“The Kingdom Of Heaven”

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

How do we know that the kingdom has been fulfilled?  I have found many verses talking about the kingdom being set up, but where does it say it has been fulfilled?

Sincerely,
Royal Subject?

Dear Royal Subject,

There are several verses that tell us that the kingdom is already here.  The first verses to look at are Matt 16:28, Mk 9:1, and Lk 9:27.  In those verses Jesus makes it clear that the kingdom would come within the lifetime of those He was preaching to.  Considering it has been 2,000 years since Jesus preached… the kingdom is here.

Another verse to look at is Col 1:13 where Paul says that christians are already in the kingdom.  Since Paul said that we are already in the kingdom, the kingdom must already be here and complete.

The reason for this is because the kingdom is the church.  Jesus said that His kingdom wouldn’t be a physical kingdom (Jhn 18:36), but it would be a kingdom that reigned within the hearts of people (Lk 17:20-21).  As we already mentioned, this kingdom is made up of christians.  What group of people was created within one generation of Jesus’ preaching and contains christians?  That would be the church!  The church is the spiritual kingdom for which Jesus gave His blood.  We become citizens of this kingdom when we are born again through baptism (Acts 8:12, Jhn 3:5).

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