The Day of the LORD, the Kingdom, "at hand"

 

RSV Deuteronomy 32:35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.

 

LXT Deuteronomy 32:35 evn h`me,ra| evkdikh,sewj avntapodw,sw evn kairw/| o[tan sfalh/| o` pou.j auvtw/n o[ti evggu.j h`me,ra avpwlei,aj auvtw/n kai. pa,restin e[toima u`mi/n

 

VUL Deuteronomy 32:35 mea est ultio et ego retribuam in tempore ut labatur pes eorum iuxta est dies perditionis et adesse festinant tempora

 

 

LXT Ezekiel 30:3 o[ti evggu.j h` h`me,ra tou/ kuri,ou h`me,ra pe,raj evqnw/n e;stai

 

VUL Ezekiel 30:3 quia iuxta est dies et adpropinquavit dies Domini dies nubis tempus gentium erit

 

RSV Joel 1:15 Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.

 

LXT Joel 1:15 oi;mmoi oi;mmoi oi;mmoi eivj h`me,ran o[ti evggu.j h`me,ra kuri,ou kai. w`j talaipwri,a evk talaipwri,aj h[xei

 

VUL Joel 1:15 a a a diei quia prope est dies Domini et quasi vastitas a potente veniet

 

RSV Joel 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming, it is near,

 

LXT Joel 2:1 salpi,sate sa,lpiggi evn Siwn khru,xate evn o;rei a`gi,w| mou kai. sugcuqh,twsan pa,ntej oi` katoikou/ntej th.n gh/n dio,ti pa,restin h`me,ra kuri,ou o[ti evggu,j

 

VUL Joel 2:1 canite tuba in Sion ululate in monte sancto meo conturbentur omnes habitatores terrae quia venit dies Domini quia prope est

 

RSV Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

 

LXT Joel 4:14 h=coi evxh,chsan evn th/| koila,di th/j di,khj o[ti evggu.j h`me,ra kuri,ou evn th/| koila,di th/j di,khj

 

VUL Joel 3:14 populi populi in valle concisionis quia iuxta est dies Domini in valle concisionis

 

RSV Obadiah 1:15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you, your deeds shall return on your own head.

 

LXT Obadiah 1:15 dio,ti evggu.j h`me,ra kuri,ou evpi. pa,nta ta. e;qnh o]n tro,pon evpoi,hsaj ou[twj e;stai soi to. avntapo,doma, sou avntapodoqh,setai eivj kefalh,n sou

 

VUL Obadiah 1:15 quoniam iuxta est dies Domini super omnes gentes sicut fecisti fiet tibi retributionem tuam convertet in caput tuum

 

RSV Zephaniah 1:7 Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is at hand; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.

 

LXT Zephaniah 1:7 euvlabei/sqe avpo. prosw,pou kuri,ou tou/ qeou/ dio,ti evggu.j h` h`me,ra tou/ kuri,ou o[ti h`toi,maken ku,rioj th.n qusi,an auvtou/ h`gi,aken tou.j klhtou.j auvtou/

 

VUL Zephaniah 1:7 silete a facie Domini Dei quia iuxta est dies Domini quia praeparavit Dominus hostiam sanctificavit vocatos suos

 

RSV Zephaniah 1:14 The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter, the mighty man cries aloud there.

 

LXT Zephaniah 1:14 o[ti evggu.j h` h`me,ra kuri,ou h` mega,lh evggu.j kai. tacei/a sfo,dra fwnh. h`me,raj kuri,ou pikra. kai. sklhra, te,taktai dunath,

 

VUL Zephaniah 1:14 iuxta est dies Domini magnus iuxta et velox nimis vox diei Domini amara tribulabitur ibi fortis

 

RSV Isaiah 13:6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!

 

LXT Isaiah 13:6 ovlolu,zete evggu.j ga.r h` h`me,ra kuri,ou kai. suntribh. para. tou/ qeou/ h[xei

 

VUL Isaiah 13:6 ululate quia prope est dies Domini quasi vastitas a Domino veniet

 

RSV Isaiah 57:19 Peace, peace, to the far and to the near, says the LORD; and I will heal him.

 

LXT Isaiah 57:19 eivrh,nhn evpV eivrh,nhn toi/j makra.n kai. toi/j evggu.j ou=sin kai. ei=pen ku,rioj iva,somai auvtou,j

 

VUL Isaiah 57:19 creavi fructum labiorum pacem pacem ei qui longe est et qui prope dixit Dominus et sanavi eum

 

SV Jeremiah 48:16 The calamity of Moab is near at hand and his affliction hastens apace.

 

LXT Jeremiah 31:16 evggu.j h`me,ra Mwab evlqei/n kai. ponhri,a auvtou/ tacei/a sfo,dra

 

VUL Jeremiah 48:16 prope est interitus Moab ut veniat et malum eius velociter adcurret nimis

 

RSV Ezekiel 30:3 For the day is near, the day of the LORD is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations.

