What did Jesus teach about the kingdom of God?
Jesus' first message was a single announcement: 'Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.' He taught that the kingdom is God's reign breaking into the world in Him, arriving in word and deed, growing secretly like seed, and coming fully only at the end of the age. Entering it requires repentance and childlike faith, and everything He said about it orbits one center: the King is among us.
This question arose from studying Who is Jesus? and What is the kingdom of God?.
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The kingdom is God's reign, present in Jesus
Jesus came preaching, 'Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,' and He told the Pharisees, 'The Kingdom of God doesn't come with observation... for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.' When He cast out demons 'by the Spirit of God,' He drew the conclusion: 'the Kingdom of God has come upon you.' The kingdom is not a territory or a program; it is the reign of God arriving wherever the King is at work.
From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The Kingdom of God doesn’t come with observation; neither will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.”
But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
It arrives in word and deed
Jesus answered John's messengers with the kingdom's evidence: 'the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.' Matthew sums up His rounds: teaching in the synagogues, 'preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.' The kingdom speaks and it acts; it forgives sin and it bends creation back toward its Maker.
Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you have seen and heard: that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.
Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.
Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.
It grows like seed: small, hidden, certain
The kingdom 'is like a grain of mustard seed,' the smallest of seeds that grows into a tree where birds lodge; it is like yeast that leavens the whole lump; it is a treasure hidden in a field and a pearl of great price for which a man sells all he has. Jesus tells this so His followers will not despise small beginnings: the seed springs up and grows while the farmer sleeps, 'he doesn't know how,' until the harvest comes. The weeds grow with the wheat until the end; the harvest is the King's, and it cannot fail.
He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.” He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measuresof meal, until it was all leavened.”
“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field. “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls, who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
He said, “The Kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed on the earth, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he doesn’t know how. For the earth bears fruit: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the fruit is ripe, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away. But when the blade sprang up and produced fruit, then the darnel weeds appeared also. The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did this darnel come from?’ “He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’ “But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
It has come, and it is still coming
Jesus taught His disciples to pray, 'Let your Kingdom come,' even as He told the Pharisees it had already come upon them. He told the parable of the nobleman who went 'to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return' because His disciples supposed the kingdom would appear immediately. The kingdom is present in the King's works and in His church now, and it will be revealed in glory at His return, when the King separates the sheep from the goats.
Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.
But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
As they heard these things, he went on and told a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the Kingdom of God would be revealed immediately. He said therefore, “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
Entrance is by repentance and childlike faith
Jesus told Nicodemus, 'unless one is born anew, he can't see the Kingdom of God,' and His disciples, 'unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.' He blessed the poor in spirit, 'for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven,' and received the children with the words, 'whoever doesn't receive the Kingdom of God like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.' The kingdom's door is not raised for the accomplished; it is opened for the humble.
Jesus answered him, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see the Kingdom of God.”
Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into the Kingdom of God!
and said, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus summoned them, saying, “Allow the little children to come to me, and don’t hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Most certainly, I tell you, whoever doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.”
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From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The Kingdom of God doesn’t come with observation; neither will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.”
He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.” He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measuresof meal, until it was all leavened.”
and said, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus answered him, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see the Kingdom of God.”
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