But I'd like us to turn and look at just one Scripture. Psalm 103, verse 19. And it is from this Scripture that we will look into God's Word tonight. This is the Psalm of David and it says, The Lord has established His throne in the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all. Well, Father, we pray that You would renew our minds by this Word, that You would teach us about Your kingdom tonight, and help us to grow closer to You, to grow in the grace and knowledge of You, that we might be effective servants and witnesses of Your grace. Tonight we're going to look at the kingdom of God. What is it? When does it come? Has it come? Does it lie in the future? What are the characteristics of this kingdom? The first thing that we want to know is we're going to look at one other psalm. It's Psalm 145, verse 13. It's another psalm of David. And it says, as you're turning, Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations. So we know that Christ spoke of the kingdom a great deal. He gave us parables where He compared various things to the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. And the first thing that we learn about this kingdom is it's everlasting. It is eternal. 2 Samuel 7-8, and why don't we turn there? Now therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people Israel. Verse 12, When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me. When he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men. but my lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever. Your throne shall be established forever." In accordance with all these words and all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. How many of us, just to get started, would say the kingdom has already come? How many would say the kingdom hasn't come yet? How many would say that it has come and yet it still is to come in a fuller sense? Everybody's got this right. That's exactly right. And that's what Scripture shows us But as we're looking at what lies in the future, part of the aspect of the kingdom lies in the future, and there's a future aspect to it. And that's why we're going to look at this particular subject tonight in this study of what the Bible says about the future. Now, what kind of kingdom is this kingdom? What do we know about the kingdom from Scripture? What did Jesus say before Pilate when asked, are you a king? My kingdom is not of this world. That's right. My kingdom is not of this world. Now just think about that. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over. My kingdom is not of this realm. Now what's that mean? Does that mean it can't be present yet? No, it can be. But we learned something very important about the kingdom. The kingdom has a lot to do with one Jesus Christ. In fact, it has everything to do with Jesus Christ. Here's the second point, Romans 14, 17, and this is going to be by no means exhaustive because this is a large, large subject. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. The kingdom isn't this earthly stuff. Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. So when we think of the kingdom of God, now just imagine, even the disciples, and I'm jumping ahead four pages here, but even the disciples are saying to Jesus, as He's risen from the dead, He's got a new body, and He's about to go up in a cloud into heaven, they're saying, okay, now, are you going to reestablish this kingdom of Israel here? They didn't get it, but yet God's revealed it to all of us. Now, comprehending it's another story. It's a little bit difficult for us to grasp heavenly matters. Now, here's something else Jesus tells us. Matthew 13, 31. And what we see in these parables is that the kingdom is organic. It's not a static thing. It grows. Matthew 13, 31, He presented another parable to them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. which a man took and sowed in his field. And this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it's full-grown, it's larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. It starts small, but it grows into a large tree. Matthew 13, 24. Here's another parable about the kingdom. And this tells us that in one sense, it's already come. Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "...the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore again, then the tares became evident also." And the question Jesus was asked is, well, should we get down there? Do we want to pick up the tares now and get it out of there? And what did He say? Let the two grow together. So we've got this growing body, this part of the kingdom. It's a spiritual heavenly kingdom. And in its midst are the tares, the weeds. Weeds are growing up. So the separation of the two will not happen until Jesus comes. Everybody see this? Jesus' message is about the coming of the kingdom of heaven. What's the first thing that John the Baptist says when he comes out into the wilderness? Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven has come near. This is the gospel. This is the gospel as it was preached by John. This is the gospel. Look at Matthew 4.17. Here's the first words we have from Jesus preaching the gospel. What's He say? Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven had come. The kingdom of heaven is where He is. Mark 1.15, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. So when Jesus comes, and this is the very beginning of his ministry, he is born, he lives and grows up, he's 30 years old, and Jesus comes to be baptized, voice comes out of heaven and says, what? This is my beloved son. Jesus is tested, he goes into Galilee and says, repent, the kingdom of heaven. That's what he brought with him was the kingdom of heaven. Luke 4.43. And we're also here at the beginning of Jesus' Galilean ministry. Verse 42, When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place. And the crowds were searching for Him and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away. But He said, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose. This is why He came. This is the purpose that He announces as His. Matthew 10, 7. Now Jesus is sending the twelve out here in Matthew chapter 10. These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them, Do not go in the way of the Gentiles. Don't enter any city of the Samaritans, but just go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is the news. This is the gospel. This is the news Jesus brought. Luke 10-11, Even the dust of your city, which clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near. And in Luke 16.16, Jesus warning the Pharisees. Luke 16.14, we see the Pharisees, lovers of money, were listening and scoffing at Him. Do you realize we never see the Pharisees agreeing with anything Jesus said or did? They never agreed with anything He did, anything He said. They opposed Him because of their own earthly desires. He said to them, you are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God. The law and the prophets were proclaimed until John. And that's right. There's not a lot of talk in the Old Testament, very little about the kingdom of heaven. I've read you three of the verses where it shows up. When we read about kingdoms in the Old Testament, we read about earthly kingdoms. The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, since the time John came into the wilderness, the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached. Hallelujah! Back to Matthew, a similar passage. Matthew 11, verse 12. