Thy “Kingdom” Come

I have always been fascinated with the idea of what Jesus meant when he started out His ministry by saying "Repent for the Kingdom of God/Heaven is near" (Matthew 4:17). My initial thinking in looking at verses like this was that all of the world was God's Kingdom, and that Jesus was just explaining this idea – that the Earth belonged to God (or was God's Kingdom), and we should be mindful of this by repenting of our wrongdoing.

But as I've learned more of God's Word, I see now that my original understanding of 'God's Kingdom' was wrong. And now through a book I am reading ("More of the End Times Made Simple" by Samuel E. Waldron), I am understanding more clearly the concept of God's Kingdom, and the importance of one's end-time's view in applying an understanding of how God's Kingdom works in the real world.

OK, I know I said a mouthful there, so let me break it down this way. First, I will discuss the definition of the 'Kingdom of God'. Then I will take a look at one of Jesus' Parables (The Parable of the Wheat and Tares) that describes the Church in the Gospel Age, after Jesus' first advent. So let's get started:

1. Definition of the Kingdom of God. First, I believe it's widely understood that God's Kingdom is synonymous with God's reign, or a place where God reigns. Where God reigns, God's Kingdom is present. God reigns undisputedly in only one place today, in the unseen heavenly realm. But when God answers prayers, even miraculous prayers, His Kingdom breaks through into our world. A healing is God's Kingdom setting what is broken and putting it the way it is supposed to be – healthy and working properly. God's Kingdom breaking into our world is also shown through a believer's life being transformed from rebellion into obedience. Yet the greatest example of the Kingdom of God breaking into our world, this side of Jesus' return. is when a sinner repents and moves from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light, or into the Kingdom of God. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in this new life of a Christian, this person is now a living, breathing part of the Kingdom of God. A moving, serving and talking part of God's Kingdom!
   

   
    

2. Parable of Wheat and Tares. So with this background let's take a look at Jesus' Parable of the Wheat and Tares. It is contained in Matthew 13:24-30, :36-43. And it's one of the few Parables that Jesus provides us with an explanation. So please allow me to draw out a few items from this Parable: This Parable is a description of the Kingdom of God (v. 24). There is sown good seed by Jesus (v.24 and v. 37), which causes grain bearing plants to grow (v. 26). The enemy who sows weeds alongside the plants is Satan (v. 39). And most importantly, the field is not the Church, but the entire world (v. 38). And the grain bearing plants are the elect of Jesus Christ, and the weeds are everyone else in the world (v.38).
   

   Jesus' next two parables in Matthew chapter 13 express the same concept. First the Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matt. 13:31-32) and then the Parable of Yeast (Matt. 13:33) come together to speak the same truth – during the Church Age, the Kingdom of God grows. Where the Good News of Jesus Christ is preached, the Kingdom of God grows until the end of the age (v. 41-42). Yet there is also the continuous presence of the "weeds" in the world growing alongside the grain bearing Plants.
   

   
    

   So how does one's end-times/eschatological view effect one's interpretation of these Parables? This is where it gets really interesting. I remember going through a Bible Study course and being taught that the simple Parable of the Mustard Seed, where the tiniest seed grows into a large tree where birds can rest in the branches, is really not so simple. The Pre-Trib view explains that the birds are really a picture of Satan and his false teachers. These birds would attack the work of the Church. Yet this view seems at odds with Ezekiel 17:23, which explains that all of the Gentile nations will be at rest in the branches of the Kingdom of God. Similarly, in the Parable of Yeast, it is not God's Kingdom like yeast that causes the growth of the bread. Instead, the Pre-Trib view holds that the yeast is Satan and his followers, including the false teachers who will one day cause the downfall of the Church.
   

   So how did we get from a fairly straightforward set of Parables that explain that during the Church age, the Kingdom of God will continue expanding, to the opposite view held by those of the Pre-Trib view who believe that the Church of Christ is not expanding and that only Satan's kingdom is expanding? The Pre-Trib explanation that these Parables are describing the Church instead of the entire world is in direct opposition to Jesus' explanation in v. 38, which says "the field is the world". The simple picture portrayed by Jesus in these three Parables is that the Kingdom of God is expanding, and providing blessing to the rest of the nations is too clear to allow such a twisted explanation as provided by those of the Pre-Trib persuasion.
   

   
    

3. What about Post-Millennialism? Yes, and these Parables are also important to the Post-Millennial viewpoint. They view God's Kingdom as continuously growing until it brings in the Millennial 1,000 year golden age. And while there is a clear description of the Kingdom of God expanding during the Church age, it seems that the Post-Millennialists ignore the weeds also growing alongside the grain-bearing Plants. The Plants do not choke out the weeds, as Post-Millennialists believe, with the spread of the Gospel one day consuming the peoples of the Earth.. Instead, the weeds grow just as vigorously as the Plants. It is only the removal of the weeds by Jesus and His angels to judge the non-believers (v.42), which allows the righteous Church of Christ to shine forth (v. 43). And so, the message of these Parables is equally clear in opposing the Post-Millennial view. The only end-times view that correctly describes the growth of both the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan until Judgment Day is the Amillennial view. Therefore, the Parables of the Wheat and Tares, as well as the other two related Parables, support the Amillennial view that the Gospel and the kingdom of darkness will continue growing until Jesus' return.
   

   So that's what is on my heart today. Let me know if I have missed something. May God continue to bless us all with continued growth in our faith and obedience to Jesus Christ, Amen.