Now that we’ve looked at many of the kingdom texts from the Old Testament, today we’ll get into the New Testament and see what Jesus and the apostles taught about the kingdom.  We’ll examine the titles of Jesus, a couple of his parables, some texts from Paul and James, and conclude in Revelation.  In this lecture, we’ll restrict our focus to just those verses that speak of the kingdom as future.  We’ll come back to the other kingdom scriptures in the New Testament in subsequent lectures.

This is lecture 5 of the Kingdom of God class, originally taught at the Atlanta Bible College.  To take this class for credit, please contact ABC so you can do the work necessary for a grade.

Notes:

My goal is to cruise through the New Testament and look at texts pertaining to the coming kingdom (Matthew to Revelation)

defining Messiah/Christ: the one God anoints to rule over the kingdom

defining Son of Man: the one Daniel saw in a vision to whom God gave the kingdom

defining Son of David: the promised descendant to rule on the throne of David forever

defining Son of God: same as God’s messiah (2 Sam 7.14) and God’s creation (Luke 1)

Jesus clearly believed in a coming (future) kingdom

Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

They [the meek] show by every word and gesture that they do not belong to this earth.  Leave heaven to them, says the world in its pity, that is where they belong.  But Jesus says: “They shall inherit the earth.”  To these, the powerless and the disenfranchised, the very earth belongs.  Those who now possess it by violence and injustice shall lose it, and those who here have utterly renounced it, who