Sadly, their aspirations went well beyond His appearance. They anticipated that when Messiah came, He would rid them of the rule of Rome. In their minds, Messiah would be a military leader who would conquer, judge and punish their enemies, and bring in an everlasting rule from Israel on earth. With these hopes as a backdrop, you can imagine how John’s message that the kingdom was at hand would rivet their attention to his preaching.

Let’s begin this morning in Matthew 11:11. These are the words of Jesus Christ:

Have you wondered just what the second half of this statement of Jesus might mean? Are those in the kingdom actually greater than John the Baptist? Or even more to the point, considering the least person among us, is that person greater than John the Baptist? Given Jesus’ statement of John’s greatness in the first half of the verse, how can such a claim be made? That is one of the questions I would like to address in this morning’s message as we continue our look into the life and ministry of John the Baptist. We’ve talked about John’s background and his place in Old Testament prophecy. We’ve considered his appearance and conduct. We’ve looked at his early life and the nature of his preparatory mission. In this message we’ll consider his effectiveness and His preaching of the kingdom of God.

So let’s look first at:

John’s ministry caused quite a stir in Israel, especially in and around Jerusalem and Judea – the center of ancient Judaism. Multitudes of people were coming out to hear the prophet in his desert location. Yes, his clothing was rough. Yes, his diet was strange. Yes, his demeanor was forceful (he called them a brood of vipers.) Yes, he preached against sin and refused to accommodate those who came to him with their own agendas. But Matthew 3:5-6 says, "Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea, and all the district around the Jordan; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins."

Luke says in Luke 3:7 says, "multitudes… were going out to be baptized by him."

So effective was John’s ministry that even the leaders, the Pharisees and Sadducees, were coming out to him to be baptized, though he sternly warned them that if their baptism were not accompanied by repentance, it would end in their own condemnation.(1)

One of the reasons for the great popularity of John’s preaching was that it had been over 400 years since the Jews had a living prophet. John’s ministry was a sign that God was once again doing a great work in Israel.

Another reason was that Messianic expectations were high at the time. Some even speculated that John himself might be the long awaited Christ.(2)

A third reason perhaps was that his preaching was so powerful and convincing. Jesus remarked about John in Matthew 11:7, "What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?" There was no ambiguity in John’s preaching.

But perhaps the greatest of the reasons for John’s popularity was his message that the kingdom of heaven was "at hand."

Time, history, providence, and politics all came together at just the right time to make the things John preached resonate with the chief issues of the day.

Not only did John prepare the hearts of people for Jesus by his message of repentance (as we’ve already talked about), he also addressed their expectations of the coming of God’s kingdom. So significant was this aspect of his ministry to them, and so important is it to our understanding today, that I want to spend the rest of our time this morning on it. Let’s consider:

Matthew 3:1-2 says, "Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’"

The word translated "at hand" is engidzo. It means "to come close, to come near, to come next to." Luke used it in Chapter 8 of his gospel, verses 40-41 when he described Jesus "coming near" a blind beggar. It says there, "And Jesus stopped and commanded that he be brought to Him; and when he had come near, He questioned him, ‘What do you want Me to do for you?’"

The time for the establishment of God’s Kingdom had come near. It was about to happen. It was at hand.

Not long after John, Jesus preached the same message about the kingdom. Matthew 4:17 says, "From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’" Jesus made it clear in His teaching that the kingdom was very near. In Matthew 12:28 He said, "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." Did Jesus cast out demons by God’s spirit? Yes He did. So the message was clear. The kingdom had come upon them.

The teaching that the twelve carried after Jesus had begun his ministry was this same message. Matthew 10:5-7 says, "These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them, saying, ‘Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"

This announcement of the soon-to-come kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God - the two designations are used interchangeably(3) - had relevance to the Jews because of its prediction by several Old Testament prophets. Daniel predicted the establishment of God’s kingdom(4) back in the early days of the Babylonian captivity about 600 years before Christ. In Daniel 2, when the prophet interpreted the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, he foretold (from his day) the rise and fall of four powerful world empires, starting with Babylon, then moving through the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek empire, and finally Rome. Then he said the key words in Daniel 2:44, "And in the days of those kings," that is, in the days of the fourth kingdom, the Roman empire, "the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever."

The Jews of John’s day knew Daniel’s prediction. They were expecting the appearance of God’s kingdom and its Messiah King. They were living in the time of the fourth kingdom and were languishing under the dominion of Rome. Great expectation was in the air. When they heard of John’s preaching of the kingdom, they had to hear him. So off they went to the desert.

Sadly, their aspirations went well beyond His appearance. They anticipated that when Messiah came, He would rid them of the rule of Rome. In their minds, Messiah would be a military leader who would conquer, judge and punish their enemies, and bring in an everlasting rule from Israel on earth. With these hopes as a backdrop, you can imagine how John’s message that the kingdom was at hand would rivet their attention to his preaching.

