How glorious it must have been to behold Jesus’ mighty works of power! Those works of power showed that the Kingdom was present. But another way he demonstrated the presence of the kingdom was through His teaching.

How did Jesus demonstrate that the Kingdom of God had entered the world? The first way was by His mighty works of power. Never before had such an awesome and complete display of power been exhibited in Israel. Jesus demonstrated mastery over men. He gave sight to the blind and healed the lame and lepers. He gave speech to the mute and hearing to the deaf. Even the dead were raised back to life.

In this study we come to the sixth concept and the final period that set the stage for the arrival of the King on the earth. It was a time that was marked with darkness and difficulty for Israel.

God is king, and the King sovereignly created mankind to rule under his authority, but the earth was now a battlefield as the nations struggled with one another for supremacy. It is also a battlefield between the rebellious kingdoms of men and the Kingdom of God. Those are the first three major concepts to know if we want to understand the kingdom of God. We covered those in the previous lesson. Today, we will cover the next two concepts about the Kingdom of God.

When John the Baptist came to Israel and announced that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, it was the climax of a long series of events that had preceded him. The coming of God’s Kingdom was a vibrant hope that had been cultivated in the hearts of God’s people for centuries. What events and what concepts from the OT prepared God’s people and set the stage for the arrival of the King on the earth?

When we say or hear “Kingdom of God,” what exactly are we referring to? What might be surprising to some is that Scripture nowhere provides a precise definition for the term. That is because the biblical writers assume that everyone is familiar with its meaning. Concepts such as “kings” and “kingdoms” and all they represented were standard, everyday terms and experiences among people of ancient times. In today’s lesson, we are going to dig more deeply into the background of the word “kingdom.”

We have seen how the kingdom of God was the hope of patriarchs and prophets. It was also the hope of every Jewish man, woman, and child in the first century. It was also Jesus' primary teaching. He spoke of it more than any other person and any other topic.

In this study, we will explore how everyone from patriarchs to prophets looked forward to the establishment of God's kingdom on earth.