Kingdom of God, Part 4: The Mediatorial Kingdom in the Gospels.
length: 84:28 - taught on Sep, 13 2026
Class Outline:
Sunday September 13, 2026
Big idea: The King offered Israel the promised mediatorial kingdom; they refused Him; He now gathers its subjects and tests His servants until He returns to take the throne.
The King arrives as the OT said
Gabriel to Mary: throne of David, house of Jacob, no end (LUK 1:32-33).
Shepherds: Savior, Christ, Lord (LUK 2:11).
John: “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (LUK 1:17).
Simeon: salvation seen; glory of Israel; light to the nations (LUK 2:30-32).
Mary and Zacharias doubt what is biologically impossible, then believe. Doubt at the door is not the same as refusal after the signs.
The kingdom offered is the same kingdom promised.
John and Jesus do not define “kingdom.” They announce it as at hand because the King is present (MAT 3:2; 4:17).
From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
No one in the narrative asks, “Which kingdom?” The prophets had already said.
The offer is official and given first to Israel. Why?
These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: "Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; 6 but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
But He answered and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
The reason is that this is the covenant order. To Israel alone belonged the special covenant rights. It is not racial contempt for the Gentiles.
Authentication: authority in word and works
No one ever taught like Him:
When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; 29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
No one has ever done such miracles
Healing a Jewish leper (MAT 8:2-4), a man born blind (JOH 9:32); a dumb, blind demon possessed man (MAT 12:23). [these stand out against, perhaps, thousands of miracles]
“Can this be the Son of David?” (MAT 12:22-23).
Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. 23 All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, "This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?"
The King is refused
The leaders will not let the people answer this most important question.
But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons."
Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent.
Cultural turn:
The issue with Israel was not that they didn’t see or hear enough, but that they were shown a King who did not fit their program.
It is here that we learn why we scratch our heads as we share the gospel with our world.
Any King who has to approve me is not a King.
After the refusal, Jesus changes the mode of teaching (Mat 13).
Parables hide and reveal.
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. 17 For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
He announces a mystery interval, not a new kingdom
The mystery of the kingdom was that an inter-advent stage would occur.
In this age there would be: Sowing, a mixture of believer and unbeliever (wheat and tares), a delay (with no date setting), and a harvest.
"The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 "Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
The coming of the kingdom was postponed and the church was inserted.
The church is not the mediatorial kingdom but the body of those who have been called to enter it by faith in the Gospel.
We are already transferred into the Son’s kingdom as its people (COL 1:13). We are not yet under its public earthly administration.
The mission turns after the refusal: all authority is given to Him; make disciples of all nations (MAT 28:18-20).
While the throne of David remains absent from earth, the subjects of the kingdom are being gathered worldwide. If you participate in working these fields for the harvest while the King is away, you will be rewarded.
V. Live in the interval as callers and investors
While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately
So He said, "A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return.
A real kingdom, not a mystical one or the idea of one.
"And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, 'Do business with this until I come back.' 14 "But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.' 15 "When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done. 16 "The first appeared, saying, 'Master, your mina has made ten minas more.' 17 "And he said to him, 'Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.' 18 "The second came, saying, 'Your mina, master, has made five minas.' 19 "And he said to him also, 'And you are to be over five cities.' 20 "Another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief; 21 for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.' 22 "He said to him, 'By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? 23 'Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?' 24 "Then he said to the bystanders, 'Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.' 25 "And they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas already.' 26 "I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. 27 "But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence."
“do business” and their reward is cities under His authority (ruling with Him; the government of the coming kingdom).
The investing / business in this age: Great Commission - witnessing, planting the gospel, showing the gospel (good works, MAT 5:16). They are not told to build the kingdom. (this frame makes the mina: gospel; COL 1:6)
Application:
Speak the gospel and do the works that are typical of the kingdom, which cannot be separated from her King: justice, love all (even enemies), grace, forgiveness.
We are not to bring in the kingdom but invite people in.
Until He returns, invest in the world by sowing the gospel.
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