Interpreting Prophecy Today Part 4: The Kingdom of God in the New Testament (continued) -- By: John F. Walvoord

Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 139:556 (Oct 1982)
Article: Interpreting Prophecy Today Part 4: The Kingdom of God in the New Testament (continued)
Author: John F. Walvoord


Interpreting Prophecy Today
Part 4:
The Kingdom of God in the New Testament (continued)

John F. Walvoord

[John F. Walvoord, President and Professor of Systematic Theology, Dallas Theological Seminary]

The Kingdom in the Gospel of Mark

The doctrine of the kingdom in the Gospel of Mark is similar to that presented in Matthew except that uniformly the expression “kingdom of God” is used instead of “kingdom of heaven.”1 Some passages in Mark refer to earthly kingdoms (3:24; 6:23; 13:8). Other references are to the kingdom of God in general, that is, any rule of God over the earth. This seems to be its meaning in such passages as Mark 9:47; 10:14–15, 23–25. It may also be the meaning in Mark 12:34 where Christ declared that the inquiring scribe was not far from the kingdom.

Other references in Mark to the kingdom may refer to the kingdom prophesied in the Old Testament and which premillenarians believe will be fulfilled in the millennial kingdom. In Mark 1:14–15 Christ stated, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.” Here Christ is alluding to the kingdom predicted in the Old Testament. It was then “at hand” in the sense that the King had come, although the kingdom itself had not been inaugurated. In Mark 4:11, 26, 30 Mark used parallel references to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven expounded in Matthew 13. This refers to the spiritual form of the kingdom which exists in the present age. The details of the kingdom are referred to as “mysteries” because this form of the kingdom was not predicted in the Old Testament. Mark 4 accordingly is a parallel to Matthew 13.

Another reference to the future kingdom is found in Mark 9:1. In the Transfiguration the disciples were given a prophetic foreview of the glorious reign of Christ on earth. The same meaning is more specific in Mark 11:10 where the kingdom is referred to as “...

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