Jesus taught parables that show the kingdom of heaven changing. For example, it grows like a mustard seed becoming a tree (Matt. 13:31–32).
But can God’s kingdom grow? Our first answer might be that it cannot grow: God’s domain already includes heaven and earth. He exercises absolute rule everywhere.
God taught the king of Babylon about the unlimited nature of his kingdom. The king provides a report of what he learned:
And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? (Dan. 4:34–35; emphasis added)
The kingdom Nebuchadnezzar describes is all-encompassing, everlasting, and immutable—it cannot change.
Other Scriptures reinforce the unchangeable nature of God’s kingdom. David says, “The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land” (Psa. 10:16). And, “The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all” (Psa. 103:19; emphasis added).
As God reigns, he controls the harvests in Egypt (Gen. 41:25); hardens the hearts of heathen kings to accomplish his purposes (Deut. 2:30); and limits the wrath of wicked men to what will praise God (Psa. 76:10). Disaster will not come to a city unless God does it (Amos 3:6). Men do sinful acts because—let us say it with the utmost reverence—God determined they do them (Acts 4:28). In this kingdom, God works “all things after the counsel of his own will” (Eph. 1:11).
God rules over all things because he is the Creator and Sustainer of all things: “of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever” (Rom. 11:36; cp. Col. 1:16–17). God exercises a rightful and unchangeable rule in what we will call his “creation kingdom.”
Do these facts contradict Jesus’s mustard-seed parable?
Our application of inmillennialism to the book of Revelation provides an opportunity to clarify what Jesus said. John’s initial statement in his first vision1 places the Apostle “in the tribulation, and kingdom, and patience of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:9, NKJV). This vision is to “the seven churches which are in Asia” (Rev. 1:11). There is an important relationship between the kingdom and the churches.
The vision suggests what that relationship might be. Jesus, as the Son of Man, stands “in the midst of the churches” (Rev. 1:13). As he does so, he judges each church’s obedience to him. He tests their works and threatens to “remove [their] candlestick out of his place” unless they repent (Rev. 2:2, 5). “All the churches shall know” that Jesus is their Judge (Rev. 2:23). These statements describe a domain made up of churches.
This dominion is unique. God’s “candlestick” is found nowhere else. Here Jesus makes a distinction between his true churches and “them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2:9). God speaks to his churches in a special way: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Rev. 2:11).
We will call this special domain over which Jesus rules his “church kingdom.”
Other passages reinforce the concept of the churches as a kingdom. Jesus gave Peter the symbols of kingdom authority. God said,
That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matt. 16:18–19; emphasis added)
Peter could use the keys of the kingdom to bind and loose, but this authority only extended to the boundaries of the church kingdom.
In our last post, we mentioned Daniel’s prophecy (Dan. 2:1–49) of how God would set up his kingdom in the days of the Roman Caesars. One characteristic of this kingdom especially interests us at this point—Daniel said the kingdom would grow. This growth would resemble a stone increasing in size until it becomes a great mountain, filling the whole earth (Dan. 2:35, 44–45).
The New Testament records the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy. Jesus establishes the kingdom during the Caesars’ reign. And that kingdom grows. How? Persecution scatters the church at Jerusalem. Christians go “every where preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). They establish churches in Antioch and other places (Acts 11:19, 25–26). These churches send missionaries to preach the word and establish other churches. Paul leaves Antioch, preaches and forms a church in Thessalonica, and that church then preaches the word “in Macedonia and Achaia” (Acts 13:1–3; 17:1–9; 1 Thess. 1:6–8). “The book of Acts is a history of the planting and training of the earliest churches, which collectively constituted the new kingdom of heaven.”2 This pattern of church multiplication is the kingdom growth of Daniel’s prophecy.
The nature of the church kingdom is such that God can set it up (Dan. 2:44), transfer it (Matt. 21:43), cause it to increase and grow (Isa. 9:7; Matt. 13:31–32), and bring it to a conclusive end (Psa. 2:6–10; 110:1; 1 Cor. 15:20–28; Heb. 10:12). None of these things can happen with his creation kingdom.
Abraham Booth spoke of these two aspects of God’s kingdom. His division resembles our distinction between God’s creation kingdom and his church kingdom.
The empire of Christ, indeed, extends to every creature: for all authority in heaven and on earth is in his hands, and he “is Head over all things to the church.” But the kingdom of which we treat, stands distinguished from that of general Providence, as well as from every political state. It must be considered, therefore, as consisting of those persons whom he bought with his blood, whom he calls by his grace, and over whom he reigns as a spiritual monarch. These constitute what is frequently called, the Catholic Church, wherever the favoured individuals may reside. Of such also, or of those who make a credible profession of being such, all those particular churches consists, which constitute our Lord’s visible kingdom — that kingdom of which we speak. . . . Such congregations, wherever they be, constitute the visible kingdom of Christ.3
The following diagram shows the relationship between these two views of the kingdom. The ovals represent domain boundaries. Within the creation kingdom, God rules over all things. Nothing is outside its boundaries. The church kingdom’s boundaries exist within the creation kingdom. Inside it, Christ is “head over all things to the church” (Eph 1:22). Some men and devils exist outside the domain of the church kingdom, but not outside the creation kingdom (e.g., Matt. 8:12; 12:26; 13:41–43; 1 Cor. 5:13; 6:9–10; et al.)
We can now answer our question: Jesus’s parable of the mustard seed refers to the church kingdom, which can grow. God’s creation kingdom cannot grow or change in any way.4
Footnotes
- See our outline in Mapping God’s Highway in Revelation.
- Israel P. Warren, The Parousia: A Critical Study of the Scripture Doctrines of Christ’s Coming; His Reign as King; the Resurrection of the Dead; and the General Judgment, (Portland, ME: Hoyt, Fogg & Dunham, 1884), 157.
- Abraham Booth, An Essay on the Kingdom of Christ, Vol. 2, The Baptist Tract Series (Paris, AR: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1987), 5, 24. Emphasis added. Booth’s “empire of Christ . . . of general Providence” is our “creation kingdom.” His “visible kingdom of Christ” is our “church kingdom.”By “Catholic Church” we understand him to mean the universal church, not a particular denomination.
- We make no claim of originality for these terms and use them with fear and trembling, since the Scriptures do not use them per se. It seems necessary to make some such distinction to explain God’s word, but we struggle to know what terms are best.
2 comments
Mike, you once showed me a map that showed the growth of the kingdom in history. I have looked, but can’t find it on the site. Can you help?
It is in A Parting of the Ways—Part 2.
I have added some tags to that post to help find this video in the future: “optimism,” “kingdom expansion,” “missions,” “videos,” etc.