A part of the good news that Jesus preached when He was here on earth was that the kingdom of God was at hand.
Matthew 4:17 (NKJV)
17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
This was the ongoing message of Christ throughout His ministry. What He meant by the kingdom being “at hand” was that it would soon be set up here on earth. We know this because of what He taught about the kingdom in another place.
Mark 9:1 (NKJV)
1 And He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.”
Anyone who thinks that the kingdom of God has not yet arrived has to wrestle with these words from our Savior. If the kingdom is not here, Jesus either lied, was wrong about when it would come, or there are some very old disciples living somewhere here on earth. None of those positions are tenable. The only reasonable interpretation of these words spoken by Jesus is the most obvious one—the kingdom came with power in the first century. This is not only the most obvious conclusion of our Lord’s words but is also in harmony with the prophets. For example, Daniel taught that the kingdom would be established in the first century.
Daniel 2:44 (ESV)
44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,
Daniel was referring to the kings of the kingdoms that he saw in the dream that he just interpreted for Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2:31-43), the kingdoms of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The kingdom of God would be established sometime during the reign of these kings. Since Rome, the final kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream fell in 476 A.D., the kingdom had to have come sometime before then. Can we narrow down that time? Yes. In Daniel 7, the prophet gets more specific.
Daniel 7:13–14 (ESV)
13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
This passage speaks of the ascension of Christ when Jesus went back to the Father. At that time, Jesus, the son of man in this passage, was given a kingdom. So, the kingdom was established shortly after the ascension of our Savior, on the first Pentecost following the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2).
This kingdom is the church. How do I know this? First, because Jesus used the terms church and kingdom interchangeably in Matthew 16:18-19. Second, because one becomes a member of the church and a citizen in the kingdom the same way—by obeying the gospel (Mark 1:15; 16:16; Acts 2:38; Romans 1:16). Finally, because the Lord’s Super is found in both of them (Luke 22:18; 1 Corinthians 10:16).
The kingdom is here. Do not be persuaded by teaching that says it has been postponed and Jesus will come sometime in the future to set it up. Jesus established the kingdom the first time He came. When He returns, He is coming to get it (1 Corinthians 15:24). This is what was taught in the Lord’s church in the first century (Colossians 1:13).
As you wind down for the night, think about these things.