The Kingdom, Now and Not Yet

As Matthew introduces us to the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry in Galilee, he presents the core of Jesus’ proclamation in continuity with that of the Messiah’s forerunner, John the Baptist: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 5:17). At the same time, the unfolding of that message by Jesus will take a somewhat different course than John’s because Jesus brings the kingdom in himself with power. This is especially the case when we consider the summary of Jesus’ works in Matthew 4. In particular, Jesus’ miracles point to something greater, a nuance of the notion that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. As Herman Ridderbos writes, “…in the whole of Jesus’ power to work miracles the coming of the kingdom is realized and is evidence of its presence.”[1] Whereas John the Baptist proclaimed the nearness of the kingdom, the works of Jesus the Messiah were evidence of the presence of the kingdom.

Specifically, Ridderbos expands on the meaning of Jesus’ miracles when he writes, “Jesus’ miracles occupy a place that is in every respect organic and ‘natural’ in the idea of the coming of the kingdom, insofar as it renders visible the restoration of the creation, and so the all-embracing and redemptive significance of the kingdom.”[2] Just as Jesus’ preaching proclaims the decisive act of God to address the fall of humanity and corruption of creation, so Jesus’ miracles show that this decisive act indeed has power. As the sick are made well, as demons are cast out, as all sorts of effects of the fall are (at least temporarily) reversed, so the coming of the kingdom in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is made visible and tangible. Moreover, the coming of the kingdom is shown to have a greater power than the powers and principalities of this world. Jesus’ miracles “all prove that Satan’s power has been broken and that, therefore, the kingdom has come. At the same time, it appears that disease is considered to be generally a consequence of Satan’s rule and that Jesus’ struggle against the Evil One is not fought solely in the field of ethics, but in the whole of the physical domain.”[3] The Apostle Paul keys into this idea when he writes that even the creation groans in eager expectation of the revealing of the sons of God (Rom 8:22-23). That is to say, there are both spiritual and material effects of the coming kingdom.

At the same time, though, Ridderbos notes that the coming of the kingdom is only provisional in Jesus’ words and works, i.e. during his earthly ministry. He writes that it is “remarkable that the gospel does not itself explicitly distinguish between the kingdom now and the kingdom later. It only says in one place that the kingdom of heaven has come, and in another passage that the kingdom will come. And it is often very difficult to ascertain whether the kingdom is spoken of in the present or in the future.”[4] Beyond that, those who were made well were still subject to future illness and death. Jesus’ miracles herald in a visible way the present power of the kingdom but also point to the future consummation of all things when God is all in all. Thus, we do not deny the present power of the kingdom, but we also do not deny the coming glory. There is far more to be expected, for we haven’t arrived at the fullness of the coming kingdom.

Nevertheless, there are things that must be done in the present. Ridderbos writes, “A miracle, as much as preaching, in its sense of being a revelation of the kingdom of God, is a confrontation which necessitates a decision: for or against Jesus as the victor of the Evil one and the Bearer of the Spirit of God.”[5] To run to the side of Jesus is to repent of sin and to believe in him as our Savior. To be for Jesus is to die to self and live a life, yes imperfectly, of following Christ where he leads (not where I necessarily want to go). Jesus’ miracles are a sign that he is the way, the truth, and the life and that the kingdom will ultimately come in its full glory. For our part, we must trust that God gives the grace to be born again that we might enter his kingdom.

[1] Herman N Ridderbos, The Coming of the Kingdom, ed. Raymond O Zorn, trans. H. de Jongste (P&R Publishing, 1962), 65.

[2] Ridderbos, The Coming of the Kingdom, 65.

[3] Ridderbos, The Coming of the Kingdom, 66–67.

[4] Ridderbos, The Coming of the Kingdom, 105.

[5] Ridderbos, The Coming of the Kingdom, 70.