 

LXT Ezekiel 30:3 o[ti evggu.j h` h`me,ra tou/ kuri,ou h`me,ra pe,raj evqnw/n e;stai

 

VUL Ezekiel 30:3 quia iuxta est dies et adpropinquavit dies Domini dies nubis tempus gentium erit

 

RSV Matthew 24:32 "From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.

 

GNT Matthew 24:32 VApo. de. th/j sukh/j ma,qete th.n parabolh,n\ o[tan h;dh o` kla,doj auvth/j ge,nhtai a`palo.j kai. ta. fu,lla evkfu,h|( ginw,skete o[ti evggu.j to. qe,roj\

 

VUL Matthew 24:32 ab arbore autem fici discite parabolam cum iam ramus eius tener fuerit et folia nata scitis quia prope est aestas

 

RSV Matthew 24:33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.

 

GNT Matthew 24:33 ou[twj kai. u`mei/j( o[tan i;dhte pa,nta tau/ta( ginw,skete o[ti evggu,j evstin evpi. qu,raijÅ

 

VUL Matthew 24:33 ita et vos cum videritis haec omnia scitote quia prope est in ianuis

 

RSV Matthew 26:18 He said, "Go into the city to a certain one, and say to him, `The Teacher says, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at your house with my disciples.'"

 

GNT Matthew 26:18 o` de. ei=pen( ~Upa,gete eivj th.n po,lin pro.j to.n dei/na kai. ei;pate auvtw/|( ~O dida,skaloj le,gei( ~O kairo,j mou evggu,j evstin( pro.j se. poiw/ to. pa,sca meta. tw/n maqhtw/n mouÅ

 

VUL Matthew 26:18 at Iesus dixit ite in civitatem ad quendam et dicite ei magister dicit tempus meum prope est apud te facio pascha cum discipulis meis

 

RSV Mark 13:28 "From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.

 

GNT Mark 13:28 VApo. de. th/j sukh/j ma,qete th.n parabolh,n\ o[tan h;dh o` kla,doj auvth/j a`palo.j ge,nhtai kai. evkfu,h| ta. fu,lla( ginw,skete o[ti evggu.j to. qe,roj evsti,n\

 

VUL Mark 13:28 a ficu autem discite parabolam cum iam ramus eius tener fuerit et nata fuerint folia cognoscitis quia in proximo sit aestas

 

RSV Mark 13:29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.

 

GNT Mark 13:29 ou[twj kai. u`mei/j( o[tan i;dhte tau/ta gino,mena( ginw,skete o[ti evggu,j evstin evpi. qu,raijÅ

 

VUL Mark 13:29 sic et vos cum videritis haec fieri scitote quod in proximo sit in ostiis

 

RSV Luke 19:11 As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.

 

GNT Luke 19:11 VAkouo,ntwn de. auvtw/n tau/ta prosqei.j ei=pen parabolh.n dia. to. evggu.j ei=nai VIerousalh.m auvto.n kai. dokei/n auvtou.j o[ti paracrh/ma me,llei h` basilei,a tou/ qeou/ avnafai,nesqaiÅ

 

VUL Luke 19:11 haec illis audientibus adiciens dixit parabolam eo quod esset prope Hierusalem et quia existimarent quod confestim regnum Dei manifestaretur

 

RSV Luke 21:30 as soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near.

 

GNT Luke 21:30 o[tan proba,lwsin h;dh( ble,pontej avfV e`autw/n ginw,skete o[ti h;dh evggu.j to. qe,roj evsti,n\

 

VUL Luke 21:30 cum producunt iam ex se fructum scitis quoniam prope est aestas

 

RSV Luke 21:31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

 

GNT Luke 21:31 ou[twj kai. u`mei/j( o[tan i;dhte tau/ta gino,mena( ginw,skete o[ti evggu,j evstin h` basilei,a tou/ qeou/Å

 

VUL Luke 21:31 ita et vos cum videritis haec fieri scitote quoniam prope est regnum Dei

 

SV Philippians 4:5 Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand.

 

GNT Philippians 4:5 to. evpieike.j u`mw/n gnwsqh,tw pa/sin avnqrw,poijÅ o` ku,rioj evggu,jÅ

 

VUL Philippians 4:5 modestia vestra nota sit omnibus hominibus Dominus prope

 

 

RSV John 2:13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

 

GNT John 2:13 Kai. evggu.j h=n to. pa,sca tw/n VIoudai,wn( kai. avne,bh eivj ~Ieroso,luma o` VIhsou/jÅ

 

VUL John 2:13 et prope erat pascha Iudaeorum et ascendit Hierosolyma Iesus

 

SV Revelation 1:3 Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written therein; for the time is near.

 

GNT Revelation 1:3 maka,rioj o` avnaginw,skwn kai. oi` avkou,ontej tou.j lo,gouj th/j profhtei,aj kai. throu/ntej ta. evn auvth/| gegramme,na( o` ga.r kairo.j evggu,jÅ

 

VUL Revelation 1:3 beatus qui legit et qui audiunt verba prophetiae et servant ea quae in ea scripta sunt tempus enim prope est

 

RSV Revelation 22:10 And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.

