Defining "Kingdom of God"

“The most misunderstood phrase in the whole Bible is ‘kingdom of God.’ ” I heard someone say that a few years ago. I decided that I didn’t really know exactly what the “kingdom of God” (KOG) was. The problem wasn’t that I didn’t have a definition, it was actually that I found two different definitions floating around in my head. Sometimes when I heard or read “KOG,” I thought of heaven. Other times, I would mentally insert “the church.” I think I’d done this for years without really recognizing it.

How would you answer the question? What is the kingdom of God?

    a. heaven

    b. the church

    c. an erroneous first-century idea about Jewish nationalism.

    d. some weird combination of the choices above

    e. none of the above

I set out to study this by doing a complete Bible search for this peculiar phrase. I looked at each occurrence and tried to substitute the word “church” and the word “heaven” to see which made more sense. Neither substitution fit the context of every passage. But, I discovered why I had these two competing definitions. In some places in the Bible it clearly talks about the KOG in terms of a future entity. For example:

And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.
Mark 9:47 (NIV)

Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
Mark 14:25 (NIV)

There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.
Luke 13:28 (NIV)

What’s more, Matthew sometimes uses the phrase “kingdom of heaven” interchangeably with “KOG.” This only complicates things and further contributes to the idea that it has something to do with life after death.

In other places, we see the KOG talked about like it is already present among us. This is why I had that other churchy definition in my mind. For example:

But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Luke 11:20 (NIV)

And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
Mark 9:1 (NIV)

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.
Matthew 21:31 (NIV)

Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
Luke 17:20-21 (NIV)

It seems the Jews of Jesus’s day also had some confusion about what the messiah’s relation to this kingdom would be. As you read the gospels, you see that the disciples are constantly expecting Jesus to do something to overthrow Roman rule and restore Israel’s kingdom like back in the good old days of King David. Word even got around to the regional Roman governor,  Pilate, who asked Jesus about it directly. Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place” (John 18:36, NIV).

If the messiah was to usher in the KOG, how could he die at the hands of the Romans? The disciples were devastated. You see them asking themselves, “Did we back the wrong horse?” It was the rising from the dead thing that started to open up their minds to kingdom on a much larger scale. It wasn’t just victory over Rome, it was victory over sin and death – much more imposing oppressors of Israel, in fact, of all mankind. Yes, it’s bigger than just overthrowing the current regime. It’s what Daniel described as a kingdom that will never be destroyed, greater than all the world empires before it (Daniel 2:34).

Jesus corrects the disciples’ lingering misunderstanding of kingdom just before the ascension.

Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:6-8 (NIV)

Here Jesus doesn’t come right out and say to them, “that’s a bad question.” He gently redirects them with his answer, almost as if to say, “It’s not that Israel has nothing to do with it, but think bigger! This kingdom thing is going to go viral around the globe.” After all, that’s what God promised Abraham way back when. He told Abraham, “Through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.” The mind-blowing thing about all of this is that Jesus commissioned his followers to participate in this world-changing blessing. Like a dad who asks for his son’s help building a treehouse, Jesus allows his clumsy disciples to help him build his kingdom! He promised to be with us the whole time and sure, he’ll come back and tighten up the bolts at the end, but in the meantime he wants his children to participate in his kingdom as it infiltrates all nations, social networks, and strongholds of darkness unto the ends of the earth.

The key, to me, to defining “KOG” is in the Lord’s Prayer. “May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” There’s an obvious difference between how God’s will plays out in heaven and how it plays out currently on earth. We all know that heaven will be perfect. I think the reason we see some verses that talk about a present kingdom and other verses about a future kingdom is because it’s both. Jesus commands us to pray for and do things that bring the future heaven into the present brokenness. That’s what Jesus was doing the whole time he was here – giving us glimpses of the heavenly kingdom on earth. The kingdom began penetrating the darkness everywhere he went. Sick were healed. Blind received sight. Lame walked. And the good news – the news that the God himself had finally arrived to set things straight – was preached to the poor.

I love to ask people, “What will heaven be like?” because their answer can help clarify the kingdom mission. For example, there will be no starving children in heaven. Our mission: feed the hungry. There will be no sick people in heaven. Our mission: make people well. There will be no loneliness, suffering, or oppression in heaven. We have opportunities every day to fight against these things – sometimes in very small ways and sometimes in big ways. Perhaps most importantly, in heaven there won’t be anyone who doesn’t know the king and submit to his rule. There are plenty of people out there who still don’t know Jesus and he has asked us to make the introductions.

The KOG is wherever and whenever God’s will is done. That’s the working definition I have right now and it’s a call to good deeds, prayer, holiness, and speaking out about the king. It’s not just a future thing; it’s an eternal reality bleeding into the present age. It’s not just a restored national Israel; it’s the Abrahamic blessing coming to fruition for the benefit of all nations. As Christians, we’ve already received our naturalization papers to the future kingdom and as we walk about in this present shadow world there should be a shimmering wake of heavenly goodness behind us. Hospitals, clean water, adoption agencies, counseling centers, beautiful art, honest businesses, caring neighbors: the world is getting glimpses of heaven here and there in small pockets but when the king comes back, those glimpses will become a permanent reality.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:33 (NIV)

As you may already know, Jaclyn and I work with a Peruvian non-profit organization here in Arequipa called the Christian Urban Development Association (CUDA). We spend about half of our week involved in CUDA programs. It’s a Christian organization with a KOG mindset and goals. While CUDA is not a church, it is led by Christian people and it provides Christians with a platform to get involved in kingdom work and share the good news. It is recognized as a legitimate non-profit organization by both Peruvian and American governments and focuses on three areas of kingdom work: education, business, and health. The education branch is called “Living Libraries” and seeks to improve reading comprehension in Peruvian elementary schools and promotes the formation of school libraries (which many schools here lack). The business branch of CUDA promotes small business development by offering vocational training, savings and investment training, and Christian business ethics classes. CUDA’s health branch, called Pura Vida (Pure Life) works with preventative health and health education programs in local Peruvian clinics. All of this is designed to be a blessing to the world and show them how good our King really is.

If you would like to learn more about CUDA, you can visit their website at www.cudaperu.org.