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force. Matthew 12, 27. If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. The kingdom of God has come. After four millennia of darkness, not only does a Messiah come, but He brings the kingdom of God with Him. Matthew 13.52, And Jesus said to him, Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven... So we see disciples of the kingdoms of heaven. A couple more showing the present, the now of the kingdom. Luke 17.20, Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, Look, here it is or there it is. For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst. His point here is, it's where I am. I'm the one who brought it. The kingdom is around me. So don't go looking out there. Colossians 1.13. Now here we have some verbs that indicate a completed action. Look what he says, Colossians 1.13, as to what God has done in the believer. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. That's pretty good news. in whom we have redemption already, the forgiveness of sins. We also have passages in Scripture that show that Jesus' reign as king has already begun. And this is certainly not an exhaustive list, but let's turn to Ephesians 119. Ephesians 119, beginning in the second part. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might, which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. That would sound like somebody who's reigning and ruling right now. Look at Matthew 28.18. Pretty much the last thing Jesus has to say to His disciples recorded in Matthew. Again, we're in the past tense here. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. All authority has been given to Him. Two thousand years ago He said that. Philippians 2.9, you don't have to turn. For this reason also God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name. And one more. And again, it's not necessary to turn. 1 Peter 3.21 Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to him. Angels and authorities and powers is reference to spiritual beings, all subject to him already. We know that the kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. Now I want to take a look, because Daniel speaks about the kingdom. But let's turn first to Daniel chapter 7. And we're going to be looking at Daniel 7 and Daniel 2 in terms of the kingdom here tonight. And right now I just want to look at Daniel 7, 13, and 14. And Daniel is telling the king of his dreams. He's interpreting dreams. He's had visions of his own. And in this case, he has this vision in chapter 7, verse 13. And he says, I kept looking in the night visions. Behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming. And he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. I don't believe anybody ever said it any better than Daniel did. And we know that Jesus is reigning even as we speak. Scripture also shows a future aspect of the coming of the kingdom. Now turn to Matthew 6.10. And he is teaching his disciples to pray that the kingdom of God would come. Matthew 6.10. These words are well known to us. Your kingdom come, your will be done. It's a prayer for the kingdom. And you might find people on both ends of this one, but for most I think it would be that he's praying for the fullness of the kingdom and teaching them to pray for the fullness of the kingdom at that point. Matthew 7.21. He talks about the kingdom in terms of the future. And he says, "...not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter." Again, seeming to place it more as a not yet. Luke 17.20. And we saw this earlier. I'm just going to read it one more time in this context. This language, when we look at it this way, can certainly be viewed as something that is yet to come. Luke 17.20, Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom was coming, Jesus answered and said, The kingdom is not coming with signs to be observed, as we saw earlier. Luke 22.17, Now we're going to see a passage where clearly Jesus seems to put the kingdom, the coming of the kingdom, in the future. When he had taken a cup and given thanks, he said, Take this and share it among yourselves, for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes. So when we're reading about the kingdom of God, we read these passages, we have to understand there's a present reality to it. It was at hand from the time that John came into the wilderness, but there's also in its fullness a not yet aspect to the kingdom of God. And Daniel really does a great job of covering both the already and the not yet. in Daniel 2, beginning in verse 39. Now this is the interpretation he does for Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar is a king who begins as a pagan, who proclaims faith, who falls away and is judged by God, and then who repents again a second time. In chapter 2, Daniel is brought in to interpret this dream. I'll start in verse 36. This was the dream. Now we will tell its interpretation before the king. You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory. And wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them. After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze which will rule over all the earth. Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron. Inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom. But it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay. They will combine with one another in the seat of men Now we have the Babylonian king. We have the second king becomes the Medes and the Persians who conquer Babylon. We have the Greek kingdom that follows. And then it's divided. And then we have the Roman Empire. Now look at these words because we have the Roman Empire in place when we get to verse 44. In the days of those kings, The God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Here he's speaking clearly of the time when Christ is on the earth, when Christ comes during the Roman Empire and sets up the kingdom. So when he says the kingdom of heaven is at hand, it's at hand. And Daniel manages to cover both aspects. Daniel 7, 15. As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me. I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things. And this is about these four beasts So he told me and he made known to me this interpretation. These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth. But the saints of the highest one will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever for all ages to come. Verse 21, I kept looking and there had been ten horns on this beast and then three of the horns had been replaced by a little horn. And he says, I keep looking and this little horn is waging war with the saints and overpowering them, until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, until the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom. Thus he said, the fourth beast... Now here's the explanation. ...will be a fourth kingdom on the earth. which will be different from all the other kingdoms, and will devour the whole earth, and shred it down, and crush it. As for the ten horns out of this kingdom, ten