Teaching of Jesus: The Kingdom of God
The central theme of Jesus’ teaching is the coming of the
Kingdom of God. The idiom occurs 14 times in Mark, 32 times in Luke, but only 4
times in Matthew. In its place Matthew substitutes “the kingdom of heavens”. These
two phrases are quite interchangeable as a comparison of Mt. 19:23 with Mt.
19:24 and Mk. 10:23 will show. Furthermore, Matthew speaks of the “mysteries”
of the kingdom of heaven (Mt. 13:11) whereas Mark speaks of the “mystery” of
the Kingdom of God (Mk. 4:11).
By the Kingdom of God, Jesus meant
the new eschatological order to be established by a divine visitation similar
to that which the prophets hoped for. A new terminology emerged in the Gospels
that became common in Jewish and rabbinic literature-that of two ages: this age and the age to come. Although this terminology is not found in the OT,
it is an easy development of the prophetic theology of the Kingdom of God. This age is the time of sinfulness, evil
and rebellion against God: the age to
come will see the perfect establishment of God’s rule in the world and the
purging of all sin, evil and rebellion. The NT interprets the evil of this age in terms of satanic and demonic
power. Satan is the “god of this age” (II Cori. 4:4). Satan is a spirit hostile
to God and does frustrate the will of God. The term “Kingdom of God” is used
more often of the new era to be inaugurated by the coming of God’s reign.
This
age will end and the new age of
God’s Kingdom will be inaugurated by the coming of the heavenly Son of Man. The
Son of Man will come in His glory to sit upon the throne of judgment to decide
the destiny of men. The righteous will inherit the Kingdom of God (Mt. 25:34),
which means to enter into eternal life (Mt. 25:46), whereas the wicked will suffer
the judgment of eternal punishment.