THE KINGDOM (REIGN or DOMINION) OF

GOD
What does this mean?
By Ven Dr I. U. Ibeme
Website: http://www.scribd.com/ifeogo
http://priscaquila.6te.net

CONTENTS
What Is The Kingdom Of God Or The Kingdom Of Heaven?
Scriptural Theology Of The Kingdom, The Gospel And The Church.
Scholarly Theology Of The Kingdom.
The Apostolic Gospel Of The Kingdom.

WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD OR THE KINGDOM OF

HEAVEN?
The Kingdom of God (i.e. Kingdom of Heaven) is not a locality or territory but a sovereignty
and authority – God’s Sovereign Rule and Royal Government or His Reigning Relationship
from heaven towards humanity and all creation. Concerning the salvation of depraved fallen
humanity, this Royal Relationship ranges from God’s REDEMPTIVE GRACE toward the
degenerate (Revelation for Renewal, Regeneration for Rescue, and Recruitment for Regency)
unto God’s REIGNING GLORY toward the regenerate (Resurrection for Reward and
Retribution). On the whole, God’s Kingdom is the operation of God’s unlimited Reign
(Dominion or Authority or Government) over all in time and eternity, and over life and death.

The KINGDOM of God/Heaven is the DOMINION or REIGN of God from Heaven over His
creation in such a way that the willing and believing obtain God's Redemptive heritage both
in time and in eternity.

The heavenly Kingdom (i.e. Dominion or Reign or Lordship or Government or

Sovereignty) of God is not only a REIGNING Kingdom over all creation from eternity,
but a REDEEMING Lordship for Covenant RELATIONSHIP toward humanity in
temporality and REWARDING Sovereignty toward humanity in eternity.
Psalms 103:19-22 Philippians 2:9-11
(19) The LORD has established HIS THRONE IN (9) As a result God exalted him
HEAVEN; and gave him the name
HIS KINGDOM EXTENDS OVER that is ABOVE EVERY NAME,
EVERYTHING. (10) so that at the name of Jesus
(20) Praise the LORD, you angels of his, EVERY KNEE WILL BOW
you powerful warriors who carry out his — IN HEAVEN AND ON
decrees and obey his orders! EARTH AND UNDER THE EARTH —
(21) Praise the LORD, all you warriors of his, (11) and EVERY TONGUE CONFESS
you servants of his who carry out his desires! THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD
(22) Praise the LORD, ALL THAT HE HAS MADE, TO THE GLORY OF GOD
IN ALL THE REGIONS OF HIS KINGDOM! FATHER.
Praise the LORD, O my soul!

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 1

 Due to much theological controversy and vagueness, there is often confusion between
the Gospel message on Revelation OF the Kingdom and the Gospel message on
Salvation INTO the Kingdom. Recently some dispensationalists have begun to
theorise or imagine a distinction between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of
Heaven which neither Christ nor His Apostles ever made (Mat 13; Mar 4).

The Kingdom of God is His ONE and SUPREME Dominion and Government OVER
all creation for eternity and His Salvation IN all believing humanity. But the Kingdom
of the devil is its evil government revealed as satanic rebellion against God’s good
pleasure and as sinful depravity in all fallen humanity. These must not be confused
with the CHURCH and the STATE which are divinely instituted respectively as
instrument for spiritual/eternal REDEMPTION (Rom 12; 1Tim 3) and instrument
for social/temporal RESTRAINT (Rom 13; 1Tim 2); but on earth, both could be
influenced and revealed by divine, human and demonic agendas.

God’s Heavenly Kingdom (or Divine Government) is about His SOVEREIGN

CONTROL over all and SAVING COVENANT in the faithful – His reign and
redemption, His judgment and justification, His might and mercy, His dominion and
deliverance and His Lordship and love. God’s heavenly Kingdom is not a haphazard
staccato disjointed or truncated matter but the ONE Sovereign Government organized
and ordered systematically by God. All folk and faith communities in all ages and
all nations are either regents or renegades, and agents or antagonists of God’s
Kingdom Reign – so they are all subject to the judgment of God’s government.
God’s Government or Kingdom is revealed in the Scriptures as applicable to humanity
on basis of COVENANT RELATIONSHIP with God, in various forms:
- Kingdom Administration of Divine Agenda – Divine purpose, precepts, policy and
programme;
- Kingdom Authority of Divinely given power, position, princedom and priesthood;
- Kingdom Adoption to admit believers into Divine covenant participation by
purification;
- Kingdom Agency for Divine commission or ambassadorial propagation and
proclamation;
- Kingdom Adoration for prayer and praise; and
- Kingdom Additions for necessary provision, protection and perquisites.

The following aspects of the one Heavenly Kingdom (Government or Dominion or

Reign or Lordship) of God were severally preached, expounded and demonstrated by
the Prophet s, the Christ and His Apostles:
- The power of the Kingdom,
- The nature of the Kingdom,
- The King of the Kingdom,
- The coming of the Kingdom,
- The mission of the Kingdom,
- The operations of the Kingdom,
- The agencies of the Kingdom,
- The judgment of the Kingdom,

- The covenant of the Kingdom,

- The redemption into the Kingdom,
- The entrance into the Kingdom,

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 2

 - The inheritance in the Kingdom.

Preaching of the Kingdom message refers to all the above.

Messianic Salvation into the Kingdom specifically refers especially to the last four,
but those who are saved need the whole picture for proper walk and witness.
The Church of the Christ/Messiah refers to the fellowship of those who through
Christ have been redeemed to reign in the Kingdom according to its Covenant
Institution, and represent the Kingdom as its agents in order to propagate its
Salvation and demonstrate its Manifestations on earth.

Christ came first to fully inaugurate the Kingdom’s messianic redeeming grace by
which we are justified and regenerated through faith in Him, but Christ will come
again to fully consummate the Kingdom’s messianic reigning glory by which we
shall be judged for our works and reign with Christ.

That is why the Gospel message preaches….

Repent and believe Christ’s Gospel, for the Kingdom of God is graciously here for
you to see and enter to be among its coregents now.
Behold Christ (the King of the Kingdom) comes soon gloriously to recompense
everyone according their works!

SCRIPTURAL THEOLOGY OF THE KINGDOM, THE GOSPEL AND

THE CHURCH
Psalms 47:6-9
(6) Sing to God! Sing!
Sing to our king! Sing!
(7) For GOD IS KING OF THE WHOLE EARTH!
Sing a well-written song!
(8) GOD REIGNS OVER THE NATIONS!
GOD SITS ON HIS HOLY THRONE!
(9) The nobles of the nations assemble,
along with the people of the God of Abraham,
for GOD HAS AUTHORITY OVER THE RULERS OF THE EARTH.
He is highly exalted!