 

GNT Revelation 22:10 kai. le,gei moi( Mh. sfragi,sh|j tou.j lo,gouj th/j profhtei,aj tou/ bibli,ou tou,tou( o` kairo.j ga.r evggu,j evstinÅ

 

VUL Revelation 22:10 et dicit mihi ne signaveris verba prophetiae libri huius tempus enim prope est

 

RSV Lamentations 4:18 Men dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; our end drew near; our days were numbered; for our end had come.

 

LXT Lamentations 4:18 evqhreu,samen mikrou.j h`mw/n tou/ mh. poreu,esqai evn tai/j platei,aij h`mw/n h;ggiken o` kairo.j h`mw/n evplhrw,qhsan ai` h`me,rai h`mw/n pa,restin o` kairo.j h`mw/n

 

VUL Lamentations 4:18 SADE lubricaverunt vestigia nostra in itinere platearum nostrarum adpropinquavit finis noster conpleti sunt dies nostri quia venit finis noster

 

RSV Ezekiel 7:7 Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land; the time has come, the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting upon the mountains.

 

LXT Ezekiel 7:4 evpi. se. to.n katoikou/nta th.n gh/n h[kei o` kairo,j h;ggiken h` h`me,ra ouv meta. qoru,bwn ouvde. meta. wvdi,nwn

 

VUL Ezekiel 7:7 venit contractio super te qui habitas in terra venit tempus prope est dies occisionis et non gloriae montium

 

RSV Matthew 3:2 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

 

GNT Matthew 3:2 Îkai.Ð le,gwn( Metanoei/te\ h;ggiken ga.r h` basilei,a tw/n ouvranw/nÅ

 

VUL Matthew 3:2 et dicens paenitentiam agite adpropinquavit enim regnum caelorum

 

RSV Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

 

GNT Matthew 4:17 VApo. to,te h;rxato o` VIhsou/j khru,ssein kai. le,gein( Metanoei/te\ h;ggiken ga.r h` basilei,a tw/n ouvranw/nÅ

 

VUL Matthew 4:17 exinde coepit Iesus praedicare et dicere paenitentiam agite adpropinquavit enim regnum caelorum

 

RSV Matthew 10:7 And preach as you go, saying, `The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'

 

GNT Matthew 10:7 poreuo,menoi de. khru,ssete le,gontej o[ti :Hggiken h` basilei,a tw/n ouvranw/nÅ

 

VUL Matthew 10:7 euntes autem praedicate dicentes quia adpropinquavit regnum caelorum

 

RSV Matthew 26:45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

 

GNT Matthew 26:45 to,te e;rcetai pro.j tou.j maqhta.j kai. le,gei auvtoi/j( Kaqeu,dete Îto.Ð loipo.n kai. avnapau,esqe\ ivdou. h;ggiken h` w[ra kai. o` ui`o.j tou/ avnqrw,pou paradi,dotai eivj cei/raj a`martwlw/nÅ

 

VUL Matthew 26:45 tunc venit ad discipulos suos et dicit illis dormite iam et requiescite ecce adpropinquavit hora et Filius hominis traditur in manus peccatorum

 

RSV Matthew 26:46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand."

 

GNT Matthew 26:46 evgei,resqe a;gwmen\ ivdou. h;ggiken o` paradidou,j meÅ

 

VUL Matthew 26:46 surgite eamus ecce adpropinquavit qui me tradit

 

RSV Mark 1:15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel."

 

GNT Mark 1:15 kai. le,gwn o[ti Peplh,rwtai o` kairo.j kai. h;ggiken h` basilei,a tou/ qeou/\ metanoei/te kai. pisteu,ete evn tw/| euvaggeli,w|Å

 

VUL Mark 1:15 et dicens quoniam impletum est tempus et adpropinquavit regnum Dei paenitemini et credite evangelio

 

RSV Mark 14:42 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand."

 

GNT Mark 14:42 evgei,resqe a;gwmen\ ivdou. o` paradidou,j me h;ggikenÅ

 

VUL Mark 14:42 surgite eamus ecce qui me tradit prope est

 

RSV Luke 10:9 heal the sick in it and say to them, `The kingdom of God has come near to you.'

 

GNT Luke 10:9 kai. qerapeu,ete tou.j evn auvth/| avsqenei/j kai. le,gete auvtoi/j( :Hggiken evfV u`ma/j h` basilei,a tou/ qeou/Å

 

VUL Luke 10:9 et curate infirmos qui in illa sunt et dicite illis adpropinquavit in vos regnum Dei

 

RSV Luke 10:11 `Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you; nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.'

 

GNT Luke 10:11 Kai. to.n koniorto.n to.n kollhqe,nta h`mi/n evk th/j po,lewj u`mw/n eivj tou.j po,daj avpomasso,meqa u`mi/n\ plh.n tou/to ginw,skete o[ti h;ggiken h` basilei,a tou/ qeou/Å

 

VUL Luke 10:11 etiam pulverem qui adhesit nobis de civitate vestra extergimus in vos tamen hoc scitote quia adpropinquavit regnum Dei

 

RSV Luke 21:8 And he said, "Take heed that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name, saying, `I am he!' and, `The time is at hand!' Do not go after them.

