Category: Matthew

Imagine two scenarios.

Scenario one:  I never talk to Bethany in private.  She tries to talk with me but I am never interested, until we get in public.  When other eyes are looking besides her own, and when other ears are listening besides her own then I seem greatly interested in her.  Why the difference?  The conversation that seems to be about her, isn’t about her, it’s about me.  It’s about putting on a show, putting up a façade to give an impression.

Scenario two:  I am away on a mission trip.  I hardly ever call Bethany until the last couple of days.  Those conversations are liberally littered with “I love yous.”  In our final conversation the day before I arrive I mention to her how horrible the food has been and how wonderful it would be if she would meet me at the airport with a Webber’s Root Beer and Burger.  She does not bring one, perhaps she is planning that we all go there as a family.  I am furious upon seeing her without the root beer and burger.   She then realizes that “all the right words”  that I said previous in our conversations were only empty phrases. The conversation wasn’t about how much I loved her, but about how much I loved root beer; she was simply the means to the end. I was not after her heart, I was after beverage and sustenance.

Scenario one is conversing like a Pharisee, scenario two is conversing like a pagan.  Prayer is dangerous!  The other acts of piety dealt with in 6:1-18 receive only one warning, prayer receives two.  The methods are not what is being contrasted here.  If you read this passage and only change your method, it is as if you put a bandage on your arm to deal with profuse internal bleeding.

In scenario one, now dealing with our text, vv. 5-6, the issue isn’t posture; for instance, the tax collector as well as the Pharisee pray standing in Luke 18:9-14.  The issue isn’t public prayer as opposed to private prayer; there are numerous examples of public prayer that are blessed by God in scripture.  The issue is praying in public to be seen and praised by others.  The issue is prayer for publicity, not prayer in public.  The issue isn’t the method, but the motive.

In scenario two, vv. 7-8, the issue isn’t repetition.  Jesus would repeat the same prayer in Gethsemane.  The pagan worshipper thought he had to appease or flatter the gods to get what he wanted.  He would use certain formulas so that the gods would listen.  The reason Christians are not to pray in this way is theological; we have a loving omniscient Father.  The issue here is not method either, it is the mindset with which we come to prayer.  Theology shapes your prayers profoundly, I would say more than anything.

If you want to grow in prayer don’t look for new technique, look to your God.  Ever more important than method is your motive and mindset.

Too often when we struggle with prayer we focus on the wrong things.  We focus on praying better instead of focusing on knowing better the one to whom we pray.  And we focus on our need for discipline rather than our need for God.  – Kevin DeYoung

Perhaps we can learn how to give by observing a certain hypocrite and thinking through why his giving in particular is especially ridiculous.  R.W. Glenn tells of a certain man who brought in eight figures yet consistently boasted of his giving.  He would speak of how he gave a thousand dollars to this charity and to that cause.  His giving is repulsive first because as we see in our text, it is not about God, it is not even about others, it is about self glorification.  But secondly it is ridiculous because it’s nothing, he is giving away pennies.  We think it would be easy to give away a few thousand if you posses such wealth.  Here, I think is where we can learn from the hypocrite.

Giving liberally might be thought to be easier in proportion to the wealth one already possesses, but wouldn’t it be equally true, no, more true, that it would be even easier to give in proportion to the reward one expects to receive for giving.  If I am told I will be given one hundred dollars for every Washington that I give away…

For the Christian both truths allow him to be liberally generous.  He is already immeasurably rich in Christ, and He is promised yet more for giving in a way that shows His devotion to God.  Focusing on the reward makes our giving unselfconscious.  We don’t boast because we don’t think ourselves to be giving but receiving.  Let’s focus on the scandal of the reward and the nature of the reward and see how it works toward this end.

First the very idea of reward is scandalous; how can God reward the spiritually bankrupt?  How can the poor in spirit merit anything?  They can’t!  Even when we do all that we should have done, we have only done that which was our duty (Luke 17:7-10).  Consider three further reasons why the idea of reward is scandalous.

