The Gospel of the Kingdom

Scriptural Studies in the Kingdom of God

George Eldon Ladd

• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Year: 1990
• Print ISBN: 9780802812803
• eBook ISBN: 9781467421355
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

parables, new testament, jesus, sermon on the mount, studies, nt, Christian, God, gospel, Jesus, devotional, preached, ministry, introduction, church, Israel, vineyard, interpretation, scriptural, Bible, Christianity

CHAPTER II

THE KINGDOM IS TOMORROW

IN our introductory chapter, we sketched several prevailing interpretations of the Kingdom of God and then attempted a basic description. The Kingdom of God is basically the rule of God. It is God’s reign, the divine sovereignty in action. God’s reign, however, is manifested in several realms, and the Gospels speak of entering into the Kingdom of God both today and tomorrow. God’s reign manifests itself both in the future and in the present and thereby creates both a future realm and a present realm in which men may experience the blessings of His reign.

The Kingdom of God is, then, the realization of God’s will and the enjoyment of the accompanying blessings. However, it is a clear teaching of the New Testament that God’s will is not to be perfectly realized in this age. Central in Biblical Theology is the doctrine of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Schweitzer was to this extent right, that the so-called apocalyptic or “other-worldly” aspect of the Kingdom of God is not an extraneous appendage which can be sloughed off without impairing the Biblical teaching. The Bible conceives of the entire sweep of human history as resting in the hand of God, but it looks for the final realization of God’s Kingdom in a realm “beyond history,” i.e., in a new and different order of existence.

Yet while this is true, there is a very real and a very vital sense in which God has already manifested His reign, His will, His Kingdom, in the coming of Christ in the flesh, by virtue of which we may experience the life of the Kingdom here and now. As there are two advents of Christ, one in the flesh which we call the Incarnation, the other in glory which we call the Parousia or Second Advent, so there are two manifestations of God’s Kingdom: one in power and glory when Christ returns, but one which is present now because God’s Son has already appeared among men. In this chapter, we are concerned to ascertain what the New Testament tells us about the future aspect of His reign; but throughout the rest of the book we shall devote ourselves to the present aspect of God’s Kingdom as it has to do with present experience.

In order to understand this theme and to appreciate how the Kingdom of God can both be future and present, we need to sketch this truth against the background of another Biblical teaching which has been infrequently emphasized and may seem to some quite novel. In popular Christian idiom, we often contrast the life of the present with that of the future by use of the words earth and heaven. We live our bodily life here on earth, but the future salvation will be consummated in heaven. A more philosophical approach contrasts time and eternity as though they represented two different modes of existence. Our present life is lived “in time” while the future order will be “beyond time” in eternity. This concept is reflected in our popular religious idiom in the song:

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more,

When the morning breaks eternal, bright and fair …

One of the most brilliant recent discussions in Biblical Theology is that of Oscar Cullmann in which he successfully demonstrated that such concepts are foreign to the Biblical view. His book, Christ and Time,¹ has shown that the Biblical world-view involves a linear concept, and that “eternity” as it belongs to redemptive history is simply unending time. This fact is obscured in both the Authorized or King James Version and in the Revised Version, which mistranslate the word underlying this Biblical world-view. There are two words in the Greek New Testament which are translated by the single English word “world”—a fact which is obscured in our older English versions. First, there is the Greek word kosmos. A kosmos is something which is in proper order or harmony, something which enjoys proper arrangement. Our word “cosmetics” is derived from this Greek word. Cosmetics are aids for the ladies in arranging their faces, to put them in proper order, to adorn them. Kosmos in its most common Greek usage is the world as the sum and total of everything constituting an orderly universe.

However, there is another word which is often grievously mistranslated in our Authorized Version. This word is aion, from which the English word aeon is derived. Primarily, aion has no connotation of an order or a structure but designates a period of time and ought to be translated by the English word “age.”

