Problem of the Kingdom of God

A Systems Analysis Solution

Harold R. Booher, Ph.D.

Chapter 6: Is the Kingdom the Millennium?

There is certainly some portion of the kingdom that applies to the millennium. The issue however is whether there is a pre-advent portion of the kingdom before the post-advent millennium. Perhaps the best way to address this question is to look at major prophecies from both testaments and see how many of them not yet addressed can be adequately fulfilled in the post-advent millennium. 

Prophecies Defining 18 Special Characteristics of the Future Kingdom

Table 6.1 lists eighteen major prophecies that have not been fulfilled in the past and (with a couple of possible exceptions) are not being fulfilled today.  What is interesting for this discussion is that only five of the major prophecies for the future could readily be assigned to the millennium.  Another six could possibly fit the millennium. That leaves seven that arguably will not be fulfilled during the millennium.  These seven prophecies appear to need a pre-advent dispensation if they are ever to be fulfilled.  Table 6.2 shows not only the seven non-millennial prophecies would fit a pre-millennial period but that nine of the millennial ten could fit a pre-advent period just as well.  That one exception is Jesus’ personal presence, which is required to start the millennium.

Table 6.1 Listing of key characteristics when God assumes sovereignty over world

Table 6.2.  Unique Characteristics of a Pre-Advent Dispensation

                                   
1. Nations governed by God:  “Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!  For You shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations on earth.” (Psa. 67:4) This Psalm outlines the central hope of the world today for the time when God brings in his kingdom on earth.  God himself will be the judge of all people and he himself will govern all the nations on earth.  This prediction does not however distinguish between a pre-advent dispensation and the millennium.  It could be fulfilled with either or both.

2-4. Israel restored:  There are three key predictions that must be fulfilled at the start of the restoration of Israel.  They first must be regathered.  Ezekiel and Jeremiah provide some of the clearest projections of that great event.  As one example from Ezekiel the prophet as he speaks for God:  “Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel” (Ezek.11:17).

            Second, the temple must be rebuilt. The prophet Amos recites his vision from the Lord who said: “On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old;” (Amos 9:11).

            Third, David must be returned to the throne as king of Israel.1  The Lord said to Jeremiah “For it shall come to pass on that day ….they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them” (Jer. 30: 8-9).  Similarly God said through Ezekiel:  “I will establish one shepherd over them and he shall feed them—My servant David. …My servant David [will be] a prince among them. … David my servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them” (Ezek 34:23-24; 37:24).2 Finally God speaks of David’s future through the prophet Hosea: “Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days” (Hosea 3:4,5).
           
Of these three predictions only “David as the king of the restored nation Israel” cannot happen during the millennium.  That is simply because during the millennium, Jesus reigns as king on David’s throne (Rev 20:4; Luke 1:31-33). There cannot be two Davidic kings ruling on David’s throne at the same time. Pentecost argues for a literal fulfillment of the Davidic covenant and since it has not yet happened, “Christ will fulfill the promise of His return and righteous reign on earth during the Millennium, His yet future thousand-year reign on David’s throne.”3 It is because the prediction of David himself on the throne cannot possibly be true during the millennium that many writers reinterpret verses about David’s personal future to be actually the Son of David; or Christ as the ruler; leaving the real David with no special role for any part of the future kingdom.  The twelve disciples are to be judges of the twelve tribes of Israel, but David has no future to match the predictions like those above, if there is no pre-advent dispensation.4 

5. Elijah returns:  The Old Testament ends with the prediction that Elijah will return and “restore all things” and that this will occur ”before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.” (Matt. 17:11; Mal. 4:5). As with the regathering of Israel and the rebuilding the temple, this prediction has not come to pass, but possibly could be an event early in the millennium. The problem with the millennium possibility is there is very little time to accomplish Elijah’s work of “turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers” (Mal 4:6).5  

6. Peace on earth – end of wars:  A condition on earth that all people pray “God speed the day” is the promise of peace with the ending of wars among nations. From the prophecy of Isaiah comes the familiar promise of a time when warfare will be ended:  “It shall come to pass in the last days … He shall judge among the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isa. 2:1,4). We would expect this to be a condition of God’s rule whether in a pre-advent kingdom or during the millennium.

