be given a kingdom. It will not be taken away from them. Daniel 2:44 says it “will not be left for another people.” They will be restored to their land. It will be extended to the Euphrates River and they will dwell in peace. The current leadership in the Middle East will not be happy about that, but the future leadership of those countries will be, for Isaiah says that Egypt and the other surrounding nations will be allies with Israel and they will worship the Lord together. And I tell you that they won’t be calling Him Allah.
The promises made by God to the nation of Israel will be fulfilled and an earthly kingdom will be established. Jeremiah 31:31 says, “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” God’s new covenant is a national covenant that He makes with the nation of Israel. His promises can be trusted and we can rely on the truth that whatever He says, He will do.
B. The kingdom is a heavenly kingdom
The kingdom Jesus proclaimed is an earthly kingdom, but it is also a heavenly kingdom. Saying that it is heavenly does not minimize the earthly or physical nature of it.
The first reason we note that it is a heavenly kingdom is because the God of heaven is its source. In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon had a dream that only Daniel, through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, could interpret for him. The dream related the entire history of all the coming world powers until the end of time. In 2:44, Daniel says, “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.”
The God of heaven is the source of this kingdom. This is why it can be called a heavenly kingdom. Yet this all takes place in the context of other earthly kingdoms. It displaces other kingdoms. If this is the case then there is a physical aspect to these kingdoms. If it were not a physical kingdom there would be no reason to displace them, for they could exist simultaneously. But this is not the case. For God’s kingdom to be set up, these others must be put aside. In Revelation 11:15, there is a shout of praise to God in heaven because, as it says, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”
The God of heaven is the source of this kingdom. We see this in Matthew 6 in the model prayer that Jesus gives to His disciples. He says, “Our Father who is in heaven… Your kingdom come.” It is our heavenly Father who will set this kingdom up. Again this speaks of a future aspect to the kingdom. Jesus has announced that it has drawn near, but it is still to come. It is yet to be fulfilled. “May Your kingdom come” was what Jesus instructed His disciples to pray.
Secondly, it is a heavenly kingdom because it will last forever. Again from Daniel 2:44, “It will itself endure forever.” Unlike the kingdoms of the earth which fade and pass away, this one will never be destroyed. And though the kingdom upon this earth will only last for one thousand years, at the end of that time, God the Father will transfer the kingdom into the eternal realm by creating a new heaven and new earth in which righteousness dwells. What is the characteristic of this new earth? It is a physical place with seasons and nations and people with new physical bodies (of a type we have yet to see or understand). The end of the thousand-year reign comes, as Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:24, “when He (Jesus) hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.”
Finally this is a heavenly kingdom because you must be born again by the Holy Spirit from heaven to enter it. In John 3, Jesus said to Nicodemus, one of the religious leaders, “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” This wasn’t a matter of religious difference of opinion. This was an emphatic statement. Nicodemus had come, thinking to be accepted by Jesus because of his religious background as a Pharisee, because of his credentials as the main religious teacher in Israel, and because he thought that Jesus might be the Messiah. If so, Nicodemus wanted to be on the welcoming committee because of who he was. But Jesus said that it wasn’t any of those things that would allow Nicodemus into the kingdom. He had to be born again, otherwise he wouldn’t even SEE the kingdom of God.
The reason is that you must be born again by the Holy Spirit into the family of God. If you want to enter into a heavenly kingdom, you have to have a nature that is created from heaven. Every one of us is born into a natural family, an earthly family. Because we are descendents of Adam we have a sin nature from the earth. Your nature is not that of heaven. If you want to go to heaven, you have to be made of heavenly stuff; you have to be born into a heavenly family so that your new nature is from heaven.
There are many people who try to imitate a Christian by doing Christian things: reading the Bible, praying, going to church, singing Christian songs. They get baptized and join a church, but they have never been born again and received the nature of heaven. They are like Clyde who imitates an elephant but never had the nature of an elephant. If he wanted to become an elephant he’d have to be born again as an elephant. Are you here wanting to be a Christian, but you have never come to a time in your life when you called upon God to save you through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? If that is the case, you are only imitating a Christian. Being born again into this new nature is what makes a real Christian, not singing Christian songs, being baptized, praying, or reading your Bible.
In Daniel’s prophecy, he speaks of those who survive the tribulation period and see the Lord Jesus return, but who will be cast into hell before He sets up His kingdom. There will be a seventy-five day period after Jesus returns during which, along with the other geological and political changes taking place, there will be judgment as well. Some of those who have survived the tribulation without having been born again will have convinced themselves that they have made it into the kingdom. But they will be wrong.
There are many who have convinced themselves that they are Christians because they act in a certain way, but they have never received the heavenly nature by being born again and are therefore bound for hell. They think they have a home in heaven but they will arrive in their final destination only to discover they are in hell.
Imagine that you are driving on your way home. You are rejoicing in your heart because you are expecting to relax and settle down at the end of the day. You have a nice meal planned and all your thoughts are those of thankfulness because you almost imagine yourself home already. But as you turn the corner to your home you see that it is engulfed in flame. The home is ablaze. You can feel the heat from the end of your street and discover that your home is a raging inferno. You stop and watch it and realize that this is your home. All your thoughts, all your plans, all your rejoicing and thankfulness have faded and are now a million miles away. Your hope has been dashed and you see the truth. Your home is a place of fire.
The kingdom of heaven has drawn near. Have you been born again so that you can enter it, or will you be cast out into the place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth? The kingdom of heaven has drawn near. God has sent His Son so that you can receive eternal life by calling upon His name and receiving the new nature out of heaven.