Page 89 - A Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy

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of the Kingdom of God inaugurated by Jesus. Moreover, Luke identifies the Kingdom of God
as the person of Jesus himself because his coming and actions have launched a new relationship

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between God and man, “a new alliance destined to replace that of Sinai.” This picture emerges
clearly when Jesus explained the relationship between John the Baptist and himself, announcing

that “[t]he law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the

Kingdom of God is proclaimed.” (Lk. 16:16)

In the account of casting out the demons (Lk. 11:14-22), Jesus pronounced that “But if it is by

the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the Kingdom of God has come to you” (Lk.

11:20). According to this passage, Jesus demonstrates that the Kingdom of God is already

present through himself and his ministry of exorcism. Through the Christ and his ministry, then,

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the sovereign reign of God is present. The essential nature of Jesus’ kerygma in its broadest

sense is “God’s eternal sovereignty, dynamically conceived, which invaded the realm of evil

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powers and won the decisive victory in and through Jesus Christ.” The Kingdom had come in

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and through Jesus Christ: “Jesus is the Kingdom.”

th
69 Robert O’Toole, “The Kingdom of God in Luke-Acts,” in Kingdom of God in 20 -
Century Interpretation, ed. Wendell Willis (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1987),

152. He maintains that Luke 4:14-44 is a theological unit and a programmatic for the whole

Luke-Acts.

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Grasso, Proclaiming God's Message, 2.
71 Jesus also inferred the Kingdom of God as a future reality. See Matt. 7:21-23, 13:33,
25:1-13, Mk. 4:30-32, 9:43-47, 10:17, 10:26, 14:25, Lk. 11:2, 13:22-30, 14:15, 22:18, and so on.

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Mounce, The Essential Nature, 40.
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Ibid.