1.  All our acts, even our best acts are stained, contaminated with sin.  They are acceptable only in Christ.  John Owen wisely wrote,

Believers obey Christ as the one by whom our obedience is accepted by God.  Believers know all their duties are weak, imperfect, and unable to abide in God’s presence.  Therefore they look to Christ as the one who bears the iniquity of their holy things, who adds incense to their prayers, gathers out all the weeds from their duties and makes them acceptable to God.

2.  The reward is immeasurably disproportionate to the service rendered.  This is a repeated motif through the gospels of which Matthew 19:29 is just one example.

3.  Our good deeds are not only accepted only in Christ, they are also only through and because of Christ.  God rewards his own activity in us (Hebrews 13:20-21, Philippians 2:12-13).  Commenting on 2 Corinthians 9:8 John Pipers says, “Good deeds do not pay back grace, they borrow more grace.”

The scandal of reward is the scandal of the gospel all over again, the gift that keeps on giving.  God’s grace moves us to be gracious.  But the most liberating freedom to give comes in contemplating what He has given us.  What is the nature of the reward?  Notice that Jesus does not go into spelling out exactly what the reward is.  Jesus does not say, “Give and you will have land and great wealth in heaven.”  If this were the case giving would be self-serving and not God-glorifying.  I think the reason the reward is not elaborated is because what moves us to give here is not what is given, but Who is giving.  In contrast to the hypocrite who gives to hear the praise of others, the Christian gives to hear the praise of His Father.  God is the reward.

So then the key to giving unselfconsciously is to believe God’s promises and be enthralled with the reward.

The engaged young man working two jobs to buy a wedding ring doesn’t think himself to be doing anything, why?  Because he is getting the bride.  He doesn’t draw attention to it, doesn’t manipulate her with it, he is in awe that she graciously said yes, and wants to put a rock on her finger that says, “mine!”  She is honored by his service and brags to others of it, but he doesn’t.  The reward is incredibly disproportionate to the service rendered.

But he is a man.  And there are times when he wonders if all this hard labor is worth it all.  How can he gain gusto to work with joy again?  By looking at her picture, conversing with her, dreaming of her, or seeing her.

If you want to give liberally and unselfconsciously think on your God, know His majesty, and remind yourself of the gospel and His promises.  Go to the Bible and be in awe that in Christ you can say, “He is mine!”  Do this and you will think all your meager giving ridiculous.

Jesus in these six antithesis is not negating the law, but explicating it. He isn’t countering the law, but the Pharisees’ wooden interpretation of it. The Pharisees read the law like corrupt lawyers, not lovers. They looked for loopholes in the law under the guise of seeking righteousness and justice. They used the law pursue sin disguised as righteousness. They put white dresses on black sins.

As depraved sinners we don’t want to pursue holiness, which is where the law thrusts us, we want to know where the line is. So we ask, “When does sex become sex?”, or “It it gossip if…?” But what you really ask by such questions is, “How close can I get to darkness? How far can I venture from the light while superficially suppressing my conscious so that I feel good about myself?” We want to flee the light while giving the appearance of avoiding darkness. When we ask such questions we are seeking answers that will make us feel better about our rebellion. We use the law to pursue sin, not righteousness.

Sons and daughters of the kingdom then read the law and keep the heart of it, not so that God will be our Father, but because He is our Father (Matthew 5:48). We read the law with delight (Psalm 1:2), seeking reasons, not exceptions. We read it this way not to gain salvation, but because reading it this way is His salvation in our heart. We read it this way not to get into the kingdom, but because the kingdom has gotten into us. Because of His love, we read the law as lovers, not lawyers.

This is one of the most difficult passages in the gospels… in the Bible. Some may think that Jesus is easy reading and that it is Paul who is difficult, but I wonder if they have ever read Jesus, and if they have, if they really pay attention to what He says or just read Him in a light superficial manner. If you think Jesus was just an ethical teacher and Paul was the theologian, think again.

