Matthew 4:17 “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’” Matt 13:31-32 “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”
Teaching on the kingdom of God is very important for several reasons. First, we are here to preach the extension of the kingdom of God or as Christ said – the gospel of the kingdom. This takes in the church, but it is more than that as we also want to see our communities, societies and culture changed. Of course, we know that we go from the internal to the external. Before we can see communities, societies and cultures change we need to see individuals changed THROUGH THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL.
Secondly, it is important for us to understand where we are today in God’s timetable so that we might know where we should be heading tomorrow. A world renowned hockey player when asked why he was so good said that he does not follow the puck, but he goes where he knows the puck will be. We need to know where God will be so that we can be there in order to carry on what He is doing.
Thirdly, it is important to have right theology and the right eschatology. We see the importance of right theology with Daniel. It says in Daniel 1:21 “…and Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.” This means that he remained in that pagan environment at the top echelon of power for over 50 years. The reason Daniel remained is because he had right theology and this comes out in Daniel 2:20-23. He recognized that God is sovereign over all things.
I will say at the very beginning that my eschatology is ‘pre-tribulation.’ This means that I believe God’s true people will be raptured out of this world before Daniel’s 70th week. However, there will be many people in the visible Church who will be left behind. During this 3 1/2 years there will be great tribulation for these people and many will come to Christ, but also many will die a martyr’s death. Satan’s fury will be poured out upon them. At the end of that 3 1/2 years they will be resurrected and be part of the first rapture that took place 3 1/2 years previously. Then we go into Daniel’s 70th week where judgment is poured out upon this earth.
At the end Christ comes back with the Saints to rule and reign for a thousand years. What we do during the thousand years depends upon our faithfulness in the here and now. This is my eschatology in a nutshell. The reason I mention this is because we need to know where God is going so that we can be there to work along with him.
What I also wanted to mention is that we are not here just to see people saved, but to be disciples in order to make an impact in our communities, societies and culture where we can bring out God’s agenda. We live in a world where people are asking questions and they are looking for answers. The church, the body of Christ, is the depository of truth. By being ‘pre-tribulation’ we are not to sit back and wait for God to take us out of this mess, but we are to occupy and bring solutions to this mess that we’re in until the Lord comes and takes us out.
We are constantly going from terror to triumph. The kingdom of God started small like a mustard seed and is growing into a gigantic oak. Where are we at this moment in time and what should we be doing is the question we need to be asking ourselves.