I. What is the Kingdom of God?

• Kingdom of God = Kingdom of the Lord = Kingdom of Heaven
  

• In the Hebrew the noun "kingdom" refers more to the fact or force of rule than to the territory governed.
  

• The Kingdom of God refers to as the realm in which God's reign is experienced. This realm is sometimes something future and sometimes present.
  

• The people of the kingdom (Rev. 1: 6; 5:10)--the Kingdom is a future realm inaugurated by the return of Christ. Entering God's Kingdom is the same as entering the eternal life of the Age to come (Matt. 19:16, 23-30; Mark 10:30).
  

• Many tax-collectors and harlots did enter the Kingdom of God (Matt. 21:31). Here the Kingdom is a present realm where humans may enjoy the blessing of God's rule. Also, the Kingdom is referred to as God's reign or rule that comes upon humans (Mark 10:15; Luke 11:20)
  

• C. H. Dodd: The kingdom of God is already but not yet.
  

• In the OT, the basic meaning of righteousness is that someone or something being proved to be true, or justified in a legal sense.
  

• In some places of the OT God's righteousness and salvation are identical (Isa. 51:1-3), and from exile onward God's righteousness became an object of hope (Jer. 23:5; Dan. 9:24).
  

• In the NT righteousness normally means life as God wants it and in relation to him.
  

Questions

1. How to enter the Kingdom of God?

2. In your personal life, do you feel the presence of the Kingdom of God (God's reign)?

3. When Jesus said, "The Kingdom is near," which meaning of Kingdom did he refer to?

4. How to fulfill the righteousness of God?

5. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Have you ever experienced that you still lack basic needs even though you put God first? If so, how can you resolve the difference between that verse and your experience?