The Establishment Of God’s Kingdom 9-9-24 AM

I. A king has a dream.

a. In Daniel 2, we have a record of King Nebuchadnezzar waking up from a dream that was very startling and real to him.

i. He could not recall the details of the dream.

ii. He called in all his advisors and demanded they tell him the dream and the interpretation (Dan. 2:10).

b. Thankfully, God gave the dream and its interpretation to Daniel (Dan. 2:19), and he came to the king with the information (Dan. 2:28).

c. Daniel told him what the dream was (Dan. 2:31-35) and then told him what the dream meant (Dan. 2:37-43).

d. We know the first kingdom is Babylon because inspiration revealed this to Daniel and he revealed it to the king.

e. The other three are easily identified through history.

i. Babylon fell to the Medo-Persian Empire in 539 BC.

ii. The Medo-Persian Empire was conquered by Greeks, led by Alexander the Great in 330 BC.

iii. The Roman Empire defeated the Greeks in 63 BC and this empire ruled until about 476 AD.

f. Now notice what Daniel said would happen during the days of the 4th great kingdom (Dan. 2:44).

i. God promised to establish His kingdom during the days of the

Roman Empire.

ii. If God is true to His word, we can look between 63 BC and 476 AD for its establishment.

II. The kingdom is at hand.

a. When John began to prepare the way for the Messiah, his message was ...(Matthew 3:1-2).

i. Notice Luke 3:1-3.

ii. Daniel had prophesied that the kingdom would be established during the days of the Roman Empire.

iii. Luke identifies the Roman emperor who was reigning when John preached this message.

b. Jesus preached the same message (Matthew 4:17).

c. Jesus instructed His disciples to preach the same message (Matthew 10:7).

d. They all preached that the kingdom was near.

e. If we truly respect the truthfulness of God’s word, how can anyone believe all of these people, including Jesus were wrong?

i. Premillenialism teaches that Jesus planned to establish His kingdom on earth and reign over it from a literal throne in Jerusalem but the Jews rejected Jesus.

ii. The truth is, a large number of Jews tried to force Jesus to become an earthy king, which He refused (John 6:15).

iii. The reason for His refusal is that His kingdom was never intended to be a worldly kingdom (John 18:36).

III. The kingdom was still not here before the resurrection.

a. Jesus had taught His disciples to pray for the kingdom to come (Matthew 6:10).

b. Before His entrance into Jerusalem it had not come (Luke 19:11).

c. It was in the future the night before the death of Jesus (Luke 22:18).

d. It had not come while Jesus was on the cross (Luke 23:42-43).

e. There were faithful people waiting for the kingdom to come when Jesus died (Mark 15:43).

f. It was still in the future at His ascension (Acts 1:6).

IV. Jesus gave some signs for when the kingdom could be realized.

a. Luke 17:20-21.

i. The kingdom, when it came would not be realized with the naked eye, but it could be realized or discerned.

ii. The kingdom is within you tells us that it is not a physical kingdom and never intended to be such.

iii. Since it was not to be seen with the eye, it had to be of a spiritual nature.

b. Mark 9:1.

i. Jesus plainly stated the kingdom would come during the lifetime of some of those present at that time.

ii. He also stated it would come with power.

iii. Because of that, we need to look to find the establishment of the Lord’s coming prior to the death of those present and when power was demonstrated.

c. There are only three possibilities when considering this verse:

i. Christ was wrong about the promise, thus erring which would make Him not deity.

ii. Jesus was right about the promise but some members of that generation are still alive today.

iii. Jesus was right about the promise and the kingdom came with power before the death of all that generation.

d. Luke 24:47-49.

i. The apostles were to stay in Jerusalem until clothed with power from heaven, at which time they could then preach repentance and remission of sins in Jesus name.

ii. If we can identify when this happened, we can see when the kingdom was established.

e. Acts 1:5-8.

i. Jesus promised the apostles they would receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit soon.

ii. They would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them.

f. If you tie Mark 9:1 to Acts 1:5-8 and Luke 24:47-49 we learn the kingdom was to come when the apostles received power with which the Holy Spirit would clothe them.

V. God was true to His word.

a. He had promised to set up the kingdom after the ascension of Jesus (Daniel 7:13-14).

i. We get a view of the Lord’s ascension (Acts 1:9-11).

ii. We even get a prophetic view of His return to heaven (Psalms 24:7-10).

iii. Daniel 7 plainly tells us Jesus received the kingdom after His ascension into heaven, which is another key.

b. The Holy Spirit gave power to the apostles on Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4; 29-36).

i. 1 Corinthians 4:20 - this verse tells us that the kingdom of God does not rest on words only but also miraculous power.

ii. The kingdom came in close connection with supernatural demonstrations, proving to those who saw them, and we who read of them, that the kingdom is now with men.

c. Those who believed, repented and were baptized were added by the Lord to His church for the first time on Pentecost.

i. Acts 2:41, 47.

ii. Jesus used the word “church” and “kingdom” interchangeably (Matthew 16:18-19).

iii. When Christ built His church, He established His kingdom.

d. Prior to Acts 2, the kingdom was still future; after Acts 2 it is spoken of as being present (Colossians 1:13; Hebrews 12:28; Revelation 1:6, 9).