 

GNT Luke 21:8 o` de. ei=pen( Ble,pete mh. planhqh/te\ polloi. ga.r evleu,sontai evpi. tw/| ovno,mati, mou le,gontej( VEgw, eivmi( kai,( ~O kairo.j h;ggikenÅ mh. poreuqh/te ovpi,sw auvtw/nÅ

 

VUL Luke 21:8 qui dixit videte ne seducamini multi enim venient in nomine meo dicentes quia ego sum et tempus adpropinquavit nolite ergo ire post illos

 

RSV Luke 21:20 "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.

 

GNT Luke 21:20 {Otan de. i;dhte kukloume,nhn u`po. stratope,dwn VIerousalh,m( to,te gnw/te o[ti h;ggiken h` evrh,mwsij auvth/jÅ

 

VUL Luke 21:20 cum autem videritis circumdari ab exercitu Hierusalem tunc scitote quia adpropinquavit desolatio eius

 

RSV Romans 13:12 the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;

 

GNT Romans 13:12 h` nu.x proe,koyen( h` de. h`me,ra h;ggikenÅ avpoqw,meqa ou=n ta. e;rga tou/ sko,touj( evndusw,meqa Îde.Ð ta. o[pla tou/ fwto,jÅ

 

VUL Romans 13:12 nox praecessit dies autem adpropiavit abiciamus ergo opera tenebrarum et induamur arma lucis

 

RSV James 5:8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

 

GNT James 5:8 makroqumh,sate kai. u`mei/j( sthri,xate ta.j kardi,aj u`mw/n( o[ti h` parousi,a tou/ kuri,ou h;ggikenÅ

 

VUL James 5:8 patientes estote et vos confirmate corda vestra quoniam adventus Domini adpropinquavit

 

RSV 1 Peter 4:7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore keep sane and sober for your prayers.

 

GNT 1 Peter 4:7 Pa,ntwn de. to. te,loj h;ggikenÅ swfronh,sate ou=n kai. nh,yate eivj proseuca,j\

 

VUL 1 Peter 4:7 omnium autem finis adpropinquavit estote itaque prudentes et vigilate in orationibus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel 7 and the Eclipse of the Kingdom of God

 by Anthony F. Buzzard

In order to lay before you my approach to getting at the Truth of the Christian faith I want to begin with a quotation from Professor A. Lukyn Williams, DD, Cambridge professor and Hebrew scholar, delivering a series of lectures on the Hebrew Christian Messiah (1916):

With the Lord Jesus, as with every Jew, the Old Testament was the court to which, in the last instance, all appeal was made. It was the head from which flowed the waters of spiritual life in unadulterated purity and strength. With him again, as with every Jew of Palestine, the limits of the Old Testament did not exceed those of the present Hebrew canon.

Within that canon Jesus of course must have been familiar with the Book of Daniel and it was in that book that he found the vision of the Son of Man and his investiture as sovereign in the Kingdom of God. (The same vision is found also in the Similitudes of Enoch, but we will not press the evidence of that document since it may have been written after the time of Jesus. At any rate it simply reflects the Danielic vision of the kingdom of God.)

Again I want to emphasize the critical matter of establishing Daniel as a “base of operations” for the study of Jesus and the faith. Howard Clark Kee points out most usefully that Mark’s account of Jesus shows a “disproportionate interest in Daniel.” He notes that in Mark, “Daniel alone among all the OT books is quoted from every chapter. Moreover, Daniel is of the highest level of significance for the NT as a whole as a result of its overwhelming importance for Mark. Mark has been influenced directly by Daniel in his representation of the career and intention of Jesus” (The Community of the New Age, 1983, p. 45).

The vision of Daniel 7 gives us a marvelously simple pattern of the development of world history, a veritable theology of world history out of which the NT works. Its scheme is not complicated. It speaks of the replacement of bestial governments by the government of the Son of Man, the ideal of humanity, what man was intended to be. We know that the book of Daniel was read avidly by the Qumran community and it is obvious that it leaves a clear imprint on what Jesus has to say about his own career in Palestine and in the future. The appearance of the Kingdom of God in Daniel 7 is placed only after the demise of the fourth beast, of which the last stage is marked by the appearance of a kind of chaos monster, the little horn who exhausts the saints for a brief period.

It is on the ruins of that last, fourth beast with its evil tyrant that the Kingdom of God arises. The Kingdom of God is clearly as much a government as the preceding beast powers. Its arena is obviously the earth, since it is to be set up “under the whole heaven” (Dan. 7:27). The Son of Man, as a corporate figure representing the saints, is unmistakably the agent of God for the administration of sound government on the earth. The nature of the Kingdom of God as Daniel foresaw it may not be subjected to the disastrous “spiritualizing” tendency typical of much commentary. The sober comments of the International Critical Commentary warn us not to sacrifice common-sense and sound mindedness in the interests of trying to force on Daniel some sort of abstract Kingdom or present social ideal. Nebuchadnezzar would have been amazed if anyone thought his kingdom was mainly an abstract idea. The empire which follows the demise of the fourth evil empire is clearly just as much a visible concrete worldwide rule. It is in fact God’s revolutionary government, a true theocracy, a regime destined to do away with all present human governments. The International Critical Commentary says (p. 178):

“The last Kingdom replaces the first Four in the dream, and is, in the idea of the scene, spatially bound as are its predecessors; the Mountain fills the whole earth and is not a ‘spiritual’ Kingdom of Heaven.”

