Taking our cue from the book of Daniel, we may easily establish the
fact that the Kingdom of God (or Kingdom of Heaven) is a real, external empire.
Not only this, it is to be a government which will seize power suddenly and
dramatically. Its administration will be in the hands of “the Son of Man” (Dan.
7:13, 14) and “the saints” (Dan. 7:27). On no account, from the evidence of
Daniel, could it be an invisible reign established only in the hearts of
believers. Its political dimension as well as its location on earth is
unmistakably clear. It is equally obvious that the Kingdom of God described by
Daniel has not yet appeared.
And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will establish a
Kingdom [in the New Testament, the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven] 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 (Dan. 2:44, NASV).
In the next verse the impact of the Kingdom is likened to a stone
crushing the “iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold” of former
world empires. According to the prophet, whose message we are challenged to
believe, “the great God has made known to the king [Nebuchadnezzar] what will
take place in the future [in Hebrew, ‘be acharit hayamim,’ i.e., in
future Messianic times]; so the dream is true and its interpretation
trustworthy’ (Dan. 2:45, NASV). The Son of Man is to be appointed monarch of
the divine Kingdom, sharing rulership with the saints:
To Him [the Son of Man — Jesus’ favorite self title] was given
dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every
language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall
not pass away; and His Kingdom is one which shall not be destroyed...And the
kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole
heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. Their
Kingdom will be an everlasting Kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey
them (Dan. 7:14, 27, RSV).
The Kingdom of God is evidently an empire, exercising sway over all
nations. It will come to power on the earth (“under the whole heaven, ” Dan.
7:27) and its establishment will be by a catastrophe, an international upheaval
resulting in a complete political reorganization. Before its irresistible power
the nations of the world will have to bow. A recurring theme of the New
Testament (but infrequently preached) is that Jesus and His followers will be
the executives of the new World Government — the Kingdom of God." To be a
saint in the New Testament is to be one appointed to rule in the coming
Kingdom. (Anthony F. Buzzard, Our Fathers Who Aren’t in Heaven: The
Forgotten Christianity of Jesus, the Jew [Atlanta: Atlanta Bible College, 1995],
86-87)
