Mark 1:15 represents the first words Jesus spoke
after returning from the wilderness after his baptism. The message is very
simple. First the kingdom of God is at hand. That means that it is very near
the time. The Greek word translated as at hand, eggichen means near at the time of the hearers and readers. It is
not near 2000 years later, and cannot be construed to mean that. The kingdom of
God came essentially by two things. First, one must change their minds from
their current belief system, and second, one must believe the gospel. Faith in
the gospel is more than mental assent. As I have stated in the past it is
apprehending it. Believing it so much that one holds on to it no matter what.
Notice also that Jesus says that the time is
fulfilled. The Greek here is important. Time is kairos, the ripe time, and
fulfilled is pleroo, complete. So, the statement is this…. The ripe time is
complete, the kingdom of God is near, change your mind and believe the good
news. How is anyone going to push that into the distant future and have it be a
true statement? It simply cannot be done. The kingdom was near, the time was
complete and ripe. This is very easy to understand. So, if that was two
thousand years ago and if the kingdom was near back then, where is it today? Is
the kingdom the church? No, I don’t think so. The church is the called out ones
the ecclesia. The kingdom is the reign of God. That means that God is in
charge. Since God is in charge what should be done? Jesus answer was to change
one’s mind and believe the good news.
So then let’s look a little farther into this
matter. The called out ones, the assembly, is to believe the gospel that God
reigns. That is, the called out ones individually, and corporately. The reign
of God becomes evident when individuals in community believe in the reign of
God, and agree what that means practically. This is precisely why the church is
not the kingdom of God. There is no essential agreement on what the reign of
God means practically. Rather, there are thirty thousand various denominations
all believing differently. That is merely the kingdom of confusion.
Has prophecy failed? Did the kingdom fail to
materialize? Or… did the prophecy of the strong delusion come about just as
prophesied? Did the church miss out on the kingdom of God and instead build the
kingdom of church? I think this is precisely what happened. While it is true
that the kingdom of God was available from the first century forward, the fact
is that Christians did not really believe it. They missed the signs and are
awaiting the fulfillment of the kingdom promise; still waiting today. They are looking
forward to the establishment of the kingdom and it is available by merely
changing the mind and believing the gospel. So then, in a way Jesus is still
saying to anyone who will listen, “the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is
at hand, repent and believe the gospel. What does repent mean? It means to
change the mind and embrace the reality that the kingdom is a spiritual kingdom
and it is here for the apprehending today.
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