The Kingdom of God refers to the Royalty, Rule and Realm of God. This makes it a position, a lifestyle and an arrangement respectively.
And it is based on the Person, Principles and Performance of Jesus Christ, who brings it about by grace. So, at the end of the day, it ensures the rule of God in and over a person or place.
Dimensions of God’s Kingdom
The Kingdom on this time-governed earth has three dimensions namely: the past, present and future.
The past dimension is Jesus’ position of royalty that mankind has graciously been put into in principle, by the divine exchange on the Cross. So, all that mankind has to do is to
ratify the past spiritual reality that, Jesus has single-handedly already exchanged their sins with His righteousness.
Now, mankind ratifies this past exchange on the Cross, by acknowledging Jesus as Lord over their sins, to make His righteousness operational in their lives.
The present dimension of the Kingdom involves the lifestyle of having God’s rule or Lordship over your life now. In other words, it is living by Jesus’ Principles by which you can bring
about the rule of God now.
Finally, the future dimension of the Kingdom refers to the coming arrangement that God has put in place due to Jesus’ performance for us to have and enjoy His realm both on earth and in Heaven.
Now, this is the ‘third Kingdom classroom’ in which you must be and so will be the focus of our discussions.
The first and final era
Beloved, human life on earth began in a Kingdom system in an old heaven and earth. This old heaven and earth was not created empty, dark and chaotic. But, it had become like that; obviously due to
Satan’s presence – Gen. 1:2a, “The earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.”
This same human life will ‘end’ in a Kingdom system again, this time, in a new heaven and new earth.
Now, the most important feature of this new heaven and earth is that God will specially dwell among mankind on earth.
This will be the case instead of God visiting mankind on earth, as in the Old Testament, or God being with us through Jesus our Emmanuel, as in the New Testament – Rev. 21: 2-4,
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband.
And I heard a loud voice from Heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away”. Hallelujah!
The holy city of Heaven, which is the New Jerusalem, being the Bride of Christ or the church, will be re-located from Heaven to the new earth – Rev.21: 2, 9-10; Heb. 11:16, 13:14.
So, the ultimate of God for mankind is His coming to dwell with us Himself, not our going to Him. This is the full fulfillment of “Thy Kingdom come”, because God’s Throne will be relocated to earth during the new heaven and earth – Rev. 22:1-5,
“And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the Throne of God and of the Lamb.
In the middle of the street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
And there was no more curse, but the Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: they need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.”
Wow! So, my friend, the ultimate will of God for us is ruling on earth, nothing else. Amen! And, if His ultimate will for us is ruling, then His will for us now is ruling because He never changes, and so, does His will. Hallelujah!
Jesus started the end
Now, the coming of our Lord Jesus through the virgin Mary is the beginning of the end of the old heaven and earth – Heb. 9:6,
“For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself”.
Yes, Jesus started the end and He will finish it by coming again and ruling physically to subdue every rebellion – 1 Cor. 15:24-25, 28,
“Then comes the end, when He delivers the Kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power, For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet….Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.”
Human ‘life cycle’
Theologically, there are seven dispensations for humans on earth. They are as follows:
1. The era of Innocence i.e. mankind with no knowledge of sin. This was in the first Kingdom system in Eden – Gen. 2:15-3:21
2. The era of Conscience i.e. mankind with no written laws – Gen. 3:22-8:14
3. The era of Human Government i.e. mankind with human laws set up to control themselves – Gen. 8:15-11:32
4. The era of Promise i.e. the promises made to Abraham and his seed as ‘representing’ mankind – Gen. 12:1 to Ex. 12:37
5. The era of the Law i.e. the law given to Moses for Israel as ‘representing’ mankind – Ex. 12:38 to Matt. 2:23
6. The era of Grace i.e. mankind in the grace brought by Jesus Christ, to re-introduce the Kingdom of God once again – Matt. 3:1 to Rev.19:6. Here, the Kingdom of God on earth is to be tasted or expressed in a limited way – Heb. 6:4-5; Lk. 14:24.
7. The era of Divine Government i.e. the Kingdom-future – Rev. 19:7-22:21. It ‘begins’ with the rapture of Jesus’ believers and ends with the new Heaven and new earth.
