The Evangelical Universalist Forum

What is the Kingdom of God?

Throughout the NT the term inherit(which is in the future tense meaning sometime in the future)the Kingdom of God is mentioned. So what IYHO is the KoG? Is it the future Millenial Kingdom?

“The Kingdom of God” and “The Kingdom of Heaven” are the same thing. In Matthew it is usually called “The Kingdom of Heaven.”

The Pharisees had been expecting the Kingdom of God at some point in their future. But Jesus declared that the Kingdom was right there in their midst. A kingdom consists of a king and his subjects. Standing there in the midst of the Pharisees was the King (Jesus) and His subjects (the disciples of Jesus).

At that time, its infant stage the Kingdom of God consisted only of Jesus and His disciples. Some translators render the last phrase as “within you” rather than “in your midst.” That would be correct if it were understood in the same way. But unfortunately many people think “within you” means “in your hearts.” But clearly that cannot be, for that crowd of Pharisees did not have the Kingdom of God in their hearts.

However Jesus’ parables of the Kingdom of God indicates that the Kingdom would grow.

Jesus taught with both these parables the growth of the Kingdom.

Entering the Kingdom is costly. The disciples had to forsake all they had in order to follow Jesus and become His disciples.

That seems a high price to pay. However, once a person understands the value of being a member of the Kingdom, he will gladly pay the price.

The good news of the Kingdom of God was proclaimed by John the Baptizer, Jesus Himself, and the apostles. That even Paul’s gospel was also the proclamation of the Kingdom is evident from the last verse of Acts.

Even though Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God was present in His day, He also taught a future aspect of the Kingdom—when it would come in its full maturity: