Kingdom of God

I thought I'd just pass along a couple points that W.E. Vine wrote in the forward of Fred Cundick's book on "The Kingdom in the Gospel of Matthew" concerning the Kingdom of God:

- The Kingdom of God, firstly, is the sphere of God's rule (Psa 22:28, 145:13; Luke 1:52)

- The Kingdom of God, secondly, is the sphere, at any given time, where His rule is acknowledged.

- The Kingdom of God is viewed in two ways. First at the present where enterance requires suffering for those who enter (2 Thes 1:5), and second in the future where it is associated with glory and reward (Matt 13:43, 25:34)

- The Kingdom of God is entered by new birth (John 3:3)

- The nature resulting from new birth is made evident by obedience and therefore it is said that only such as do the will of God shall enter His kingdom (Matthew 7:21).

- As to the future, the Lord taught His disciples to pray, "Thy kingdom come." (Matthew 6:10). The verb there is in the aorist tense, where the author may be depicting an event that will not be a process but which will bring a catastrophe in the world without movement of time, followed by the establishment of righteousness and peace. Thus the character of the individual in the Kingdom of God is demonstrated by these two things, "righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Romans 14:17).

Cundick, Fredrick. The Kingdom in the Gospel of Matthew. John Ritchie Limited: Kilmarnock.