The kingdom of God runs through the whole Bible, from the prophets who foretold it to the Lord who preached it and the apostles who entered it. Yet it is badly misunderstood. Many are still waiting for an earthly kingdom with Christ on a throne in Jerusalem, ruling the nations with armies and borders. The Bible describes something else, a kingdom already here, already reigning, but not of this world. Let us see what it actually says.
It Was Foretold and Then Set Up
The kingdom was promised long before it came. Daniel told a pagan king that "in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed" (Daniel 2:44), and he fixed its time in the days of the Roman empire. Centuries later Jesus came preaching, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1:15). He told some who stood near Him, "there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power" (Mark 9:1). That puts its arrival within the lifetime of His hearers. It came with power on the day of Pentecost, when the church began and Christ was proclaimed as reigning Lord.
It Is Here Now
This is the point so many miss. The kingdom is not still waiting to be set up. It is already here, and Christ already reigns. Paul told the Colossians that God "hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Colossians 1:13). Not will translate, but hath. John, while he lived, called himself their "companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom" (Revelation 1:9). The Hebrew writer said we are "receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved" (Hebrews 12:28). Christ is on His throne now, for He "must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet" (1 Corinthians 15:25), and at the end He will deliver the kingdom up to God (1 Corinthians 15:24). He is not waiting to begin reigning. He reigns, and one day He will hand the kingdom back to the Father.
It Is Not an Earthly Kingdom
Because Christ reigns now and yet no earthly throne stands in Jerusalem, we know the kingdom is spiritual, not political. Jesus said it plainly to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). When men looked for it to come with armies and visible splendor, He told them, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation", for "the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20-21). It has no borders to defend and no capital to capture. It is the rule of Christ over the hearts of His people, and its citizens are found in every nation.
How a Person Enters It
Since the kingdom is spiritual, a person does not enter it by birth, by nation, or by force, but by being born anew. Jesus told Nicodemus, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). To be born of water and the Spirit is to obey the gospel, to be baptized as the Spirit's word directs, and so to be added by the Lord to His people. The same act that puts a person into Christ puts him into the kingdom, because the kingdom and the church are the saved under the reign of Christ, seen from two sides.
The Kingdom Comes First
If the kingdom is the reign of Christ over our lives, then nothing in this world can be allowed to rival it. Jesus said, "seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). The citizen of this kingdom does not give God the leftovers of his time and money and heart. He gives Him the first and the best, and trusts Him for the rest. A divided loyalty is no loyalty at all, and a king who comes second is no king.
A Kingdom That Cannot Fall
Every earthly kingdom Daniel saw has crumbled into dust, exactly as God said it would. Babylon fell, and Persia, and Greece, and Rome. But the kingdom God set up in their days still stands, and will stand when the last empire of men is forgotten. It is the one "which shall never be destroyed" (Daniel 2:44), the one "which cannot be moved" (Hebrews 12:28). So the wise man does not give his life to the kingdoms that are passing. He bows to the King who reigns now and forever, enters His kingdom on His terms, and lives as a citizen of a country that will outlast the world. Where does your allegiance lie?