Bible Survey of The Kingdom of God (Genesis to Revelation)
In this post, we’re going to take a Bible survey of God’s Kingdom Revolution to give you an overview of the many Bible references that define and describe it.
From Genesis to Revelation, there is a golden thread woven throughout God’s Word that reveals God’s plan to establish a revolutionary kingdom on this earth.
I start with God’s plan in the very beginning, even before he created heaven and earth (Isaiah 45:21; Acts 15:18). In fact, Jesus refers to this plan.
In Matthew, chapter 25, Jesus tells a parable of the sheep and goats. In it, he gives a description of a kingdom that includes a throne, nations, kingly authority, judgment, and rulership.
In verse 34, Jesus says, the king will pronounce a blessing upon those who are qualified:
“Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who will receive good things from my Father. Inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world began,’” (Common English Bible, CEB).
The blueprint for God’s plan of a kingdom included the very person whom he had in mind for establishing it — his one and only Son, Jesus Christ. In John 1:14, the very Word (Greek: logos, or something said by God’s reasoning) divinely declared since creation, “was made flesh” — that is, God’s own thoughts and plans from the beginning of time came into being in the person of the One (Jesus the Messiah) who will set up the Kingdom of God.
The earliest account of God’s plan for a kingdom can be traced back in time when man sinned in the Garden of Eden. Man’s disobedience of God’s command not to eat of “the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:16-17) brought on the penalty of death which we’ve all inherited even since (Romans 5:12). This led God to confront Adam and Eve and that serpent, “more crafty than any beast of the field,” (Genesis 3:1, New American Standard Bible, NASB).
In Genesis 3:15, God said to the serpent,
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”
This is the first recorded prophecy in Holy Scripture of the Promised One – the Deliverer – who will, in time, put an end to the curse of sin and death. “Enmity” literally means, “enemy” and alludes to the hostility between the good which would come from the “seed” or human “offspring” of the woman and the evil which is represented by the “seed” or “offspring” of that crafty serpent, the epitome of sin’s deception (2 Corinthians 11:3).
Though the Deliverer would be bruised on the heel – that is, suffer a crushing fatal blow at the hands of evil men (Matthew 13:38; John 8:44), it would only be temporary. The Deliverer – that is, the human offspring (“seed of the woman”) would rise again to “bruise” or “crush” the head of the serpent and, in due time, put a final end to the curse of sin and death. This will be the ultimate result when the Kingdom of God is established.
In referring to Genesis 3:15, Dr. Alva Huffer wrote,
This prophecy revealed that man would be delivered from sin and its consequences through the Seed of the woman, a member of the human race. The Seed of the woman was to bruise the serpent’s head, but the serpent was to bruise His heel. The Messiah [the Deliverer] was to die, but he would be raised to immortality and be given the keys of death and the grave [Revelation 1:18]. He would rule until all enemies, including the serpent, would be put under his feet [1 Corinthians 15:23-28]. (Systematic Theology)
Wherein Genesis records how the curse of sin and death began, the final chapter of the last book of the Bible tells us how the curse of sin and death will end. Revelation 22:3 says,
“And there shall no longer be any more curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his bondservants shall serve him.”
This has all the makings of God’s Kingdom, as we shall examine.
And we will also see that the Deliverer, a.k.a., “The Promised One,” or Messiah, who will fulfill this prophecy is none other than the man, Jesus, the Son of God (Matthew 16:16-19; Acts 2:22-28).
This promise, starting all the way back in Genesis, continued to be woven into the minds and hearts of godly people from generation to generation. There are certain hints of this from the righteous line of Adam and Eve’s son, Seth (Gen. 4:25-26), to Enoch who “walked with God,” (Gen. 5:21-24), and on to Noah who “found grace in the eyes of the Lord,” (Gen. 6:8).
Chapter 11 of Hebrews commends the faithful of old from the beginning who were “looking for the city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God,” (vs. 10). As we shall see in upcoming posts, this is very picturesque of God’s Kingdom to come. It is revolutionary, indeed.
Good News to YOU!
Pastor Michael
P.S. Here is Genesis 3:15 (The Fall) put into Beautiful Acapella Scripture Song, https://youtu.be/peVS9EaFfaM