by Agabu Ndhlovu

Created on: October 18, 2008   Last Updated: October 30, 2008

The Bible records Jesus as proclaiming, "Change your hearts and lives because the kingdom of heaven is near" (Matthew 4:17 NCV). It is interesting that during His earthly sojourn, Jesus proclaimed the nearness of the kingdom. It is quite clear from the language He uses that the coming of the kingdom He was proclaiming was expected to occur in the generation of those He was speaking to. In other words He set a time frame as to its coming. The natural question of course we ask in view of this is when did that occur?

Now, Jesus addressed the issues relating to how the kingdom comes with respect to human expectations. He said, "God's kingdom is coming, but not in a way that you will be able to see with your eyes. People will not say, 'look, here it is!' or 'there it is!' because God's kingdom is within you" (Luke 17:20-21). And again He said, "The Father is the only one who has the authority to decide dates and times. These things are not for you to know" (Acts 1:7). It is clear from such statements that Jesus ruled out the coming of God's kingdom in accordance with human fancy.

But the fact that He sets human aspirations aside does not mean that He had nothing to say about when and how God's kingdom would come. This also does not mean that the longings of His people for the joys and pleasures of the kingdom are of no consequence. In fact in the passages we just quoted, Jesus explains the sense in which the Kingdom of heaven comes. In the Acts passage for instance He relates the coming of God's kingdom with the coming of the Holy Spirit. If we are looking for a day the kingdom of God came in power, the day of pentecost is undoubtedly that day (see Acts 2). The coming of the Holy Spirit with dramatic signs such as tongues of fire, speaking in tongues and a noise like blowing wind clearly points to the dawn of a new era in redemptive history. The Holy Spirit on the day of pentecost came as Christ's vicar on earth, which is to say as His representative. As a divine person, He fittingly acts as a representative of God the Father and Jesus the Son. He can be this because He subsists in the divine essence. He is equally God. But as the Spirit of Christ He also comes to help people properly relate to God. Because of the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of God is not a location but a spiritual reality in our midst (thus Jesus words, the kingdom of God is among you). it is not a time but an ever increasing participation in the divine nature that culminates into full redemption at

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