7. Good health for all participants: When Jesus started his ministry the first thing he did when preaching the kingdom of God was to heal the listeners (Matt. 4:23-24).  Healing the brokenhearted and the blind was part of the initiating message of his claim to be fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah (Luke 4:18).  Passages from Psalms and Isaiah about good health in the kingdom will be fulfilled in such a way that “the inhabitant will not say, ‘I am sick” (Isa. 33:24). As with peace on earth, good health should be universal in any future kingdom. Again this will be a condition whether in a pre or post-advent kingdom.

8. Environmental changes, natural disasters eliminated:  Isaiah and the Psalms predict that the earth will be a much less violent and unforgiving environment when God takes control.  The current natural order of “survival of the fittest” will no longer be in effect. “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,… the lion shall eat straw like the ox, … and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain” (Isa. 11:6-9).  People should not go hungry for lack of food for “Then the earth shall yield her increase; God our own God shall bless us” (Ps. 67:6) nor die of thirst because “I will open rivers in desolate heights .. and the dry lands springs of water” (Isa. 41:18). The curse on the earth shall be lifted. “Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree; and instead of the breir shall come up the myrtle tree” (Isa. 55:13). But a more hospitable natural environment under God’s manifest kingdom would be expected to be as true in the millennium as any pre-advent kingdom period.

9. Educational program:  God’s program for teaching us his ways and how to walk in them is the strongest argument that convinced me the next great act of God is to educate, not to punish the greater part of the world and its inhabitants.  We all expect good health, good environment, and peace when the kingdom comes. For a while at least it appears these benefits will be provided for the wicked as well as the good. There is much scripture that reminds us that God first shows patience and softness in learning about his ways. Only after nearly all the ancient world had fallen into hopeless wickedness, did God bring the flood.  Only after less than ten righteous people could be found in Sodom and Gomorrah, did God bring fire and brimstone.  When condemned Nineveh listened to Jonah and repented, God spared the city. When Elijah complained to God, He appeared not in a strong wind, not in an earthquake, not in a fire, but in “a still small voice.” 

God is patient and forgiving, especially to his chosen nation.  In Hosea, God likens Israel to a wife who is a whore. And although she has taken many lovers, and God has let her go her way, He promises there will come a day that rather than punishing her, he will come a wooing her back to Him. “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.” (Hosea 2:14)

God’s school is the foremost promise when He establishes the new covenant announced by Jeremiah:

Behold, the days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah … I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts …No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother, saying “Know the Lord,” for they all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord (Jer. 31:31-34).

And if we agree that the time of the introduction of the new covenant is when God assumes sovereignty over the nations through His son, Jesus Christ then we need to understand that God intends it to be introduced quietly, gently, and convincingly. No place is this more graphically portrayed than where Jesus repeats Isaiah’s prophecy of how He will bring kingdom justice upon the nations. “He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break and smoking flax He will not quince, till He brings forth justice to victory…” (Isaiah 42:1-4; Matt. 12:20).  How different this is from the second coming when Jesus comes in “with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God” (I Thess. 4:16). The educational program needs to be introduced before Jesus comes again, because at that time, when He “is revealed from Heaven,” He will be seen “with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on all those who know not God” (II Thess.1:7-8).  The new covenant with Israel starts with God peacefully bringing justice to the world through His educational program. Teaching is what is promised and learning is what is needed well before Jesus returns personally to the earth  

10. Administration of justice rather than grace: During the current dispensation of grace we have been living with the freedom to be as wicked or as good as we choose, and no heavenly punishment or reward will be evident for our behavior. When grace is God’s response to evil, evil will not correct itself. “Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness” (Isa 26:10). But when God brings in His kingdom everyone will see God’s judgments correcting wrongdoing and bringing justice to the oppressed. “You caused judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared and was still, when God arose to judgment, to deliver all the oppressed of the earth.” (Ps 76:8-9).  God’s judgments exercised throughout the earth would be a welcome sight to anyone unwillingly held hostage by a world order governed by wealth, power, and pleasure. Although God’s judgments upon the earth will end the dispensation of grace, it is a major prophecy that could possibly apply as well to the millennium as to a pre-advent kingdom.