They, like some today, did not understand the nature of the kingdom that Christ was going to set up. They desperately wanted an earthly kingdom from which they could rule the world. And the worse Rome treated them, the greater their desire grew. But their desire for physical release was never the nature of the kingdom that God promised to set up. Jesus made this clear in His words to Pontius Pilate in John 18:36, when the Governor asked if He were the King of the Jews. Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." Then Pilate asked Jesus, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world…."

For what was Jesus born? Why did He come into the world? He came into the world to establish a kingdom - not an earthly kingdom, but a spiritual one – not a kingdom for which His servants would engage in carnal fighting to defend, but one for which the King Himself would be delivered up to die. Many of the Jews of John’s and Jesus’ day, even some of the ones who at first accepted John’s message, would later reject Jesus for the very reason that He refused to be an earthly king.(5)

The kingdom that Jesus established in the days of the Roman Empire was a spiritual kingdom(6) with spiritual territory, a spiritual law, a spiritual king, and subjects who will worship Him out of gratitude "in spirit and in truth."

"But wait," I can hear someone say. "Isn’t Jesus going to return in the end times, after a period of tribulation, and set up an earthly kingdom for a thousand years?" Actually, this idea is based upon a very popular system of end time teaching today known as Dispensationalism. This teaching suggests that while Jesus did come to earth in the days of Rome with the intent to establish an earthly kingdom, when the Jews rejected and crucified Him, He failed and was forced to set up the church as a stopgap measure. Then, so this teaching system goes, at a later time, after a period of "great tribulation," He will return again to set up an earthly kingdom for a thousand years. This is the scheme that is behind the very popular Left Behind series of novels - a series in which the greatest thing that gets left behind in my opinion seems to be the truth of the nature and timing of God’s kingdom. It is also behind the earlier best-selling writing of Hal Lindsey, the former youth minister in the 70s who wrote The Late Great Planet Earth. It is based on a faulty premise regarding the kingdom and may cause one to wonder, if Jesus failed the first time, might He fail at a latter attempt, too?

Track with me for a moment as we take a quick, biblical tour of the timing of the kingdom.

We’ve already seen John’s message where he said, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Just how close "at hand" was the kingdom in that day?

According to Mark 9:1, after assembling his disciples along with the multitudes,(7) Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power." This statement is also made in Matthew 16:28:(8)

Clearly, Jesus predicted that His kingdom would be set up within the lifetime of those who lived on earth when He did. Was He lying? Was He mistaken? Did He predict something that failed? Was He not powerful enough to make it happen? Was man able to thwart His plan?

"When did Jesus set up His kingdom?"

As late as the day of Jesus’ ascension back into heaven, His disciples, and most notably, the eleven, were still asking Him about the time of the establishment of His kingdom. Luke says in Acts 1:6-8, "And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.’"

At that point, even His eleven closest disciples still didn’t get it. They still didn’t understand the nature or the timing of His kingdom. Apparently they were still looking for an earthly kingdom, and as for its timing, all they knew was that He was going to leave them and He still hadn’t set it up!

Rather than spell it out to them then, Jesus simply told them that they would receive sufficient power when they (the eleven) were baptized by the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem not many days later.(9) He had already promised the twelve earlier, as described in John 16:13, that the Spirit would disclose to them what was to come. After the coming of the Spirit on Pentecost, they would understand.

So again, when did Jesus set up His kingdom?

John, Jesus, and the disciples had said, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Then after the day of Pentecost in 33 AD, the Bible’s terminology changes. It goes from speaking of the kingdom as something that is coming ("at hand") to something that has come.

Paul wrote the following words to the first century Christians in Colossians 1:13-14: "For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

Note the past tense of the verbs in those verses: "delivered," "transferred." You can’t "transfer" someone to something that doesn’t exist.

Paul exhorted the first century Thessalonian Christians in 1 Thessalonians 2:12 so that they should "walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory." You cannot call a person into something that does not exist.

John wrote in Revelation 1:5-6: "To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood, and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever."

Just a few verses after that, John wrote in Revelation 1:9, "I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the Island called Patmos…."

Since people were being transferred into the kingdom in Paul’s day, since Christians had been made a kingdom of priests in John’s day, and since John was a fellow partaker in that kingdom in his day – we have to conclude that the kingdom must have come in the days of the apostles and is therefore not something still waiting to happen.

"But when did it come? And if it did, why didn’t more people notice it? Did Jesus just sneak it in?"

No, Jesus didn’t sneak it in, but it was the nature of the kingdom all along that it would arrive without a lot of fanfare. Luke gives us Jesus’ explanation in chapter 17 of his gospel, verses 20-21: "Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or, 'There it is!' For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.’"

The pronoun "your" there in the last phrase is plural in the Greek text, so Jesus was saying that the kingdom was right there among them. But could they see it? No. That was not its nature. Jesus did not establish an earthly, outward, physical kingdom, such that one could say, "Look, here it is," or "There it is." There would be no signs pointing to it. Its headquarters would have no specific location on earth. Its king did not occupy a throne with an earthly address. Jesus established an inward, spiritual kingdom that rules in the hearts of people. It thrives right in the midst of the other people of this earth. That was the plan all along.