But don’t let this passage intimidate you. It is crucial, for at least three reasons. It is crucial for understanding :

1. The Sermon on the Mount. The phrase “law and the prophets” appears again in 7:12; this forms an inclusio (think something like parentheses). They let us know what this whole section is about.
2. How the Old Testament relates to the New Testament.
3. How the law relates to the Christian.

As I entered into my study of this text I was excited about this passage because I knew it was a passage that influences my basic approach to the Bible. An approach that a children’s story bible nails, and sadly many ministers fail to realize.

Now, some people think the Bible is a book of rules, telling you what you should and shouldn’t do. The Bible certainly does have some rules in it. They show you how life works best. But the Bible isn’t mainly about you and what you should be doing. It’s about God and what he has done.

Other people think the Bible is a book of heroes, showing you people you should copy. The Bible does have some heroes in it, but (as you’ll soon find out) most of the people in the Bible aren’t heroes at all. They make some big mistakes (sometimes on purpose), they get afraid and run away. At times, they’re downright mean.

No, the Bible isn’t a book of rules, or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a Story. It’s an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It’s a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne-everything-to rescues the ones he loves. It’s like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life!

You see, the best thing about this Story is-it’s true.

There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling on Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them.

It takes the whole Bible to tell this Story. And at the center of the Story, there is a baby. Every story in the Bible whispers his name. He is like the missing piece in the puzzle-the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together, and suddenly you can see a beautiful picture. – Sally Lloyd-Jones in The Jesus Storybook Bible

Jesus fulfills all Scripture. Some 16 times Matthew will use “fulfilled” in regard to Jesus, we have seen it several times already (Matthew 1:22; 2:15, 17, 23; 4:14). The excitement over this truth remained for me as I studied, but desperate prayers were turned to God in trying to understand how verses 18-20 related to verse 17. Simplistic answers at how the law relates to the Christian fall flat here. Some chop the law into three sections; moral, civil, and ceremonial. They will say the moral law remains, but the civil and ceremonial law have been done away with. There are some problems with this; we never see this kind of division hinted at anywhere in the Bible, the first mention of it come from Aquinas, and it doesn’t gel well with what Jesus is saying here about not one iota or dot.

The best help I received and pass onto you is R.T. France’s helpful paraphrase.

Do not suppose that I came to undermine the authority of the OT scriptures, and in particular the law of Moses. I did not come to set them aside but to bring into reality that to which they pointed forward. I tell you truly: the law, down to its smallest details, is as permanent as heaven and earth and will never lose its significance; on the contrary, all that it points forward to will in fact become a reality (and is now doing so in my ministry). So anyone who treats even the most insignificant of the commandments of the law as of no value and teaches other people to belittle them is an unworthy representative of the new regime, while anyone who takes them seriously in word and deed will be a true member of God’s kingdom.

But do not imagine that simply keeping all those rules will bring salvation. For I tell you truly; it is only those whose righteousness of life goes far beyond the old policy of literal rulekeeping which the scribes and Pharisees represent who will prove to be God’s true people in this era of fulfillment.

So it isn’t that we toss parts of the law as unimportant, but that we realize their full significance in light of Jesus. The law then must be read not through a threefold division grid, but in light of Jesus and His fulfilling it.

 

I suppose in our American Idol culture many read these verses, even many Christians, and are not be shocked by them.  We are burned out, broken, and blackened bulbs that believe themselves to be quasars.  We hear truths like, “you were made for greatness” and think “of course – my own;” but “you were made for greatness” does not mean “you are greatness.”  The statement is not meant to curl you in upon yourself, but unfurl you to a transcendent glory.

Here is the shock, that He who is full of glory, grace, and truth, He who is the Light of the World (John 8:12), turns to His disciples, the spiritually bankrupt, and tells them that they are the light of the world.  Jesus’ disciples, who are characterized by the beatitudes, do not respond to such a statement with a casual shrug, but a dropped jaw.  They respond, “I was darkness, and Jesus tells me not ‘be the light’, but ‘you are the light’.  This is the gospel.  This is shocking!”

