We find another link with the Old Testament kingdom in the account of John the Baptist's imprisonment when

his faith began to waver. To confirm him the Lord Jesus sent back two of John's disciples to remind him:

`... Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame

walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to

them' (Matt. 11:4,5).

If John had been mistaken in his conception of the Old Testament kingdom, now was the time to correct it. But

the Lord did nothing of the kind. Instead He directed John to Isaiah 35:5,6:

`Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man

leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing ...'.

and in doing this He gave valuable guidance as to the interpretation of this prophecy. Did He ignore its literal

meaning and spiritualize it? Many expositors would do this and imagine they were doing the correct thing and

getting to the heart of the prophecy. But they would be wrong, for each item was being fulfilled literally in the

Lord's ministry and it is noteworthy that out of the six items mentioned, no less than five relate to human needs

which are purely physical. Only one could be regarded as spiritual and that is the gospel that was being preached.

Thus, John's faith would be restored by taking the Old Testament prophecies of the kingdom in the normal literal

sense of the words and obviously, with this divine example, we should do the same if we value true understanding of

the Word of God.

In Mark's account of the commencement of the Lord's ministry we get a statement of the gospel which the Lord

Jesus proclaimed:

`Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,

and saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand (near): repent ye, and believe the gospel'

(Mark 1:14,15).

Now we have no right to insert items into this `good news' which are not there in the divine record. We have no

mention of sin here or the atoning death of Christ. This `good news' relates to `the kingdom' and its nearness and it

was preached to the kingdom people, the people of Israel, a people already `prepared' by the Lord by the revelation

of the Old Testament (Luke 1:17), a people who had already been instructed in type and shadow that `without the

shedding of blood, there is no remission' (forgiveness Heb. 9:22). It announced that the prophecies of the kingdom

of God on earth were now possible of fulfilment, that the King was now present and the kingdom therefore was `at

hand' or near. This they were commanded to believe and turn in repentance (change of mind) to the Lord.

By doing this they would experience a `new birth' and so be fit and ready to enter into it (John 3:3). Thus we see

that God's kingdom, as it relates to the earth, is neither wholly spiritual nor wholly material, but a blending of both.

Basically, it is spiritual, but when established must and will have physical and material results which will finally

affect the whole world.

Nothing less than this adequately sets forth the rule of God over the earth, as portrayed in the holy Scriptures. It

will then be the time when the earthly kingdom prayer will begin to be fulfilled:

`... Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven'.

Before we go any further we must consider the Scriptural meaning of the above phrases. Are they identical or

has each its own peculiar meaning? We first of all notice that `the kingdom of heaven' is confined to the Gospel of

Matthew where it occurs 32 times. Its sphere is defined in the `Lord's prayer' - `Thy kingdom come, Thy will be

done in earth as it is in heaven' (Matt. 6:10) and further exemplified by the Lord in the Sermon on the Mount in His

quotation from Psalm 37:9 `the meek shall inherit the earth' (Matt. 5:5 and see Psa. 37:9,11,22,29,34). Needless to

say this is not the equivalent of `going to heaven' if words mean anything at all. This kingdom is the realization of

the promise of Deuteronomy 11:21, `the days of heaven upon the earth' and the fulfilment of that which