kings will arise, and another will arise after them. And He will be different from the previous ones, and He will subdue three kings. He will speak out against the Most High, and wear down the saints of the highest ones. And He will intend to make alterations in times and in law. They will be given into His hand for a time, times, and half the time. But the court will sit for judgment, and His dominion will be taken away, annihilated, and destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, dominion, and greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him. And of course, at that point the revelation ends. But we don't believe we've seen anything quite like this yet. This certainly appears to be something that lies ahead. So Daniel is covering both aspects here in chapter 2 and the not yet in chapter 7. Who enters the kingdom? What's the qualification to enter into the kingdom? Let's go to Jesus' words, John 3, talking to Nicodemus. He says, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Verse 5, Jesus says, Again, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And then back in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 3, who does he say inherits the kingdom? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Who does not enter the kingdom? We've got a whole long list in four places in the New Testament, and there may be more shorter lists. 1 Corinthians 6, 9. And here's how Paul phrases the question as you're turning, 1 Corinthians 6, 9. The question is, who will not inherit the kingdom of God? And this is what repentance is all about. It means turning from all of this. Jesus didn't say make one profession of faith for two minutes and then go live however you want. He said repent. 1 Corinthians 6, 9, or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? The unrighteous. The only righteous are those who have righteousness of Christ credited to them through faith. Do not be deceived. And here's a big, long list. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, has covetous right there in the middle of all of these other things. Nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Look, it's not just the homosexuals who don't inherit the kingdom. It's not just adulterers. It's not just murderers. It's the covetous, drunkards, revilers, swindlers. He says, such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. We have looked at the resurrection of the body. And we've seen in 1 Corinthians 15 that everyone, good and bad, will be raised bodily. Sown perishable, raised imperishable. all with imperishable bodies, some fitted for eternal glory, and others for eternal torment. We also have Paul in that passage in 1 Corinthians 15.50 speaking about the type of body that inherits the kingdom. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. That change that 1 Thessalonians 4.16 speaks of and that 1 Corinthians chapter 15 speaks of has to take place. We don't go in with a flesh and blood body. Jesus went in with a different body. He's there as a man, but flesh and blood refers to that perishable body, the corruptible seed. I find some of the testimonies of Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, and Darius, the Persian king, rather amazing regarding the kingdom of God in the book of Daniel. I'm going to look at four passages. Daniel 4. And here's Nebuchadnezzar, who began as the run-of-the-mill, evil, wicked, pagan, heathen king. And after he sees God work through Daniel, He has a completely different reaction. Daniel 4.3, How great are His signs, and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation. Here's Nebuchadnezzar praising God and proclaiming His eternal kingdom. still Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 4.34. But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored Him who lives forever. For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation. Our prayer should be like that. Our praise should be like that. Now he then falls soon after this, before ultimately repenting. Look at Daniel 6.26. Now we have Darius. They make a rule that anybody who doesn't worship Darius and continues to worship their own gods—in this case, for Daniel, the true God—has got to be punished, thrown into a lion's den. So Darius has to do it. He doesn't want to do it. Daniel's in the lion's den. And of course, as we know, the lions don't harm Daniel. Darius sees the light. And he says, among other things, Daniel 6.26, I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom, men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel. For He is the living God and enduring forever, and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed, and His dominion is forever. These are amazing, amazing prayers coming from these guys. Daniel 7.18, but the saints of the highest one will receive the kingdom, we saw this already, and possess the kingdom forever. The saints, those who are his. Saints, believers in Jesus Christ. This forever possession of the kingdom is what God has prepared for those who are in Christ. To be in Christ, to be in union with Him. And He wants us to be serving Him now. That's what He desires. I said yesterday, He didn't make us just for our own edification only. He made us to have a people to love Him, to serve Him, to worship Him, to have fellowship with Him. He wanted that relationship with his creature. And he wanted it with the creature that he made in his image and likeness. And despite the rebellion of our ancestors and ourselves, God's grace triumphed. God's grace triumphed, and there will be such a people, and he's prepared this eternal kingdom. So, what is the kingdom of God? It's not necessarily a place, but it's a sphere or realm in which God and his son is honored and obeyed as king. That's what the kingdom of God is. It's that realm where he is honored and obeyed as king. The kingdom is wherever Jesus is, and those who are of the kingdom are those who have submitted themselves to his rule. That's really what he's saying in the whole New Testament. Those who submit themselves to his rule, who worship him, who love him, who desire to be like him. That's who's in the kingdom. For those who have eyes to see, who've been born again, the kingdom has come. It's a hard concept. The disciples had trouble with this. They wrote most of what we're reading here, much of what we're reading, and they're still looking for an earthly kingdom. The kingdom's already come, but he's going to bring the kingdom in its fullness. And the kingdom is going to come when Jesus returns. The fullness of the kingdom can then blossom. the fullness of the kingdom lies in the future. And it's what Jesus is going to bring when he returns. And it's a glorious, heavenly eternity. And the thing that he says to us is repent and believe in me. Father, we are in awe of your grand and glorious plan of redemption. We thank you that you chose us sinners to come into your kingdom, that you have blessed us and have been so gracious to us. Lord, we honor your word. We thank you for the promises that you've made and kept, and those promises that lie ahead of an eternity in glory with you. We pray, Lord, you would make us effective ministers of this gospel, that we would serve you in all we do. In Christ's name, amen.