The Announcement

The time is fulfilled; The Kingdom is here.  Repent and believe the Gospel.

Mark 1:15

This text summarizes the argument for the eternal eschatology in so many words.

First, the time was fulfilled.

There can be no mistake about this.  Jesus is saying that the waiting period is over.  There is no more delay.  It had been some hundreds of years since Daniel had prophecied the Kingdom (Daniel 2:44, et al).  It had been longer since it had been promised to David.  Jesus is not saying it will be another 2000 years.  He is not simply starting something that will take 2000 years bring into it’s actual manifestation.

Jesus was the prophet, the Messiah, the Son of God.  He inspired the writings of the Old Testament, and He is the one qualified to interpret them correctly.  The time was fulfilled.  What He was about to bring next could only, by virtue of who He was, only be the genuine article, or He would be deliberately deceiving.

Next, the Kingdom is here.  Whereas the first phrase determined that it was “Kingdom Now”, this one established “Kingdom Here”.  If you’re looking for it, you’re going to miss it.  It doesn’t come with careful observation.  If you’re expecting some kind of show, you also missed it.  Jesus said that if He cast out demons by the Finger of God, then the Kingdom of God had come upon them.  That was it.  Where?  In the invisible, spirit realm of the Holy Ghost.  To Nicodemus in John 3, Jesus asked him how he would believe about heavenly things if he couldn’t’ even believe about earthly things.  However, two chapters prior, in John 1, Jesus told Nathanael that he would see heavenly things, that is angels ascending and descending, simply because he believed on “word of knowledge”, that Jesus had seen him prophetically.  The Kingdom is only visible to the one who has faith (John 3:3-5).

And, finally, and most important.  First, look at His works.  Look at His words.  If there had been no Kingdom, there would have been no works.  If you can’t believe His words, at least believe the works themselves.  Third, repent and believe the Gospel.  That really is it.  Sadly, despite all of this, unbelieving theologians of many generations have drilled countless holes in the bottom of their theological boats, or cut the bottoms off altogether, and been quite content to sit all wet.  But, the Kingdom of God is not a matter of words, but of power.

Repent, and believe that the Kingdom is right here, right now.  It is not given to another, it is not outdone or replaced, or replaceable.  This was and is the simple instructions as to the coming of the Kingdom.