What the kingdom of God means…is that the hostile alien kingdom of demonic captivity, oppression, poverty and blindness (physical and spiritual) is coming to an end through the ministry of Jesus. He is the bringer of the kingdom of God, for He is the vanquisher of the kingdom of Satan.
– Gregory A. Boyd
…the vision of a universal kingdom was integral to the plan of Jesus from the very beginning of his ministry. The fact that one of the wilderness temptations involved “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” (Matt 4:8) is conclusive. Jesus did aspire to world dominion. His ambition to rule over the nations was not wrong. The temptation was to take a short cut to that noble goal: to adopt the methods of the devil. In rejecting Satan’s methods, Jesus did not give up his aim of worldwide authority. Rather, he chose the path of suffering and redemption which he found outlined in the Scriptures.
– H. Cornell Goerner
Let Matthew 24:14 burn in our hearts. [And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.] … This good news of the Kingdom of God must be preached, if you please, by the Church in all the world for a witness to all nations. This is God’s program. This means that for the ultimate meaning of modern civilization and the destiny of human history, you and I are more important than the United Nations. From the perspective of eternity, the mission of the Church is more important than the march of armies. It is more important than the actions of the world’s capitals. As we fulfill this mission, the divine purpose for human history will be accomplished.
–George Eldon Ladd
Everywhere one goes he finds the gaping grave swallowing up the dying. Tears of loss, of separation, of final departure stain every face. Every table sooner or later has an empty chair, every fireside its vacant place. Death is the great leveller. Wealth or poverty, fame or oblivion, power or futility, success or failure, race, creed or culture–all our human distinctions mean nothing before the ultimate irresistible sweep of the scythe of death which cuts us all down. The gravesite may be a fabulous Taj Mahal, or a massive pyramid or an unmarked forgotten spot of ragged grass, or the unplotted depths of the sea. Still one fact stands: death reigns.
Apart from the gospel of the Kingdom, death is the mighty conqueror before whom we are all helpless. We can only beat our fists against the tomb without effect. It does not yield; it does not respond. But the Good News is this: death has been defeated; our conqueror has been conquered. God displayed His Kingdom’s power through Christ’s victory over the cross. In the face of God’s Kingdom, death was helpless. It could not hold Him; death has been defeated; life and immortality have been brought to light. An empty tomb in Jerusalem is proof of it. This is the gospel of the Kingdom.
–George Eldon Ladd