In Matthew 10 and Luke 9 Jesus sent 12 disciples out to preach and heal in the villages of Israel. In Luke 10 Jesus did the same with 70 disciples which is probably a reference to the 70 elders of Israel during Moses' time.
Their orders were to go to Israelite cities, preach that the kindom of God had come, heal the sick and raise the dead. I have already mentioned that people in Israel believed that the kingdom was political in nature. Did his disciples believe they were announcing to Israel that the political kingdom of God was about to be established by the hands of Jesus? No doubt they and their audiences believed this to be true.
When the people of the villages heard the disciples proclaim the kingdom was approaching they heard followers of Jesus say that the end times foretold by the prophets was about to take place. It was a radically new day when Israel would be on top of the world again... just like it was when King David and King Solomon reigned, but even better.
Jesus' instructions to his disciples wandered off into persecution and family break up due to receiving the gospel. This may have confused the disciples at the time because they were expecting a physical kingdom to overtake the world. Perhaps they believed there would be bloody battles to be fought in order to establish the new kingdom.
Nothing in the Gospels so far suggest that Jesus was expecting the end / political kingdom to come. It seems that Jesus knew it was a spiritual kingdom even though nobody else understood this.
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