John Goldingay in his illuminating commentary on Daniel (Word Biblical Commentary, state of the art in evangelical commentary) notes:

When God’s time comes, His Kingdom requires the destruction of earthly Kingdoms rather than his working through them. They are God’s will for now, but not forever; and when His moment arrives, His Kingdom comes by catastrophe not by development. Daniel promises a new future, one which is not merely an extension of the present. It is of supernatural origin. But it is located on earth, not in heaven.... Daniel envisages no dissolution of the cosmos or creation of a different world. His understanding of this Kingdom is more like the prophetic idea of the Day of Yahweh than that of some later apocalypses. The problem of politics and history can only be resolved by a supernatural intervention that inaugurates a new Kingdom, but this involves changing the lordship of this world, not abandoning this world. The new Kingdom fills the earth. History is not destroyed: other sovereignties are… Daniel has not turned the Kingdom into something individualistic (His  kingship is to be realized in the individual believer’s life), or otherworldly (it is to be realized in heaven). He reaffirms the universal, this-worldly, corporate perspective of Isa 40-55. Daniel is talking about a reign of God on earth and that continues to be more and more an object of hope than of sight. We still pray, ‘May Your rule come’ (Luke 11:2) and — in the light of Daniel’s revelation — have to be referring to a rule which is temporal, worldly, and social. Precisely at moments when such a vision is difficult to believe, Daniel’s readers are urged, via his final declaration to the king (v. 45b) to take it with utmost seriousness (cp. 8:26; 10:21; Rev 19:9; 21:5; 22:6). (from  pp. 59-61, italics are his).

 

These facts have enormous importance for the teaching of Jesus about the Kingdom, about the Gospel in fact. We should not forget that the Gospel as it fell from the lips of Jesus and Paul has a specific label. It is always “the Gospel about the Kingdom of God.” Jesus uses his Kingdom message (the reason for which he was commissioned (Luke 4:43) to recruit the saints whom he gathered around him. This is core of the subject matter of the Gospels. And the Old Testament text plot from which this matter is taken is certainly the book of Daniel and principally the seventh chapter of Daniel (along with the 2nd chapter which likewise teaches us about the Kingdom which is to supersede present nation-states, not by development but by catastrophe (Dan. 2:44). The Kingdom, it is quite clear, will not come by evolution but by revolution. But such revolution is appropriate only when the Messiah returns. The Kingdom of God was not set up in Acts when the spirit came, much less in AD 70, as is fantastically suggested by Preterists.

      Of course Daniel 7 is not the only passage of Scripture to speak of the Messiah and His service for the Kingdom of God. We must include in the same picture the righteous sufferer in the psalms and of course the rejected prophets and the suffering servant of Isaiah. The thread which holds together all these “saints” (of whom Jesus is the chief) is their destiny. This involves temporary, if intense suffering, followed by vindication when the Kingdom of God becomes theirs. According to the pattern laid out in Daniel, that vindication comes only at, and not before, the demise of the final evil ruler, who arises out of the fourth and final beast power. The NT echoes this scheme when it summarizes the faith by saying; “Through much tribulation we are destined to enter the Kingdom” (Acts 14:22).

Daniel 7 and the Christian Gospel

What, then, is the importance of this for our understanding of the Christian Gospel? When Jesus came into Galilee and launched his opening salvo: “The Kingdom of God is at hand: Repent and believe in the Gospel, i.e., about the Kingdom.” It is a fatal mistake of interpretation to ignore the background to the Kingdom of God in Daniel 7. To do this is to distort the Gospel. Yet this is what so often happens in contemporary evangelism. When I recently inquired of the Atlanta Church of Christ what Jesus meant by the Gospel of the Kingdom (not that this term Kingdom appeared in their own account of the Gospel) I was handed a print out of all NT Kingdom texts. I then asked them to define the Kingdom from its Hebrew, apocalyptic background in Daniel 7. This, I am convinced, is the right hermeneutical thing to do. Jesus must be understood in his own context, not ours. The peril is too great that we simply impose on Jesus our own ideological agendas and construct a Gospel to suit ourselves. History shows that we human beings are fond of attaching the label Jesus to our own projects and ideals and thus baptizing them as genuine expressions of the will of God. This method must be avoided.

We cannot afford to misunderstand Jesus when it comes to the Gospel because “whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel’s will save it…Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, in this sinful and adulterous society, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father” (Mark 8:35, 38). Notice how the Gospel is parallel to and defined as the words of Jesus.

The Kingdom of God Defined by Daniel 7 and a Standard Lexicon

The term “Kingdom of God” is perhaps the most important word in the Bible. As someone has said, the whole genius of the Christian faith is concentrated in the words “Kingdom of God.” Jesus said that the whole point of his mission was to proclaim the Gospel about the Kingdom of God (Luke 4:43; cp. Acts 8:12).

