The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand: A Christmas Story

After Jesus was lifted up through the clouds into heaven, two angels appeared to the disciples, asking them, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?”

Advent is a time of two comings: remembering Christ’s first coming and looking forward to His second. Perhaps during this time, though, some of us have spent more time looking longingly–and impatiently–to Heaven thinking about His second coming as we sing, with Charles Wesley, “O come quickly, O come quickly, Alleluia! Come, Lord, come!” It is difficult to wait on God’s plan for saving the world–every single sinful bit of it–while experiencing its very fallen nature all around us.

As we move into Christmas, though, our attention naturally shifts from heaven and the future to the very real presence on earth of a baby in a manger, who is our Immanuel, “God with us.” This provides a good opportunity for us to seek comfort in the knowledge that, despite Christ’s ascension, we are not alone and God’s presence in Christ is manifest all around us today.

Perhaps the best starting place to see Christ manifested on earth is with His kingdom. After all, that is where He started. The first recorded words of Christ’s ministry were, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17 ESV). Indeed, the kingdom of heaven was perhaps the primary theme of Christ’s ministry on earth.

It was the focus of the first beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Throughout the Gospels, there are about 100 instances of Jesus using the terms “kingdom of heaven,” “kingdom of God,” or “gospel of the kingdom.” Most, if not all, of His parables are about the kingdom: “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins …” (Matthew 25:1 ESV).

Jesus’ focus on the kingdom didn’t even stop with his death. After His resurrection, “He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3 ESV). And the last words of Jesus’ ministry on earth, just like the first, were about the kingdom, as He responded to His disciples question, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6 ESV).

In addition to proclaiming the kingdom, Jesus proclaimed it was coming, and soon. He repeated several times, to first century Jews, that “the kingdom … is at hand.” In response to the disciples’ question, “when will these things (the destruction of the temple) be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age,” Christ answered, “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Matthew 24:33-34 ESV).

Let’s summarize all this. Jesus preached God’s kingdom, he taught that it would be coming soon, and would arrive in connection with the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem, His coming, and the beginning of a new age. Another way of understanding this comes from Peter Leithart: “The kingdom of God can be defined as the new world order that Christ established in His life, death, and resurrection and ascension, a new order of things that will be fully revealed and established only at Christ’s return.”

So how does all this help us see Christ with us on earth today?

I’d suggest the Bible’s teaching on the Kingdom of God points us to the fact that this Baby, whose birth we will soon celebrate, grew up to be a King who is ruling over us today in His kingdom that has already come and in which His will is being done to His glory and for the good of each of His loyal subjects. King Jesus is not far away, but near, and is guiding events in His kingdom so that it grows and will one day be filled with subjects that will number as many as the stars. Nothing done in his kingdom occurs without His hand upon it or without His guidance and care of His subjects.

Such a picture of Christ our King ruling over us should be of great comfort to us as we live in this fallen world. So let me explain a bit more why I think this is the case.

After Jesus finished talking with His disciples at the beginning of Acts,
“he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9 ESV). Where did He go? We don’t have to guess, because both Daniel and John tell us:

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom …” (Daniel 7:13-14 ESV).

“And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne” (Revelation 5:6-7).

As the disciples saw Jesus ascend through the clouds from earth, Daniel
(in a vision of future events from the heavenly perspective) saw Him coming through the clouds into Heaven and being given His dominion and kingdom in glory, while John saw Him, also from the heavenly perspective but in a vision of past events, and adds details of the event.

Scripture is perfectly clear about this: Christ took his place as our King on Ascension Day. This should be a source of great comfort to Christians. Yet we can find even more comfort from Daniel, John, and Paul in their descriptions of the nature of His reign:

“And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13–14 ESV).

“And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:8-10 ESV).

“Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him” (1 Corinthians 15:24–27 ESV).

All peoples, nations, and languages serve Christ in His kingdom and will do so forever. Those who seek to overthrow Him are failing today and will continue to fail until He has defeated them all. Helping Him do this are His loyal subjects who, by His grace, are in fact a kingdom themselves and even today bring worship to God and reign–imperfectly–over all the earth with Him.

This is not some far-off vision of the future. It is reality today, despite the culture falling around us, the broken relationships, the toil and strife,
the wars, and even the death. So as we celebrate the birth of the Baby Jesus over the coming days of Christmas–perhaps a bit impatiently at times, let this part of the story of the kingdom of God be a reminder and a comfort that we serve King Jesus, who rules over us each day and will never fail us.