When others see this light they are to give glory to our Father in heaven, our Father who is above, transcendent, sitting on His heavenly throne enveloped in glory. We do the good works, but He gets the glory – what gives? God is not robbing glory. All of our doing is a result of His work in us by the Holy Spirit because of Jesus Christ. When our light shines others don’t see how wonderful we are, but how glorious our God is.  This light is not our own.  Jesus remains the Light of the World.

Some have said that we are moons; that the glory is not our own, we simply reflect.  I like that analogy, but the language here goes farther than that.  We are not just polished surfaces for light to bounce off of; no, the light pierces our dark hearts and transforms us from within.  The light does not bounce off of the surface, but comes from the inside out. The Light invades and transforms; the Spirit of Christ picks up the shattered pieces of the mirror of the soul, repairs them, and then wipes off the black film.

Burned out, broken, and blackened bulbs do become quasars but the light is not our own.

The emanation or communication of the divine fullness, consisting in the knowledge of God, love to him, and joy in him, has relation indeed both to God and the creature: but it has relation to God as its fountain, as the thing communicated is something of its internal fullness. The water in the stream is something of the fountain; and the beams of the sun are something of the sun. And again, they have relation to God as their object: for the knowledge communicated is the knowledge of God; and the love communicated, is the love of God; and the happiness communicated, is joy in God. In the creature’s knowing, esteeming, loving, rejoicing in, and praising God, the glory of God is both exhibited and acknowledged, his fullness is received and returned. Here is both an emanation and remanation. The refulgence shines upon and into the creature, and is reflected back to the luminary. The beams of glory come from God, are something of God, and are refunded back again to their original. So that the whole is of God, and in God, and to God; and he is the beginning, and the middle, and the end.  – Jonathan Edwards in The End for which God Created the World

Yes, you were made for greatness; it’s just not your own.

The Sermon on the Mount is kind of like the TV series Lost; it is very popular and yet few people know what it actually means.  I did say that it is kind of like, because unlike Lost, this sermon does mean something, a great immeasurable something.  John Stott commented, “The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood and certainly it is the least obeyed.”

There have been a variety of approaches to this sermon.  I came across lists of 4, 7, 8, and 12 different interpretative approaches.  Grant Osborne says there are as many as 36 different interpretations I think the most popular way evangelicals approach the sermon can be seen in how they handle this first section (5:1-12).  They add a “t” and subtract the cross.  What are the beatitudes?  Don’t add a “t”.  They are not simply attitudes that you ought to be.  Beatitude comes from the Latin beatus, meaning blessed, fortunate, happy.   The Beatitudes are a description of the character of the Christian, those who possess the kingdom, the saving reign of God come in our Lord Jesus.

Notice Jesus is directly addressing His disciples (Matthew 5:1-2), though the crowds soon gather around to listen in (Matthew 7:28).  Jesus is addressing those who are the salt and light of the world, those who call God Father (Matthew 5:45, 48; 6:1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14, 15, 18, 26, 32; 7:11).

The Beatitudes then are a description of those who enjoy the favor of God, those who are regenerate and have a new heart.  The unregenerate man is incapable of displaying these qualities.  He is lost, they lose their meaning for him.  To expect the unregenerate man to live the kingdom life described here is heresy.  It denies the sinful nature of man and the necessity of regeneration.

The Sermon on the Mount , or as R.T. France better titles it, “The Discourse on Discipleship,” then is not about how we get into the kingdom, but what the kingdom does when it gets into us.  It’s not about how we can bring the kingdom, but what the kingdom does when Jesus brings it.