So what is this Kingdom of God? What, in fact, is the Gospel which Jesus commands us to believe (Mark 1:14, 15)? Sometimes Christians would do well to go back to a standard Bible lexicon to find a proper definition. Let’s look at the famous lexicon by Thayer for enlightenment. Under the entry “Kingdom of God,” the lexicon gives the information from Daniel which provides us with this idea of the Kingdom of God, the subject of the Christian gospel:

Daniel had declared it to be God’s purpose that after four vast and mighty kingdoms had succeeded one another and the last of them shown itself hostile to the people of God, at length its despotism would be broken and the empire of the world would pass over forever to the people of God (Dan. 2:44; 7:14, 18, 22, 27).

 

Thayer then speaks of the foundation of the Kingdom which has already been laid in the preaching and miracles of Jesus in his ministry on earth. Then he refers to the primary meaning of the Kingdom of God:

But far more frequently [i.e. than any references to the “presence” of the Kingdom] the kingdom of Heaven/God is spoken of as a future blessing, since its establishment is to be looked for at Christ’s solemn return from the skies, the dead being called to life again and the ills and wrongs which burden the present state of things being done away, the powers being hostile to God being vanquished: Matt. 6:10, “Thy Kingdom come,” 8:11, Luke 13:26:  “When you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom,”  “until the day when I drink the wine new with you in the Kingdom of God,”   Luke 22:28: I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom shall come,” Mark 9:1: a reference to the second coming (See vv. 2:2-9 and Peter’s interpretation of the transfiguration as a vision of the Second Coming (II Pet. 1:16-18), Mark 15:43: Joseph was waiting for the Kingdom of God, just as Jesus is still now waiting for his enemies to be put under his feet (Heb. 10:13); Luke 9:27 with its fulfillment in the transfiguration in vv. 28-35; Luke 14:15; II Peter 1:11,: “everlasting Kingdom”; also in the phrase “enter the Kingdom of God,” (Matt. 5:20; 7:21; 18:3; 19:23, 24; Mark 9:47; 10:23, 24, 25; Luke 18:24, 25; John 3:5; Acts 14:22; James 2:5: “heirs [not yet inheritors] of the Kingdom” (James 2:5): “inherit the Kingdom of God” (Matt. 25:34; I Cor. 6:9; 15:50; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5).

 

 Thayer speaks of the Kingdom of God as occasionally a description of persons (Christians) who are being made fit for admission into the Kingdom of God when it comes (Rev. 1:6). But it should be noted that the first and dominant meaning of the Kingdom of God is the one given us by Daniel 7, from which the whole NT idea of the Kingdom of God is derived.

Note carefully the time-sequence given us by Daniel. In the vision of chapter 7, there is a sequence of four beasts and a final tyrant (horn). Following these four beasts and the horn the Kingdom of God is introduced. It will be governed by the Son of Man (Dan. 7:13, 14). Note again most carefully the time sequence. Where does the Kingdom come in relation to the other events? The answer is very simple. First the Beast power is slain and his body is destroyed by being given to the flame [the lake of fire] (see Dan. 7:11; “I watched until the Beast was slain...”). At that same time the dominion of the rest of the beasts was taken away (Dan. 7:12). Only after this is the Kingdom given to the Son of Man.

Note now how the interpretation given to Daniel reinforces a proper understanding of the Kingdom in the sequence of events. First there are four Beasts (Dan. 7:17). After that, the Kingdom is given to the saints (Dan. 7:18). No less than three more times, this sequence is emphasized. First the 10 horns of the fourth Beast appear, as does the little horn (vv. 20:21).  And then (and here we have our answer about the timing of the Kingdom of God) “the time comes that the saints possess the Kingdom” (Dan. 7:22). Again the same point is made: Verses 23-25 first describe the rule of the Beast power which culminates in the arrival of a final tyrant (horn) who persecutes the saints. But this is only for a limited time (v. 25). The dominion of the little horn is removed and he is consumed and destroyed (v. 26). Following the removal and destruction of the Beast the Kingdom of God on earth,  “under the whole heaven, ” is given to the saints and all nations and languages serve and obey them” (Dan. 7:27, GNB; RSV, etc.)

From this essential background in Daniel, it is a very simple matter to understand that the Kingdom of God is, as Thayer says, “far more often spoken of as  a future blessing.”

The Book of Revelation which of course develops the themes of Jesus’ teaching and particularly the matter of the Kingdom in Daniel, tells us exactly what we would expect from our study of Daniel 7. First the Beast is slain in Revelation 19:20 by being thrown into the lake of fire. This event happens when the rider on the white horse appears as a warrior king accompanied by the armies of heaven (Rev. 19:11-15). His arrival in these verses is, as all agree, his second coming which, of course, has not yet happened. He comes in fact to “rule [i.e. set up the Kingdom over] the nations with a rod of iron” (Rev. 19:15). This same event is the one also described in Rev. 11:15-18, when “the Kingdoms of the world will become the Kingdom of God and Christ.” This happens at the 7th trumpet, the trumpet announcing the resurrection of the faithful dead. If this has not yet happened, then obviously the Kingdom of God has not yet arrived.

