BIBLICAL STUDIES Community Group
For deeper Biblical exegetical studies, touching on the original languages. All are welcome to join in and post, but please remember to comment on the verses you choose and why they are important for us in our Christian walk.
1. The Kingdom of God that Jesus preached.
Mathew 4v23 "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people."
9v35 "Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people."
24v14 "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."
So what is the Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus is talking here?
He's talking about the coming rule of God. A coming Kingdom that will be set up on earth. In other verses in scripture, we read that Jesus will be King and then after a thousand years, he will hand over the Kingdom to God. And He will rule directly again as before. We know thru scripture that there was a Kingdom of God on earth before and it was the kingdom of Israel and God was their King as it was in the beginning. And that's a broad context of the Kingdom.
2. Roman occupied.
Roman had occupied Israel at that time, so a new Kingdom sounded wonderful to the Jews and Gentiles who listened to their words. Having an idea of having their own Kingdom to themselves, that would have been "good news" for sure.
But their vision of the kingdom was alittle different from Jesus. They thought it was coming now and then, with Jesus as King. You had him coming into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. All those people singing songs. They thought the Kingdom was going to take place then and now! But the Kingdom didnt come then.
3. The Kingdom of God.
The bible teaches us that the kingdom of God is going to be here on earth. Jesus talked about that too.
That are verses in scripture that might confuse people. Like the phrase, "Kingdom of God" or "Kingdom of Heaven". They might think it is something were God dwells. Like in Mathew 18v3 "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." Some people might think that we would go to heaven at some point. People will be entering this kingdom in heaven. But we have to look at that in context of scripture.
We look at other verses like, "and the meek will inherit the earth". Now we have two contrasting views. How are the meek going inherit the earth if everyone is going to be in the Kingdom in heaven?
We even go back into the OT with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Hebrews 11 tells us that they didnt get their promises yet. So what was their promises? It was a promises of an inheritance. Where was the inheritance? It was Israel. Israel is not in heaven, it is on earth. So there has to be a phyical location on where this kingdom is going to be.
4. Kingdom of Heaven.
So what would the kingdom of "heaven" be? How can you fit it in with the rest of scripture?
Alot of times things are talked about as "in the heavens". When you come to Ephesians We should be dwelling in the "heavenly places". Well, what does that mean? We are hear on earth, not in heaven. The idea is, that's where it's from. That's where our minds should be, not on the things of the earth, the fleshly things. There's almost like a physical world and a spiritual world. And the spiritaul is of heaven. And that's where our minds and thoughts should be. Our minds are in the heavens with God.
On the kingdom of heaven, on that word "kingdom" in our concordances should be rendered, "rule" or "realm". So it might be saying that we will be entering into the rule of heaven. Being ruled by God.
The Hebrew word "of" in the concordance can also be rendered "from" or "out of". So it could also mean, by no means entering into the kingdom "from" heaven.
Even in Mathew 6 were Jesus is talking about a coming kingdom "from" heaven. So Jesus was preaching a kingdom that was to come "from" God. To be "set up" from God.
We can also take a look at the verse, Jesus of Nazareth. It should be rendered Jesus "from" Nazareth.
John 1v6 "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John." Clearly it was not a physical thing where John was in heaven with God and was sent down from heaven to earth. So when a man was sent from God doesnt mean it was sent from a literal place.
5. Throne of david
The bible also talks about Jesus sitting on the throne of David. Well, where was the throne of David? It was on earth. The promises to David was that his throne would be re-established. We can look back and see what the kingdom is going to be like, but it will be perfect this time. God's Kingdom on earth before was an imperfect kingdom. The coming kingdom with Christ as king will be perfect.
6.
Acts 1v3-6 "...being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;
5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
After Jesus's resurrection, he spent forty days with his disicples preaching the Kingdom of God. And even after forty days, they still didnt know when it was going to happen. "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" They didnt know.
It's going to be a restoration of the kingdom. Not a totally new and different kingdom from the last one. It is going to be new in some aspects, yes. God said to David that there will always be a king to sit on your throne. And we know that God keeps His promises. And it's going to end up being Jesus the messiah, the annoited one. Every kingdom has a king and we know that it will be Jesus as the last king.
And to "restore" the kingdom also tells us that the kingdom of God existed once before. But not in it's perfect state as it will be. And when did the Kingdom exist previously in the past?
