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The
"Kingdom of heaven"
According to the records of Jesus’ ministry, the pioneer of the Christian faith, Jesus, gave a definite label to the Christian Gospel. He called it, quite specifically, "the Gospel (Good News) about the Kingdom of God." In Luke 16:16 Jesus remarked that since the time of John the Baptist (Matt. 3:2) "the Gospel of the Kingdom of God has been proclaimed." The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is another way of describing the hope of the Christian, and the plan of God upon earth. But you could easily miss this central and fundamental point, if you listened to contemporary versions of the Gospel. The vocabulary of modern proponents of Christianity and the Gospel avoids this basic vocabulary of Jesus. When is the last time you heard on radio, television or from the pulpit, the words "Gospel of (or about) the Kingdom"? Certainly the word Gospel is not in short supply. But the biblical description, in Matthew, Mark and Luke, of Jesus’ saving Gospel — the Gospel about the Kingdom of God/Kingdom of Heaven — is almost extinct. Very
few people know that the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are exactly equivalent, with no difference in meaning. Only Matthew uses the title Kingdom of
Heaven, as the table below reveals. Below, in the left hand
column, is every instance where the phrase "kingdom of
heaven" occurs in the New Testament. As you can see, this
phrase is unique to Matthew. Nowhere else in the Bible does the
phrase "kingdom of heaven" occur. In the right hand
column are those instances where parallel passages exist outside of
Matthew.
Matthew 16:19 And I will give
unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
As to why Matthew preferred
"kingdom of heaven" to "kingdom of God," the explanation has long been that Matthew, writing to specifically Jewish readers, inserted
"heaven" for "God" so as not to offend the Jewish sensibilities regarding uttering the name of God or the term that describes Him. This is probably correct, but it leaves us with no explanation for the
5 times Matthew failed to make the switch, or for why he uses "God" in
over 50 other instances. Before we answer this question, we
should explain what the Kingdom of Heaven is not. The Kingdom of Heaven is not the same thing as heaven. When the New Testament uses the phrase “the Kingdom of Heaven” it is not referring to heaven. Instead it is referring to the Millennial Kingdom
which has been ordained from heaven, that is, from God -- hence
the interchangeability between "Kingdom of Heaven" and
"Kingdom of God." Unfortunately too many people have heard a great deal of preaching and teaching about heaven as
the hope of a Christian and consequently think that “the Kingdom of Heaven”
and “heaven” are the same. They are not. The Kingdom
of Heaven is a kingdom from heaven, not a kingdom in heaven.
God reigns supreme in heaven. Heaven is the locus of His authority – the point from which He rules the universe. The words “of heaven” then are referring to the
origin of this Kingdom. It is the place from which the Kingdom is coming, not a destination to which we are going. So we see that although the Kingdom of Heaven is heavenly in character and origin, it is not the same thing as heaven.
To avoid the confusion between heaven and the Kingdom of Heaven, and
since the term "Kingdom of God" occurs much more frequently
in the Bible, it is the "Kingdom of God" that is preferred
when describing the future kingdom in which Jesus will reign as king. The "Kingdom of God" is the master-term in Jesus’ presentation of the Christian faith. It is his constant slogan, the concept around which all of his discourse revolves. "Kingdom of God" is the phrase in which the genius of the faith is concentrated. Jesus bared his mind and the fundamental intention of his whole career as prophet, rabbi and Son of God with these precious words, which should be indelibly written on the hearts of his followers: Logically, then, the same driving purpose should
be found within all Christian evangelism. If Jesus spoke of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and made this the key for an intelligent reception of himself and his message, what is the Kingdom of God/Kingdom of Heaven? The Kingdom of God was a phrase well known to Jesus and his audience. The Kingdom of God was the national hope of Israel. It had been described in detail in the books of the Hebrew prophets (the Old Testament — actually "the Hebrew Bible"). Jesus did not play verbal games with his audience. He did not come into Galilee calling for repentance and belief in the Gospel about the Kingdom (Mark 1:14, 15) intending his audience to misunderstand his words! Common sense and honesty dictate that Jesus expected the audience to know what the Kingdom of God was. Jesus did not define the Kingdom. There was no need to do this. The Kingdom of God meant "God’s revolutionary Government" to be inaugurated by the promised Messiah on a renewed earth. (The Kingdom of God/Kingdom of Heaven certainly did not mean a realm of disembodied post-mortem spirits in Heaven.) The Kingdom of God was a
future event, and a very spectacular one. It spelled destruction for the wicked and joy and endless life for the true followers of the
Messiah: Luke 13:28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the
kingdom of God, and you [yourselves] thrust out. The Kingdom of God involved Israel, the
natural sons of Abraham: Acts 1:6 So when they met together,
they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the
kingdom to Israel?" The Kingdom of God was preached as
residing upon this earth, not in heaven: Luke 11:1-2 Our Father in
heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will
be done on earth as it is in heaven. Revelation 5:9-10 By thy blood didst
ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and
nation, and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on earth. The Kingdom of God was proclaimed as
something that the righteous receive only after Jesus returns: Matthew 25:31-34 But when the Son
of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He
will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be
gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as
the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the
sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will
say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. The Kingdom of God was a key part of
the Gospel. It was what Jesus taught... Matthew 4:23 And Jesus went about all
Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel
of the kingdom, ...and it was what the apostles taught
as an essential part of the Gospel... Acts 8:12 But when they believed
Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and
the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Acts 28:30-31 And Paul dwelt
two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came
in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those
things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no
man forbidding him.
Question: I do not know when the study
was posted about the Kingdom of Heaven vs. the Kingdom of God. I do
agree with the conclusion that they are the same thing. However I
would like an explanation regarding the final conclusion. As stated in
the posting "The Kingdom of God was a future event". With
this conclusion I presume that the Kingdom will only be those who are
true believers? If so then the parable regarding the tares in the
wheat is confusing. If only the reapers at harvest can separate the
tares from the wheat, then isn't the Kingdom all "professing
believers on earth" regardless if they are tares or not? And if
this is true then the Kingdom is now. I would appreciate comments on
this. Reply: The
parable of the wheat and tares is related to the future Kingdom of God
because the parable mentions a future judgment and ingathering. The
judgment will occur at the end of the age (this current dispensation,
that is), which will also be the beginning of the age to come (the
Kingdom of God). The mistake is to take verses 24 through 29 (which
describes the sowing and cultivation period) and assume that this
period is the Kingdom of God. Rather, verses 24-29 are necessary to
bring us to the event connected to the Kingdom of God, i.e., the
harvest. The harvest is when the wheat is separated from the tares,
and is when the wheat finds a place in the sower's barn. It is this
ultimate gathering and separation that makes the parable a fitting
description of the inauguration of the Kingdom of God. The very same concept is found in this
same chapter (Matthew 13) in the parable of the net which makes the
relationship between the judgment and the Kingdom of God clearer: 47 "Once again, the kingdom of
heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all
kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the
shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but
threw the bad away. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and
throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth. |
