It is the hope and expectation of the Jews that one day God will send a Messiah, an anointed King, who will restore the Kingdom of Israel and usher in a time of justice, peace and prosperity for the whole nation of Israel. This hope, rooted in the Old Testament Hebrew Scripture in several places, will be fulfilled when Jesus Christ, the Messiah, returns to establish the Millennial Kingdom of God.
The mystery of the holy Church is manifest in its very foundation. The Lord Jesus set it on its course by preaching the Good News, that is, the coming of the Kingdom of God, which, for centuries, had been promised in the Scriptures: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand." In the word, in the works, and in the presence of Christ, this kingdom was clearly open to the view of men. The Word of the Lord is compared to a seed which is sown in a field; those who hear the Word with faith and become part of the little flock of Christ, have received the Kingdom itself. Then, by its own power the seed sprouts and grows until harvest time. The Miracles of Jesus also confirm that the Kingdom has already arrived on earth: "If I cast out devils by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you". Before all things, however, the Kingdom is clearly visible in the very Person of Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Man, who came "to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many:"
Joined with Christ in the Church and signed with the Holy Spirit "who is the pledge of our inheritance", truly we are called and we are sons of God but we have not yet appeared with Christ in glory, in which we shall be like to God, since we shall see Him as He is. And therefore "while we are in the body, we are exiled from the Lord and having the first-fruits of the Spirit we groan within ourselves and we desire to be with Christ"'. By that same charity however, we are urged to live more for Him, who died for us and rose again. We strive therefore to please God in all things and we put on the armor of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil and resist in the evil day. Since however we know not the day nor the hour, on Our Lord's advice we must be constantly vigilant so that, having finished the course of our earthly life, we may merit to enter into the marriage feast with Him and to be numbered among the blessed and that we may not be ordered to go into eternal fire like the wicked and slothful servant, into the exterior darkness where "there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth". For before we reign with Christ in glory, all of us will be made manifest "before the tribunal of Christ, so that each one may receive what he has won through the body, according to his works, whether good or evil" and at the end of the world "they who have done good shall come forth unto resurrection of life; but those who have done evil unto resurrection of judgment". Reckoning therefore that "the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that will be revealed in us", strong in faith we look for the "blessed hope and the glorious coming of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ who will refashion the body of our lowliness, conforming it to the body of His glory, and who will come "to be glorified in His saints and to be marveled at in all those who have believed".
Christ the Lord, High Priest taken from among people, made the new people "a kingdom and priests to God the Father". The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated as a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, in order that through all those works which are those of the Christian man they may offer spiritual sacrifices and proclaim the power of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. Therefore all the disciples of Christ, persevering in prayer and praising God, should present themselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Everywhere on earth they must bear witness to Christ and give an answer to those who seek an account of that hope of eternal life which is in them.
The transition from This Age to The Age to Come will not occur at a single point. There is an overlapping between This Age and The Age to Come. There is not a single resurrection of the dead, but two resurrections which are separated by the Millennium. There are two stages in the defeat of Satan. At the beginning of the Millennium he will be bound and thrown into the abyss. At the end of the Millennium, he will be loosed, only to be cast finally into the lake of fire for ever. There is to be an overlapping of these two ages during the millennial period. The earth will enjoy a new measure of the life and blessings of the Kingdom of God before the final consummation in The Age to Come. God's reign, His rule, will express itself in two great acts, one before and one after the Millennium.
Is the defeat over sin and Satan altogether future? Or has God already acted in His kingly power to break the power of Satan? In other words, has the Kingdom of God invaded the present evil Age—the domain of Satan - Hebrews 2: 14: " Since therefore the children (that is, those whom God would make His children) share in flesh and blood (i.e., since we are human beings), he (Christ) himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death He might destroy him that has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage."
The same truth is set forth in Romans 12: 2: "Do not be conformed to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God." How can we live in the midst of the evil Age and not be conformed to it? We are to experience an inner transformation which is itself the result of the power of The Age to Come reaching back into this present evil Age. While the evil Age goes on, God has made it possible for us to experience a new power that we might thereby prove what is God's will. This overlapping of the two ages is fundamental to our understanding of the Biblical teaching of redemption.
Such sayings lead to the conclusion that there is not only a future overlapping of the ages in the millennial period but also a present overlapping of The Age to Come and This Age, and that we are now living "between the times." We are in fact caught up in the conflict of the ages.
This is what the Kingdom of God means: the defeat of the enemies of God. The Kingdom of God means the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ until all His enemies are put under His feet. And who are His enemies? Wicked men? Antichrist? Godless nations? We have already found our point of departure in the Scripture. "The last enemy to be destroyed is death." Paul defines the Kingdom of God in terms of the conquest of such enemies as death.
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