Kingdom of Heaven/Kingdom of God

auntiem · Not So Newbie Joined: 21 Mar 2004 Posts: 6

One of the quotes used in a post (from gswisher) in the subject “The Tribulation: Who will see it?” contained several verses, including:

Matthew 12:28
But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.

Luke 17:21 neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, There! for lo, the kingdom of God is within you.

I don't think these 'kingdoms' are referring to the new heaven and new earth, which imo, is yet to come.

My question is this...Do you all think this is referring to the Holy Spirit, which was clearly "at hand".

~AuntieM

Van · Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 7:54 am Post subject:

No, I do not think these are references to the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God is a place where our Holy God abides, and where His holy creation/creatures abide, be they angels or men covered in the Blood of Christ. Those outside the kindom, because of their unholiness are condemned to eternal separation, they have no way to earn their way into the kingdom. To enter, you must be born again, you must be buried with Christ and rise anew in Christ, a new creature born of an incorruptable seed. Our Father who is in heaven, honored by thy name; thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven - the future and the present.

Zathrus · Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 12:27 pm Post subject:

A kingdom is the sphere of authority of a king. So the kingdom of God is whenever, wherever God exercises authority. In the verse in Matthew that you cited, Jesus had cast out a demon. He had exercised the authority of God over the demon. So He rightfully said the kingdom of God had come. Jesus also embodied the kingdom. Where He was, God's kingdom was.

The second verse is from a prophetic passage and concerns the establishment of the kingdom of God on the earth. My understanding of the kingdom is that, as the verse says, it isn't a natural kingdom but a spiritual one that is located within us. So I do see a direct relevance there to the new heaven and earth.

Van · Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 1:10 pm Post subject:

Just a little more on the Kingdom. Jesus was and is God, and therefore He couldsay to those around him, the Kingdom of God is in your midst. And, as saved, since we are in Christ and Christ is in us, it is fair to say we are in the Kingdom of God. But our prayer is for God's will to be done in our life and when we fall short, we know that we are not experiencing full kingdom life such as we will experience in our glorified bodies.