When we trace this word in the New Testament, we discover that in the course of God’s redemptive purpose, there are two ages which are frequently called “This Age” and “The Age to Come.” In Matthew 12:32 the A.V. reads, “Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” However, our Lord is not speaking of two worlds but of two ages. The entire sweep of man’s existence is set forth in terms of this age and the age which is to come. The Greek word used is not kosmos but aion, age. It is unfortunate that our older English Bibles obscure this important fact; but it is correctly rendered in the R.S.V.¹ Blasphemy against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; and the sweep of “never” is two periods of time: This Age, and that which is to come.

In Ephesians 1:21, Paul describes the exaltation of Christ “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” Here again the A.V.’s translation “world” is inaccurate. Paul does not have in mind two worlds but two ages. His word is not kosmos but aion. There is no thought of two orders of society but of two periods of time.

A slight variant of this expression is found in Mark 10:29, 30, “Jesus said, ‘Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brethren or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecution, and in the age to come eternal life.’ ” In the second half of the verse, we find again the word aion; and the translation “in the world to come” does not accurately represent the idea. In the first half of the verse, the word “time” (kairos) appears instead of aion or age. This makes it doubly clear that the reference of the verse is to two periods of time, not to two worlds. In this time, in This Age, we are to expect hostility to the Gospel. In The Age to Come, those who have followed Christ will be freed from all opposition and sufferings and will enjoy eternal life.

When we trace this concept further, we discover that these two ages are separated by the Second Coming of Christ and the resurrection from the dead. In Matthew 24:3, the disciples came to Jesus with the question, “Tell us, when will this be, and what shall be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” The rendering of both the A.V. and the R.V. suggests that the disciples were asking about the time of the destruction of this world—its end. On the contrary, their question had to do with the consummation of This Age which will be followed by another age. According to this verse, This Age is expected to come to its close with the Parousia or Second Coming of Christ, and it will be followed by The Age to Come.¹

Another event dividing This Age from The Age to Come is the resurrection from the dead. In Luke 20:34–36 we read, “Jesus said to them, ‘The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.’ ” Here again, our Lord refers to the two ages, not two worlds. In This Age, marriage is a necessary institution. “The sons of This Age”—all who live in this time—must marry and raise children to propagate the race. But a different state of affairs will prevail in The Age to Come, for those who enter that Age will do so by way of resurrection. Therefore, they will be like the angels in this one respect: they no longer will be subject to death but will, like the angels, be immortal, for they have become “sons of the resurrection.” Therefore, not only the Second Coming of Christ but also the resurrection from the dead will terminate This Age and inaugurate The Age to Come.

We may illustrate this basic structure by a simple diagram which we shall designate “The Conflict of the Ages.”

C stands for creation, P for the Parousia of Christ, and R for the resurrection of the dead.¹ This Age had its beginning with creation, but The Age to Come will go on endlessly, for ever. We may therefore speak of The Age to Come as Eternity, by which we mean unending time. This simple time line is shared by the writers of the New Testament with contemporary Judaism, for both are rooted in the Old Testament world-view.

When we ask what Scripture teaches about the character of these two ages, we find a sharp contrast. This Age is dominated by evil, wickedness, and rebellion against the will of God, while The Age to Come is the age of the Kingdom of God.

In Galatians 1:4 we read that Christ “gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from the present evil age.” This Age is an evil age; it is characterized by sin and unrighteousness. It is an age from which men need deliverance, a deliverance which can be accomplished only by the death of Christ.

The second chapter of Ephesians gives us an extended discussion of the character of This Age. Paul says, “And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the age of this world” (Eph. 2:1–2).² In this verse, both words “age” and “world” are employed, indicating that while This Age and the world are not synonymous, they are closely related. There is a certain order of human society which characterizes This Age. Paul describes it with the words, “In which you once walked … following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.” The character of the age of this world bears the stamp of the Prince of the power of the air, that is, Satan. He is permitted to exercise a terrible influence throughout This Age inducing men and women to walk in a way displeasing to God.

“Among these we all once lived in die passions of our flesh, following the desires of the body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” These passions of the flesh are not alone bodily, “fleshy” sins; they are not only sins of gluttony and of drunkenness and of immorality. Pride is a sin of the flesh. So are egotism, selfishness, stubbornness, determination to have one’s own way (Gal. 5:19–21). All of these belong to “the flesh.” When we were walking according to This Age, we lived according to the lusts of our flesh and were by nature children of wrath. This is a terrible verse. “Children of wrath …” God’s wrath, the holy judgment of a righteous God rests upon This Age, upon its sinfulness and its rebellion. God’s wrath must also fall inescapably upon those who are conformed to its evil, rebellious character.

