It had been hundreds of years since the time of the prophets. They had prophesied that one day God would establish his holy and good rule in the land of God’s people. The Jews were quite aware that their ancestors had constantly strayed away from God’s goodness and that their society had became degenerate and destructive. But in spite of that God was going to establish the pure and joyful kingdom he originally intended in the Garden of Eden and for the Jewish people. The prophecies were in the dim past, but devout Jews still waited for God to fulfill his promise of a coming utopia.
In summary, “The prophets looked forward to a day when God’s saving promises would be fulfilled, his kingdom would come, the new covenant would be inaugurated, a new exodus from Babylon would be realized, the Spirit would be poured out on Israel, and Israel would keep God’s law. The prophets promised a new creation, a new temple, a new covenant, and a new king. The exile would be over, and the wilderness would bloom.”[1]
Truly, these promises described an ideal land where God’s goodness rules all but which also implied an astonishing transformation considering the big gap between the prophets’ personal reality and the future reality presented in the promises. Collectively, these promises describe a new realm which we refer to as the kingdom of God (the Gospel of Matthew refers to it as the “kingdom of heaven” and the Gospel of John refers to it as “life” or “eternal life”.) Biblical scholars debate exactly how these promises will be fulfilled, but for the purposes of Christian maturity, the point is that God has promised to usher in a new age in which his goodness permeates all.
When Jesus grew up he declared that the kingdom of God had arrived. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15, ESV). He demonstrated this with divine power for healing, exorcisms and authority over nature. He announced that the kingdom had “come near” (Luke 10:9, 11). In Luke 11:20 (similarly in Matt. 12:28) he stated point blank “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (ESV). Tens of thousands were captured by his life and teachings and were convinced that he was the promised one who would usher in all the promises from the prophets.
Even though the kingdom is not fulfilled yet, we still live in this partial fulfillment that Jesus brought. When we focus on the fact that we are living in the kingdom now then we will realize that we can become mature kingdom citizens and be channels of God’s kingdom power to those around us. We are moving towards the final fulfillment of God’s new Garden of Eden.
[1] Thomas R. Schreiner, New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2008), 44.
