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The Kingdom of God Now

The Kingdom of God Now

The Goal: Faithful Study

The Bible is the most influential book in history, yet it is also one of the most abused.

In our modern world, we often approach Scripture backward. We do not come to be challenged; we come to be confirmed. We bring our 21st-century worldviews, our politics, and our cultural assumptions to the text, scanning for verses that support what we already believe.

But this approach is dangerous. When we treat the Bible like a mirror to reflect our own opinions rather than a window into God’s truth, we drift into error.

This is the root of Eisegesis (reading into the text). It is the act of twisting Scripture to make it say what we want it to say, rather than submitting to what it actually says.

We see this most clearly in movements like the Prosperity Gospel, where the ancient text is distorted to promise modern financial wealth. By ignoring the historical context (the suffering of the early church) and the literary context (the metaphors of the Kingdom), the Bible is weaponized to serve human greed rather than God's glory.

But this isn't just a problem for TV & Internet preachers; it is a trap we all face. It is easy to open the Bible looking for arguments to support our politics, our lifestyle, or our biases.

Kingdom of God Now is dedicated to breaking this habit.

We believe that we must be faithful to the text's true meaning before we can apply it to our lives. We cannot truly live out the Scriptures until we understand what the authors actually wrote.

To do that, we use three essential tools: Exegesis, Hermeneutics, and The Lens of Jesus Christ.

Tool 1: Exegesis (The Foundation)

Pronounced: ek-suh-JEE-sis

The natural human tendency is Eisegesis—forcing our modern worldview onto the ancient text.

Exegesis is the exact opposite. It comes from a Greek word meaning "to lead out."

Think of Exegesis as respectful listening. Before we ask what a verse means to us, we must do the hard work of immersing ourselves in their world. We are trying to hear the text exactly as the original audience heard it. To do this, we investigate:

  • The Historical Setting: What was happening politically and geographically? (Are we in the Roman Empire? The Babylonian Exile? A fishing village in Galilee?)
  • The Literary Genre: Are we reading history, poetry, prophecy, or a letter? We cannot read a poem the same way we read a legal code. We must respect the rules of the literature to understand the author's intent.
  • The Cultural Customs: What were the social rules of that time regarding family, honor, hospitality, or law?
  • The Occasion: What specific situation caused this text to be written? Was it to correct an error, encourage a suffering group, or provide legal instruction?
  • The Original Hearing: How would a Hebrew shepherd or a Greek city-dweller have understood these specific words and metaphors?

We refuse to make the Bible say what we want it to say. We strive to discover what it actually says in its original context.

Tool 2: Hermeneutics (The Bridge)

Pronounced: her-muh-NOO-tiks

Once Exegesis tells us what the text meant then, we still have a problem: We don't live in ancient Israel or Rome. We live in the modern world.

Hermeneutics is the art of building a bridge between their world and ours. It is the disciplined process of filtering out what is cultural so we can apply what is eternal. To do this faithfully, we use specific filters:

  1. Cultural Expression vs. Universal Principle Some commands in the Bible are tied to specific cultural expressions (like Paul telling the Corinthians to "greet one another with a holy kiss"). Hermeneutics helps us strip away the cultural packaging (the kiss) to find the universal principle (warm, family-like affection) so we can obey the heart of the command today—perhaps with a handshake or a hug.
  2. Descriptive vs. Prescriptive Just because the Bible describes an event doesn't mean it prescribes it for us to follow.
    • Descriptive: The Bible describes King Solomon having hundreds of wives. That is a historical fact, not a moral command.
    • Prescriptive: The Bible prescribes that a marriage is between one man and one woman (Gen 2:24)—a design Jesus Himself reaffirmed in Matthew 19. Hermeneutics teaches us to tell the difference so we don't turn historical events into behavior mandates.
  3. The Theological Filter We ask: How does the New Covenant change this Old Covenant law? We don't sacrifice animals today not because we ignore the Old Testament, but because Hermeneutics teaches us that Jesus is the final sacrifice who fulfilled that specific law.