Ephesians 1:20-22
(20) This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and
SEATED HIM AT HIS RIGHT HAND IN THE HEAVENLY REALMS
(21) FAR ABOVE EVERY RULE AND AUTHORITY AND POWER AND DOMINION
AND EVERY NAME that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
(22) And God put ALL THINGS UNDER CHRIST'S FEET, and he gave him to the
church as HEAD OVER ALL THINGS.

The biggest conceptual hindrance to understanding the Kingdom is introducing a

distinction between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God – a distinction
which the Gospel records of Christ’s parables and teachings by Mathew, Mark and
Luke never made. The other problem is the idea of allocating territorial location or
timed duration (Israel or Church, OT or NT, Millennium or Eternity) to the Kingdom.
Some even go further to misconstrue the Gospel of salvation as distinct from the

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 3

Gospel of the Kingdom! These balkanizations of God’s revelation are not really called
for by clear Scriptures but by imaginations, theories and speculations.

We learn from the Scriptures that the universal Church is the eternal, spiritual and
invisible fellowship of all justified disciples (living and dead) and even angels, who
are sanctified and united in Christ (1Cor 1:2; Heb 12:22-24; 1John 1:3). Visibly
speaking however, the Church is the fellowship of all those disciples (Jews and
Gentiles) who through Christ have been REDEEMED OR RESCUED FROM
PERISHING, REGENERATED AND RECRUITED INTO CO-HERITAGE AND CO-
REGENCY WITH CHRIST IN GOD’S ETERNAL KINGDOM, who hear, believe,
learn, teach, practice the Truth of God’s Word and proclaim Christ’s saving Gospel
of the Kingdom, who also share together as one Body in the apostolic fellowship and
in the sacraments/ordinances instituted by Christ (John 3:3-6, 16-18; Act 2:37-47;
Eph 2:10-22).

According to the Scriptures, the local Church is not merely a situational agreeably
GATHERED assembly in Christ’s Name (Mat 18:17-20) but a community of Christ’s
disciples institutionally ministered to and administered by apostolically ORDERED
leadership of ordained presbyterial clergy and elected diaconal council (Act 6:1-7;
14:21-23; Php 1:1; Tit 1:5) for cohesive worship, work, walk and witness, being
divinely EMPOWERED continually by the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 15:26-27; Act
1:8). Inasmuch as whatever God created is under and subject to God’s Kingdom – i.e.
His Authority, Dominion or Reign (Psa 47:6-9; 103:19-22; Eph 1:20-22; Php 2:9-11),
the Church is therefore not synonymous with the Kingdom but is the redemption
agency and reconciliation embassy of God’s Kingdom on earth (1Cor 5:17-21; Rev
5:10). As someone once put it, the Church is meant to be the royal family or ruling
caucus of God’s Kingdom! Christians are supposed to be hitherto perishing sinners
but who by Christ’s saving grace and through their faith in Christ have become
rescued and recruited into Christ’s heritage and regency to become God’s reborn
sons-heirs (John 1:9-14; Rom 8:14-17) and anointed royal-priests (2Pet 2:9-10; Rev
1:6). This is a far-reaching mystery! The relationship between the Church, the
Gospel and the Kingdom is easily apparent from the Apostolic Scriptures:
Mar 1:14-15
(14) Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the
kingdom of God,
(15) And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the
gospel.

John 3:3-7, 13-16

(3) Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
(4) Nicodemus said unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb, and be born?
(5) Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and of the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
(6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
(7) Marvel not that I said unto you, You must be born again.
..........
(13) And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of
man who is in heaven.
(14) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
(15) That whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
(16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 4

Act 2:37-42
(37) Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and to the
rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
(38) Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
(39) For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as
the Lord our God shall call.
(40) And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this corrupt
generation.
(41) Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were
added unto them about three thousand souls.
(42) And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking
of bread, and in prayers.

Act 2:44-47
(44) And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
(45) And sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all men, as every man had need.
(46) And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house
to house, did eat their food with gladness and sincerity of heart,
(47) Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church
daily such as were being saved.

A look at the Scriptures plainly shows that:

 God’s heavenly Kingdom has reigning Authority over all people in all the earth for all
generation, and over all creation through all eternity (Psa 47:7-9; 103:19-22; Dan 4:17, 25,
32-35; Eph 1:20-22).
 God had foreshadowed His Kingdom REIGNING glory and REDEEMING grace through
the PATRIARCHS, ISRAEL, PROPHETS and even WORLD POWER EMPIRES, while
awaiting the GRACIOUS and sure promise of Christ’s coming for PERSONAL
manifestation of the Kingdom’s saving power and messianic propitiation (Luk 1:72-79).
The New Testament is NOT about a NEW Kingdom but about the provision of a NEW
REDEMPTIVE ENTRANCE open to all by God’s GRACE through Christ’s blood
whereby any SUBJECT UNDER the Kingdom could become REGENT IN the
Kingdom.
 God has manifested the redemptive ways and regenerating works of His Kingdom through
the CHRIST Who came to Personally set-up or inaugurate the MESSIANIC
REDEEMING GRACE of the Kingdom by His propitiating blood for His CHURCH of all
believers (Act 29:15-18; Rom 5:1-2, 8-12).
 God shall soon manifest the authority and majesty of His Kingdom when Christ returns to
Personally consummate the MESSIANIC REIGNING GLORY of the Kingdom by the
glorious RESURRECTION of His Saints and “Millennial” REIGN with His Saints (Dan
2:44; 1Cor 15:23-28; Rev 20:1-6).
 God shall finally manifest His Kingdom, after this old creation order passes away (Rev
21:1-7), when the Saints shall enter the Kingdom reward of ETERNAL bliss in the
incorruptible New Heaven and Earth. (The devil, demons and the wicked as well as death
and hades shall be recompensed with eternal torment in the eternal fire Rev 14:10-11;
20:10-15).
The Kingdom, the power and the glory belong to our heavenly Father, Whose Name the
redeemed of all generations seek to hallow on earth in accordance with His heavenly will
(1Chr 29:11; Mat 6:9,10,13b).

The KINGDOM of Heaven (or Kingdom of God), whether in its REDEMPTIVE GRACE or
its REIGNING GLORY, is not a territory (like Israel) nor a timed period (like so called

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 5

Church Age) but God’s universal, spiritual and eternal dominion, authority or reign amongst
humanity and entire creation. Both the Church and State are subject to God’s rule, Whose
Kingdom reigns in the affairs of humans and spirits (1Kin 22:19-20; Jer 27:4-8; Dan 2:20-22;
4:17):
– the CHURCH (fellowship in Christ of all believers Heb 12:22-24) LED BY
PASTORAL MINISTERS IS NOT THE SAME AS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is in godly life ruled by God through the Holy Spirit’s
fullness (Rom 14:17-19; Gal 5:22-23);
– the STATE (Kingdoms of the Nations 2Chron 20:6; Rev 11:12) LED BY
POLITICAL OR PRINCELY MAGISTRATES IS NOT THE SAME AS THE
KINGDOM OF THE DEVIL, for the Worldly Kingdom of darkness or the Devil is
in lawless life ruled by the devil through fleshly lust and wickedness (Eph 2:1-3;
Tit 3:1-3; 1John 2:15-16).
God’s Heavenly Kingdom of Light is God’s Reign or Dominion OVER all creation of all ages
from eternity to eternity and God’s Redemption WITHIN all believing humanity. Satan’s
Worldly Kingdom of darkness is the devil’s Rebellion AGAINST God’s purposes and his
Depravity WITHIN all fallen humanity.

