The kingdom of God exists wherever the King – the Lord Jesus Christ – exercises His intimate spiritual jurisdiction. The kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom and incorporates the whole domain over-which the Lord Jesus Christ exercises His Divine kingship, dominion and intimate rule. It includes heaven (and all those who are in heaven) – the place where with the kingdom is centered and administrated. That is why Matthew frequently described the kingdom of God as the kingdom of heaven. Notwithstanding, it also includes the full extent of the true Church / the spiritual temple of God and the body of Christ on earth. It is therefore the whole realm in which the rule of man becomes the rule of God; it is the area where the law of God and of righteousness is pre-eminent. Romans 14:17-18 says, “For the kingdom of God is … righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” His kingdom embodies all those who possess the indwelling Holy Spirit – those who are born-again of the Spirit of God. Christ’s kingdom is therefore found wherever there are citizens of that Kingdom. 1 Corinthians 4:20 says, “the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power (or) dunámei.”
The kingdom Christ brought at His first Advent was a spiritual domain. Nowhere in the words of Christ or anywhere else in the New Testament does it suggest He would reign over a physical kingdom (of natural Israel) on a physical throne in Jerusalem as some claim. Rather, He sits today upon a heavenly throne as heavenly king. When He returns again at His all-consummating Second Advent He introduces His eternal kingdom on earth. It is then that this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). The kingdom is therefore more than a heavenly hope and more than a future promised state. Whilst we believe in the current ongoing spiritual reality of the kingdom of God, we believe that the kingdom will come in all its final eternal glory at the Second Advent.
When Christ appeared at His first advent, the Jews imagined He would reinstate the now defunct earthly throne of Israel and reign victorious over the physical nation, restoring their ancient borders. They believed that the appearance of Messiah would usher in a period of physical and spiritual bliss for Israel in which their enemies would be totally destroyed. The Jewish expectation was a literal visible territorial kingdom of which the Messiah the King would rule over. They believed He would immediately destroy every enemy that withstood the house of Israel. Their mistaken thinking was guided by a hyper-literalist attitude to Old Testament Messianic prophecies. These Christ confronted and exposed in His teaching. This expectation of a literal visible territorial kingdom was wrong, and revealed the ignorance which controlled the Jews at that time. They had a defective perception of the nature of God’s kingdom and the manner in which it would appear.
Luke 17:20-21 records an interesting discourse between Christ and the Pharisees on the subject of the kingdom of God, saying, "He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come." Christ immediately replied, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within (or) entos (Strong’s 1787) you." When Christ says "the kingdom of God is within you" it can only mean that the kingdom of God is a present reality within the spiritual realm which one enters by faith. No other explanation makes sense with his statement. His kingdom will continue to grow (Mark 4:30-31) until such a time that it is complete and full of all those he has chosen. There will come a day when He will choose to return for His people and hand over the kingdom to the Father.
Several parables speak of his return in judgment, the parable of the sheep and the goats is most notable. Let us remember that parables speak to us of heavenly things in earthly terms so that those with faith may understand God's plan. Within the sheep and goats parable we see the end time harvest and just rewards handed to all mankind the righteous receive eternal life and the wicked receive eternal punishment. In keeping with that parable there are several others which view the return of Christ from different angles but do not diminish the basic concept of finality. Christ says of his kingdom that it is not of this world, he says it is within us, so there is a logical conclusion to be drawn from this. Since the kingdom is a present reality within us collectively as the church there is not going to be a future kingdom which has yet to be brought to fruition. What would be the purpose of such a future temporal kingdom?
