Find out what the most commonly misunderstood texts about the kingdom are as well as how to interpret them within their own contexts. In this final session of the kingdom of God class, we’ll look at these important verses: Matthew 16.28 “Some…will not taste death until they see…the kingdom” Luke 17.21 “The kingdom of God Read more about 106 Misunderstood Texts (Kingdom of God 15)[…]
We’ve looked at how and why Christianity lost the kingdom message; in this episode you’ll learn how we got it back. Over the last five hundred years, three different movements have made significant strides in recovering the kingdom: the Anabaptists (16th century), the Adventists (19th century), and liberal scholars (20th century). In this lecture you’ll Read more about 105 Recovering the Kingdom (Kingdom of God 14)[…]
This is part three of a series of three lectures on why some Christians ended up rejecting the kingdom message in the first few centuries of Christianity. In this part, I work through the major differences between how Jews and Greeks read scripture. What we find is that the Christians who didn’t like the kingdom Read more about 104 The Kingdom Is Too Jewish (Kingdom of God 13)[…]
Last time we saw that some influential Christians rejected the biblical teaching on the kingdom because the idea of living on earth forever seemed crude to them. This time, we look at how the ancients thought about bodies and bodily pleasures. As it turns out, from (at least) Plato onward, many philosophers tended to embrace Read more about 103 The Kingdom Is Too Hedonic (Kingdom of God 12)[…]
Now that you’ve seen the historical defenders of the kingdom faith, it’s time to turn our attention to those who fought against it. Over the next three lectures you’ll learn the main reasons why Christianity rejected the kingdom message of the bible and replaced it with going to heaven or hell at death. First up, Read more about 102 The Kingdom Is Too Crude (Kingdom of God 11)[…]
Who has believed in the kingdom over the history of Christianity? In this lecture, you’ll find out who defended the kingdom belief in the first four centuries, before it faded out of the mainstream and got replaced with going to heaven instead. In order to put you in contact with the primary sources, we read Read more about 101 Historical Kingdom Advocates (Kingdom of God 10)[…]
Like all kingdoms, God’s kingdom is political in nature. As a result, the kingdom requires allegiance from its citizens. By examining Jewish messianism and Roman political sensibilities, you’ll come to better see how early Christians prioritized their allegiance to the age to come over their local and national allegiances. This is lecture 9 of the Read more about 100: Kingdom Allegiance (Kingdom of God 9)[…]
How does your belief in the God’s coming kingdom affect your life now? Now that we’ve looked at the kingdom as hope (what we look forward to) and gospel (what we preach to others), we’ll examine how God calls us to embody the kingdom now. Taking our cue from Jesus’ kingdom-saturated ministry, we’ll see how Read more about 99: The Kingdom Way (Kingdom of God 8)[…]
What is the gospel of the kingdom of God? It’s not about Jesus dying for your sins or going to heaven when you die. In fact, Jesus’ gospel of the kingdom is not new at all; it’s the message the prophets of old proclaimed–that one day God was going to make everything wrong with the Read more about 98: The Gospel of the Kingdom (Kingdom of God 7)[…]
What happens when you die? Is there an intermediate state? What does the bible teach about the dead before resurrection? These questions are important for our study of the kingdom of God. If you go straight to heaven when you die, you’re not going to care very much about what happens when Jesus returns. You Read more about 97: The Sleep of the Dead (Kingdom of God 6)[…]
Now that we’ve looked at many of the kingdom texts from the Old Testament, today we’ll get into the New Testament and see what Jesus and the apostles taught about the kingdom. We’ll examine the titles of Jesus, a couple of his parables, some texts from Paul and James, and conclude in Revelation. In this Read more about 89: Kingdom in the New Testament (Kingdom of God 5)[…]
Last time we looked at the kingdom prophecies in Isaiah. Today we’ll examine Amos, Micah, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Ezekiel, and Daniel to continue developing a biblical picture of the age to come. This is lecture 4 of the Kingdom of God class, originally taught at the Atlanta Bible College. To take this class for credit, please Read more about 87: Kingdom in the Prophets (Kingdom of God 4)[…]
The prophet Isaiah spoke more about the kingdom than any other prophet in the Hebrew bible. Consequently, his book is a phenomenal place to begin developing our understanding of what the kingdom will be like. Stitching together his various snapshots, we encounter a magnificent collage detailing a new world full of peace, justice, and healing. Read more about 86: Kingdom in Isaiah (Kingdom of God 3)[…]
It’s impossible to understand the kingdom of God or Jesus without having a grasp of the history-changing promises God made with Abraham and David. To Abraham God covenanted the land and to David, a descendant to rule. Ultimately these two covenants find their fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth–the Messiah. This is lecture 2 of the Read more about 85: Kingdom Covenants (Kingdom of God 2)[…]
Today we begin a new class on Restitutio on the Kingdom of God. Jesus said the kingdom was like a treasure hidden in a field—it’s so valuable it’s worth selling everything to purchase. He said to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness above what we eat or wear. In this class we’ll spend Read more about 84: Kingdom Restoration (Kingdom of God 1)[…]