The coming Kingdom of God

05/01/2018

2000 years ago, Jesus Christ, the son of God died and rose again from the dead. His followers watched as he ascended up into heaven. At this time two angels appeared and stated:

“Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11

Bible believers, therefore, are expecting the return of Jesus to the earth from heaven. This, the Bible tells us, will happen and Jesus will return, to sit on the throne of his father David in Jerusalem (Luke 1:32).

We read that when he does return he will conduct a resurrection of those who are responsible and accountable and a judgment will be conducted (Rom 14:10, 1 Thess 4:16, 1 Cor 15:52). The divinely stated basis for acceptance at this judgment will be based on a firm belief in the gospel and then the demonstration of this belief in baptism and a life of humble service (Rom 1:16, Eph 1:13, Jam 2:20-26, Rev 22:12, Mark 16:16).

Those who are accepted will be given eternal life (Phil 3:21, 2 Peter 1:4) and will live and reign with Christ for a 1000 years in his Kingdom when the earth will be filled with peace and righteousness (Rev 20:16, Psa 72:2, Rev 5:10) after which all will be given up to the glory of God (1 Cor 15:28).

Having a part in this coming Kingdom is the very essence of the truth of the hope contained in the Bible and which Jesus and the apostles preached (Matt 4:23, Acts 8:12, Act 28:31). This true gospel is predicated on the promises to the Fathers of Israel, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and is Jewish in its constitution (Act 28:20, Isaiah 2:2-3, Mic 4:8). The gospel message also shows how that men and women can have their sins forgiven and become acceptable to God through the work of Christ (Col 1:14, Eph 1:7, Gal 3:27-29).

This coming Kingdom of God then is going to come upon the earth. It will be a new era in the history of mankind.

But what of this current era? Is the Bible silent on what we can expect in our days? Absolutely not. The Bible gives us a clear vision of what the world will look like just before the Lord Jesus Christ returns. This time period is called in the prophets “the latter days”.

Prophecies such as Ezekiel 38, Daniel 11, Joel 3, Zechariah 14 and Rev 16:12-16 all harmonise to tell us of the uniting of the nations to battle against Israel in this period. The ancient names are given for the territories of Russia, Iran, Northern Africa and Europe as being the nations which unite together in a war against Israel (Ezek 38:1-9). We read of how a few nations are not part of this grouping – those associated with Britain (Tarshish) and the Gulf States (Shebah and Dedan) see Ezek 38:13. The prophecies tell us that it is at this time when Jesus Christ appears on the world stage with his immortalised followers resurrected from all eras of time (Zech 14) and that they save Israel and establish God’s Kingdom.

These prophecies are neither vague nor are they based on fantasy. We have already seen the restoration of Israel to their land in 1948 and then in 1967, the Jews took back control of Jerusalem. These key events are required by the prophecies. This year was significant in terms of anniversaries. It has been 100 years since the famous Balfour declaration which officially began the process of the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. It was also 50 years since the Jews captured Jerusalem in the 1967 war.