The Goal: We do not use Hermeneutics to find "loopholes" to avoid obeying God. We use it to ensure our obedience is accurate. We want to apply the Timeless Truth, not cultural expressions.

Tool 3: The Lens (Jesus as the Center)

Finally, and most importantly, we read all Scripture through the Lens of Jesus Christ.

In Luke 24, Jesus walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus and explained to them "what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." He taught them that the Bible is not a collection of disconnected stories; it is a single, unified narrative pointing to Him.

We believe that every page of the Bible ultimately leads us to the Cross and the Kingdom:

  • In the Old Testament: We see Him in shadows, types, and promises. The Law reveals our need for Him; the Prophets predict His coming; the Kings foreshadow His reign.
  • In the New Testament: We see the shadow become Substance. The types are fulfilled, and the Kingdom arrives in the person of Jesus.

We do not just study the Bible to learn about history; we study it to behold Him.

Our Core Theme: The Kingdom of God

Why call this site "Kingdom of God Now"? Because the Kingdom was the central obsession of Jesus’ life and ministry.

In the modern church, we often focus heavily on "personal salvation" or "going to heaven." While those are beautiful truths, they were not Jesus' primary headline. Jesus didn't arrive saying, "The bridge to heaven is ready." He arrived saying, "The Kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1:15).

It Was His Main Subject The "Kingdom" was not a side topic for Jesus; it was the topic.

  • He mentioned the "Kingdom" well over 100 times in the Gospels.
  • He spoke about it more than He spoke about "faith," "grace," "mercy," or even "love."
  • It was the very first thing He preached (Matt 4:17) and the very last thing He taught before ascending (Acts 1:3).

What is the Kingdom? The Kingdom of God is not a geographic place; it is a dynamic reign. It is the restoration of God's authority over the earth. Wherever Jesus went, He brought the Kingdom. When He healed the sick, cast out demons, and forgave sinners, He was demonstrating that God’s rule had arrived to push back the darkness.

The Tension: Already but Not Yet We live in a unique time that theologians call the "Already/Not Yet."

  • Already: The King has come. The victory was won at the Cross. The power of the Kingdom is available now to heal, save, and transform.
  • Not Yet: The world is still broken. We still face sickness, pain, and death.

Our goal is to live faithfully in this tension. We do not withdraw from the world; we bring the "Already" of God's presence into the "Not Yet" of the world's pain.

The Power: Word & Spirit

Finally, we believe that faithful Bible study is not just an intellectual exercise; it is a spiritual encounter. We hold to the "Empowered Evangelical" view—we are people of the Word and people of the Spirit.

We Believe in the Trinity We hold to the orthodox Christian belief in one God eternally existing in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit is Active "Now" We reject the idea that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit (healing, prophecy, deliverance) retired with the Apostles. Nowhere does Scripture state that the Holy Spirit ceased His work of setting captives free or healing the sick.

Furthermore, the Bible demonstrates that the power of the Spirit was never restricted to the Apostles alone; God worked signs and wonders through deacons and ordinary believers throughout the New Testament. The God who acted in the book of Acts is the same God acting today.

  • In History: The Spirit has been moving powerfully from the early church through every great awakening in history.
  • In Us: Just as we were once active participants in the Kingdom of Darkness, we are now called to be even more active agents in the Kingdom of God.

We do not study the Bible just to fill our heads with facts. We study to be equipped by the Spirit to "do the stuff"—to pray for the sick, welcome the broken, and live out the Kingdom of God now.

Why This Matters

When we skip these steps, we drift into error. But when we do the work, the fog clears. We stop being confused by ancient customs and start seeing the timeless heart of God.

This site is a collection of that faithful study. Each chapter analysis is designed to move you from History (The Context) to Theology (The Truth) to Doxology (The Worship). We want to move beyond just knowing about Him, to actually beholding Him.