The kingdom existed before the cross, because it was being announced during His earthly ministry.
It was being announced as being "at hand" or near prior to the cross, but this does not necessarily mean that it was already in existence on earth at that time.
Mat 4:8
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Mat 4:9
And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Mat 4:10
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Would the devil have tempted Jesus with all the kingdoms of the world and their glory if the kingdom of God was already a present reality on this earth?
It becomes a moot point “when” Jesus “inherited” it.
Far from being a moot point, the timing of Jesus' inheritance is of utmost importance. Please consider what he said here.
Mat 21:33
Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
Mat 21:34
And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
Mat 21:35
And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
Mat 21:36
Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
Mat 21:37
But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
Mat 21:38
But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves,
This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
Mat 21:39
And they caught him, and cast
him out of the vineyard, and slew
him.
Mat 21:40
When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
Mat 21:41
They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out
his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Jesus began this parable by basically reiterating what the prophet Isaiah had written many years earlier.
Isa 5:1
Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
Isa 5:2
And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
Isa 5:3
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
Isa 5:4
What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
Isa 5:5
And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up;
and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
Isa 5:6
And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
Isa 5:7
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
In his parable, the vineyard represents the land of Israel, and Jesus identified himself as being "the heir" of the same, or he identified it as being "his inheritance." Prior to his incarnation, Jesus was solely the Creator, so he did not need to "inherit" anything because he was the rightful owner of all things. However, in his incarnation, he humbled himself as a servant, and it was not until he had been crucified, buried, resurrected, and ascended back to heaven that he was "appointed heir of all things" (Heb. 1:2). In other words, what Adam, a man, lost through his disobedience, Christ had to regain via his obedience in his humanity by "inheritance." He did not "inherit" the kingdom prior to the cross. Furthermore, we, as "joint-heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17), will not inherit the kingdom until the second coming of Christ.
Mat 25:31
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Mat 25:32
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth
his sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Mat 25:34
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Let’s not try to force-fit every detail of the parable to reality.
There is no need to force-fit anything if we consider the entirety of scripture.
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