The Kingdom of God has authority over all to always REIGN AND JUDGE OVER ALL
CREATION (Psa 96:10-13; Psa 103:19-22) from Heaven; such that some ( believers/Angels)
are SAVED-SONS or REGENT-HEIRS and ministers, others (kingdoms/nation-states) are
ruled as SUBDUED SERVANTS and still others (enemies/demons) are ruled as
SUBJUGATED FOOTSTOOL (1Cor 15:23-28). The CHURCH is not the same as the
Kingdom of God. The Church and the Gospel of Christ’s Cross and Grace are earthly saving
instruments of God’s Heavenly Kingdom for spiritual REDEMPTION of whosoever
believes into the eternal life of God’s Kingdom. It is important to point out here that the State
and civil government are also earthly subduing instruments of God’s Kingdom for temporal
RESTRAINT of the lawless. Godly restraint through civil state governance is means of
lighting and salting the society under the Kingdom but has no power to redeem into God’s
Kingdom. The Church is God’s ordained agency to reveal and propagate the Kingdom of
Heaven FOR the redemption of the world, while the State is God’s ordained agency to
restrain and subjugate the kingdom of this world TILL the redemption of the world.
Eventual retribution of all temporal and spiritual evil and reward of all temporal and spiritual
good shall be in earnest during the millennium of God’s Heavenly Kingdom (Dan 7:13-14;
26-27; Rev 20:1-6) and ultimately during the eternity of God’s Heavenly Kingdom.

To preach the Salvation Gospel of the Kingdom is to preach that there is

REMISSION of sins in the Name of Jesus and REGENERATION by the
powerful operation of the Holy Spirit unto Eternal Life of reigning in
and inheriting the Kingdom, for everyone who repents and believes in
the Jesus of Nazareth as the anointed Christ and Lord of the Kingdom.
The Church is the fellowship assembly of all those sanctified in Christ,
who have penitently believed in and been baptized (1Cor 12:13) into
Christ. (The universal Church comprises the triumphant Church
spiritually assembled in Paradise together with all the militant local
churches that physically assemble on earth)
The ministry of the Church as the Kingdom Agency in the world is to
serve together as ambassadors of Christ’s Kingdom, to reconcile the
world to Christ through their Gospel witness, and to eventually reign
with Christ in the glory.

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 6

The Kingdom of God is God’s gracious redemptive and regenerating rule in the
lives of those submissive to His eternal purpose and pleasure, (and God’s
prevailing judicial restraint and retribution against evil) as it is settled in heaven
and revealed in the Scriptures of God’s Word, especially through Christ (Psa 119:89,
160; Heb 1:1-3). The full grace of God’s Kingdom (which saves to the
uttermost and teaches the saving Truth Tit 2:11-15; 3:3-8) was finally
inaugurated by Christ at His first coming yet the full glory of the
Kingdom (which resurrects/rewards the saints, and damns/destroys
every evil) shall be finally consummated by Christ at His second
coming. Since God is our Father, Who is in heaven, the Kingdom of God which
is the operation of His Lordship and dominion in all creation according
to His will and purpose is therefore exactly the same as the Kingdom of
heaven (Psa 103:19-22; Mat 13:11; Mar 4:1; Luk 10:21-24). Christ came and
corrected the Jewish error of nationalistic, materialistic, temporal and geopolitical
concepts about the Kingdom of God. Christ taught that the Kingdom is spiritual, non-
nationalistic or territorial (Luk 13:28-29), increasingly unfolding (Mat 13:31-33; Mar
4:2632; Luk 13:18-21), not far-fetched but near at hand (Luk 10:9-11), and ever
present (Mat 25:34).

KINGDOM should NOT be understood as geographically delineable place or a

demarcated temporal LOCATION (Domain, Territory, Land, Empire, Realm, and
Region) as with the kingdoms (nations and empires) of this world (Dan 2:44; Luk
17:20-21). KINGDOM is to be understood not only as the saints’ unlimited portion
in God but also as God’s eternal spiritual OPERATION (Dominion or Domination,
Lordship, Government or Governance, Reign, Rule, Regime, Authority and
Sovereignty according to His Will) whereby God works (redeeming and restraining)
to bring humanity to conform to His sovereign will and divine nature (1Chr 29:11-12;
Psa 145:12-13; Isa 9:6-7; Dan 4:3; Dan 6:26; Mat 6:9-10; Rev 11:15).

The powerful operations (by the Word and the Spirit) of this “sovereign rule” (i.e.
Kingdom) of God bring both redemptive conviction by grace (conversion) and
retributive conviction in glory (vindication or condemnation).
 The Kingdom or Authority or Dominion or Reign of God/Heaven is
Redemptive because through Christ’s redemptive covenant by grace, it
transforms and conforms the believing to have portion in Christ and so reign
with Him in eternal dominion.
 The Kingdom of God/Heaven is also Rewarding because through Christ’s
triumphal conquest by glory, it comforts and refreshes the believing in
Christ and shall vindicate and coronate the persevering in glory to reign with
Him in eternal felicity.
 The Kingdom of God is Restraining because through civil authority and
personal conscience God brings His justice to constrain the harmful and
crooked for the sake of the good and the orderly.
 The Kingdom is also Retributive in that it condemns and confines the
unbelieving to have portion with the devil and so perish with him in eternal
damnation.

In today’s parlance or grammatical usage, the equivalent of the Kingdom (Dominion or

Reign or Lordship or Authority) of God would be something like the Presidency of
God rather than the Nation-State of God; or the Episcopacy of God rather than the

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 7

Diocese of God. This Divine Regime or Presidency of God or of Heaven which
operates both by gracious mercy (because of God’s love) and by righteous
justice (because of God’s holiness) is unlimited, eternal, spiritual, and sovereign
over all.

When Christ came humbly in the body in grace and began His earthly ministry, the
inward REDEMPTIVE and REGENERATIVE earnest of the Kingdom life became
accessible as a real present mediatory experience for whosoever believes in
Christ. When Christ comes again triumphantly in judgment and in glory, the full
outward-inward REIGNING and RECOMPENSING manifestation of the Kingdom
shall be the sure future vindicatory experience for whosoever perseveres in
Christ unto the end (Eph 1:7-14).

