How Will God’s Kingdom Come?

Jesus taught us to pray for the coming of God’s kingdom. What is that kingdom? Who are its rulers and its subjects? How will it come?

AT Evanston, Illinois, in the summer of 1954 the World Council of Churches met. Commenting on the two opposing views presented at that religious gathering, the bishop of London said: “There were the Germans with their idealism who thought the kingdom of God has nothing to do with this world, whereas the Americans, like Charlie Taft, thought that if you had the requisite number of gadgets and the right kind of plumbing you could have the Kingdom of God tomorrow.”—Christian Science Monitor, July 9, 1955.

According to a Roman Catholic authority,a “In the mouth of Christ the ‘kingdom’ means not so much a government to be attained or a place” as it does “a tone of mind.” One leading Protestant authority states that the kingdom of God has “no political designs,” and that “its prime element is mind, pius, devoted to God and pleasing God.” Christ’s kingdom is composed of “all who are true to him in faith and life.”b And according to another, Christ’s kingdom is “primarily a religious conception, not political or economic, though it will have political and economic consequences. It is that condition in human life in which the will of God as revealed in Jesus Christ is in control.”c

What is the kingdom of God? Christ ruling in the hearts of men? And how does it come? By all Christians’ going to heaven? Or by the advance of modern civilization? Or by the conversion of the world?

THE THEME OF THE BIBLE

The Kingdom is the theme of the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. God referred to it when he foretold the triumph of righteousness by the Seed of the woman bruising the head of the Serpent. And he revealed still more about his kingdom when he promised Abraham that all the families of the earth would bless themselves in his seed.—Gen. 3:15; 22:17, 18.

By means of the kingdom of Israel God foreshadowed Kingdom blessings, particularly by the peaceful and prosperous reign of Solomon. Time and again in the Hebrew Scriptures we read of Jehovah’s reigning. Miriam and her companions sang of it and so did the psalmist. Daniel and other prophets foretold the coming of the King and God’s kingdom.

And the kingdom of God certainly was the theme of Jesus’ preaching. He announced, “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near,” and taught his followers to pray, “Let your kingdom come.” He commands us to “keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness.” Time and time again he illustrated various aspects of his kingdom, likening it to a treasure, to a pearl of great price, to a mustard seed, etc. And when he rode into Jerusalem, mounted upon an ass, as was the custom with the kings of ancient Israel, he let the people hail him: “Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’s name, even the king of Israel!” That was in fulfillment of a prophecy uttered hundreds of years before.—Matt. 4:17; 6:10, 33; John 12:13, NW; Zech. 9:9.

A REAL GOVERNMENT

The Scriptures show the kingdom of God to be a real government with a heavenly king and associate rulers, a domain and subjects. It is not merely a rule of Christ in the hearts of men, a mere tone of the mind. It is The Theocracy. Theocracy? Yes, an exercise of might (kratos) by God (Theós).

What has caused confusion is the expression “the kingdom of God is within you,” of Luke 17:21, as found in some versions, as well as an overlooking of the fact that Jesus was here addressing the hypocritical, greedy, faithless Pharisees. Certainly the kingdom of God was not in those men. Correctly translated this expression, together with its context, reads: “On being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming he answered them and said: ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with striking observableness, neither will people be saying, “See here!” or, “There!” For, look! the kingdom of God is in your midst.’” (Luke 17:20, 21, NW. See also AV and AS margin; RS; ED; Elberfelder, German.) The Jewish Encyclopedia in quoting this text also calls attention to the fact that according to the Aramaic it should read “among you.” Jesus could say that the kingdom of God was in their midst because he, its king, was present.

Jesus Christ proved himself worthy to be the king of God’s kingdom by his faithfulness to God and his unselfish service to his fellow man. “He humbled himself and became obedient as far as death, yes, death on a torture stake. For this very reason also God exalted him to a superior position.” By his sacrificial death Jesus purchased the human race and therefore will be able to bestow everlasting life on all his obedient subjects. His kingdom will therefore be a paternalistic one. Fitting, therefore, are the Scriptural designations given him, such as “Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”—Phil. 2:8, 9, NW; Isa. 9:6, AS.

Sharing his Kingdom rule will be his “bride,” not a lone woman, but a body of associates, a royal family of 144,000 members. The apostle John had a vision of them: “And I saw, and look! the Lamb standing upon the mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. . . . These were purchased from among mankind as a firstfruits to God.” These are the footstep followers of Christ who have been specially called and chosen by God. Being found faithful unto death, they will be part of the kingdom that will bless all the families of earth as the spiritual Seed of Abraham.—Rev. 14:1, 4; Gal. 3:16, 29, NW.

That Jesus promised his followers rulership in a real or organized kingdom or government the Scriptures clearly show: “Your Father has approved of giving you the kingdom.” “To the one that conquers I will grant to sit down with me in my throne, even as I conquered and sat down with my Father in his throne.” And again, ‘I covenant with you for a kingdom, that you may sit upon thrones.’ Yes, they “will rule as kings with him for the thousand years.”—Luke 12:32; Rev. 3:21; Luke 22:29, 30; Rev. 20:6, NW.

HOW WILL IT COME?

Some have concluded that “coming without observation” means that God’s kingdom will come without the use of force. But in view of the fact that God’s Word shows that “the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one,” and that “friendship with the world is enmity with God,” it would be unreasonable to expect the kingdom of God to come by the whole world’s converting to Christ. Preaching the good news of the Kingdom is not for the purpose of converting the world but merely “for the purpose of a witness to all the nations.”—1 John 5:19; Jas. 4:4; Matt. 24:14, NW.

The nations of earth are opposed to God’s kingdom and therefore God commands his Son: “Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” And so God commands: “Be wise, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve Jehovah with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way.”—Ps. 2:8-12, AS.

Note also the tenor of Daniel’s prophecy: “In the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but”—it shall gradually convert all nations? No, but—”it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.”—Dan. 2:44, AS.

And particularly does Revelation describe how God’s kingdom will come. All nations will be gathered “to the war of the great day of God the Almighty,” “to the place that is called in Hebrew Har–Magedon.” Jesus Christ and the heavenly armies with him will carry on war in righteousness. He will smite the nations with a long sharp sword and “will shepherd them with a rod of iron.” After destroying the wicked nations of earth he will hurl his invisible enemies, Satan and his demons, into the abyss of deathlike inactivity to remain there for a thousand years.—Rev. 16:14, 16; 19:11-15; 20:1-3, NW.

The physical facts show that we are living in the days of the fulfillment of these prophecies. God is therefore having the good news of his kingdom preached worldwide so that all men of good will may ‘seek Jehovah, righteousness and mildness,’ and so be spared during the battle of Armageddon even as Noah and his family were spared during the Deluge and came forth from the ark upon a cleansed earth. These will furnish the nucleus of the earthly domain of God’s kingdom. During the 1,000-year reign of Christ the earth will be made a paradise, all those in the memorial tombs will be resurrected and all obedient ones of mankind will be gradually restored to perfection.—Zeph. 2:2, 3.

Then Satan and his demons will be loosed for a final testing and all manifesting selfishness will be destroyed together with Satan and his demons. Thus the kingdom of God will accomplish God’s purpose by causing his will to be done on earth as in heaven and will vindicate him as the rightful Sovereign of the universe.—Rev. 20:7-10.

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