In the parable of the soils, we read of seed which falls upon thorny ground. The seed sprouts but the thorns grow up and choke the growth (Matt. 13:7). Our Lord interprets this with the words, “As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the care of the age and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful” (Matt. 13:22). The care of the age is not alone worry and the trouble and anxiety of making a living. It is the entire spirit which characterizes This Age: worry and anxiety about one’s physical life to be sure, but also the pressure, the drive of ambition for wealth, success, prosperity, and power. All of this is involved in the care, the burden, of This Age.

The point is this: it is the character of This Age to choke the working of the Word of God. The spirit of the Age is hostile to the Gospel. When the Gospel is preached, it often seems to lodge in the hearts of men and women. They hear it, they seem to receive it, they make a response to it. And yet it is often only a superficial response. There is no fruit. As the care, the concern of the Age presses in upon them, they are not willing to pay the price of following Christ. The Word of God is choked and is unfruitful. This Age is hostile to the Gospel, and men often yield in conformity to This Age rather than surrender to the claims of the Gospel. There is a conflict between the Age and the Gospel of the Kingdom.

One of the most important verses describing This Age is 2 Cor. 4:3–4 because it explains what lies behind these other sayings. “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.”

Two things stand out in this verse. Satan is the “god of this age.” In God’s sovereign purpose, Satan has been permitted to exercise a great measure of authority and power throughout the duration of This Age. We have already read in Ephesians that in the age of this world, we once lived according to the prince of the power of the air. As an instrument of His judicial righteousness, God has permitted Satan to exercise such influence in This Age that Paul can speak of him as though he were the god of This Age. Whence comes the evil, the hatred, the deception, the strife, the conflict, the sin, the misery, and the pain, suffering and dying which characterize This Age? It comes from Satan. This does not mean that man can throw off responsibility for his own evil conduct. Man remains a free moral agent and is answerable both before the judgment of God and his fellow men. It does mean that evil is more than human. It has its source in an evil, superhuman personality. This fact is not to be interpreted as a fundamental dualism as though God and Satan, good and evil, were two eternal principles. Back of all things, including Satan and evil, stands the eternal God. But God has permitted Satan to wield such power that the result is a limited ethical dualism.

We can discover in 2 Cor. 4:4 the manifestation of satanic influence. It is not found in the fact that the “god of this age” has dragged good men down into the gutter of sin, or that strong young men and beautiful young women have been thrown down into a sink of immorality and corruption. “In their case the god of this age hath blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.”

Here is the root of evil: blindness, darkness, unbelief. The Biblical philosophy of sin makes ethical and moral evil secondary to religious evil. Paul elsewhere refers to the “ungodliness and wickedness of men” (Rom. 1:18). All forms of wickedness ultimately grow out of the root of ungodliness. Sin is primarily religious and secondarily ethical. Man is God’s creature and his primary responsibility is towards God. The root of sin is found in his refusal to acknowledge in grateful dependence the gifts and the goodness of God (Rom. 1:21), which are now imparted in Christ. Darkness is the assertion of independence rather than God-dependence.

The primary manifestation of satanic influence and of the evil of This Age is religious; it is blindness with reference to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How often we fail to understand satanic devices! A man may be a cultured, ethical and even religious person and yet be in demonic darkness. Satan’s basic desire is to keep men from Christ. His primary concern is not to corrupt morals nor to make atheists nor to produce en...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Foreword by George Eldon Ladd
• Contents
• Introduction by Oswald J. Smith
• I. What is the Kingdom of God?
• II. The Kingdom is Tomorrow
• III. The Kingdom is Today
• IV. The Mystery of the Kingdom
• V. The Life of the Kingdom
• VI. The Righteousness of the Kingdom
• VII. The Demand of the Kingdom
• VIII. The Kingdom, Israel and the Church
• IX. When Will the Kingdom Come?