The Kingdom Of God Across The Ages
Feature 2 – January 2025 – Grace & Truth Magazine
The Kingdom Of God Across The Ages
What comes to your mind when you hear words such as “king,” “sultan,” “emperor” or “sovereign”? These words are common in their meaning of a ruler, or someone who has authority over a specific country or people.
In the Bible, the expression “kingdom of God” is associated with authority and ruling. There we see God ruling in two ways. The first indicates God’s ultimate authority over everything. As the Creator He has control over all events throughout history, and ultimately all things work together to fulfill His will, or counsel. He gives room for His creatures to exercise their will within limits, but He has the ultimate control. The second indicates God’s direct governance over His subjects. This is called “theocracy,” “theo” meaning God and “cracy” meaning “rule.” By contrast, “democracy” means “the rule of the people.” We can track seven phases of God’s theocratic rule in the Bible. Let’s consider them together.
Phase 1: Adam In The Garden
In the first chapters of the Bible we read about God creating mankind and blessing them by saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28 ESV). The first phase of God’s theocratic rule appeared in the garden of Eden, where God put Adam as His representative in ruling over all creation. Unfortunately, this first ruler, Adam, failed when he disobeyed God and lost his dominion over creation (Gen. 3). God then gave a promise of another Ruler to come and restore what Adam lost (v.15).
Phase 2: Noah After the Flood
In the story of Noah we see a new beginning, after the flood in his day eliminated all mankind except him and his family. God made Noah the ruler over other creatures (9:2-4) and gave him authority to exercise punishment upon murderers (vv.5-6). However, Noah failed in ruling himself, and he “became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent” (vv.21). Many rulers came after him, and their kingdoms were marred with injustice and violence. Mankind continued longing for that perfect Ruler who was promised to Eve.
Phase 3: The Children Of Israel
As mankind strayed away from God, He decided to demonstrate His authority through one people by establishing His theocratic rule over that nation (Ex. 15:18). God chose the children of Israel in Abraham (Gen. 12; 21:12). When they were slaves in Egypt, He delivered them out of bondage to be His army (see Dt. 7:6-8), using them to wipe sin from the land of Canaan. That is why we read about those slaves being “the host of Israel” (14:19). As their King, God gave them the law to guide their life, and He instructed them to build a tabernacle for Him to dwell among them.
The children of Israel served God during the time of Moses, Joshua and the elders who outlived him (Jud. 2:7). However, they started to go astray during the time of the judges, becoming progressively worse until they rejected God’s kingdom and demanded a king. They told Samuel, “Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1 Sam. 8:5). In response to the people’s demand, God told his prophet Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them” (v.7). As a result, God gave them Saul, a man according to their desires, as king. Saul was rejected later because of his failure (Acts 13:21-22).
Phase 4: David’s Kingdom
God’s plan from the beginning was for the King to come from the tribe of Judah (1 Chr. 5:2; Gen. 49:10). Accordingly, He gave to His people David as king, to start a new phase of the kingdom of God. During the era of the rule of David and his descendants, we read about “the kingdom of the LORD” (1 Chr. 28:5) and “the throne of the LORD” (29:23) because God was ruling through those kings. David realized this when he said, “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is Yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and You are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all. In Your hand are power and might, and in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all” (vv.11-12).
In this phase, the earlier years of Solomon’s reign were a faint picture of the future kingdom of our Lord Jesus. But, starting already with Solomon, David’s son, we see failure in the kings, one after another, until God punished the nation through the Babylonian captivity.
Phase 5: Jesus, The King Of The Jews
The opening verse in the New Testament announces the King by establishing His genealogy, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Mt. 1:1). Matthew is commonly referred to as “the gospel of the King” because it covers different aspects of the kingship of the Lord Jesus. We read about His genealogy (Mt. 1), a special star appearing for His birth (Mt. 2), and His forerunner who announced the kingdom: John the Baptist (Mt. 3:2). As the true King, Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit (vv.16-17), not with oil like the kings in the Old Testament.
In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus preached the principles of the kingdom (Mt. 5–7). Later, His disciples spread the good news of the kingdom (10:5-7). The Lord also performed many miracles to confirm His supremacy over sickness, nature, demons and even death, confirming that He was the King promised in the Old Testament (Isa. 35:5-6, 42:6-7).
Important conditions for establishing the kingdom were for the people to hear and repent (Mt. 3:1-12, 4:17,23, 10:5-7, 11:12-14). Instead of repenting, the Jewish leaders accused the Lord Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebul (12:24), and that put them under the unforgivable sin of speaking against the Holy Spirit (v.32). This was the ultimate declaration of their rejection of Jesus as King.
Phase 6: The Secret Kingdom
After the Jews had rejected their King, the Lord announced to His disciples “the secrets of the kingdom of heaven” (13:11). The parables the Lord mentioned in Matthew 13 give us good pictures of His kingdom as it is today. From these parables we can conclude the King is not visually present, but His subjects are still following Him (28:18-20).
The scope of this kingdom is the whole world, as opposed to being limited to the nation of Israel. That is why we read in the Lord’s explanation of one of the parables, “the field is the world” (13:38). In addition, this phase of the kingdom is characterized by the long suffering of God, which is why we read about evil and evil doers in the kingdom (vv.24,30-33).
Notice the difference between the Church and the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God in its current secret phase includes everyone who claims that Jesus is Lord, even those who are not true believers. This includes everyone who claims to be Christian, including evildoers. On the other hand, the true Church includes only real believers – their lives confirming Jesus is their Lord. We can say the Church is part of the kingdom of God, but the kingdom of God includes others who are not in the true Church of God.
Phase 7: The Literal Kingdom
This is the future phase when Jesus will come to reign over the world and establish the true theocratic rule that was in God’s mind from the beginning. His kingdom will be preceded by a period of tribulation for the whole earth (Mt. 24–25).
The Kingdom Of God’s Beloved Son
We are all born as slaves to the Devil and we live under his dominion. When we come in faith and believe in the Lord Jesus, we enjoy what the apostle wrote: “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col. 1:13). You can call this transformation a change of citizenship, or a change to a better life. Have you experienced this change? If not, now is the time before it is too late.
By Shereen Ghobrial
In Nicodemas’ saying to Jesus, “Thou art come a teacher from God,” there is proof that he did not see the kingdom and that he did not really know who the Lord was, that He was the King. The kingdom of God was there but he did not see it, so the Lord said what was needful for him to have part in or even to see the kingdom of God: “Except any one be born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God” and, “Except any one be born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:3,5 JND). —Hendrik L. Heijkoop, “John 3” (adapted)