Some people claim that Christ will return to earth to set up His kingdom and begin reigning on earth. However, they overlook one important fact: He set up His kingdom long ago. He has already been reigning almost two thousand years!
In Mark 9:1, Jesus told His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” Jesus clearly told them that the kingdom would come very soon within the lifetime of some of the people who were standing there. Later, all of those people died, and they’ve been dead for many centuries. So, the coming of the kingdom cannot be a future event.
In Colossians 1:13, Paul said this about God: “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” This clearly shows that the kingdom of Christ had already been established before Paul wrote Colossians. In the first century, he and every Christian had already been “conveyed” (transferred) into the kingdom of Christ. Therefore, we know that the kingdom came soon after the words of Jesus in Mark 9:1, and before the words of Paul in Colossians 1:13. Every person who obeys the Gospel becomes a citizen of His kingdom (Philippians 3:20), a member of His body, the church (Colossians 1:18; Galatians 3:26-27).
There is no need to guess when the kingdom of Christ came. Acts 2 shows that the kingdom came with power in Jerusalem on the Jewish day of Pentecost. Three thousand people obeyed the Gospel that day! That was the beginning of the church, the kingdom of Christ.
Will Christ come again? Yes! Acts 1:11 declares that He will come again. However, the Bible does not teach that He will live on earth and reign from an earthly headquarters. Some men use Revelation 20 to teach that He will come to earth to reign. Yet, if you search Revelation 20 carefully, you will see that it says nothing about Christ coming to earth.
The kingdom has already been established. Christ is now reigning as King. When He returns, all Christians, living and dead, will be taken up into the clouds “…to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). The return of Christ will not be a time for setting up a kingdom on earth. It will be a time for removing His kingdom from the earth and giving it to God. “Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father…” (1 Corinthians 15:24).
We should certainly look for the kingdom, but we should not try to look into the future to find it. The kingdom of Christ is His church. When we have found His church, we have found His kingdom!