CHRIST CAME TO RECRUIT AND TRANSLATE US INTO THE PRESENT

REFRESHING AND GRACIOUS FORETASTE OF HIS KINGDOM
MEANWHILE, AND SPIRITUALLY SEAL AND EQUIP US FOR THE
FUTURE REWARDING AND GLORIOUS FULLNESS OF HIS KINGDOM
FINALLY. CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN TO GET US ENTHRONED IN HIS
KINGDOM FULLY, SO WE INHERIT AND REIGN WITH HIM IN OUR
GLORIOUS BODIES. For now, Christ REIGNS IN justifying GRACE to
regenerate us and grant us the redemptive seal and authority as heirs of eternal
inheritance. When He comes again, He WILL REIGN IN judging GLORY to
resurrect us and reward us with the seat and occupancy as royal possessors of
eternal inheritance.

IN OVERVIEW: The whole creation has always been subject to God’s

Heavenly Kingdom (Psa 47:7-9; 103:19-22). Before Christ cane, the
Kingdom had been gradually revealed through creation, the Patriarchs,
the Law of the Promised Land, the Prophets and triumphs and travails
of Israel. Since Christ came (Heb 1:1-3) God’s Heavenly Kingdom
operates through Christ’s redeeming grace and the reigning glory in
Him (Dan 4:17, 25, 32-35; Eph 1:20-22; Php 2:9-11).

The Kingdom FULL COVENANT AND REDEMPTIVE GRACE for heavenly

heritage has been inaugurated through the Person of Christ and Christ's
Gospel of full redeeming and refreshing grace with earnest guarantee
into the Kingdom regency and heritage for anyone who believes in Him.

But the Kingdom FULL HERITAGE AND REIGNING GLORY shall yet be
consummated through Christ's Promise of full rewarding and
retributive glory (Mat 25) at Christ second coming. Then Christ will
destroy the Antichrist, raise His redeemed Saints to reign with them
over the wicked in all the earth, and FINALLY judge the living, the dead,
the demons, death and hades for eternal reward and retribution.

THE CHURCH of Christ, though infiltrated with a mixed multitude of

false brethren for now (Acts 15:24; 20:30; Gal 2:4; 2Pet 2:1-2; Jude 3-4),
is the Communion of those Israelites and Gentiles who through faith in
Christ have been rescued and recruited as God’s regents and Saints on
earth. The true redeemed remnant are the Spirit-led Saints of Christ’s
Church (both militant on earth and triumphant in paradise, universal in

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 8

unity and local in gathering) are registered viceroy inheritors and
citizens of the Kingdom, as well as members of the Kingdom’s General
Assembly (Mat 25:34; Rom 8:13-17; Heb 12:22-24).

The Saints who have graciously obtained remission of their sins in

Christ because they are Believers in Christ are said to have been
translated into the Kingdom of God as authorised co-heirs/co-regents
and registered citizens (Col 1:12-14) and have been given the Eternal Life
of the Kingdom (John 5:25; 1John 5:11-12). The earnest seal with the
Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13-14) is the gracious guarantee by which God has
anointed us for Kingdom regency and claimed us for Kingdom heritage
and by which we also claim our Kingdom heritage.

CHRIST came with the Gospel of the Kingdom, which if received by faith
grants us citizenship/sonship rights (i.e. redemptive regeneration or
adoption or salvation) in the Kingdom; but when CHRIST comes again,
it will be with the Glory of the Kingdom into which all the Saints who
believed the Gospel shall be received to be given their eternal reigning
thrones and worship robes. The Saints in their temporal lifetime on
earth are to live, labour and serve as witness-agents (ambassadors) of
the Kingdom to the rebellious world (Mat 24:14; Acts 1:8).

THE GOSPEL MESSAGE summons all to seek, submit to and spread (NOT
ignore, resist or restrict) Christ’s gracious Rule and justifying Redemption in
their lives now in order to be justified but not judged in the face of the final glorious
Rewarding and Retributing judgement of this holy God (Act 17:24-31). Acceptance
of God’s Rule of mercy/love and justice/holiness must include commitment to
agency of God’s redemptive mission and collaboration with other fellow agents
(the Church or the Saints) in union with Christ – the Pioneer (Initiator) and
Perfecter (Consummator) of our Faith. These Saints graciously redeemed into the
Kingdom persevere because of their confidence and consolation in expectancy of
their glorious inheritance in God’s Kingdom, which shall be made manifest when
they are resurrected in glory at Christ’s coming. The Gospel is therefore the Message
of the Kingdom.

The Kingdom of God is not OF this world, but OVER and WITHIN the
world. It goes beyond material life to involve heavenly and eternal life (Joh 18:36;
Rom 14:17). It is not merely for temporal, physical liberation of Israel from suffering
and servitude, but essentially for eternal spiritual salvation of all humankind from the
darkness of ignorance, guiltiness of sin and stranglehold of the devil (Luk 1:70-79;
2Cor 10:4-5; Col 1:12-14).

The abundant life of the Kingdom is not possession of material abundance of

things and mammon (Luk 12:15) but possession of virtuous spiritual abundance of
divine grace, godliness, good-works and glory (Eph 1:3-8; Eph 3:16-21; 1Tim 1:14;
1Tim 6:6-11; Heb 7:25; 2Pet 1:11).

Citizenship of God’s Kingdom is for all those persons, old or young, great or
small (past, present and future) of all generations and all nations (Israel and
Gentile) who believe in God in accordance with the Word of His gracious
covenant in His Christ to redeem them as co-heirs and co-regents in the Kingdom

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 9

(Luk 10:24; Joh 1:12; Gal 3:7-9; Heb 11:13, 39; 1Pet 1:10-12). All who are not
covenanted and redeemed in Grace, shall be conquered, condemned and
destroyed in Glory.

Until John the Baptist, the Law and the Prophets (i.e. the Scriptures) predicted and
ANTICIPATED the coming of saving and covenant access into God’s heavenly
Kingdom through His Christ to overrule all earthly kingdoms (Israelite and Gentile).
When Christ came in grace, He made propitiation for the sin of the world before God.
Since then, the preaching of the Gospel presents Jesus to all as the redeeming
Christ-King of God’s heavenly Kingdom, as well as persuades and invites all into
the refreshing EXPERIENCE of the Kingdom citizenship and regency through
Christ (Mat 10:11-13; Luk 16:16). In addition, the Gospel proclaims the
EXPECTATION of resurrection and requital when Christ return in glory to reign
and judge the world (Act 3:19-21; Act 17:30-31).

