The Kingdom of God

Acts 19:8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.
 
FOR three months in a synagogue Paul argued persuasively about the kingdom of God. We would say that he spoke with great conviction about the truth that Jesus is the Christ. Let’s consider briefly what Paul would have said as he told the Jews about the kingdom of God.
   Paul would have declared the kingdom of God is God’s purpose for the world. The LORD first spoke this purpose to Satan in Genesis 3:15 And there will be war between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed: by him will your head be crushed and by you his foot will be wounded. (Basic Bible English)
   This is the promise of Satan’s total defeat and the Savior’s complete victory. From that day, God has been moving events to establish a new Paradise for redeemed mankind.
   Paul would have taught that God then chose Abraham as the seed of an earthly nation that would illustrate Paradise. He would have explained that the Exodus account confirms the evidence of God’s mighty power. Even as the Jews often rejected God’s commands, our Lord faithfully took them to his planned Promised Land. But even then, the Jews disobeyed and did not fully receive God’s promises to possess the earthly kingdom.
   Still Paul would have pointed out that God’s prophets promised the eternal kingdom and its ruler. Isaiah 40:3 A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
   As Paul continued his persuasion, he would have given evidence of Isaiah’s prophecy come true. One day in the Jordan River the Spirit used the prophet John to anoint Jesus of Nazareth. Soon thereafter the King announced his kingdom on earth. Matthew 4:23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. This is the good news of righteousness, peace, and joy revealed from heaven into the world.
   The most difficult point in the argument would be to convince the Jews that the King was crucified. He was dead and buried. He rose again. Paul would have persuaded the Jews with the evidence of Jesus’ resurrection with the apostles’ testimony and his own encounter with Jesus! He knew Jesus is alive because Jesus changed his life. And with that testimony, Paul could quickly reason that Jesus is enthroned in heaven as ruler over all things: Luke 24:51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. From his throne he is coming again. Luke 21:27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.  
   God planned his kingdom to come, his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. The kingdom has come and is here. The kingdom is also future when God’s promises are completely fulfilled.  Revelation 11:15b “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.”