One of the beliefs of Christianity is the “Second Coming of Jesus” the time when Jesus will return to the world to judge who is and isn’t worthy to enter the kingdom of God, which implies that the kingdom has the characteristics of time and space.
The phrase “the Kingdom of God” is often misunderstood by modern readers. For most English speakers, the word “kingdom” suggests a physical location, such as a country or place where a king or queen rules, for example Great Britain, Denmark and Jordan. But in biblical terms, it was used figuratively to talk about God’s reigning presence in which God intervenes in human history and experience.
In Jewish literature written in between the time of the Old and New Testaments, the kingdom of God is associated with the Messiah, a descendant of King David, ruling over Israel and driving out oppressive Gentile nations like the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians and Romans who had ruled over Israel for centuries.
Very early in the opening chapter, the author of Mark’s Gospel attributes the following proclamation to Jesus: “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15 NIV11) A proclamation such as this could have led any Jewish person hearing it to believe that the Messiah had come.
The author of Mark’s Gospel leaves no room for doubt in the mind of their readers that this is the case when he writes in the opening verse, “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1 NIV11) He then provides evidence to support his claim with the appearance of John the Baptist, and the baptism of Jesus by John the Jordan River which is of course accompanied by a revelation from God.
In the Gospel of Mark, the term “kingdom” is used as a way of talking about God’s activity. There had been a gap of some 400 years between the last book of the Old Testament (the Book of Malachi) and the Gospel of Mark, and during that time there was possibly a feeling among the Jewish people of God’s absence and lack of activity. So when Jesus proclaims the “kingdom of God has come near” Jewish people may have thought that God was once again present among them and active in the world.
But when describing the Last Supper, Mark suggests that Jesus will return after his death he writes, “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 NIV11) This has subsequently been interpreted as meaning the kingdom of God wouldn’t be realised until the return of Jesus, which is where the notion of the Second Coming of Jesus comes from.
It’s because of these contradictory statements that we end up with the belief that we are living in an “overlap of the ages” with the Apostle Paul suggesting the kingdom of God (the new age) has been ushered in through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, but that pain and suffering will continue in the current age until the Second Coming of Jesus.
In the thirty-fifth chapter of the Book of Isaiah, the prophet responds to the question of how people will know when the kingdom of God is dawning in human history. In his answer Isaiah does not refer to images of the Messiah descending to the earth from the realm of heaven. Instead, he speaks of a world transformed, a world alive and whole in the oneness of God.
Isaiah was saying that God’s presence will be seen not in a being, but in the image of human beings achieving wholeness. It was a very different insight. He was suggesting the realm of the human and the realm of the divine were not separate. The divine can be seen only in and through the human. Therefore one must look inward not outward to experience the presence of God.
I believe God’s Kingdom has been revealed to us in and through the life of Jesus. Jesus taught us there are no barriers in God’s Kingdom – all people, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, wealth, status etc, are equal. That is certainly how he treated people. He disregarded the cultural barriers of his day and displayed love and compassion for all people. For me, that is the definition of God’s Kingdom.
