Since the evangelical movement began, the emphasis of the Gospel that is preached seems to be focused primarily on getting people to heaven. There are so many angles that are taken, but the bottom line is that people are told they need Jesus so that they will go to heaven when they die. If the modern church is not talking about heaven, it is talking about obtaining material blessings in this life or the removal of all pain and suffering if we just pray hard enough or hold a promise verse from the Bible in God’s face so that He will be reminded to keep His promise. In essence, the Gospel has become so focused on the personal needs of individuals that folks seem to think that God exists to make them happy in this world, then to take them to eternal bliss in the next.
The other day I was listening to a Christian music radio station and the DJ attempted to introduce the song “One Day” by the group Cochren and Co. by saying “When we get to heaven we won’t have to worry about the troubles of this world.” And, although she is correct that this world’s troubles will not follow us to heaven, she showed her ignorance of the plan of God that is so clearly presented in His Word as well as the true meaning of the song. Heaven is a real place, but that is not the end result for the people of God. The song by One Day is very explicitly NOT talking about heaven. One of the lines in the song is “One day when the Kingdom comes right here where we stand, we will see the promised land, we will see the promised land.” This is one of the first modern song writers that I have seen that gets the true message of the Bible. Jesus didn’t come to tell everybody the Good News that we can go to heaven when we die. He came to declare that the Kingdom of God, or as Matthew calls it the Kingdom of Heaven, has come to this earth. Mark 1:15 records Jesus words, “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!” It wasn’t a temporary thing, it would be the transformation of the world as we know it. Actually, it would be a restoration of the world the way God intended it to be (Acts 3:21). Every Jew knew that the Kingdom of God was coming to the earth. Jesus’ disciples even wondered that as they walked with Jesus to the Mount of Olives right before he went to be with His Father. They asked Him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” This was the expectation of the coming Messiah, that He would restore Israel. There question wasn’t, “Is it now, Lord, that you will take us to heaven with you?” They knew that the Kingdom of God was coming on the earth. Jesus began proclaiming the arrival of the Kingdom, and what it was to look like. Their big question must have been why was he leaving and going away. The purpose of many of His parables, as well as what is known as the Sermon on the Mount, was to explain and proclaim this Kingdom. The term Sermon on the Mount was a misnomer, of course, the result of modern scholars imposing on the text a modern day practice. The text in Matthew 5:1-2 actually says, “One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them.” The Jewish practice was for the teacher to sit down and teach, and that is what he did. Preaching takes on a different role and posture. The text itself confirms that this was the teaching on the mount. Regardless, this was clearly a teaching of how the citizens of the Kingdom of God were to live right here on the earth.
The prophet Daniel was a captive in the land of Babylon during the time of the exile, about 586 B.C. He was hand-picked to be a wise man, groomed by the king’s men. One day King Nebuchudnezzar had a dream that no one could interpret except Daniel who received the interpretation from God. He dreamed of a great statue with a head of gold, its chest and shoulders were of silver, its thighs were of bronze and its legs were of iron, and its toes were of iron and clay. Then, in the dream, a great rock was cut from a mountain and comes and smashes the statue until the gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay are only dust, and the rock becomes a great mountain that fills the whole earth. Daniel tells the king that the different metals represent different world empires that would rule the known world during different times. His was the first one, represented by the gold head. But the final kingdom would consist of ten kings, represented by the ten toes of clay and iron, showing that these ten kings would be a mixture of strength and weakness, but would be bound together as one. But what would happen next, “During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever” (Daniel 2:44). This mighty rock represented the coming Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God was referred to even before Daniel. As far back as Abraham, God had promised that he would be the father of many nations, and that through him all the nations of the world would be blessed. The word “blessed” here is not intended in the way it is flippantly used by so many today to mean material and monetary acquisitions. The blessing referred to would be the restoration of all things. This is what the disciples taught. In Acts 3:20-21, Peter proclaimed, “Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets.” So, even here, we see that heaven is only a temporary holding place where even Jesus will remain until it is time for Him to return. But that is the point, at the appointed time He will return and bring restoration. He will restore the earth to the creation it was supposed to be. He will judge evil and sin, and he will set up His Kingdom of peace. This kingdom will last only one thousand years (Revelation 20:1-3), and then he will judge evil one final time and the earth and heaven will be remade for all eternity (Revelation 20:11-15, 21:1-4). This new heaven and new earth will contain the new Jerusalem. Revelation states that “The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory” (Revelation 21:24).
Paul, as well, understood this. He knew that the Kingdom of God was to come on this earth, and it would encompass this old world system. Paul knew the scriptures, and he didn’t go around proclaiming that everyone needs to ask Jesus into their heart so they can go to heaven. How do I know that? Because the Bible tells us so. In Acts 28 it states twice that Paul testified and taught about the Kingdom of God, and tried to persuade them about Jesus (Acts 28:23, 31). The first thing he taught was the Kingdom of God. Why? Because that was what God planned to establish on this earth from the very beginning. Jesus was the King in that Kingdom, and when He arrived, so did His Kingdom. One might ask, “Yes, but Jesus himself stated that his Kingdom was not of this world and is not an earthly kingdom.” That is true, because it did not originate on the earth. It’s values, focus, and ways were not from this earth or this world’s system. But it would culminate on the earth. It would overtake the earth. Jesus, himself said this in one of His parables when he said, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened” (Matthew 13:33). This was clearly a description of how the Kingdom of God would begin very small, like that which the woman in the parable hid. God, likewise, hid the Kingdom from the eyes of the world, and it began as a small group of people. But over the millennia, it has grown throughout the whole earth, leavening the entire world. God has strategically began a new Kingdom, the Kingdom of light, in the midst of the current Kingdom of darkness, and caused it to grow over time to fill the whole earth. Other references in scripture allude to this, like Isaiah 11:9, “They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” The prophet Habakkuk, likewise, echoes this same statement. Neither the Old Testament nor the New Testament end up with a bunch of people singing like angels in heaven. There is a clear message that God will overcome evil, and the earth will be restored, and the Lord will rule all things as He dwells in our midst. Revelation declares His glorious return with His saints (Revelation 19:11-19) and every eye will see Him! (Revelation 1:7)
It’s time for the church to get it straight! We need to proclaim to the world the coming Kingdom of God, that it has arrived, but will be coming in all of its fulness when the King returns. This was the message of Jesus. This was the message of the Old Testament prophets. This was the message of the early church. How did we get off the track? The message that the church teaches today is NOT the Good News that Jesus came to bring. It has no relevance for the people of this world because it is not the true message of Jesus. We need to once again teach Jesus in the context of the Kingdom that He is bringing on this earth. That will rattle a few cages, politically, morally, and spiritually, but it will become relevant to all. Even the social activist knows that there are problems that need to be addressed, that something is drastically wrong in the world today. But the Kingdom of God will change all that. Racial prejudice will disappear, so will all forms of social injustice and evil of every sort. War will cease, and peace will prevail. There is only one way to become a participant in all that, however, and that is through the King himself. Therein lies the invitation to a new loyalty, a loyalty to the new King.
The DJ’s misrepresentation of the song not only showed her ignorance of the true Gospel, but was representative of the majority in the church today. The song proclaimed the coming Kingdom to this earth, the same message of Jesus and the apostles, not a heavenly bliss. If the church is going to be effective in these challenging times it will have to present the Good News of the Kingdom the way it was intended. It’s time to get the message straight!
Categories: Ekklesia Community, Kingdom of God
Beyond Traditon 
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