"Close at hand"

The third element of Jesus's teaching in Galilee was that the kingdom is "close at hand." "Close at hand" does not convey the flavor of the Greek text. In English, "close at hand" means "near, almost here, but not quite here," as when we say a week before Christmas or Mother's Day "The holiday is close at hand." The Greek of the New Testament means something more like "in your face." When Jesus preaches that the kingdom is close at hand, he is saying something like "the kingdom is staring you right in the face! How can you miss it? It is right here in front of you." The kingdom is immediate.