Don’t read the message and forget the Messenger.  Normally this is what you want to do during a sermon.  You want the preacher to disappear and the Word of God to become prominent.  But with Jesus the message is the Messenger, He is the Word of God.  When read simply as a new morality, or as the good news itself this sermon is ripped from its greater context in Matthew.  The cross is lost and we forget that it is Jesus who came to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21); not just the guilt of them, but the practice of them.

Why does Jesus “withdraw” into Galilee? A casual reading might lead one to think that Jesus is afraid, or more reverently, that He seeks to avoid premature death. If this is how Herod deals with the herald, what of the legit King? But Jesus does not escape Herod’s domain, He just relocates to a different part of it. Next one may be tempted to think the reason is primarily pragmatic. Nazareth was a small out of the way village, whereas Capernaum was located by the Sea of Galilee, was more substantial with a population of approximately fifteen thousand, and was home to at least five of the disciples; but this isn’t the reason the Holy Spirit gives us. Jesus relocated to fulfill scripture. He will headquarter His ministry in Galilee of the Gentiles.

Galilee was the most northern edge of the former united kingdom of Israel and was surrounded and influenced by Gentiles. Gentiles not only resided around Galilee but were constantly traversing through it on the Via Maris, “the way of the sea,” a major trade route running from Damascus in the north to Egypt in the south. Galilee was a land of darkness influenced by idolaters. It was far from Judea, far from Jerusalem and the Temple, far from the light. The Messiah has come, but not where we expect Him, why? I believe this communicates to us something of Jesus’ mission.

When Jesus comes in to the world it is a place of darkness, not light; it is a Galilee not a Judea; it is a Sodom, not a Jerusalem. Galilee pictures the world.

God sent His Son into a world of darkness to magnify His Light. So when you look within and see only sin, remember God’s Light, Jesus Christ, is greater than your darkness (John 1:5). Don’t be arrogant about your sin; it isn’t greater than God’s grace. The darker the stain, the mightier His blood is shown to be.

In his excellent book, The Gospel Driven Life, Michael Horton comments on the disciples that,

They sought to learn the wisdom of his ways and imitate his example.  However, they missed the most important elements that true discipleship entailed.  They misunderstood the point of the journey.  They failed to realize that the most important part of following Jesus was realizing that they could not go everywhere that he was going; could not do everything that he alone could accomplish; and could not even understand why he had come, apart from the Spirit opening their hearts to recognize Christ in all the Scriptures.  The most important things that had to be done for the establishment of this kingdom Jesus had to do by himself.  In fact, the disciples had fled for their lives.

We are just as foolish.  We try to make this text all about us.  No doubt Christ is our example in overcoming temptation and we can glean many practical helps from our text, but this text is primarily about Jesus overcoming temptation, not us.  We are arrogant little fools trying to skip the prerequisites and go straight to graduate work.  Without the prerequisites we flunk temptation.

Jesus is doing here what we cannot – overcoming temptation and resisting the devil.  Remember Jesus has just identified Himself with us in His baptism.  Notice all the other marks of identification here.  He is in the wilderness for forty days and then He quotes from Deuteronomy 8.

The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers.  And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.  And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.   – Deuteronomy 8:1-3

So Israel, God’s son failed the test of living by God’s Word alone, but the true and greater Israel, God’s only begotten Son doesn’t.  He succeeds where they – where we failed.  In His second and third temptation Jesus does more of the same.

Also there is something implicit here that Luke makes more clear in his gospel account.  Both Matthew and Mark go straight from Jesus’ baptism to His testing, but Luke, he inserts a genealogy in between.  What a weird place for a genealogy right?  But remember unlike Matthew who works forward from Abraham to Jesus, Luke works backwards from Jesus all the way back to Adam.  Now we can compare the first Adam in whom we fall to the Second Adam in whom we are risen to newness of life.

The first Adam had every provision, he could eat of every tree save one; the second Adam had been fasting for forty days.

The first Adam falls after one temptation and is driven out; the second Adam resists three temptations and Satan is driven out.

