"Kingdom Of God is at Hand" - Which Kingdom was Jesus and John the Baptist talking about?

The Kingdom of Heaven to which Jesus often referred is, the bride of Christ, The Church (that meaning the people and not any building or established Denomination.

Matthew 7:21 through 23 NKJV "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

The following is a quote from David Guziks commentary of the whole Bible:

4. (21-23) Jesus challenges every disciple to take heed to his own salvation. "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'"

a. Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven: The people who Jesus speaks of here make a proper verbal confession, calling Jesus Lord. This is vital, but never enough by itself.

b. Who says to Me . . . will say to Me in that day: It is staggering that Jesus freely claims He will be the one people must stand before on that final day of judgment, and He is the one who is rightly called Lord.

c. The people Jesus speaks of here have impressive spiritual accomplishments. They have prophesied, cast out demons, and have done many wonders. These are wonderful things, but they mean nothing without true fellowship.

i. Jesus does not seem to doubt their claims of doing the miraculous. He doesn't say, "You didn't really prophesy or cast out demons or do miracles." This leads us to understand that sometimes miracles are granted through pretended believers, reminding us that in the final analysis, miracles prove nothing.

ii. Significantly, they even did these things in the name of Jesus. Yet, they never really had a relationship of love and fellowship with Jesus.

d. I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! In the end, there is one basis of salvation. It isn't mere verbal confession, not "spiritual works," but knowing Jesus and being known by Him.

i. In addition, these are not people who lost their salvation. Instead, they never truly had it (I never knew you).

So let's take a closer look at both the Scripture and Guzik's commentary, to see if we can understand how the Kingdom of God referes to People.

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven: The people who Jesus speaks of here make a proper verbal confession, calling Jesus Lord. This is vital, but never enough by itself.

Just saying that you accept Salvation alone does not make you one of God's children (by adoption), does not make you a member of the Church (the true body of Christ, which is all true believers.)

Who says to Me . . . will say to Me in that day: It is staggering that Jesus freely claims He will be the one people must stand before on that final day of judgment, and He is the one who is rightly called Lord.

Just as any man has the choice of who will be his Bride Jesus tells us that he alone will decide who will be his bride (enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Never once in the Bible is the Kingdom referred to as a place.) All things with God are of the Spiritual Realm.

After the judgment all material things will pass away.

Matthew 24:35 NKJV Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

2nd. Peter 3:10 NKJV But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

Revelation 21:1 NKJV Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.

This new Heaven and Earth will probably not be material, and I base that on:

Revelation 21:2 and 3 NKJV Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

This new Heaven and Earth along with the new Jerusalem all appear to be the Bride of Christ or The kingdom of Heaven.

The verses about Jesus rejecting them is a complete study in itself and I will not go into that for the sake of brevity. the final comment by Guzik is startling in that Jesus acknowledges that they have many marvelous works, and yet are unacceptable for the Kingdom.

In addition, these are not people who lost their salvation. Instead, they never truly had it (I never knew you).

The main concept here appears to be that it is not enough to profess Jesus as your Savior or even to attend Church services regularly, not even witnessing in the name of Christ we must also do the works of the Father, and how can we do the works of thee Father if we do not know what they are? That is why the entire Bible is so important to Christianity. The New Testament gives us the teachings of Jesus and the Epistles help us to understand Christ's teachings, which are vital to living a Christian life; But we only get to know God (the Trinity) through the Old Testament.

Hope this helps

Romans 14:17 tells us that the kingdom of God is righteousness,peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Personally, I think it is a state of mind. The Bible also says that it is a mystery (Mark 4:11). However it also tells us how to get into the kingdom of God now. First one must seek for it. Secondly, John 3:3 and verse 5 it tells us we must be baptized in water and also in the Holy Ghost or Spirit "to enter into the kingdom of God."