Kingdom of God

The kingdom of God is a vital concept in the Scriptures of Israel (which Christians have called “the Old Testament”); it focuses on God as the king of the universe, the fundamental force behind all that is, and on God's role in shaping human experience. The promise of the kingdom is that people will finally come to realize divine justice and peace in all that they do. Jesus made the kingdom of God the center of his preaching as well as of his activity, and it remains the pivot of Christian theology. Within educational settings especially, views of the kingdom of God have shaped conceptions of ethical behavior, and have provided motivations to persist in the acts of teaching and learning.

Whether in present experience or in hope for the future, the kingdom of God was celebrated in ancient Israel in five different ways, all closely related to one another. They are all clearly represented in the books of Psalms.

First, the kingdom of God is behind the whole of created life, even as it is beyond the comprehension of any living thing. For that reason, the Psalms portray the kingdom as so near in time as to be present, and yet ultimate (the technical term is eschatological) from the point of view of full disclosure (Psalm 96:10):

• Say among the nations that the LORD reigns.
• The world is established, so as not to move:
• he shall judge the peoples with equity.

[Page 250]All the peoples are finally to know the truth that is now celebrated and sung in the Temple, but only in the future.

Second, the kingdom is transcendent in space as well as final in time. Although the usual setting of Israel's praise is in the Temple, every part of the creation will come to acknowledge what is known there (Psalm 145:10–13):

• All your creatures will give you thanks, LORD,
• and your faithful will bless you;
• they shall speak of the glory of your kingdom,
• and tell of your might,
• to make your mighty deeds known to the sons
• of men,
• and the glorious splendor of his kingdom.
• Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
• and your rule in every generation.

All his creatures are to give thanks to the LORD, but it is his faithful in particular who are said to bless him. What is rehearsed in the Temple, the “strength of the fearful acts” of God, is to be acknowledged by humanity as a whole (Psalm 145:6).

Third, the kingdom is an insistent force of justice that will ultimately prevail. The kingdom is ever righteous, but attains to a consummation (see Psalm 10:15–16):

• Break the arm of the wicked, and evil;
• search out his wickedness until it cannot be
• found!
• The LORD is king forever and ever;
• the nations perish from his earth!

The punishment of the wicked is the dark side of the establishment of the poor. The vindication of the meek, the fatherless, and the oppressed (in verses 17, 18a) requires a reversal in the fortunes of those who do evil in order to be realized.

Fourth, human entry into the kingdom is contingent. Psalm 24 poses and answers a question which is central to the religion of Israel as reflected in the biblical tradition (Psalm

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