The Kingdom of God in the New Testament

A Brief Sketch

What can we discover about “the kingdom of the God” in the New Testament?

(1) It had to be announced and proclaimed so people would know about it (Luke 9:60; Matt. 3:2; 4:17, 23; 9:35; 10:7).

(2) Peter, James, and John participated in a preview of the coming kingdom (Matt. 16:28-17:8).

(3) During the Tribulation, the Good News of the kingdom will be proclaimed in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Matt. 24:14).

(4) At the completion of the Judgment of the Gentile survivors of the Tribulation, the “sheep” – those on King Jesus’ right – will be addressed thus, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34).

(5) In Jesus’ ministry the kingdom of God had drawn near. Listeners needed to repent and believe in the Good News (Mark 1:15).

(6) It is difficult for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God (Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25).

(7) Even in Jesus’ day, the kingdom of God was yet future. Moreover, it was not going to appear any time soon (Luke 19:11-27). Joseph of Arimathea was waiting for the kingdom of God (Mark 15:43).

(8) When the kingdom of God arrives, the will of God will be accomplished on earth the same way it is up in heaven (Matt. 6:10).

(9) When the kingdom arrives, many Gentiles will come from the east and the west and recline at the table with (resurrected) Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whereas the sons of the kingdom (i.e. a great many Jewish people) will be cast into outer darkness, a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:11-12; Luke 13:23-30).

(10) Jesus will reign on the throne of His father David over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end (Luke 1:32-33).

(11) Jesus is the nobleman who has left earth and gone to a distant country (heaven) in order to receive His kingdom, and then return (Luke 19:12). Since He has not yet returned, His kingdom has not yet arrived. It will not arrive until He returns, evaluates and rewards His followers, and puts to death all those who did not want Him to be King (Luke 19:12-27; Psalm 110:1-3, 5-7). Meanwhile, in heaven Jesus is presently serving as priest forever after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4).

(12) When Jesus returns, his twelve apostles will sit on thrones in His kingdom, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:27-28; Luke 22:28-30).

(13) No one can participate in the kingdom of God unless he has been born again (John 3:3). By this Jesus’ meant that all humans have been born of water (born of the flesh). Having merely lived is insufficient. To participate in the kingdom of God, people must also be born again – that is, born of the Spirit. This is a spiritual birth (John 3:4-5).

(14) To be born again requires believing in the only-born Son of God, who was lifted up on the cross to pay for the sins of mankind (John 3:14-16). These who believe in Him will have eternal life and will not perish.

(15) He who refuses to believe in Jesus has already been judged, for he has not believed in the only-born Son of God (John 3:18).

(16) People refuse to come to Him who is the Light because their deeds are evil, and they do not wish their deeds to be exposed (John 3:19-20).

(17) He who practices the truth comes to the Light so his deeds may be made transparent as having been worked out through God (John 3:21).

(18) After His death and resurrection, Jesus taught His disciples for forty days concerning the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). His followers continued that process (Acts 8:12; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31).

(19) The kingdom of God does not consist of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). Moreover it does not consist of mere words, but in power (1 Cor. 4:20).

(20) Unrighteous people will be excluded from the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10). The same can be said for those who are not walking by means of the Holy Spirit, but who, instead, practice the deeds of the fallen, sin-cursed flesh (Gal. 5:16-21). Those who practice the things listed in this passage will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:21). See also Eph. 5:5

(21) After Christ’s Millennial Reign upon earth, after having abolished all rule, authority, and power, Jesus will hand over the kingdom to God the Father (1 Cor. 15:24). They will both sit on the same throne in New Jerusalem, ruling as Co-Regents (Rev. 22:1, 3).

(22) Mere flesh and blood, that which is decaying and dying, cannot possibly inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:50). That is why, at the last trumpet, Christ will descend from heaven with a shout, along with the voice of the archangel, and why living believers in Christ will be miraculously given resurrection bodies without having had to die first, and why the dead in Christ will be resurrected with imperishable bodies (1 Cor. 15:51-53; 1 Thess. 4:13-18).

(23) It is through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22; John 16:33).

(24) God will destroy the present decaying, sin-cursed heavens and earth (2 Pet. 3:7, 10-12; Rev. 20:11; 21:1).

(25) God will create new heavens and earth in which only righteousness and righteous people exist (2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1, 8, 27; 22:3-4, 10, 14-15).

(26) The focal point of this new universe is New Jerusalem, home of the pure and holy Bride of Christ and Capital City of Israel (Rev. 19:7-9; 21:1-4, 9-27; 22:1-5). The Holy City, New Jerusalem is starkly in contrast with the Great Prostitute, Babylon the Great (Rev. 17:1-19:5).

Posted January 4, 2025