doing. To understand him, we must read his words in light of the Old Testament. Jesus uses the term “kingdom” with the same meaning it has in the Old Testament, referring not to a territory but to the rule of a king. Thus when Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God, it would be better translated as “the kingly rule of God.”1 When Jesus proclaims the presence of God’s kingly rule, he announces that the dreams of the prophets have come to fulfillment. God himself has come down from heaven and stepped onto