Here is the point, we fall to temptation continually, He didn’t, ever!  His victory over Satan, sin, and temptation is ours.  The prerequisite for overcoming temptation is union with Christ (Romans 6:6-7; 1 John 5:4; Revelation 12:11).  His victory is ours.  Faith, not merely technique is the key to overcoming temptation.

All divine power and strength against sin flows from the soul’s union and communion with Christ (Rom. 8. I0; 1 John 1. 6, 7). While you keep off from Christ, you keep off from that strength and power which is alone able to make you trample down strength, lead captivity captive, and slay the Goliaths that bid defiance to Christ. It is only faith in Christ that makes a man triumph over sin, Satan, hell, and the world (1 John 5. 4). It is only faith in Christ that binds the strong man’s hand and foot, that stops the issue of blood, that makes a man strong in resisting, and happy in conquering (Matt. 5. I5-35). Sin always dies most where faith lives most. The most believing soul is the most mortified soul. Ah! sinner, remember this, there is no way on earth effectually to be rid of the guilt, filth, and power of sin, but by believing in a Saviour. It is not resolving, it is not complaining, it is not mourning, but believing, that will make thee divinely victorious over that body of sin that to this day is too strong for thee, and that will certainly be thy ruin, if it be not ruined by a hand of faith.  – Thomas Brooks in Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices

John, well, he’s different.  Jesus’ kooky cousin wears camel’s hair and eats locusts and wild honey.  So its only fitting that his baptism is a little different too.  Christian baptism symbolizes and identifies us with the death burial and resurrection of our Lord (Romans 6:1-11).  That hasn’t happened yet so what is John’s baptism about?  It is the baptism of repentance (symbolizing repentance) in preparation for the coming King’s redemptive rule (Acts 19:1-7 emp. v. 4).

So if John’s baptism is symbolic of repentance, what is sinless Jesus being baptized for?  Matthew’s account is written to give an answer to that question.  All four gospels record Jesus’ baptism, but only Matthew includes Jesus’ explanation,  “To fulfill all righteousness!”  Yet this explanation only seems to make things worse!  But notice Jesus says to fulfill – not because He lacks but to fulfill, not because he is repentant, but to fulfill.  Three interpretations have gained favor among evangelicals.  I don’t think the first one is valid; I think the second one closer to the truth, but only as understood in light of the the third option.

1. Jesus’ baptism is anticipatory of His death, burial, and resurrection whereby he will fulfill all righteousness and make many righteous.
2. Jesus’ baptism is an act of obedience as a man to the new command of God going out through John.
3. In Jesus’ baptism He is identifying Himself with the sinners for whom He came to fulfill all righteousness.

So Jesus is fulfilling all righteousness not for Himself, but us, as our substitute.  He doesn’t lack righteousness, we do.  He comes as the second Adam, achieving all righteousness in our place (Romans 5:18-19).

Theologians have a helpful way to understand this; it is called the active and passive obedience of Christ.  Christ not only passively bore your sins and the wrath of God, He also actively achieved all righteousness in your place.  But don’t misunderstand this language to say that Jesus’ life comprises His active obedience, while His death comprises His passive obedience. Jesus suffered for us during His life, and His ultimate act of obedience was that of laying down His life. Yes, the cross is the ultimate, climatic act of both the passive and active obedience of Christ, but it cannot be dissected form His life. Jesus Christ didn’t just need to die for you, He needed to live for you. All of Jesus is necessary to save you from your sins. Christ fulfills all the obligations we shirked, and bears the penalty we deserve.  He didn’t just die in your place, He lived in your place.  He has become to you righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30)!  In Christ you become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:20).

This is how the Holy God of heaven now sees you, righteous in Christ.  As God is well pleased with His Son, He is well pleased with us.  We are loved in the Beloved.  His love toward His beloved is His love toward us (John 17:23, Ephesians 1:6).  The rays of the Father’s pleasure that go out toward His Son are the very rays of bliss that strike us.

