Chapter 0A

0A — The Kingdom (Primer)

This primer establishes the foundation the rest of the series assumes: Scripture promises a coming Kingdom on earth under the Messiah, populated by resurrected saints, and marked by ordered covenant reality. If that Kingdom is real and physical, then covenant is not a disposable romance story. It is a moral/legal category that God remembers, judges, and restores.
Theme: physical Kingdom on earth Theme: resurrection + reign Focus: covenant permanence + headship order Links: Blue Letter Bible (ESV)
Symbolic illustration of the coming Kingdom: crown over the earth
Visual anchor: the Kingdom is promised as a real reign over the earth—public, ordered, and enduring.

1) The Kingdom is not metaphor: it is promised as an earthly reign

The Bible does not only promise “souls going to heaven.” It promises a King who inherits the nations, rules with justice, and establishes peace and instruction in the earth. The Lord’s Prayer is not symbolic: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

  • Daniel: a Kingdom “shall never be destroyed” and “shall break in pieces” the kingdoms of the world.
  • Prophets: the nations stream to Zion for teaching; Messiah’s government increases without end.
  • Gospels/Acts: Jesus speaks of the Kingdom; the apostles preach “the Kingdom of God.”
  • Revelation: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.”
Matthew 6:9–10 Daniel 2:44 Daniel 7:13–14 Isaiah 2:2–4 Isaiah 9:6–7Psalm 2:6–9Zechariah 14:4–9Isaiah 11:1–10 Acts 1:6–8 Revelation 11:15
Guardrail: If a passage is unclear, interpret it in the light of the many passages that are explicit. Scripture repeatedly describes a real reign, real nations, real judgment, and real restoration.

2) Resurrection is bodily: the Kingdom includes “men and women of the resurrection”

The hope of Israel and the hope of the apostles is not disembodied spiritual escape. It is resurrection. Paul treats resurrection as the hinge of the gospel: if it is not real, faith collapses.

  • Promise: many who sleep in the dust awake (Daniel).
  • Teaching: the Son raises the dead; resurrection to life and resurrection to judgment (Jesus).
  • Gospel logic: Christ raised, then those who belong to Him (Paul).
  • First resurrection: resurrection life connected to reigning with Christ (Revelation 20).
Daniel 12:2–3 John 5:24–29 1 Corinthians 15:12–26 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 Revelation 20:4–6Revelation 5:10Luke 22:29–30Matthew 19:28Philippians 3:20–21
Symbolic illustration of resurrection and reigning
Resurrection is bodily and leads into public Kingdom participation: rule, inheritance, and judgment.
Why this matters here: bodily resurrection makes “household ethics” Kingdom-relevant. The God who raises bodies also judges deeds done in the body.

3) The Kingdom is physical and public: land, cities, nations, law, inheritance

The prophetic picture is filled with concrete features: nations, borders, Zion, teaching, correction, rebuilding, and peace. Even the New Testament does not end with “escape to the sky,” but with new creation—God’s dwelling with man.

  • Restoration: regathering, rebuilding, and one King over a restored people.
  • Instruction: Torah/word going out from Zion to the nations.
  • New creation: the holy city descending; God dwelling with man.
Ezekiel 37:21–28 Micah 4:1–4 Acts 3:19–21Romans 8:18–23Hebrews 2:5–9Isaiah 65:17–25 Revelation 21:1–4Revelation 21:24–27

4) Covenant bonds are not “paper”: God remembers vows, lines, and households

Scripture consistently treats covenant as an objective category, not merely mutual feelings. Men are warned that God is witness to vows, that treachery is hated, and that household faithfulness affects inheritance.

  • God witnesses vows: marriage treachery is treated as covenant violence.
  • Household accountability: leaders answer for how they manage their house.
  • Inheritance logic: God’s story includes seed, names, and promised inheritance (restoration, not erasure).
Hosea 2:19–20Jeremiah 3:20 Proverbs 6:27–29 1 Timothy 3:4–5 Hebrews 13:4
Symbolic illustration of covenant seal and permanence
Covenant is a witnessed category—sealed, remembered, and judged by God.
Plain statement: if God hates covenant treachery, then a man cannot sanctify “covenant theft” by calling it romance.

5) Headship is not optional: covenant order protects families and trains men to fear God

The Bible’s head/body logic is not a cultural relic; it is a theological structure tied to Christ and His Church. When that order is inverted, men are trained to be passive, to chase appetite, and to outsource accountability. The end result is not “freedom,” but moral fog—exactly the conditions in which men do not repent.

1 Corinthians 11:3 Ephesians 5:22–33 Titus 2:1–8 1 Peter 3:7
Why the next chapters matter: if headship is real, then “one woman can only have one head” is not a preference. It is built into the covenant logic that Scripture uses to portray Christ and His people.

6) You cannot “claim” what belongs by covenant to another: God calls it adultery and treachery

Scripture does not treat the taking of another man’s wife as a neutral “choice.” It treats it as sin against God. That is why the Kingdom warning is so severe: men who participate in covenant theft are not “liberated,” they are walking toward judgment.

Deuteronomy 5:181 Corinthians 6:15–20 Proverbs 6:27–35 2 Samuel 12:7–14 Matthew 5:27–28
Non-negotiable: The Kingdom does not recognize “romance loopholes” that erase covenant boundaries. If a woman is under covenant headship, another man has no righteous claim to her—no matter how persuasive the story sounds.

7) “No marriage in the resurrection” is not a license for covenant swapping now

Jesus answers a trap-question (Sadducees) meant to deny resurrection. His point is the power and reality of resurrection life—not permission to treat vows as temporary, disposable, or stealable. If anything, resurrection makes covenant accountability more serious.

Matthew 22:23–33 Romans 14:10–12 2 Corinthians 5:10
How this series uses the text: We will not collapse stages (reign, judgment, new creation) into a single slogan, and we will not turn one passage into a loophole that contradicts the rest of Scripture’s covenant warnings.

8) Pastoral aim: this is not anti-woman; it is anti-treachery

This project is blunt because Scripture is blunt where households are harmed. But the target is not women. The target is Babylon’s romance system that trains men to desire what is forbidden and then calls it “God’s will.” Righteous headship is commanded to be sacrificial, protective, provision-oriented, and accountable to God.

Next step: If you can accept that the Kingdom is coming, physical, and ordered, then Chapter 01 makes sense: head/body is not an illustration you can ignore—it is the governing metaphor.
Continue to Chapter 01 → Jump to Verse Index →