Is this idea of a kingdom we cannot see hard to accept? Do we need some more proof?

In Matthew 13:33, Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three pecks of meal, until it was all leavened." Leaven doesn’t work with a lot of fanfare, calling attention to itself. It doesn’t shout or make noise. ("Oh the noise of all that leavening is killing me!") It doesn’t flash or boil. If you or I were sitting and reading in a room where bread was rising because of leaven, it wouldn’t distract us. It just quietly does its work until the whole lump of dough is leavened. And remember, Jesus is talking about His kingdom. This was the plan all along.

In Matthew 13:31-32, Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds; but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches." Relative to the way other kingdoms begin, God’s kingdom would begin as a seed "smaller than all the other seeds." There have been some tiny kingdoms on this earth, but this one’s beginnings would be even smaller. Its start would seem insignificant. It would go nearly unnoticed. But ultimately it would outgrow all the other kingdoms of the world – such that they would come to be contained within it like birds that come and nest in the branches of a tree. This was the plan all along.

The spiritual kingdom that Jesus set up, at least while this earth remains, is wherever people submit to the rule of King Jesus, and that my friends, is the church.(10) It had relatively small beginnings. But today it is larger than any single nation or kingdom. And people from every nation under heaven find refuge in it.(11)

So is everything pertaining to the kingdom in the past? Is there nothing to look forward to today?

There is a future realm for the kingdom that is yet to be fulfilled. 1 Corinthians 15:23-24 says, where Paul is writing of the order of the resurrection, "But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power." It looks like the kingdom which exists today in the form of the church will continue on in the presence of God in a realm where no other authority or kingdom will exist.

This idea of the future of the kingdom is also seen in Jesus’ account of the Great Judgment in Matthew 25:34. There Jesus said, "Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’" And what realm will this kingdom be in? Will it be on this earth in the era when disobedient men are still present and someone called "the anti-Christ" will be able to misuse it or declare war upon it as is suggested by modern best-selling novelists? There is no need to guess. Verse 46 of the same passage says, "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

The future realm of the kingdom will be after the wicked have gone away into eternal punishment and the righteous into eternal life.

Do you want to know what living in God’s kingdom will be like in the future? We know that living in God’s kingdom now can be tough. What will it be like then? Again, there is no need to guess about it. John the Apostle got a sneak peak at it and wrote what he saw in Revelation 21:1-7: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.’ And He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ And He said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true.’ And He said to me, ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.’"

Note please, that what John describes here is God’s kingdom because verse 5 tells us that He is sitting on its throne. Note also that this stage of the kingdom does not exist on our present earth. It exists on the new earth. What happened to the present earth? According to verse 1, it "passed away."

If you want to learn more about the kingdom in the next realm, you can keep reading in Revelation 21 and on into Revelation 22. You’ll find the fullest description of it in the entire Bible.

Getting back to John the Baptist where we started, did his hearers understand all of this? No, of course they didn’t. There is no way they could have. It hadn’t been revealed yet, not even to John. Thus, we come to the answer for our original question about how the least of people in the kingdom of God can be greater than John the Baptist. Such a one is greater than John because we in the kingdom actually know more than he did about the kingdom. We have the full, revealed New Testament. That’s why Jesus could say in Matthew 11:11: "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

The kingdom was established in the days of Christ and the apostles. It continues to exist today in the church. It will ultimately be handed over to God after the judgment and will be there for eternity.(12)

My friends, if we wish to be a part of that future fulfillment of the kingdom, the one where God will be present among men on the new heaven and the new earth, you have to become a part of His kingdom now, and that kingdom is the church. The kingdom now leads right into that fulfillment of the kingdom later. There will be no second chances. You must be a part of the church and to be a part of the church, you must obey the gospel. Are you ready to do that?

Footnotes: Use your back button to return to your place.

1. Luke 7:3-9
2. John 1:19-20
3. A careful study of the gospels shows that the two phrases are used interchangeably. In parallel passages, Matthew uses "kingdom of heaven" while Mark and Luke has "kingdom of God" (Matt 4:17; Mark 1:15; Luke 13:28). Even in Matthew the two phrases are sometimes used interchangeably, as in Matt 19:23-24, where they are used one after the other in the same connection.
4. Also see Daniel 7:13-14
5. John 6:15
6. Consider some verses on the spiritual nature of the kingdom: Luke 17:20-21; Romans 14:17; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 15:24; 15:50.
7. Mark 8:34
8. Also in Luke 9:27
9. Acts 1:5
10. See Matthew 16:18-19 where Jesus seems to have used the terms "church" and "kingdom" interchangeably.
11. Acts 10:35; Revelation 7:9
12. For an excellent further study on the kingdom of God, see: http://www.ccel.org/contrib/exec_outlines/king.htm

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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