Thought from today’s Bible reading from Matthew 3; Mark 1; Luke 3.
“Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1:14-15).
When Jesus began preaching, He declared that the kingdom was at hand. It is important to take note of what He said. To say that the kingdom was at hand meant that it was close, or that it would be established in the near future. He would later tell His disciples that it would be established within the lifetime of some of those who were present (Mark 9:1).
Despite these plain statements, many in the denominational world believe that the kingdom is yet in our future. They believe that the kingdom will be established when the Lord returns. This concept, often called premillennialism, is false. It contradicts the plain teaching of Scripture.
The premillennialist has the timing of the kingdom’s establishment wrong. But worse than that, he makes Jesus out to be a false prophet since He proclaimed the kingdom was at hand. Notice this simple test of a prophet given to the children of Israel:
“When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:22).
If one prophesied something that did not come to pass, the people were not to regard the word of that prophet. Likewise, if Jesus prophesied that the kingdom was at hand and we are still waiting for its arrival two thousand years later, then we have no reason to regard the word of Christ.
Error is dangerous, not just for the particular issue under consideration, but for the implications that it has on a host of other issues. Jesus said the kingdom was at hand. Therefore, instead of looking for it to come in the future, we ought to look for it within the pages of the New Testament.
Tomorrow’s reading: Matthew 4; Luke 4-5; John 1:15-51
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
