The Kingdom of God

Christians all over the world are developing a new interest in the Kingdom of God. For many it is just and adjective that is tacked onto the front of what they are already doing, in much the same way that the words ”prophetic” and “apostolic” were used in the past. The church has gone from “prophetic leadership”, to “apostolic leadership”, to “kingdom leadership” in less than twenty years. However, turning the kingdom into an adjective trivialises the kingdom. We must really let the concept shape our thinking.

I maintain this truth: If Christians get really serious about pursing the Kingdom of God, they will eventually have to amend their eschatology (teaching about the end of history). Most just try to make the Kingdom of God fit with the conventional end-times teaching. This just will not work.

I gave up in it twenty years ago, when I realest that Jesus teaching about the Kingdom of God was clear, whereas most end-time teaching is based on snippets of scripture from here and there. I decided that if I put the Kingdom of God first, everything else would be given to me, including my understanding of God’s purpose for history. Looking at the New Testament, using the Kingdom of God as the interpretive principles gave me a complete different understanding of God’s plan for human history. This is outlined in my new book called Times and Seasons. It is very different from the standing teaching, but it does do justice to the Kingdom of God.