Through the Cross, Christ fulfilled prophecy and God’s Law (Mat 5:17),
atoned fully for man’s sin (Heb 10:3-10) and enacted the New Covenant
for the regeneration and admission of all believers into sonship (for
royalty and heritage) in the heavenly Kingdom of God (Mat 26:28; Heb
8:6-13; 9:11-28). He did not come to originate the long established Kingdom but to
enact (as Author and Authenticator) His Kingdom’s long prophesied New Covenant
in His own blood (Luk 22:16-20; Heb 9:11-20; Heb 12:2, 22-24) and through the New
Covenant inaugurate the FORETASTE access for all humanity INTO
VICEROYALTY in the eternal Kingdom of God as co-regents with the Messiah or
Christ (Son-of-Man cum Son-of-God Psa 2:7; Dan 7:13-14; Mat 16:16; Mar 14:61-65;
Luk 3:22). Christ’s once-for-all messianic accomplishment (Rom 6:10; Heb 7:27;
9:12, 26; 10:10), opened the gate of heaven for all His believers (past, present and
future). By faith in Christ we gain access as sons-heirs into the spiritual riches of the
Kingdom of heaven and enter the earnest experience of these riches in this present
world, while we are guaranteed assurance of the FULLNESS heritage in the next
age (Eph 1:13-14). God has specially ascertained and validated Jesus to all people as
the Judge of all through His exaltation (resurrection and ascension Act 17:31; Rom
1:2-6). Christ in turn called and commissioned the Apostles as His heralds to bear
witness for Him that He is the Christ-King of the Kingdom and to proclaim the
Gospel to the entire world, inviting all to accept the redemptive offer through the
New Covenant in Christ’s blood which brings all believers into sin-remission and son-
regency in the Kingdom (Luk 24:44-49).

The myopia of specialist scholarship and vanity of intellectual pride have led
theologians to argue for certain preferred natures of the Kingdom at the exclusion of
other biblically true natures of the Kingdom. However, according to the Scriptures,
the Kingdom of God is not only eschatological but also existential, not only
prophetic (fulfills God’s Word in history) but also apocalyptic (guarantees direct
divine intervention in the end), not only propagative (missionary among all
nations) but also progressive (growing and unfolding through all the ages). This
myopia infects anyone who begins his/her study of the Kingdom from
theological literature rather than from the inspired Scriptures. A true
understanding of the Kingdom is that which agrees with all of Christ’s teachings and
parables of the Kingdom recorded by the Apostles, not the one that fits into one
theory or another postulated by theologians.

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 10

What matters for us now is not to locate the Kingdom’s geopolitical delineation like
the Jews had done or calculate the times and seasons of its coming like the Gentiles
have been doing (Act 1:6-7). Rather, we are to receive and believe in the Christ-
King (Messiah) of the Kingdom in order to gain the CITIZENSHIP OR
HERITAGE RIGHTS to this Kingdom (John 1:12-13). Meanwhile we AWAIT ITS
FULL CONSUMMATION AND DOMINATION (amongst humanity and all
things) when the Christ-King comes again in glory to demolish the evil kingdoms of
this world (1Cor 15:20-25; 2Thes 2:1-10) and reign with all His believing Saints (Mat
25:32-34).
<<Back To Top>>

SCHOLARLY THEOLOGY OF THE KINGDOM

Mundane wisdom of sceptical or preferential theology anchored of speculative
gnosticism and mechanist rationalism as well as politically motivated eschatology
have led to conflicting views and confusing conceptions of Christ’s heavenly divine
Kingdom. Many of these views are hard to be maintained with the Scriptures as a
whole, when one accepts God’s Word wholeheartedly. Such sceptical, lopsided, off-
sided or even revisionist speculations either misread contradictions between the
Apostles and Christ, between the New Testament and the Old Testament, between
prophecy and apocalypses, between the law and the prophets. Such confused and
biblically untenable theology misread the Kingdom of Heaven as distinct from the
Kingdom of God, the coming of the Kingdom (in the Gospels) as divergent from
the conversion into the Kingdom (in the Epistles), and the inheritance of the
Saints as different from the Kingdom of God, etc. This is appalling.

Below are the various positions which theologians have taken in the past as they
attempted to explain what they understood or misunderstood the Kingdom of God to
mean. THESE HOWEVER, ONLY TURN OUT TO BE MERE BITS AND
ASPECTS OF THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT THE ONE AND THE SAME
KINGDOM:

1. The Kingdom (i.e. its REDEMPTIVE GRACE) was realized since the
ministry of Christ (e.g. according to Professor Charles. H. Dodd). Dodd found this in
the words of Jesus such as the initial summons of Jesus. “The time is fulfilled, and
the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
“The kingdom of God is within you” or “in the midst of you” (Luke 17:21)
which show the time-setting to be clearly in the present. “But if it is by the Spirit of
God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you”
(Matt. 12:28). “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the
kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20). In the charge of Jesus to the
seventy, he sent them out on their mission to heal the sick and say to them, “The
kingdom of God has come near to you’’ (Luke 10:9). A sharp break between the
past and the present order in relation to the Kingdom is suggested in Luke 16:16,
“The law and the prophets were until John; since then the good news of the
kingdom of God is preached, and every one enters it violently”. The word
violently or forcefully suggests that though the kingdom is available, entrance into its
heritage is not easy.

2. The Kingdom is existential (e.g. according to Rudolf Bultmann) and

socially teleological (according to e.g. Walter Rauschenbusch and L. Harold
DeWolf). Despite his doubts about the authenticity and clarity of the Gospel records

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 11

which Bultmann believed should be revised through periscoping and
demythologizing methods of form criticism, Bultmann still agreed that the Kingdom
gospel preached by Christ clearly had imminence and urgency which called for
decision that affects human existence in the present while anticipating the real
coming of the Kingdom. This gospel call precipitates a crisis of personal decision to
accept God’s reign now in our lives as of utmost importance. For Rauschenbusch who
does not agree with eschatology, the Kingdom gospel is the move of God in human
history which calls for relentless teleological social change through social service and
social action to progressively increase love and justice throughout all humanity.

3. The Kingdom is prophetic and eschatological in the sense that the

coming of the Kingdom is in accordance with the prophetic Scriptures: although the
Kingdom had come in earnest when the incarnate Christ first came humbly in grace
and truth to die in love, it will yet come in full in the end when the exalted Christ
comes again in power and glory to judge in righteousness.

4. The Kingdom is teleological: Liberal theologians, since the ‘higher’

form criticism of the nineteenth century especially in Germany (e.g.
Schleiermacher), and social gospel movement of the twentieth century especially in
America (both of which take pride in doubting much of the inspired Scripture and
believing their so called critical ‘scholarship’ of speculative, mechanistic, and
conflicting conjectures), have mistrusted the received and inspired Scripture,
prophetic revelation and apocalyptic divine intervention. These liberals erroneously
think of the Kingdom merely as teleological socio-ethical advancement in
human society with no final eschatological divine intervention or messianic glorious
coming! To these liberals, personal effort of social action in spreading love and justice
is the Kingdom! This quasi-Christian hope has given way to the syncretistic secular
evolutionary optimism and social reform toward a man-centred New World Order
and even today’s New Age Movement.

