The clause "From that time Jesus"(Gr. apo tote epxato Iesous) is very significant in Matthew's Gospel. He used it only twice, here and in 16:21, and in both instances it indicates a major change in Jesus' ministry.205Here it signals the beginning of Jesus' public preaching. Until now, His ministry had been to selected individuals and groups, which John's Gospel records. Jesus "went public"after John had ended his ministry of preparing Israel for her Messiah. Here Jesus took up exactly the same message that John had been preaching (cf. 3:2).206In 16:21, having been rejected by Israel, He announced His approaching passion and resurrection. The verb "to begin"(erxato) indicates the beginning of an action that continues, or it describes a new phase in the narrative, wherever it occurs.207
Jesus used the same words as John, and He, too, offered no explanation of their meaning. Clearly Jesus' concept of the kingdom was the same as that of the prophets and John. Some commentators claim that John's concept of the kingdom was eschatological but Jesus' was soteriological.208However there is no basis for this distinction in the text. Both John and Jesus viewed the kingdom as having both soteriological and eschatological elements. Now the King began announcing the nearness of the earthly kingdom of Messiah and urged His subjects to prepare themselves spiritually.
"The kingdom being at hand meant that it was being offered in the person of the prophesied King, but it did not mean that it would be immediately fulfilled."209