This sequence of events — first four Beasts, culminating in final anti-Christ, then the Second Coming of Jesus to establish the Kingdom — is exactly the sequence laid out by Daniel 7, as we have seen. There are three critically important “inceptive aorists” telling us about the Kingdom of God in Revelation: In Rev. 11:17: “God has begun to reign,” at the time when the Kingdoms of this world become the Kingdom of God at a future crisis. So in Rev. 19:6: “Hallelujah, because God has taken up his reign,” at the time of the future marriage banquet. And again in Rev. 20:4 the saints “came to life and began to reign with the Messiah for the 1000 years.” As Mounce says (Comm. on Revelation, New London Commentaries, 1997, p. 354) Daniel’s vision of the 4 beasts, their judgment and the passing of the kingdom to the saints of the Most High is undoubtedly the background for much of John’s presentation.

 

Why does all this matter?

“What about consumers of the Gospel? Are they getting the pure untainted message? Or are they getting the gospel loaded with American or post-Constantinian additives?” The question was asked by Jim Reapsome, director of the Evangelical Missions Information Service and editor of Evangelical Missions (Christianity Today, Oct. 2nd, 1995). I would like to add: “Are consumers getting the gospel in a depleted form with essential nutrients missing? Jim Reapsome continues with words which call forth from me a hearty “amen.” He says, “As I look back over nearly half a century of work in world missions, no question worries me more. My greatest worry is not about money for missions, people for missions or the strategies and management for missions. It’s about the content in the package we call the gospel — the cure for people sins — and whether we have administered the right medicine.” I once attended,” he goes on, “a study conference where missions scholars and executives wrangled for a weekend, trying to define the meaning of conversion. But I have never been to one where the Gospel itself was addressed. We just assume we know. This can be a fatal assumption.”

Could it be that the single most valuable pearl has been lost from the string of ideas presented to potential converts interested in salvation in Jesus?

If I could leave you with a single point for meditation it would be just this question. Is it sufficient to quote 3 verses from Paul (typically I Cor. 15:1-3) to the effect that belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus is all that he taught as the Gospel? Can we afford to overlook the obvious fact that Jesus and the Apostles preached “the Gospel of the Kingdom” without at that stage saying a word about the Messiah’s death and resurrection? Can it possibly be right that the phrase “Gospel of the Kingdom” is not the way we describe the Gospel, though Luke insists that the Kingdom was the content of the Gospel which Paul (following Jesus) always took to the people both Jews and Gentiles? (Acts 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31. Cp. Acts 8:12).

Surely it must be the part of wisdom to adopt the “standard of sound words” recommended by Paul as a sort of creed II Tim. 1:13 by habitually using the very words of Jesus as the basis of our teaching? These words of Jesus Paul calls “health-giving words” (1 Tim. 6:3). Without the words and the Gospel of Jesus (Rom. 10:17; 16:25) we are as, Paul said, ignoramuses. And John could not have warned us more vigorously when, late in the NT period, he said, “Anyone who ‘progresses’ and does not remain in the teaching of Christ does not belong to God. He who remains in that teaching has both the Father and the Son” (2 John 7-9).

Revival and unity amongst believers will be under way when the Hebrew Bible again takes its place as the repository of divine truth lying at the basis of what Jesus believed and taught. When the doctrine of man as a whole person needing to acquire immortality through resurrection is reinstated believers will be able to identify with the Apostles for whom the hope of the Kingdom and immortality in it was the great driving force behind Christian living and evangelism. The re-orientation toward the future must not be blocked by arguments about the need for some other gospel in the present — often a plea for the reduction of Christianity to ethics. But the NT Christianity is not just ethics — its ethics are set in a very particular and Jewish setting which cannot be discarded. Calling the Danielic, apocalyptic setting of the NT a useless husk from which we must extract a valuable kernel of timeless ethics is dishonest practice, an excuse for unbelief. The teaching of Jesus is to be accepted lock, stock and barrel. Only then can we do what Jesus calls “doing well”: You call me teacher and Lord and you do well. For so I am” (John 13:13). Do we hear enough about accepting Jesus as Lord (meaning that we are to obey all his commands), and how seldom is there a plea to accept him as “rabbi/teacher” in all his splendid Jewishness and as the model preacher of the saving Gospel?

While the cry goes out that “doctrine divides” and ethics unite, we will not achieve unity. Let us indeed unite, not however to comfort ourselves with easy optimism that all is well with the status quo, but to dialogue and admonish one another to return to the basic teachings of Jesus, under the overarching theme of the Gospel about the Kingdom of God. Unity in the Bible is unity in the truth as it is in Jesus. This can be achieved when tradition (however long-standing) yields after careful inspection to the truth of Scripture. Opportunities for the necessary Berean exercise are available to all of us in this information-packed early 21^st  century.

