Limiting the kingdom of God to a future age is restrictive – especially when the presence of the kingdom is visible in physical healings, deliverance from unclean spirits, and the joy that comes when lives are changed by the Lord Jesus. We do not know which of these aspects of the kingdom Jesus shared with his disciples after rising from the dead, but the fact that he shared them over a forty-day period suggests that there is much more to the kingdom than we might think.
When the followers of Jesus were “scattered abroad” as the result of Saul’s intense persecution, they “preached the word” wherever they went (Acts 8:4). Arriving in the City of Samaria, Philip preached Christ to its residents, who “with one accord gave heed to the things which [he] spoke, hearing and seeing the miracles he did.”
What did they hear? They heard “unclean spirits, crying with loud voice” coming out of many that were possessed with them. What did they see? They saw “many healed who were paralyzed and lame” (verse 7). The result of Philip’s preaching of the kingdom? “There was great joy in that city”! The Samaritans believed Philip’s preaching of “the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, and were baptized, both men and women.” God confirmed his message with “miracles and signs”.
The believing Samaritans were set free from unclean spirits, healed in their bodies, and baptized in water. Hearing that the Samaritans had received the word of God, the elders in Jerusalem sent Peter and John to Samaria. On their arrival they prayed that those who had believed and had been baptized would receive the Holy Spirit – “for as yet he had fallen on none of them.”
There is an important distinction here between receiving the word and being baptized, and receiving the Holy Spirit. This is the sequence that Peter had preached in Jerusalem (Acts 2:38). Peter and John then laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
The distribution of the Holy Spirit throughout the book of Acts is never quite the same as it was in the first instance. On the day of Pentecost flames appeared on the heads of the disciples, and they all spoke in languages unknown to them but known to those who heard them.
In the house of Cornelius, the Spirit had fallen on all present (“as on us at the beginning,” as Peter reported) and they all spoke in tongues. (We are not told which languages, but no mention is made of interpretation.) At Ephesus the twelve who were baptized in the name of Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit “spoke in tongues and prophesied” (Acts 19:6). We are not told what took place when the Samaritans received the Spirit, but on seeing its effects, Simon the sorcerer tried to buy the right to dispense it.
It is apparent from the above events that the kingdom of God preached in Acts includes more than the heralding of a future kingdom which subdues all other kingdoms, one to be ruled by Israel’s promised, proven Messiah.
We have no explicit record of the content of Philip’s message. Luke writes of it as “the kingdom of God” – an expression that sums up what he preached and the effects it had on those who received his message. The kingdom of God is not just a “then” message or a “now” message — it is both!
We must therefore look elsewhere in Acts if we are to discover the content of “the things pertaining to the kingdom” (Acts 1:3). We do not have to go far, for in Acts chapter 8, Luke also records Philip’s Spirit-led encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch. When the eunuch voiced the difficulty he was having in identifying the subject of Isaiah 53, “Philip preached unto him Christ”.
This must have been in the form of an exposition, but it included the fact that Jesus was the Son of God; that belief in him and his message was necessary; and that baptism in water was required of all who believe. We know this because when the eunuch saw a pool of water he asked, “What hinders me from being baptized?” Philip’s answer was, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”
The eunuch’s response is revealing: “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” It is clear from this and other texts that the main elements in conversion are a belief that includes repentance, a willing obedience to be baptized in water, and the receiving – whether by unexpected outpouring or through laying on of hands – the gift of the Holy Spirit.
I believe that repentance is an integral part of conversion. I also believe that its requirement is stressed in Acts 2:38 because those to whom Peter preached would have had some involvement or influence in the crucifixion of Jesus. His words have a strong note of condemnation that is missing from his preaching elsewhere (e.g. in Pisidian Antioch, where the word “they” (meaning the Jews at Jerusalem) is mentioned seven times, in contradistinction to the word “you” (Acts 13:26-32).
The kingdom message in Paul’s mouth is one of fulfillment; e.g. that Christ’s resurrection from the dead is the fulfillment of all that the prophets had spoken. Less emphasized is the kingdom of God in a future era. It’s possible that this is because Paul, Philip and others expected it to appear in the short-term.
This emphasis on the actions of the Jews in Jerusalem and the crucifixion of Christ leads us elsewhere in our search for a more definitive description of the kingdom of God. Even Peter’s preaching in the house of Cornelius is retrospective – until his inclusive use of “whosoever” opens the hearts of those present to receive the Holy Spirit, who suddenly falls on them (Acts 10:36-38).
The fact that they were baptized in the Spirit without Peter expecting it – and certainly without him laying hands on them – was the main point in his later defense to the elders in Jerusalem. Their baptism in water was a response to a spiritual fait accompli.
The kingdom of God is mentioned in the future sense in Acts 14:22, but even here it is Paul’s stoning – a recent event – that forms the basis of his encouragement. The Christians of Lystra, Iconium and Antioch would face their own tests, but it would be Paul’s courage in returning to preach where he had been stoned that would encourage them.
Lest we identify the miracles that accompanied the preaching of the kingdom of God with the Jews alone, Luke records that “special miracles” took place after he separated from them after preaching the kingdom of God to them for three months. Gentiles, as well as Jews, received these miracles.
In his final message at Troas to the elders of Ephesus, Paul recapitulates what he taught during two-and-a-half years in their city, speaking of it in various ways. Paul had preached Jesus – even the vagabond sons of Sceva testified to that. Paul’s message, which had been to Jews and Greeks, both privately and publicly, had been “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21)
Paul refers to his ministry as a testimony, and as “the gospel of the grace of God.” These, and no doubt other things, were included in his preaching among them of the kingdom of God (Acts 20:25).
Paul’s addresses to the Sanhedrin, governors Felix and Festus, and King Agrippa were not of the future kingdom per se but of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, which he called “the hope of Israel”. We might say that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was the necessary precursor to the kingdom, but the absence of any specific mention of the future kingdom in these addresses comes as something of a surprise.
Paul spoke of “the hope of Israel” when first greeting the Jewish leaders in Rome, and to them later “expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and the prophets, from morning till evening” (Acts 28:20, 23). Significantly, the last we read of Paul in Acts is of him “preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things that concern the Lord Jesus Christ…”
The two subjects are not mutually exclusive but mutually inclusive. The kingdom of God and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ are virtually inseparable, for without the King there can be no kingdom. If Luke, who accompanied Paul, could speak of the kingdom as comprising both, then surely we can also.
Nor can we exclude the signs and wonders, miracles of healing, screaming unclean spirits, baptisms in water, cities full of joyful new believers, expositions of Christ in prophecy, special miracles, speaking in unknown tongues, and prophesying, and, not least, sudden and unexpected outpourings of the Spirit of God.
Any teaching or preaching of the kingdom of God that portrays it as less than the sum of many parts builds a narrow platform of a few planks, rather than a more scriptural and more stable one of many planks.
So, to sum up: while looking for the kingdom which is to come, we should preach its present reality. Even if it’s just a little of what we can expect when Jesus arrives, its power and its amazing effects on those who receive it are probably as much as our mortal bodies can cope with!