– which will yet appear in the glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ* (hallelujah!);

basic idea then of this 'basileia' is the desired rule or reign of God as king, which Jesus aptly expressed in the prayer:

Some Views

Herman Ridderbos well remarks that Schweitzer –

"clearly shows how much of the whole history of exegesis has been determined, not by historical objectivity but rather by subjective theological prejudice" (1962:xv).

Hendrikus Berkhof attacks Dodd for this same idea of "timeless fact", "eternal order" and declares it "almost Platonic" (1966:67). Yet Ridderbos in turn opposes Weiss by declaring – "what Jesus meant by the coming of the Kingdom, or what He cannot have meant by it, can certainly not be answered from the apocalyptic sector of the late Jewish expectation of the future, as is done by Weiss and his followers" and continues significantly, that – "the answer is only possible in the light of the synoptic 'kerygma' itself, with a continuous consultation of the references to the Old Testament" (1962:67).

made the statement that from John the Baptist's time, as the great watershed period, and still continuing at that time 

"the Kingdom of Heaven has been coming violently" (Matt.11:11-13)

The Kingdom Parables

The Fish Net explains the strange mixture of people among the company of Jesus' followers, which was only to be judged in the end-time consummation. The tale of a crop's Spontaneous Growth also connects inseparably the coming of Jesus to the final consummation. Both seed-time and harvest are God's work!

In addition to this spiritual conflict, is humanity's preoccupation with possessions (Mat.16:26; Lk.12:15-21), and also the structural hostility of this world to God's personal rule among us where the "worries of the world" threaten to choke the "word of the Kingdom" (Mat.13:19,22).

nature of this Kingdom is an ethic described as a "new commandment". It is essentially that the heirs of the Kingdom (Lk.12:32) are to –

"love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another" (Jn.13:34).

This ethic does not exist in copying the ideal. This ethic is the practice of the new nature thus received through being born of the Spirit.

strangely, to Schweitzer this was an abnormal 'interim ethic' – especially in loving one's enemies as expounded in Christ's Sermon on the Mount (Ladd 1974:122). Hans Windisch attempted to find two degrees of ethic: the so-called permanent 'wisdom ethic' and the temporary 'eschatological ethic', and the ethic itself as the qualification for entrance to the Kingdom. This latter idea is in harmony with  the views of  Weiss, Schweitzer, Petersen, and Wilder. Yet, this view is completely excluded by the unmerited grace expressed in Christ's prayer-parable of the Pharisee and Sinner!

Christ's coming to humanity is really God's coming (Jn.13:20). He is the seeking God as for a lost 'sheep', a lost 'coin', or a 'prodigal son', and has joy in the finding –

He therefore invites as a rich man, a king, a bridegroom, to come and enjoy His beneficence. Yet He is also a judging God who divides humanity by their response to the person of Jesus ("a sword", Matt.10: 32-40).

This coming salvation of the new age to come will then include the whole person in God's resurrection glory (Luke 20:35,36; Matthew 25: 34,46).

mystery of this Kingdom continues in the church as it was in Jesus, for as He lived by the Father so His own live by Him (Jn.6:57). This "seed" form of the Kingdom therefore did not consist in Christ's deity but in His practical human relationship to God which began from His baptism.

The essence of this was His unique relationship to the Holy Spirit which was portrayed in the Spirit's descent upon Him in the sign of a dove; Noah's new beginning. This unique human relationship of His to the Holy Spirit was what Jesus gave to His people on the day of Pentecost. It was this which constituted them as a spiritual body, His Body, to be Christ in the world.

There is no higher authority within the Christian Church than the Spirit of God by whom this Kingdom is present in the Church. Therefore, the Bible says to all Christians concerning leaders who mislead –

This Kingdom mystery, already foreseen in Christ's words to the embryo-church concerning the discipline of reconciliation (Mat.18:15-20) became a new spiritual organism in the earth (Eph. 3:4-6,9-10). For this reason Jesus said –

However, in no way can this be construed as simply referring to the visible fellowship or organization of the believers, in any congregation or denomination. It is the new spiritual identity given them through being personally –

and thus as His Body, the “fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Eph.1:3,6,23), as they await the final consummation in His visible coming as King of the Kingdom (Rev.22:20).