The "mystery" of the Kingdom

In Mark 4, Jesus teaches several parables about the coming Kingdom, beginning with the parable of the sower.

“As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. And He was saying to them, ‘To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God; but those who are outside get everything in parables, in order that while seeing, they may see and not perceive; and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, lest they return and be forgiven." Mark 4:10-12

Most teach that the “mystery” refers to God’s long-awaited Kingdom breaking into history with the ministry of Jesus and the giving of the spirit at Pentecost. Thus, in this view, there is a “now, yet not now” aspect to the Kingdom—or, as it is popularly called, “Already, Not Yet.”

On this view, the Kingdom started small and remains hidden at present, growing invisibly and spiritually among Christians, yet inevitably heading toward its so-called “consummation,” i.e., the visible, physical manifestation of the Kingdom and its King Jesus at his parousia.

This single truth is then said to be illustrated by Jesus in the parable of the sower and others like the mustard seed or leaven. They are taken to explain the “mystery” (especially to the disciples, who received private explanations) while concealing it from opponents. Thus, Isaiah’s prophecy about spiritual blindness is seen as fulfilled, and only a few receive the Kingdom “spiritually”—that is, in their hearts and in the church. Those who reject Jesus, on this reading, hear only stories without grasping the deeper truth.

According to this view, the belief of the Kingdom conquering the world gradually by inner transformation was utterly foreign to Jewish thought—far from what most of Jesus’ Jewish contemporaries expected—and has contributed to their continued rejection of Jesus as their promised Messiah to this day.

But the wrongheadedness of this view is already exposed by the misleading translation of the Greek word mystērion as “mystery.” The NET Bible footnote on verse 11 says:

“The traditional translation of this word, ‘mystery,’ is misleading to the modern English reader because it suggests a secret which people have tried to uncover but which they have failed to understand. The key term “secret” (mystērion) can mean either (1) a new revelation, or (2) a revealing interpretation of existing revelation, as in Daniel 2:17–23, 27–30. Jesus seems to be explaining how current events develop old promises, since the New Testament consistently links the events of Jesus’ ministry and message with old promises (Rom 1:1–4; Heb 1:1–2)."

In Ephesians 1, Paul defines that “secret” (not “mystery”) as God’s now-revealed Kingdom plan, first announced by Jesus (Mark 1:14–15; cp. Heb 2:3).

In Galatians 3:8, Paul says this Gospel was preached beforehand to Abraham as a promise involving property, progeny, and prosperity. This promise now extends to the inheritance of the whole world, exactly as Jesus promised in Matthew 5:5. But this will happen only at the physical, visible parousia of Jesus, when he comes back to establish the Kingdom on a renewed earth (Rev 5:10). At that time Jesus will begin to rule with the saints from all the ages into "the age of the ages" (Rev 11:15; cp. Dan. 7:18, 27).

So the “secret of the Kingdom” comes down to how God by the Hebrew patriarchs, the prophets of old, Jesus, and his apostles first defined the Kingdom of God:

• Genesis 17:4–8 God says to Abraham: “You will be the father of a multitude of nations.” “I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you.” “I will give to you and to your seed after you…all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession.”

• Daniel 2:44 sees a vision when “The God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever.”

• Psalm 2:6–8; Isaiah 9:6–7 God will appoint His uniquely chosen Son to rule the nations.

• Isaiah 11:1–10; Psalm 102 (LXX) describe that rule on a renewed earth.

• Matthew 19:27 Peter asks Jesus, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What reward will we get?” 28 Jesus replied, “I am telling you the truth: you who have followed me, when the world is reborn and the Son of Man will sit on his throne of glory, you too will sit on twelve thrones, governing the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left their homes, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children, or properties, because of me, will receive back a hundred times more, and will inherit the life of the age to come. But many will be last who are now first, and first who are now last.”

• 1Cor 6 Paul admonishes the church saying: "How dare any of you who has a dispute with another go to court before the unrighteous and not before the saints! 2 Do you not understand that the saints are going to govern and manage the world? If you are going to manage the world, are you not able to judge less important matters? 3 Do you not understand that we will be judging angels? Then why not matters related to this present life!  9 Do you not understand that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. 

Added to all this was the revelation that the prophesied, violent, militant Messianic king would first come to suffer and die for sins (as a lamb led to slaughter, Isa 53:7; Acts 8:32; cp. 1 Pet 1:19), and only after a long time would return to finally judge and kill the wicked and establish God’s Kingdom (cp. the parable of the nobleman in Luke 19). Thus, the real political Kingdom spoken of by the prophets will only be realized at his parousia, the second coming of Jesus.

All this should make clear several things about what the “secret” of the Kingdom is—and is not:

• The secret is not that the Kingdom has become a purely inner, invisible reality gradually taking over people through good ethics and morals only.

• The secret includes the revelation that the Messianic King must first suffer and die for sins, and only after an extended period of time return to judge the wicked and establish God’s political Kingdom on a renewed earth.

• The seed in the parable is not the Kingdom itself, but the word, the message or announcement about that coming Kingdom. As the saying goes, “Don’t confuse the message with the messenger.”

• This means that neither the person nor the ministry of Jesus, nor his apostles, are themselves “the Kingdom.”

• The church is not the Kingdom either. The church is the community of Christians who proclaim that the Kingdom is coming. The church was never sent to “build” or “spread” the Kingdom as if God’s Kingdom belonged to, or originated from, this world-system. As Jesus himself says to the politician Pilate in John 18:36:

“If my Kingdom did belong to this world-system, my servants would be fighting, so that I would not be handed over to the Jewish leaders. But as it is, my Kingdom does not have its origin from this system.”

Do not be deceived, my friends: the secret has been revealed as God’s ancient Kingdom promises of a real world government under His Messiah on a renewed earth. These secrets have been clarified and expanded by Jesus and his apostles—not as a present, hidden form of that Kingdom, as if it had already entered the world in advance of its King, Jesus the Messiah!