The kingdom is a crucial truth in the Bible. If we truly know the Bible, we will realize that the entire story of God in the universe is a story of ruling, that is, a story of obtaining a kingdom. It is easy to see that for a great person to fulfill his desire and manifest his glory, he must possess authority and acquire a kingdom. If he cannot acquire a kingdom and exercise his authority in it, he will have no way to carry out his plans and show forth his glory.
Whenever the kingdom is mentioned in the Bible, it is usually associated with authority and glory. Consider, for example, the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6. At the end of this prayer three items are mentioned together. The Lord prayed, “Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory” (v. 13). Daniel 7:14 also puts these three items together, saying that the Son of Man was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom from God. Without a kingdom, God has no way to exercise His authority; without the exercise of His authority, God has no way to fulfill His desire; and without the fulfillment of His desire, God has no way to express His honor and glory.
In verses 9 and 10 of His prayer in Matthew 6, the Lord mentioned three things. First, the Lord prayed, “Your name be sanctified” (v. 9). This is a matter of glory. For God’s name to be sanctified on earth is a matter of God’s being glorified. The Lord continued, “Your kingdom come” (v. 10a), and then went on to pray, “Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth” (v. 10b). This shows that the carrying out of God’s will is a matter of the exercise of His authority. If the sovereignty of a nation cannot be exercised in a certain place, the laws of that nation cannot be executed there. In order to execute a law and accomplish a purpose, a nation must be able to exercise its sovereignty. Laws are related to the will. In order to carry out His will on earth, God must extend His authority to the earth, and in order to extend His authority to the earth, He must obtain a kingdom on the earth. Once He acquires a kingdom, He will be able to exercise His authority, carry out His will, cause His name to be sanctified, and receive glory.
Thus, we see that these great matters—the will of God, the glory of God, and the sanctification of God’s name—depend on God’s kingdom. Once God has His kingdom, His will will be done, His name will be sanctified, and He will be glorified. The key to these matters is whether or not God can obtain His kingdom. The foundation of God’s kingdom is the throne of God’s rule.
The Bible clearly shows that the only thing Satan wants to do in the universe is to overthrow God’s throne. Isaiah 14 reveals that Satan wanted to exalt his throne to be equal with God (v. 13). This means that Satan intends to violate God’s sovereignty, usurp God’s authority, and overthrow God’s throne; he intends to establish his own kingdom in the universe. In Matthew 12 the Lord Jesus spoke of two kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. He said, “If I, by the Spirit of God, cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (v. 28). He also said, “If Satan casts out Satan...how then will his kingdom stand?” (v. 26). This shows that there are two kingdoms in the universe. One is God’s kingdom, and the other is Satan’s kingdom. One is God’s exercise of His authority, and the other is Satan’s usurpation of God’s authority. One is God’s establishing of His throne for the exercise of His authority, and the other is Satan’s overthrowing of God’s throne for the setting up of his own authority.
The matter of authority is mentioned in the very beginning of the Bible. Genesis 1 shows that God gave man the authority to have dominion over all the living things in the sea, in the air, and on the earth (v. 26). The way Satan stole man away from God was to seduce man to rebel against God, to usurp God’s authority. When man sinned, he did not merely violate a rule; even more, he revolted against God, rebelled against God, and put God’s authority aside, denying God’s authority and rejecting God’s rule. Just as Satan rebelled against God, man also rebelled against God. The first creatures God created were the angels, among whom the archangel led many to rebel. Later, God created man, who also rebelled. One can say that man and Satan acted as a team to rebel against God.