The ABC's of the Bible- Kingdom of God

"...it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:24)

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

"...unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." (John 3:5)

There are 67 verses in the New Testament (in ESV) that contain the term "Kingdom of God" so this post cannot give a full description of the term.

The kingdom of God in its universal aspect refers to God’s sovereign rule over all of His creation. In that broadest sense of the term, everyone is part of God’s kingdom, since “the Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all. -John MacArthur (MacArthur New Testament Commentary: John 1-11).

However, the definition above is certainly not the only sense of the word. Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary describes the Kingdom of God as:

God’s rule of grace in the world, a future period foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament and identified by Jesus as beginning with His public ministry. The kingdom of God is the experience of blessedness, like that of the Garden of Eden, where evil is fully overcome and where those who live in the kingdom know only happiness, peace, and joy. This was the main expectation of the Old Testament prophets about the future.

Though Nelson provides a good explanation I think it puts the emphasis on the future state of the kingdom to the neglect of the major emphasis in the Gospels of the ushering in of the kingdom at Christ's coming. For this, D.A. Carson is also helpful:

One of the most startling features of the kingdom announced in [Matthew, Mark, and Luke] is that it is not exclusively future. The kingdom, God’s saving and transforming reign, has in certain respects already been inaugurated in the person, works and message of Jesus...If the kingdom does not dawn until the end of the age, then of course one cannot enter it before it comes. (Pillar New Testament Commentary on John)

Grace and Peace,
Stephen