What is the Kingdom of God?

We pray for it to come, like Jesus told us to do. We see it titled: kingdom of Heaven, Christ, the Lord and just, kingdom. When we think of it, if we ever do, it seems to be this fuzzy streets of gold and that “I’ve got a mansion, just over the hilltop, vision. Our mind might also try to imagine the pearly gates and God’s throne in the middle of the celestial city. Almost Oz-like.

In Matthew, Jesus talks a lot about the Kingdom of Heaven, which, by the way, is synonymous with the Kingdom of God. In fact, his sermon on the mount was literally his giving of the new law of the kingdom. Some believe that Jesus' message was for the, then 2000 year future, Millennial kingdom. However, when you read and study the sermon, Jesus never says, “Your great great great great etc. grandchildren, when I come to establish my kingdom in 2000 years or so, will put these principles into practice.” That would have been silly wouldn’t it? He was talking to his followers in his, "Then and now". However, this far future view is the perspective that many theologians and pastors take. They see many of the new rules as not compatible with our world.

Granted, we understand that there is an, “already, not yet” aspect to the Kingdom. Many believe that the Kingdom of Christ began when, after his resurrection and ascension, Jesus sat down on his throne at God’s right hand. Thus, he has been reigning from that day to present. Some believe this reign to be his millennial reign from heaven. 

We long for the day when Christ will set up his eternal reign on earth and we even pray for his soon return with that goal in mind. His kingdom will be the perfect Eden. We see a little of that edenic concept in the last two chapters of Revelation. Give that  a look and compare those two chapters with the first two chapters of Genesis. You will be amazed at how the four chapters dovetail. In fact, if you recently completed your yearly Bible reading and started over again in January, maybe you've already seen the connection. 

Look at Matthew 5 again with the, “kingdom now” perspective and see which principles you might have overlooked along with those that you already practice.