We know that Jesus preached to his disciples the good news of the kingdom of God and prayed about it.
"Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is done in Heaven"
Zech. 14v9 "And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one."
Wonderful words to hear.
Mathew 4v23 "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people."
9v35 "Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people."
24v14 "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."
So what is the Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus is talking here?
He's talking about the coming rule of God. A coming Kingdom that will be set up on earth. In other verses in scripture, we read that Jesus will be King and then after a thousand years, he will hand over the Kingdom to God. And He will rule directly again as before. We know thru scripture that there was a Kingdom of God on earth before and it was the kingdom of Israel and God was their King as it was in the beginning. And that's a broad context of the Kingdom.
2. Roman occupied.
Roman had occupied Israel at that time, so a new Kingdom sounded wonderful to the Jews and Gentiles who listened to their words. Having an idea of having their own Kingdom to themselves, that would have been "good news" for sure.
But their vision of the kingdom was alittle different from Jesus. They thought it was coming now and then, with Jesus as King. You had him coming into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. All those people singing songs. They thought the Kingdom was going to take place then and now! But the Kingdom didnt come then.
3. The Kingdom of God.
The bible teaches us that the kingdom of God is going to be here on earth. Jesus talked about that too.
That are verses in scripture that might confuse people. Like the phrase, "Kingdom of God" or "Kingdom of Heaven". They might think it is something were God dwells. Like in Mathew 18v3 "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." Some people might think that we would go to heaven at some point. People will be entering this kingdom in heaven. But we have to look at that in context of scripture.
We look at other verses like, "and the meek will inherit the earth". Now we have two contrasting views. How are the meek going inherit the earth if everyone is going to be in the Kingdom in heaven?
We even go back into the OT with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Hebrews 11 tells us that they didnt get their promises yet. So what was their promises? It was a promises of an inheritance. Where was the inheritance? It was Israel. Israel is not in heaven, it is on earth. So there has to be a phyical location on where this kingdom is going to be.
4. Kingdom of Heaven.
So what would the kingdom of "heaven" be? How can you fit it in with the rest of scripture?
Alot of times things are talked about as "in the heavens". When you come to Ephesians We should be dwelling in the "heavenly places". Well, what does that mean? We are hear on earth, not in heaven. The idea is, that's where it's from. That's where our minds should be, not on the things of the earth, the fleshly things. There's almost like a physical world and a spiritual world. And the spiritaul is of heaven. And that's where our minds and thoughts should be. Our minds are in the heavens with God.
On the kingdom of heaven, on that word "kingdom" in our concordances should be rendered, "rule" or "realm". So it might be saying that we will be entering into the rule of heaven. Being ruled by God.
The Hebrew word "of" in the concordance can also be rendered "from" or "out of". So it could also mean, by no means entering into the kingdom "from" heaven.
Even in Mathew 6 were Jesus is talking about a coming kingdom "from" heaven. So Jesus was preaching a kingdom that was to come "from" God. To be "set up" from God.
We can also take a look at the verse, Jesus of Nazareth. It should be rendered Jesus "from" Nazareth.
John 1v6 "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John." Clearly it was not a physical thing where John was in heaven with God and was sent down from heaven to earth. So when a man was sent from God doesnt mean it was sent from a literal place.
5. Throne of david
The bible also talks about Jesus sitting on the throne of David. Well, where was the throne of David? It was on earth. The promises to David was that his throne would be re-established. We can look back and see what the kingdom is going to be like, but it will be perfect this time. God's Kingdom on earth before was an imperfect kingdom. The coming kingdom with Christ as king will be perfect.
6.
Acts 1v3-6 "...being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;
5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
After Jesus's resurrection, he spent forty days with his disicples preaching the Kingdom of God. And even after forty days, they still didnt know when it was going to happen. "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" They didnt know.
It's going to be a restoration of the kingdom. Not a totally new and different kingdom from the last one. It is going to be new in some aspects, yes. God said to David that there will always be a king to sit on your throne. And we know that God keeps His promises. And it's going to end up being Jesus the messiah, the annoited one. Every kingdom has a king and we know that it will be Jesus as the last king.
And to "restore" the kingdom also tells us that the kingdom of God existed once before. But not in it's perfect state as it will be. And when did the Kingdom exist previously in the past?
We know that Jesus preached to his disciples the good news of the kingdom of God and prayed about it.
"Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is done in Heaven"
Zech. 14v9 "And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one."
Wonderful words to hear.
I do appreciate your overall post. But, I think you will lose some early because the subject is deep.
I am of the opinion that many phrases in scripture are not translated quite properly. This is why it does not surprise me that scholar's present such different translations of scripture. There are word by word translations. There are phrase by phrase translations. I try to read different translations and form my own opinion.
I am not trying to offend. I am trying to show other's there are many different levels of understanding on DS. We do not know where each person is. We should not assume, because this make's sense to me it will make sense to other's.
My understanding of the scripture is that there will be a new kingdom and a new earth. Exactly how God plans to achieve this I will leave up to Him.
Revelation 21:4-6 (AKJV)
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
You are correct in your 5th paragraph. There will be a new kingdom and new earth. The new kingdom is the old kingdom of Israel restored. David knew that too in 2 Sam 7. We will have Christ as King, new government, way of life, all people will know about him and will be taught the truth of God's ways.
You also posted Rev 21, awesome verses aren't they! That will be in the kingdom. Cant wait for that!
If you have time, can you read Zech chapters 8-14? This is just one of many books on the return of Christ and what he is going to do. Awesome reading. And I hope you like.
When I was brougt up in the Baptist church as a boy we considered "heaven" to be "up there" if you will. I have often thought of it in this way over the years. At night when I look up into a clear star filled sky I imagine that God is out there "beyond" the farthest star and that His hands are HUGE. I mean beyond anything that my mind can comprehand. I know exactly what you are thinking right now. He's got the whole world in His hands as the little hymn goes. In a way it is this simplistic in meaning but it is much more than that. To believe in a Creator that is BIGGER than the whole universe and that in His mighty hands He is holding ALL of His creation is still an idea that appeals to my heart and my spirit. Do we actually know exactly how big God is or where He is? I don't think so. This is sometthing that is in my view beyond what we can comprehend at least in this life. God said in the Word that His ways are above our ways and that His understanding is above our uderstanding and I truly believe with all my heart that is true. However He gave us His Word to read, study, interpret, enjoy and most importantly to bring us closer to Him as I already stated. There are however scripture verses which are indeed very difficult and are open to varying ideas and opions of many many students and scholars alike. Sometimes we must simply agree to disagree which is fine. Each person is entitled to their own opinion after all. Revelation, on the whole, is very hotly debated around the world. I admit that it's imagery in many places is beyond my comprehension as it is for others. That dose not mean that I can't gain from what the text says because I can. While I have mentioned Revelation this would be a good place to talk about the Kingdom of Heaven or God.
I will simply say that Revelation chapters 21 and 22 give us a very detailed and vivid picture of what the Kingdom of Heaven will look like. It says that it will come "down" out of heaven, which I have stated is simply "up there" out beyond the stars, from God and there will be a "new" heaven and "new" earth. I won't get into the specifics since Mary has already given some of them above. Instead I will end with the most important point in the whole book of Revelation and indeed the Bible in concern to the second coming of Christ, the judgement, and the new heaven and the new earth and that is.... HE IS COMING QUICKLY!!!! We do not know the day or the hour, but we must always be ready and on watch. Let us not make our Biblical Studies ever get in the way of our "seeing" the truth which is that we are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ and that we must be ready when our time comes to leave this place for eternity with Him. Amen
Also keep in mind SN that lots of times when something "comes down" from heaven, it is saying it is from God.
John was sent from God, but we know he didn't come down from heaven. The manner in the wilderness came down from heaven, people didn't see it coming down, it was already on the ground, but it was "from' God. And they knew it was from God.
Just like the kingdom of heaven, it is a heavenly kingdom as Jesus says. It is God's kingdom on earth. Not man's kingdom. Daniel 2 talks about that too. Awesome stuff.
But SN, scripture isn't really that difficult to understand. Sometimes we go back into the OT to get a better understanding of things. It' s all consistent with scripture. Wonderful thing.
THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WE are so VERY thirsty for the TRUTH !!!
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------------(_/-We need to hear it here on the internet , NOT only t.v. and churches . Some of us don't have a good church at our disposal .One that truly reveres HIS WORD NOT money .
And, Chris, thanks for the memories and the visual of heaven being "out there, somewhere." That was my exact thoughts as a child.
Revelation 22
20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly.
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Thanks for your prayers. Just make a few adjustments!!!