11. Participants both living and dead: Both Testaments predict the kingdom will be inhabited with people living at the time the kingdom appears and that there will be people resurrected from the dead to live in it as well.  From Ezekiel’s prophecy of “dry bones will live” we read: ”Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.” And although Israel might say, “Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, we ourselves are cut off” Ezekiel is to prophesy to them “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel” (Eze.37:12-14). Paul calls out “the kingdom” (and “his appearing”) as the time when Christ “will judge the living and the dead” (II Timothy 4:1).  Paul also mentions in conjunction with his famous “rapture” verse6 a resurrection of the dead upon his second coming (I Thess 4:15-17).  The determination of the order of resurrections and who will be resurrected is a complex topic in itself, and will be discussed more fully in the last chapter, but for this exercise it is clear that at least some who are dead will be resurrected at a time when others are living.  Resurrection events in general do not discriminate between a pre-advent kingdom and the start of the millennium, and can be expected to appear in both.
 
12. Some wicked will hide among the righteous: One of the clearest parables given by Jesus is the “tares among the wheat” because Jesus himself provides the interpretation.A critical portion of the parable aids our understanding as to when the kingdom will come
 
Parable: The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. (Matt. 13:24-25)

Interpretation: He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are children (sons) of the kingdom. The tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil. (Matt. 13:38)

There are three possibilities to consider in determining when this prophecy is best applied.  The first might be today during the current era of Christianity. Perhaps Jesus was referring to the wicked ones of today who must be purged before the second coming. This is Pentecost’s position. Pentecost notes that this parable is particularly important for showing conditions that must happen before the millennium. It shows a period when the wicked will be indistinguishable from the righteous.

Since Satan is an imitator, the weeds he sows bear a striking resemblance to the real thing; and it is not possible until the harvest to distinguish between the wheat and the weeds.”7

This could hardly be after Christ has appeared on earth the second time when the earth is already cleansed. It must be before.  Others, however, argue that Jesus was referring to sometime after He sets up his rule on earth. Sellers states:

[S]ince this parable is in fact prophecy, it can never have any fulfillment until such time as the world has been thoroughly purged of tares, then planted with wheat, following this an oversowing of the wheat with tares while men drowse.8 

Since the second coming would thoroughly purge the world of the existing weeds, perhaps this is the period Jesus is referring to. The third possibility could be sometime between the first two in a pre-advent period.

A close examination of this parable shows it could only be the third.  The first is trite and the second impossible. According to Sellers, trying to make this parable apply today is meaningless:

Since the days of Cain there has never been a time when Satan did not have his sons upon the earth, planted, rooted, established, and grown. … Therefore, any idea of Satan slipping in while men are asleep and sowing tares among the wheat seems almost preposterous in view of the world being already filled with such weeds.9

As far as it happening during the millennium; this would mean after the millennium started, the world purged of the wicked, and started fresh, that Satan would slip in again and sow some new weeds among the wheat. But this becomes impossible for the simple fact that Satan is bound for the 1000 years (Isa. 14:15; Rev. 20:2-3).  This leaves only some period between the current era and the millennium for this parable to make sense.10 Following directly from Jesus’ interpretation, Sellers explains:

The sower is the Son of man, the field is the world, the good seed are the sons [children] of the kingdom… Before the good seed, the sons of the kingdom, can be planted in this world, the field must first be cleared. … The wheat is not sown in a tare field. The tares are sown in a wheat field. There has been nothing in the past, and there is nothing in the present that corresponds to the truth of this parable.11

Only the third possibility, a pre-advent (futurist pre-millennial) kingdom fits the tares among the wheat parable.12

 13. Duration other than 1000 years: If prophecy speaks of a kingdom dispensation being something other than 1000 years in length, it seems reasonable that such a period would not fall into the millennium, which by definition is 1000 years.  Daniel 9:24 is such a prophecy. “Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.” Some studies conclude that Daniel’s 70 weeks equates in prophecy language to 70 x 7 or 490 years. Many interpreters have no problem with Daniel’s last week being the tribulation period, especially since Jesus makes this connection in Matthew 24:15.13 This makes the previous 69 weeks (483 years) come before the tribulation. Historically those items listed by Daniel have not been accomplished and are not being accomplished today. The best place for Daniel’s 70 weeks is the pre-advent kingdom.

