One of Jesus’ self stated aims was to “preach the good news of the Kingdom of God”.  We read in the book of Acts that the Apostles preached about “The Kingdom and the Name of Jesus”.

The word “church” appears only twice in the gospels in the NIV translation. The phrase Kingdom of God / Kingdom of Heaven appears a combined total of eighty two times! It’s clear that Jesus spent far more time talking about the Kingdom than about the church, and in fact never states that one of His goals was to “establish the church” with the same clarity that He speaks about His task of preaching the Kingdom. Looking at the New Testament as a whole the word “church” appears around eighty times whilst the word “Kingdom” appears nearly 150 times. The clear foundational focus of Jesus teaching and of the writers of the New Testament was clearly the “Kingdom of God”

The church of today desperately needs to recognise that it is not the end, it is merely a means to the end. The end, the primary focus is the Kingdom of God, not the perpetuation of the church. The focus should not be on getting people “into church” or even on “getting people saved” (though that plays a part) it should be about living in the light of the Kingdom present, and with our eyes firmly fixed on the hope of “Kingdom come”; when God’s rule and reign is perfect and complete and every enemy, including death itself, is firmly defeated once and for all. (Rev 21, 22).

Proverbs tells us “without a vision the people perish”. We need to have our eyes open to clearly see the vision imparted to us by Jesus, the Apostles and the Prophets and shift our gaze away from man made, man focused visions. It’s not about programs; it ‘s not about buildings or numbers… it’s not even about the Church. It’s about the Kingdom of God – and only when that vision – God’s vision – becomes the vision of the church, will we truly begin to be all that He has called us to be.

Something inside of us knows that we were created for more than this life seems to offer. Every time we face the pain of loosing someone we love, every time disease, fate and death seem to win there is something inside of us that feels cheated. There is something deep within our souls that sees the pain, suffering and injustice in this present world and screams out “this is not right – this should not be”. God has “set eternity in the hearts of men”… we know we are made for more than this present world seems to bring. We were not made for pain, for mourning, crying and death.

The reality is: this world is not as God intended it to be. The reason for the suffering, injustice and death in this world is the selfishness of mankind. It was not God’s intention for us to live like this, and the world was not marred by these things when it was created. Creation in and of itself is not a bad thing. When God made the world He said that is was “good”. He never gave up on the world and – contrary to what often appears to be said by Christians – He is going to redeem and restore the entire creation. The Bible clearly speaks again and again of the “new heaven” and “new earth” that God is going to create. This message of inspiring hope culminates in the closing chapters of the book of Revelation where we read “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Rev 21:4) and that God has promised He will make “everything new”. He has set eternity in the hearts of men, we know that life is meant to be more than this. We see glimpses of what God intended, gazing on an unspoilt landscape, hearing the innocent laugher of children, watching a selfless act of love. Something in these things also calls to our souls – we know, deep inside, that these things are right – that this is how it is meant to be.

God’s plan for the world is to repair, to restore what was lost and to renew it removing every trace of the “old order”, breaking the curse we currently live under and creating the perfect world that was always meant to be. This is the Kingdom of God fully realised, “on earth as in heaven” – a world free from sin and sickness, death and disease… a world as it was always meant to be.

The core message that Jesus preached has largely been forgotten by post-modern evangelicalism. Scholars agree that “The Kingdom of God” was Jesus central message, and Jesus himself said that to “preach the good news of the Kingdom of God” was “why [he] was sent” (Luke 4:43). Why then do we hear so little about the Kingdom in churches these days? Why is this concept largely misunderstood by Christians? Part of the reason is because of a gradual detachment of the Christian message from it’s original Jewish roots and a cultural reinterpretation heavily influenced by Greek philosophy and the religion of the Roman Empire.

There is a great need for the Christian church to look afresh at the message of the Kingdom, removing our cultural spectacles and seeing clearly the core teachings of Jesus. The church will never really understand who she is, how she is meant to function and what she is called to do until she understands the true message of the Kingdom.