Ask Your Bible Question

In this installment I want to address 4 aspects of the Kingdom of God.  These 4 aspects are:

 According to “Vincent’s Word Studies”, the Kingdom of heaven is literally “the Kingdom of the heavens”, so then the Kingdom of heaven is from heaven and of heaven, signifying from where the Kingdom originates. The Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of heaven are used interchangeably in the book of Matthew, in fact, Matthew is the only New Testament author to use the phrase Kingdom of heaven.  Consider these words from Adam Clarke in his “Commentary on the Bible.”  

“But why is this called a Kingdom? Because it has its laws, all the moral precepts of the Gospel: its subjects, all who believe in Christ Jesus: and its king, the Sovereign of heaven and earth. Jesus Christ never saved a soul which he did not govern; nor is this Christ precious or estimable to any man who does not feel a spirit of subjection to the Divine will. But why is it called the Kingdom of Heaven? Because God designed that his Kingdom of grace here should resemble the Kingdom of glory above.”

 The people of God, those who faithfully waited for the fulfillment of God’s promised redeemer, were not unfamiliar with the concept of the Kingdom of God (heaven). These faithful ones had many pictures of this Kingdom from the law and the prophets including these prophecies from the book of Daniel:

 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him (Dan 7:13).

And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these Kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.  (Dan 2:44)

 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a Kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. (Dan 7:14) 

In these passages, the prophet Daniel is speaking of the eternal Kingdom of God and Christ.  The “Son of man” spoken of here in the first verse is the same title that Jesus took upon Himself 81 times in the Gospels; this is a phrase that, in addition to “I Am”, was Jesus’ claim of divinity.  The second passage tells of the Kingdom of God (heaven) that will destroy the 4 major earthly Kingdoms in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and replace them with a Kingdom that would be eternal.

 Paul, in the New Testament points to Abraham, when writing about Abraham’s faith he said:

For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. (Heb 11:10)

 ”Vincent’s Word Studies” says that in the Authorized Version (King James) the definite articles that appear in the Greek are missing so that the original Greek would read “the city” and “the foundations”  meaning a heavenly city with heavenly foundations; The Kingdom of God.

 We also have testimony from the New Testament that there were still those that were waiting for the Kingdom of God and His Christ.

And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. (Luke 2:25)

 And there was one Anna, a prophetess…,  (Luke 2:36) And she coming in that instant (of Christ’s circumcision) gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. (Luke 2:38 )

Repentance is required for entrance or acceptance into the Kingdom of God. When John the Baptist cried out in the wilderness “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand”, he was calling a self-righteous nation to acknowledge their sin and to prepare their hearts for a Kingdom that was not an earthly one, but a spiritual one. The Kingdom of God is a spiritual Kingdom to be entered only through repentance and faith in Christ.  After John the Baptist had been imprisoned, Jesus began preaching “Repent fot the Kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17)  When Jesus was preaching this He was saying that the King of the Kingdom was already here. 

The Kingdom of God speaks to the rule and authority over the Kingdom and not the subjects of the Kingdom.  The people of God through Christ are the subjects of the Kingdom, but the Kingdom refers to the one that rules over the subjects.  The Kingdom of God (heaven) refers both to the present and then ultimately to the future eternal Kingdom reign of Jesus over the hearts and minds of God’s children now and eventually the entire creation; it is a now, but not yet Kingdom. 

 In future installments I will look more into what does it mean to “Seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness”, and why did Jesus take up the message “Repent, for the Kingdom of God (heaven) is at hand” rather than “Repent, for the Kingdom of God (heaven) is here.