14. Plowshares to swords:  The prophet Joel makes one of the most unusual prophecies in the Bible. The exact reverse of Isaiah 2:4 where swords are beat into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks to end war, Joel predicts the time when the people do the opposite and prepare for war.  “Proclaim this among the nations: ‘Prepare for war! … Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; …’” (Joel 3:9-10).14  For nations to call for war is hardly unusual in the world’s history. So, if Joel’s message is to announce the obvious, then it is hardly prophetic. Nations have always prepared for war. If his command to get ready for battle is something special, say applying only to Israel after they have been at peace, why then is Joel’s prophecy to be proclaimed to all nations, not just to Israel?  This prophecy is clearly one intended to contrast with the earlier one in Isaiah, but it is trivial in comparison with Isaiah if it is only to urge Israel to more war, after it has been doing little else but war.  That is what makes Isaiah’s prophecy so encouraging. It predicts a time unlike the present.  Similarly what would make Joel’s prophecy special would be for it to match Jesus’ predictions of the times just before His second coming.  If the beginning of the pre-advent kingdom can be identified with Isaiah’s ending of war; then Joel’s prophecy would logically apply to the end of the pre-advent kingdom; in preparation for the period of testing revealed by Jesus in Matthew 24. 

15. Christ rules from heaven:  Prophecy indicates that there will be a period when the Lord will rule His kingdom from heaven.  “The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all” (Psa 103:19).  When He rules from heaven, earth is His footstool. “Thus says the Lord: ‘Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool’” (Isa. 66:1; Acts 7:49).  Sellers distinguishes the Day of Christ (Phil. 1:6; 2:16) from the Day of the Lord (Joel 1:15, 2:1-11; II Thess. 2:2)15 and it is during the Day of Christ ruling from heaven that earth is His footstool. During the Day of the Lord, He will personally rule on earth.  Since He does not rule from heaven now, a pre-advent kingdom would be the time for Christ to rule from heaven.   

16. Matthews beginning of sorrows – the tribulation:  - In Matthew 24: 3-14 when the Lord was asked about the sign of His coming (parousia) Jesus responded with signs of the “beginning of sorrows” including resurgence of false prophets, wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. Such sorrows are hardly significant signs for today. All these causes for sorrow have been going on for thousands of years. These indications of the end would be significant only after a period when there were no wars, no famines, no earthquakes. Jesus suggests these signs are associated with the ‘abomination of desolation’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet,” and which are commonly associated with “the tribulation.” The tribulation is a time of testing for “those who dwell upon the earth” (Rev. 3-10); “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7); and “the Valley of Achor” (Hos 2:15)16  This period is also identified as “last days” before the Lord comes. (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17).  Matthew 24 makes it clear that the tribulation period precedes and ushers in the millennium. But it is also clear that the tribulation period is something that comes at the end of a period when there has been peace or earth and nature has not been violent. Given the link to Daniel’s prophecy by Jesus (v 15) it would not be unreasonable to speculate that this period of peace on earth could be on the order of 500 years.

