God’s kingdom is the heartfelt longing of every person who desires relief from the world’s misery. Whether that misery is sin or sickness, immorality or mortality, supernatural oppression or natural disaster, God’s kingdom is the only cure. When is it coming?

In first-century Palestine, faithful Jews longed for God’s kingdom. Not only did they desire salvation from sin, they also desired political liberation from imperial Rome and spiritual release from an often corrupt Temple priesthood. They believed that when God established his kingdom, all things would change immediately. The present age would give way to the future age, and God would make a reality of the vision of peace in Isaiah 11:6–9. A heaven-sent Messiah would be the agent of this miraculous change, as Isaiah 11:1–5 and 10–16 prophesied.

No wonder, then, that Jesus drew such large, enthusiastic crowds when he began to minister to the people. Consider his message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17). And consider his miracles: “if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (12:28). When Jesus spoke and acted, “the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once” (Luke 19:11). But it didn’t, at least not in the way they expected.

Instead of appearing instantaneously, the kingdom of God came—and is still coming—in a slow, gradual manner. Jesus inaugurated the kingdom with his own ministry. That is the point of the exorcism story in Matthew 12:22–28. When he delivered the demon-possessed man, Jesus exercised the power of God’s kingdom. In him, the kingdom of God was present.

But not fully present. The kingdom of God is future too. Jesus spoke of the future in Matthew 25:31–46 when he described his Second Coming and the judgment of the nations: “When the Son of Man comes in glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” As the context of this passage makes clear, the separation of sheep and goats is the divine verdict on a person’s eternal destiny, whether heaven or hell.

Between its past inauguration and its future consummation, God’s kingdom grows gradually in the present. According to Jesus, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough” (Matt. 13:33). Sometimes, we want everything—including the kingdom—all at once. But Jesus’ plan is different. He wants to change people from the inside out—like yeast in a dough—and knows that such a change requires time.

Thankfully, God is patient, “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). The kingdom is at hand. The only question is: Are we ready for it?

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Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola, Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010). $14.99, 240 pages.

The American church suffers from what Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola call “Jesus Deficit Disorder.” Instead of paying sustained attention to him, she focuses on substitute issues such as “justice,” “morality,” “values,” and “leadership principles.” In Jesus Manifesto, Sweet and Viola call the church back to her “first love.”

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