And what a comfort is this, that seeing God’s love resteth on Christ, as well pleased in him, we may gather that he is as well pleased with us if we be in Christ!  – Richard Sibbes

The “guy” on the corner yelling “repent for the end is near,” and holding a “turn or burn” sign might think he is carrying on in the spirit of Elijah, the spirit of John the Baptist, but I think he is missing something.  I have nothing against his open air public preaching, I admire his boldness, I am thankful for his commitment to the doctrines of repentance, hell, and the return of King Jesus, but there are some problems.

His message markets Jesus simply as char prevention.  Repentance becomes just another adventure in self-seeking for  our narcissistic culture.  By all means preach the ugliness of sin and the reality of hell, but only to preach the glories of Christ.  You must preach the heinous nature of sin and its consequences for the good news of Jesus to be good news, but it is not until you preach the good news of the cross that sin is seen in its most ugly, true form.  If you preach repentance without redemption you are not longer preaching the gospel, but law.

Our calling is not to preach an isolated hell or repentance but the gospel.

When the guy says “repent for the end is near” he is not saying the same thing John does when he says “repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

What is the “kingdom of heaven” that Matthew will reference 32 times?  Let’s begin with what it is not.  It isn’t the people of God, nor the church.  Just try replacing them sometimes and you will see the absurdity.

Your [church] come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.   – Matthew 6:10

The [church] is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  – Matthew 14:44

The time is fulfilled, and the [church] is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.  – Mark 1:15

So what is the kingdom?  Lets narrow in on a precise definition in three steps.

1. The kingdom is here now but not yet, near yet far, present (Matthew 12:28, Luke 17:20-21) yet future (Matthew 6:10; Luke 22:18).
2. The kingdom primarily is the dominion, rule, and reign of God.  Edmund Clowney said it well, “In the Scriptures, God’s kingdom is the shadow of His presence; not so much his domain as his dominion; not his realm but his rule.  God’s kingdom is the working of his power to accomplish his purposes of judgment and salvation.”
3. Primarily the kingdom is the saving rule and reign of God that began radically to break in with Christ’s first advent and will be consummated upon His return.  It isn’t that God wasn’t working His plan of redemption prior to the coming of Jesus, but with Jesus’ advent our redemption was at hand.

The good news that we preach is the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 4:23, 9:35, 24:14; Acts 8:12, 28:31).  The text says that the reason why John was doing what he was doing was to fulfill Isaiah 40:3.  He is the herald sent ahead of the king telling them to prepare for the coming of the King.  In Isaiah 40 the coming of the King is good news.  So the reason why the “kingdom is at hand” is because the king has come.  Now the question is why has he come?   Matthew has already answered that question in chapter one, “you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins.”

So we plead with people to repent not simply because sin is vile and hell is hot, but most deeply because Christ is glorious!  Our primary motivation toward repentance is not negative but positive.  There is sorrow in repentance, but there is also joy; sorrow over sin and joy over Christ.  Repentance is not the begrudging sacrifice of great pleasures to avoid dire consequences.  Repentance is seeing by faith the glories of Christ, and then comparing His promises and pleasures with those of sin and shouting, “No contest – Jesus!”  True repentance not only hates sin, it loves Jesus.

Though [repentance] be a deep sorrow for sin that God requires as necessary to salvation, yet the very nature of it necessarily implies delight. Repentance of sin is a sorrow arising from the sight of God’s excellency and mercy, but the apprehension of excellency or mercy must necessarily and unavoidably beget pleasure in the mind of the beholder. ‘Tis impossible that anyone should see anything that appears to him excellent and not behold it with pleasure, and it’s impossible to be affected with the mercy and love of God, and his willingness to be merciful to us and love us, and not be affected with pleasure at the thoughts of [it]; but this is the very affection that begets true repentance. How much sovever of a paradox it may seem, it is true that repentance is a sweet sorrow, so that the more of this sorrow, the more pleasure.  – Jonathan Edwards