17. Paul’s “last days:” In II Timothy 3:1-8 Paul describes “perilous times” characterized by “twenty-one social conditions that make up the syndrome of the last days.”17 Of all the “last days” predicted in the Bible these are the most characteristic of the present era.  While such characteristics as “lovers of money,” “boasters,” “proud,” are not descriptive of the worst of times or the wickedest of people, they do (in combination with the other signs) describe conditions easily identified with the current dispensation throughout the Christian world. Such signs as “lovers of themselves,” “disobedient to parents,” “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,” “having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof,” and “always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of truth,” seem to have a special relevance for Christians at the beginning of the 21st century as God is redefined by scholars of religion in the image of man and technology allows greater economic and communications benefits worldwide.  For these benefits in technology combined with democratization and Christianizing the world also provide greater access to self-pleasures and increased learning of everything, except perhaps the truth about God. While one cannot be dogmatic at attributing these last days to what we see in the world today, it is significant that none of these signs is suggestive of wars, famines, pestilences, or earthquakes which we do see today. (see 16 above) In fact if the world were to become war free, and no one were sick or hungry, it is doubtful that the sinful human characteristics cited by Paul would decrease in the least.  The last days in II Timothy describe the end of the dispensation of grace, not the beginning of the tribulation.

18. Jesus’ Personal Presence:  This is the only prophecy of the eighteen examined that can apply only to the millennium.  Both Jesus and Paul provide prophecy about the actual second advent of Christ.  In Matthew 24:29-31 we read Jesus telling the disciples

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Paul adds some information about the second coming in his first letter to the Thessalonians:

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will arise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (I Thess. 4:16-17).

This completes the comparative analysis of how well the eighteen major prophecies of the manifest kingdom fit into the millennium. From an examination of many of the critical events predicted for the kingdom of God, it appears quite clear that fitting them all into the millennium is illogical and unnecessary to reconcile scripture. Although several of the prophecies might likely carry over into the millennium (good health, peace from wars, non-violent natural environment, resurrections of the dead.) such conditions need not start with the millennium.  More damaging to the millennium kingdom view, however is the large number of prophecies that seem impossible to happen if they wait for the millennium (God’s educational program, David on the throne of Israel, the wicked hiding among the good) combined with those that are inconsistent with other prophecies (Isaiah’s swords into plowshares verses Joel’s plowshares into swords; Paul’s “last days” versus Matthew’s “days of tribulation;” Christ’s rule from heaven versus his rule on earth; duration 1000 years versus Daniel’s 480 years). But the problem of not being able to fit all these major prophecies into the millennium goes away if there is a relatively long pre-advent kingdom prior to the tribulation and millennium.  The details of how all the prophecies fit the pre-advent kingdom are presented in Chapter 7.

Are there Dual Kingdoms?

Earlier we argued that Interpretation IV (dual kingdoms) depends on both the spiritual kingdom now and the millennial kingdom interpretations being true. Since neither the kingdom now nor the kingdom millennium view is supported well under our analysis we conclude that the dual kingdom view should be eliminated. While logically no more need be said, the dual kingdoms model is so engrained in scholarly dispensationalist literature that some additional comments seem in order.  For example the dual kingdoms interpretation is greatly weakened by its dependence on a spiritual kingdom now.  Pentecost, who was identified at the beginning of the chapter as having one of the two most well developed dispensationalist kingdom models, provides some of the strongest reasons to expect a future kingdom on earth with a major role for the nation Israel, but is hampered by the need to call the present dispensation, a kingdom also.  Certainly one form of the kingdom logically would be preferred over two, if one is sufficient to fulfill the scriptural requirements. However, even if Pentecost were to eliminate the spiritual kingdom, his future earthly kingdom is also weak by having nearly everything future put into the millennium of Revelation 20.  Pentecost himself has problems with this compression of prophecies fulfillment and must put at least some events into a pre-advent period.18 Pentecost and Sellers part ways from the beginning of the gospel period in defining characteristics of the kingdom.  Jesus proclaimed the literal kingdom would come with power, (Mark 9:1) and that the disciples would see such a kingdom in their lifetimes (Mark 9:1; Matt.16:28; Luke 9:27).  This is an important argument for discriminating the two options, because Pentecost does not account for the display of power shown during the gospels and the Acts period.  Pentecost must view everything in terms of the spiritual kingdom from the time of Christ through the Acts until now, with anything like a “reign” with power happening in the future.  The Sellers view is that the kingdom did start with power beginning with Christ’s resurrection and ascension and proceeded to grow in power during the Acts period (cf. Acts 1:3). But it is not operating with power now and will not until the kingdom reappears in a much more mature form.  More examples of the deficiencies of the dual kingdom interpretation will be provided in the next chapter by way of contrasting aspects of Pentecost and Sellers positions as we define the process, order and characteristics of the pre-advent kingdom.