5. The Kingdom (i.e. its REIGNING GLORY) is apocalyptic (e.g.

according to Johannes Weiss and Albrecht Schweitzer). These thought of the
Kingdom as an imminent abrupt incursion by God into the human scene that will
finally cast Satan down. The exorcisms by Christ and by His authority were a
foreboding of this final defeat. Jesus was not, as the earlier liberals had taught,
another moral teacher urging men to build God a house for His Name or Kingdom or
participate with God in prosecuting His Kingdom through their loyal and moral
labours. God’s Kingdom could only come (i.e. God’s Will could only be done)
INDIVIDUALLY IN OUR SOULS and INSTITUTIONALLY IN OUR SOCIETIES by
divine intervention in His own time and season, not by human effort. Weiss and
Schweitzer, though highly critical of the Gospels being the exact words of Jesus
textually and historically, were still convinced that the thrust of Christ’s teaching is
clearly evident. To these the moral teachings of Jesus were interim ethic but the
Kingdom is futuristic. They laid the foundation for the ludicrous present day
dispensationalist theory that the Church Age is an emergency “interim” introduced by
Christ as an “after thought”, because of His “frustration” by the Jewish rejection and
“failure” to immediately establish the Kingdom as He had expected!

And I will even add more to the list of views as follows:

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 12

6. The Kingdom (i.e. its REVELATION against ignorance and
disobedience) is advancing from creation to eschaton in two senses:

(i) The Kingdom is propagative by its invasion among fallen humanity (lost in
sin and bound by the devil) with the redemptive power and saving grace of God
through the Gospel of Christ.

(ii) The Kingdom is progressive and advancing in unfolding the purpose of God
and the mystery of Christ to the saints through prophetic revelation and historical
fulfilment in human history.

7. The Composite View of the Kingdom: (e.g. according to Professor

Georgia Harkness) This view holds that although among scholarly theologians,
proponents of each of the above views would disagree with the others, the truth lies in
a composite view comprising of all the biblical aspects of all the views of the Kingdom
while ignoring speculations. This is the view that could be said to be more
wholesomely biblical.

The meaning of the Kingdom of God has fascinated theologians over the centuries.
Unfortunately, many of these theologians, to substantiate their
‘scholarship’, arrogantly doubt scriptural inspiration and criticise much
of the Apostolic Scriptures, believing that the Apostles misinterpreted
Christ’s message; they also doubt the authenticity of the Law and the
Prophetic Scriptures, believing them to have been adulterated. The Apostle
Paul, who was himself a Scholar of repute, made nonsense of such intellectual
arrogance (1Cor 1:18-31) and cautioned us against dangers of this rejection of the
truth and believing of the lie (Rom 1:18-28; Gal 1: 6-9; 2Thes 2:1-3, 9-12). Professor
Georgia Harkness traced some of these theological fascinations in her book titled
Understanding the Kingdom of God published by Abingdon Press, New York &
Nashville in 1974. (Available at: http://www.religion-online.org/). Harkness (as
typical of theologians who in order to pride themselves as being independently
minded and scholarly critical, trust their conjectures more than the Apostles’ inspired
witness), doubts apocalyptic eschatology found in the New Testament Scriptures as
partly misconceived and too harrowing to belong to the ‘loving’ Christ and ‘just’ God:

“Both the prophetic and the apocalyptic notes were mingled in Jesus’ messages of the kingdom, not as a
simple carry-over from the past, but with a God-centered and love-and-justice-centered note which his
own unique sense of relationship to God put into them. If we look at the composite whole of Jesus’
message and ministry as those who loved him told and retold it until it came to be written in the form
we have, the prophetic [by ‘prophetic’ she means moral reformative preaching for social service and
social action but not declaration of the future] element predominates over the apocalyptic; yet it does
not eliminate it. The more fantastic embellishments and harrowing threats connected with the last days
can be attributed to imperfect reporting, not so much on the basis of textual criticism in which
consensus is still lacking, but because they do not sound like Jesus. I do not go so far as to say with
Frederick Grant that no sane man could have said them, but I believe Jesus lived too close to God and
knew too well the love of the Father for all his human children to have said them. Yet we do not
need to reject all the apocalyptic passages, or deny that Jesus expected a speedy end of the world which
did not occur.”

Despite her misgivings, Harkness’s understanding is that the truth lies in a composite
view that combines all the ramifications and differing views of the Kingdom of God
proposed by earlier scholars is stated thus:

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 13

 “In stating the composite view that this author regards as the most tenable, I will begin with convictions
rooted in these general agreements. From that point it will be necessary to deal with the more disputed
matters, and I shall then attempt to state where I stand on them and the reasons why.

First, the kingdom means the sovereign, righteous rule of God. It is a rule in which power and
goodness, judgment and mercy are combined. Though the term arose when the nations were
monarchies, and it had a more realistic symbolism then than now, it connotes power exercised, not in
arbitrary dictatorial authority, but in loving concern. Jesus’ understanding of God was of one whose
power is supreme over all he has created, but whose love for every person is that of a father.

Second, this sovereign rule of God must be accepted by us in faithful, grateful obedience. There is no
real kingdom without subjects. The kingdom is not destroyed by men’s disobedience, for God still rules
in judgment. Yet the summons to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness certainly entails human
obedience. Without it, apathy breeds anarchy as the will of God is flouted.

Third, the goal of the kingdom is directed toward a redeemed society of persons. A redeemed society
in this sense is not identical with a reconstructed social order, though this may well be one of the
demands of seeking God’s kingdom and his righteousness in obedience to the love commandments. A
redeemed society is one in which salvation is sought and found, not as one individual alone, but in an
over-expanding community of individuals. This is basic to the relation of the kingdom to the church,
but the goal extends far beyond the boundaries of the visible church.

Fourth, the kingdom meets opposition at every point, and this opposition is latent even in our most
meritorious actions. In short, no consideration of the kingdom should minimize the power of evil. The
opposition may be thought of as coming from the devil, or from the demonic powers of history, or from
mankind’s ever-present sin, ignorance, apathy, and error. The "principalities and powers" confront
God’s power. God is never conquered by these forces, but what we believe to be his purposes are
delayed or frustrated by them.

Fifth, the kingdom as God’s rule is present but points forward. "Thy kingdom come." Though we
may detect the evidences of its presence now, its consummation lies in the future. Whether this future is
conceived as eternal life for the individual, or a new heaven and a new earth for mankind, or as the
conquest of evil in or beyond human history, the trajectory is toward the future, the eschaton. A view of
the kingdom of God need not be apocalyptic, but it is always in some sense eschatological.

To sum up, the kingdom of God is our ultimate challenge and our ultimate hope. Thus, it is not
surprising that Jesus found in it his central message. It remains for us to discover, to declare, and to live
by all that is good and true in what the term implies.”

