The Mountain Message in Context — The Kingdom Foretold

At the conclusion of Jesus’ “sermon on the mount,” Matthew records, “When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Mt. 7:28-29). The crowd noticed that something different was happening with Jesus’ teaching. For the intervening centuries between the conclusion of the Old Testament and this period in Jewish history, the religious teachers (the rabbis) had developed a practice of building on what previous teachers had said concerning an issue. That is, previous generations of rabbis were considered as authoritative as Scriptural teaching. In fact, the “official” rabbinical teachings have been compiled into a work known as the Talmud.

Jesus was different in that he made a break from the teachings of the rabbis. This is most evident in the second half of Matthew 5. But Jesus’ teaching didn’t just come out of nowhere. He did not appear out of thin air and begin delivering a completely new message that had never been heard before. The sermon on the mount, or the Lord’s mountain message, was a keystone in Jesus’ ministry on earth. Some have called it “the constitution of the kingdom of heaven.” Indeed, the message comes at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, a ministry marked by the call for repentance, “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt. 4:17).

But what is this kingdom? Is it just something that God came up with one day, or is it part of God’s eternal purpose?

We see no later than Daniel 2 the first prophecies about a coming kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, had a dream. That dream was of a statue of several different parts. Daniel, by God’s revelation, told Nebuchadnezzar that the statue represented a succession of kingdoms. He said that in the days of the fourth kingdom, “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom 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). Historically, Rome was the fourth kingdom.

Many have tried to use the image to argue for a fifth, later kingdom in the days of which God will set up His kingdom. Some argue for a modern power like the UN or the European Union. Some argue for a restored Israel. Some argue for “the antichrist.” They separate the legs of iron from the feet of iron and clay. Notice carefully, however, the language of the text:

• v. 40: “Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron”
• v. 41: “it will be a divided kingdom” – notice that this is in reference to the feet of iron and clay. Grammatically, “it” can only refer to this fourth kingdom. The text has not introduced another kingdom to which “it” can refer.
• v. 44: “In the days of those kings” – which kings? The most recent reference to kings or a kingdom is to the fourth kingdom. There is no fifth kingdom in days of which God can set up His own kingdom. God’s kingdom must come in the time of this fourth kingdom, Rome.

The days of Rome have long passed. For this prophecy to be true, God’s kingdom must have already been established. In our next article, we will look at more immediate proclamations of the kingdom’s coming.

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