Summary of the Analysis of the Four Strong Views

The previous chapters describe an analysis of the major views of the kingdom of God in the attempt to determine what the kingdom of God means in scripture. From the outset it is recognized that although many Christian scholars agree that the kingdom of God is the integrating theme of the Bible none agrees on any of the central parameters that would give us a clear understanding of the kingdom. What are its distinguishing characteristics; when will it come; has it come already; who will be in it; where will it be - on earth; within us; in heaven?  A systems analysis was conducted assuming the dispensational approach as a central principle.  From the literature on the kingdom of God, seven general views on interpreting the kingdom were identified. A matrix analysis of ten historical-grammatical facts fundamental to any view regarding the kingdom of God was conducted for the seven views. Fundamental facts on the kingdom include such items as the meaning of a kingdom, the expectations of Old Testament prophets and people at the time of Jesus, and certain statements and parables regarding the kingdom made by Jesus.  When the seven views were compared with the ten facts, three general views, the kingdom of God is heaven, the kingdom of God is Christ, and the kingdom of God is the organized church were eliminated.  Kingdom facts and scriptural support were essentially non-existent for these views. Four views were sufficiently strong based on their correlation with Biblical facts to warrant further consideration. These were:

I.    Spiritual kingdom now
II.   Millennial kingdom starting with Christ’s second coming
III.  Pre-advent kingdom appearing between current era and Christ’s second coming
IV. Both a spiritual kingdom now and a national, material kingdom starting with Christ’s second coming.

The four strong views were examined at a much deeper level of analysis. The more rigorous kingdom analysis comprised comparative analysis of the views through: a.) Interpretation of the 135 occurrences of the “kingdom of God” in the New Testament, and b.) Evaluation of “likely” fulfillment for eighteen major prophecies on the kingdom of God.
The spiritual kingdom interpretation was eliminated after an examination of all the occurrences of the kingdom of God in the New Testament.  Fully 90 percent of the statements on the kingdom of God fit the future on earth concept in some way, whereas none fit only the kingdom now concept.   Even in Luke 17:20-21 (the cornerstone of the “within you” idea) Jesus is shown answering a question about how people will observe the kingdom “when it comes,” not something that means a spiritual kingdom in the here and now. When one combines the weak scriptural evidence with such problems as “Christ is not now reigning,” or that “there has been no victory over evil;” the spiritual “kingdom now” idea should be removed as a serious candidate for the biblical kingdom of God. The primary reason the spiritual kingdom continues to be so widely accepted by Christians is that such a view often holds the key for many to the importance of the Church to God’s kingdom plan.  This belief is erroneous, but is outside the scope of this book.

The millennium kingdom on earth interpretation for most future events was also eliminated after examining eighteen major prophetic characteristics expected when God assumes sovereignty over the world.  Only five of the major prophecies for the future could readily be assigned to the millennium and another six could possibly fit the millennium. However seven prophecies were argued as not capable of being fulfilled during the millennium. These seven prophecies appear to need a pre-advent dispensation if they are ever to be fulfilled. Further analysis of the eleven prophetic characteristics that could apply to the millennium revealed that ten of these prophecies could also fit a pre-millennial period.  Therefore only a pre-advent kingdom followed by the millennium could provide a basis for all prophecies to be fulfilled.

The dual kingdoms view (spiritual kingdom now and earthly material kingdom in the future) was eliminated on the basis that it combines the errors of both the individual kingdom interpretations discredited by our systems analysis.  Although the dual kingdoms view is popular among dispensationalists; it is a model based on two major errors in its assumptions about kingdom prophecy and the role of the church. In summary, of all the views considered for the kingdom of God, only one – a pre-advent kingdom appearing between current era and Christ’s second coming – appears plausible to reconcile Christ’s teachings and other scriptural prophecy concerning the future manifest kingdom.