It is during this Era that the Kingdom of God on earth will be consummated or fully expressed – Rev. 19:7ff. This is just as engaged couples consummate their marriage with a physical wedding in both Jewish and Christian traditions. So will our current taste of the Kingdom be eaten or swallowed during this coming era.
The Kingdom and Grace
You can clearly see that from the sixth human era, grace re-introduced the Kingdom of God on earth, as in the beginning in Eden. Now, the Kingdom-future will also come on earth by God’s grace.
You know, that is how Jesus, who brought the Kingdom on His shoulders came to mankind through the Virgin Mary. He came as the Grace of God – Is. 9:6-7,
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government (Heb. Word is ‘Misrah’ which also means ‘empire’) shall be upon His shoulders…of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His Kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of host will perform this. ”
This zeal of the Lord speaks of His grace in practice. So beloved, our dear Jesus came to mankind full of grace and truth. This is because that is the only way to get back the first Kingdom era on earth – Jn. 1:14,
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Actually, the Apostle Paul equated the preaching of the Kingdom to the preaching of grace – Acts 20:24b-25,
“…the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God, and indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom of God, will see my face no more.”
The dimensions of Grace
So, just like the Kingdom of God, grace has three dimensions as well – the past, present and future. It is because the Kingdom of God comes to you by
grace i.e. by unearned, undeserved, unmerited favour of God, referred to as God’s zeal – Tit. 2:11-14,
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” – Tit. 2:11-14.
Let us take this four-versed quote and break it down, a verse at a time.
The past dimension of grace
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men…” Tit. 2:11.
Note the past tense rendition “appeared”. This is the past dimension of grace. It teaches us that grace is first of all a Person who appeared i.e. in the past. Yes, this Grace of God is Jesus Christ Himself, who brought salvation to all mankind.
So, when Jesus showed up in the past through the virgin birth on earth, He was the grace of God that had appeared to save us from sin. You know, that is the meaning of His name Jesus – Matt.1:21, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins”.
Beloved, as the Son of God, Jesus’ appeared to save us and to share with us His position of royal Son of God. He did this by His death on the Cross in the past. Thus, this past gracious performance of Jesus corresponds to the past dimension of the Kingdom of God on earth.
The present dimension of grace
“…teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age,…” – Tit. 2:12.
This time, note the present continuous tense “teaching”. So, this is the present dimension of grace.
In this present age, Jesus as Grace is a Teacher. In other words, Grace is teaching or enabling us to live out Jesus’ Principles in this current world – Rom. 6:14. So, this corresponds to the present dimension of the Kingdom of God where we have the rule or Lordship of God over us practically.
The future dimension of grace
“…looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ,” – Tit. 2:13.
This is where I want to get to. Yes, here we have the future dimension of Grace. And it corresponds to the future Kingdom arrangement that we must look up for with hope.
Present and future grace
My friend, present-Grace teaches us to look for the future-Grace which will be revealed to us when Jesus comes again, Hallelujah! – 1 Pet. 1:13, “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully on the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ”.
Yes, with the coming of Jesus Christ again, there is a fresh future-grace to be shown all believers. This grace is so sure that you can rest your hope fully on it. It is because Jesus is the Grace of God.
And so His coming again is the coming again of a new level of God’s Grace to all His believers. Hallelujah! Praise Him!
Therefore, do not be afraid of Jesus’ coming like unbelievers do, because He is coming to show you more grace.
The present-and-future mix
“Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed andpurify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” – Tit. 2:14.
Beloved, you are to look for (or search for) the blessed future hope to be made available to us now in a certain dimension. This is why you should be zealous of good works now, as you await the future kingdom arrangement.
So, the hallmark of those who are looking for the glorious appearing of Jesus in future is that they are passionate or zealous for good works in this life now.
This is important because good works in this age is the only thing that guarantees a glorious Kingdom-future for you as a person.
It is therefore an anti-Kingdom attitude to be unconcerned about the well-being and good-living of mankind in this present life.
In other words, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of Jesus Christ does not mean you should not work to bring about the good of mankind on this old earth.
It rather means you should study and work hard and zealously for the literal good of mankind now. Halleluiah!
Now, in the next chapter, we will begin looking at the benefits of expecting the future Kingdom arrangement that God has for us.