In summary she concluded thus:

“In most situations where the term the kingdom of God is under consideration, it is used in a number of
different senses. These are related but not identical, and the amalgamation is usually made without
consciousness of the difference. Such a distinction may or may not be needed, depending on the
context. But before going further we had better attempt it. The five points listed earlier in the chapter
may now be stated as three.

In the first sense, the kingdom of God means the eternal, ultimate sovereignty of God. In this sense
kingship would be a more accurate term. This presupposes that God is not only the creator but the ruler
of all he has made, and he remains so in spite of any thwarting of his will. As one of our familiar hymns
puts it:

This is my Father’s world,

O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 14

 When we conclude the Lord’s Prayer with the words, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the
glory," we affirm this divine kingship and our trust in God’s ultimate authority and sovereignty.

A second meaning of the term is the rule of God among men insofar as this sovereignty is accepted
and God’s will is done. Although God is eternally king of the universe, including that very important
part of it which is humanity, he has given us the freedom to reject this authority and follow our own
disobedient desires. The kingdom is present wherever God’s will is accepted and obeyed, and we may
enter the kingdom wherever we are by giving him our loyalty. Since this is far from universal, we pray,
"Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth."

A third meaning of the kingdom is the complete and final establishment of God’s rule in the age to
come, a final consummation in which God’s will is fully done. This could come about by a long process
of change, a gradual movement toward a fuller personal loyalty and a more Christian society on earth.
The more common biblical understanding of it, however, is of a day of the Lord and a final judgment
whereby only the righteous will receive a place in God’s eternal kingdom, though there are hints also of
an ultimate cosmic redemption through Christ.

To sum up the relation of each of these concepts to human history, the first places the kingdom of God
above history; the second within it; the third at the end, or beyond the end, of history. In regard to our
own relation to it, there are corresponding differences. In the first sense, we are called to acknowledge
the ultimate sovereignty of God. The kingdom, then, is God’s gift to be gratefully accepted; it is the
ground of our Christian faith and life. In the second sense, the kingdom is a present fact and we
participate in it as we give our allegiance to God and seek to do his will on earth. It is our task; we pray
for it, and we work for it. In the third sense, we wait in hope for its coming, whether by gradual change
or by an abrupt termination of earthly history. When it comes, it will signal God’s victory over human
sin -- a victory over all the evil that besets the human spirit, and in the assurance of this victory we find
hope.

I believe that Jesus thought of the meaning of the kingdom in all these senses, though with no sharp
differentiation among them. The biblical records lend support to all these meanings.”

The truth is that the Kingdom of God is fundamentally ETERNAL from

eternity to eternity. For now the Kingdom of God is available or
accessible Christ’s New Covenant and agency of the Church as present
spiritual EARNEST in Christ’s GRACE with redemptive power. Yet the
Kingdom of God is a future eternal ESCHATOLOGY and shall be fully
manifest in Christ’s GLORY with retributive power.
<<Back To Top>>

THE APOSTOLIC GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM

Contrary to the balkanizing trend among theologians today, the Apostle
did not make any difference between the Gospel (euaggel) of the Kingdom
and the Gospel of God or Gospel of Jesus Christ or Gospel of our
salvation (Mat 4:23; Eph 1:13; 3:6; 1Thes 2:14). This Gospel is also same
as the Proclamation/Message (kerygma) of the Cross of Christ, or
Message of the Truth or Message of reconciliation (Act 10:36; 14:3; 15:7;
20:32; 1Cor 1:18; 2Cor 2:12; 5:19; Col 1:2; 4:3; 1Tim 2:15). The whole
Scripture is a complete harmony not a cacophony. The danger in
revisionism and disharmonic hermeneutics, however scholarly or
spiritual they may purport or appear, are errors of deceptive
dissipations and destructive offences which believers must endeavour to
avoid for their own good. Jesus was not bluffing when He warned that
the offence of error and deception must come but woe to the person
through whom such offence comes (Mat 18:6-7). The Apostles also

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warned that the spirit of error is rife and on the rise among humanity
including the Church and should be discerned because it is of the
Antichrist (Act 20:29-32; 2Thes 2:3-12; 1Joh 2:18-26).

Certainly the contradictions we may perceive in God’s Word could not be with the
inspired writers of the Scriptures but in the heads and hearts of those who, because of
their lopsidedness and deficiency in spiritual insight, hold such quasi-biblical views.
Thanks to God that neither we nor these non-apostolic and non-evangelical persons
did author the Scriptures! In fact, the Apostles clearly stated that there were
no contradictions but complementarities amongst their testimonies,
writings and teachings (Gal 1:6-10; 2Thes 2:1-3; 2Pet 3:15-18). When their
number could not catch up with the spread of the Gospel and the Church
nor could they be present all through the Church age to always put the
Churches right with the Truth and answer their questions, the Apostles
were compelled to supplement their limited presence with relevant
authentic writings (the Gospels, Epistles, Acts and Revelation Luk 1:1-4;
John 20:29-31; Rom 15:15-16; 2Cor 13:2; Heb 13:22; 1Pet 5:12; 2Pet 1:12-
15; Jud 3-5; Rev 1:11, 19). Ours is to either believe the testimony of Christ, His
Apostles and the Prophets if we want to obtain the Salvation into the Kingdom which
they preached, or disbelieve and thereby forfeit that Salvation which they preached
and taught in the whole of the Bible!!

To the Apostles, the Gospel is about the Christ of the Kingdom, the coming of the
Kingdom and our access into the Kingdom heritage. Jesus announced that the
Kingdom had come within human reach (Mar 1:15) illustrating it with miracles
and parables NOT with much Scriptures openly but assured and explained to His
disciples that He, in Himself, fulfilled the scriptural requirement for covenant
access into the regency and heritage of the Kingdom for all believers (Mar 13:10-11;
John 16:25-31). After His resurrection, THE CHURCH OF CHRIST (i.e. HIS
DISCIPLES) was plainly enlightened on the Person and Ministry of the Christ
from Scriptures NOT ANYMORE with parables (Luk 24:27, 44-46; John 16:25, 29).
After His ascension, they were also empowered with the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit and sent into the world to be THE AUTHENTIC MISSIONARY
WITNESS AGENCY OF THE KINGDOM (Luk 24:25-27, 32, 44-49). The
Church’s ecumenical mission is to testify to all nations that Jesus is the Christ-
Lord of the Kingdom of God and preach to all nations that the remission of sins in
Christ’s name and regeneration by the Holy Spirit is the guaranteed redemptive
Way of entrance into the Kingdom heritage (Act 2:36-41; 4:10-12; 13:37-39).