Let me summarize. The basic teachings of Jesus are the basis for establishing a relationship between ourselves and God. Truth, not error, is essential if we are to serve God “in spirit and truth,” in the holy spirit, in fact, which is the “spirit of the truth,” and the operational presence of God, his vitalizing energy (Ps. 51:11), and the mind of Christ. The Gospel is the vehicle of that energy and must not be tampered with (Rom. 1:16; I Thess. 2:13). The Gospel is to be defined first by the words of the historical Jesus and not first from isolated texts in Paul. Jesus’ own example forces us back to the Hebrew Bible and especially the Book of Daniel in order to get our feet firmly planted on solid exegetical ground. Contemporary statements about the Gospel are in danger of promoting a vague gnosticism unless they are rooted in the Hebrew soil of the Bible. I think the Church is ready for a change of approach to Bible-study, one that sheds the unwanted accretions of Greek philosophy against which Paul warned. The Gospel as the technical term par excellence must not become a kind of wax nose to be bent into various shapes and defined in a myriad of different ways (Certainly not divided into 8 different gospels as Bullinger [Companion Bible] proposes!). The Gospel is in the NT, a fixed quantity understood by reader and writer.

When we ask how Paul went about creating faith and love in the Church, we find that it was often by pleading for a clear idea about the content of hope. He speaks about “faith and love which spring from hope” (Col. 1:4, 5 ). No wonder he prayed for the Ephesians to have their mental eyes opened to the hope of the future inheritance (Eph. 1:14-18). Paul recognized that it was because of future joy that Jesus endured the cross (Heb. 12:2).

The Jesuanic covenant, based on the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants made by God with Jesus, was the gift of the Kingdom of God (Luke 22:28-30: “Just as my Father covenanted with me... so I covenant with you to give you the Kingdom”). Ruling the world with Jesus is likely to provide a much better stimulus to good ethics now than Platonic promises of disembodied life in heaven! News about the Kingdom is anyway the heart of the Gospel as Jesus preached it, and the spreading of that news to the far corners of the world is the task of the Church until the Messiah arrives (Matt. 24:14). “Fear not, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom,” he had said earlier (Luke 12:32).

I finish now where I began with the fact that Kingdom of God, the heart of the Gospel as Jesus preached it, concerns a yet future world-order initiated by the future coming of Jesus. It will be God’s revolutionary government. That message must grab us in the present and the spread of that message is the church’s concern and commission. In no text of the NT does anyone say that we are now reigning with Christ, much less that the dead are. Paul urged the Corinthians not to believe that they had already become kings (I Cor. 4:8), while he wished the time had come (which it had not) when they would indeed become kings together (ibid.) In Rom. 5:17, as also in 2 Tim. 2:12, the “co-ruling” word (“we shall reign”) is again deliberately in the future tense” We shall reign in life” — “life” being a synonym for the Kingdom (see Matt. 19:17, 23). As Eric Sauer says so well, “The Church is the official administrative staff, the ruling aristocracy of the coming Kingdom” (From Eternity to Eternity, 1993, p. 93). Moffat caught the spirit of this astonishing teaching in his translation of 1 Cor. 6:2: “Don’t you know that the saints are going to manage the world, and if the world is to come under your jurisdiction…The unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom” (1 Cor. 6:9). To inherit the Kingdom is parallel to managing the world with Christ. Why do Christians insist on obscuring the biblical hope with their vague talk about “going to heaven”? Jesus said that “the meek were going to inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5), and they will rule with him on the earth (Rev 5:10).

Is this not a beautiful, realistic, comforting and inspiring prospect for all believers — so easy and straightforward and asking only for a child-like acceptance on our part?

And in I Cor. 15:50 Paul says that apart from a new body at the resurrection it is impossible to inherit the Kingdom of God. Such is his fight with Gnostic attempts to move the future into the present and thus have no future. You can have June’s weather in April, but you cannot pretend that April is really June.

And finally, please may we do Luke the honor of noticing that early in Acts he sets up his scheme of redemption with precision. The spirit is to come in a few days (Acts 1:5) but the coming of the Kingdom is to be at a time unknown in the future (Acts 1: 6, 7). Therefore the Kingdom of God was not inaugurated at the ascension, though the spirit as a downpayment of that future kingdom was poured out. That fact is likely to have a profound effect on some received traditional understandings.

The following is a useful confirmatory quotation from a leading NT scholar (Edward Schweitzer, Mark, pp. 45-47):

The Kingdom of God. “When Jesus proclaims that the Kingdom of God is near, he is adopting a concept which was coined in the O.T...... [the Kingdom] is primarily God’s unchallenged sovereignty in the end-time (Isa. 52:7). Judaism spoke of the reign of God which comes after the annihilation of every foe and the end of all suffering.... In the NT the Kingdom of God is conceived, first of all, as something in the future (Mark 9:1, 47, 14:25, Mat. 13:41-43; 20:21; Luke 22:16, 18; 1 Cor. 15:50, et al. which comes from God (Mark 9:1; Mat. 6:10; Luke 17:20; 19:11. Therefore it is something that men can only wait for (Mark 15:43) [Had Joseph missed the boat?!], Matt. 6:33, receive Mark 10:15, cp. Luke 12:32 and inherit I Cor. 6:9; Gal 5:21; James 2:5, but he is not able to create it by himself.”