The gospel message announces the fulfilment of all necessary requirements for the
redemption of all nations by Christ and summons people of all nations to repent of
their sinful ways and turn around to enter into the regency and heritage of the
Kingdom by faith in Christ (Luk 24:44-49). According to Acts 13, when one
believes the Gospel Message that there is forgiveness of sins through Christ, one is
justified from all sin and guilt through Christ’s blood and given the seal of
spiritual refreshing or eternal life (i.e. the Kingdom life) through the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit (Act 2:36-39; Act 3:18-21; Act 13:37-39). Not all will find it easy
to believe this offer of saving grace into co-heritage with Christ in the
Kingdom (Acts 12:40; Mat 11:12; Luk 13:24; Luk 16:16) but many will
surely receive it (Joh 1:12; 3:16). This GRACE of regeneration, remission and

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 16

justification that brings eternal (Kingdom) life for the believer in Christ is also
called redemption or salvation in Christ (Act 13:46-48; Luk 1:76-79).

Looking at the Scripture on the whole, three things of basic importance could be
easily recognized about the Kingdom (Divine Reign, Lordship or Dominion). These
could be compressed or summarised as follows:
1. The Kingdom had been ESTABLISHED by God forever in heaven and has ever
been ruled in accordance with God’s settled Word, perfect acceptable will and
good pleasure Psa 119:89, 152, 160; Mat 25:34. Our controversies, confusion
and contentions neither add nothing to nor remove anything from these.

2. The Kingdom has been UNFOLDING the divine redemptive mission to the
world: redeeming (coming into) human SOULS and invading (coming
amongst) human SOCIETY since the foundation of the world Mat 6:10; Joh
17:24; Col 1:21-29; 1Pet 1:20. Before Christ, the Kingdom was mainly by
unfolding or revealing, but since Christ came it has been mainly invading and
redeeming. For now this unfolding invasion or coming is by covenant and
conversion through His REDEEMING GRACE during these Messianic Last
Days, but at the end it shall be by conquest and consummation through His
REIGNING GLORY in the Day of the Lord when the saints shall be
resurrected to reign with Christ on earth and subsequently in eternity (1Cor
15:20-28; 2Thes 2:1-10).

3. At Christ’s glorious coming, the Kingdom REIGNING GLORY shall eventually

be CONSUMMATED fully on the earth (Rev 2:25-29; 5:10; 20:6) to vindicate
the saints and subjugate the wicked (Dan 2:44; 7:14, 22, 27; Rev 11:15-18; 20:1-
6). Thereafter shall come the conflagration of this old temporal perishable
universe which will then be replaced with the new spiritual eternal universe
2Pet 3:10-13; Rev 20:11-21:8.

The KINGDOM (God’s reign over all creation) began to be unfolded when it was first
revealed in Adam till Noah as God’s image and viceroy exercising dominion on
earth for God (Gen 1:26-31). This was soon concealed or neglected till Abraham when
it was again revealed as present blessing (Gen 12:3; 28:14) in anticipation for the
coming messianic “Sceptre” (Gen 49:10). From Moses it was foreshadowed through
the nation of Israel in ethnic and local form. When Christ was born, the Kingdom
was messianically demonstrated and availed through the Christ and His Church as
redemptive, universal and eternal: firstly manifesting as spiritual grace but finally to
be manifested as eternal glory by Christ at the resurrection.

Between Israel and the Church, Daniel first hinted the universality and spirituality of
the Kingdom under God’s sovereignty to be given to the saints under the
messianic Son of Man, i.e. Christ (Dan 2:44; 7:13, 14, 27). Some Jews waited for the
coming of this Christ-King of God’s Kingdom (Luk 2:25, 32; 23:42, 51) till John the
Baptist heralded the nearness of the Kingdom under the Messiah and pointed out
Jesus to the people as its Christ-King (Mat 3:1-3, 13-17; John 1:26-37). After His
resurrection, Christ in turn expounded, personified and inaugurated new universal
redemptive access into the Kingdom in earnest on earth under His Messiah-ship (Mat
28:18). Christ also commissioned His Messianic Church (i.e. His Apostles and
disciples) to propagate His Kingdom and His redemption to subsequent generations

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 17

until He comes again in glory, at which time the ONE Church of Jews and
Gentiles alike will inherit (reign with Christ in) the Kingdom.

In His Kingdom, God REIGNS AND JUDGES OVER ALL CREATION (Psa 47:7-9;
103:19-22) from Heaven; such that some (believers/Angels) are ruled as saved-son or
regent-heirs and ministers, others (kingdoms/nation-states of peoples) are ruled as subdued
servants and still others (enemies/demons) are ruled as subjugated footstool (1Cor 15:23-
28). Neither ISRAEL nor the CHURCH is the same as the Kingdom of God. The Church and
the Gospel of Christ’s Cross and Grace are earthly saving instruments of God’s Heavenly
Kingdom for spiritual REDEMPTION of whosoever believes INTO the eternal life of God’s
Kingdom. It is important to point out here that the State and civil government are also earthly
subduing instruments of God’s Kingdom for temporal RESTRAINT of the lawless UNDER
God’s Kingdom as SUBJECTS. Godly restraint through civil state governance is means of
lighting and salting the society UNDER the Kingdom but has no power to REDEEM anyone
INTO God’s Kingdom as REGENTS.

Therefore, the Kingdom of God is God’s Sovereign Royal dealings or His Reigning
Relationship towards humanity and all creation. This Royal Relationship ranges from
REDEMPTIVE GRACE (Revelation for Renewal, Regeneration for Rescue, and Recruitment
for Regency) to REIGNING GLORY (Reward and Retribution).

<<Back To Top>>

Bibliography

The Holy Bible.

Albert Schweitzer, The Mystery of the Kingdom of God: The Secret of Jesus’
Messiahship and Passion, trans. Walter Lowrie (New York: The Macmillan Co.,
1950).

Albert Schweitzer, The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle (New York: The Macmillan Co.,
1955).

Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus: A Critical Study of Its Progress
from Reimarus to Wrede, 3rd ed. (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1968).

Charles H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom, rev. ed. (New York: Charles
Scribner’s Sons, 1938).

George Eldon Ladd, Jesus and the Kingdom (New York: Harper & Row, 1964).

Georgia Harkness, Understanding the Kingdom of God (New York & Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 1974).

James M. Robinson, The New Quest of the Historical Jesus (Naperville, Ill.: Allenson,
1959).

THE KINGDOM (or DOMINION) OF GOD by Ven Dr. I. U. Ibeme 18

Johannes Weiss, Jesus’ Proclamation of the Kingdom of God. trans. and ed. Richard
H. Hiers and D. Larrimore Holland (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1971).

L. Harold DeWolf, A Theology of the Living Church, (New York: Harper and Row,
1960).

Rudolf Bultmann, Jesus and the Word, trans. Louise Pettibone Smith and Erminie
Huntress (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1934).

Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, vol. I, trans. Kendrick Grobel
(New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970).

Walter Rauschenbush, A Theology for the Social Gospel (New York: The Macmillan
Co., 1917).

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by Ven. Dr. I. U. Ibeme
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