2 - THE KINGDOM of GOD and HEAVEN

INTRODUCTION

Mathew 6:33

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Many people neglect learning about the kingdom of God believing it is an area that is so easy to understand that putting any real effort into it is not necessary. Others consider the kingdom as one of those mysterious biblical truths that just is. For those who want to know more about it, they might find the kingdom too difficult to understand becoming confused by the the difference between the kingdom of heaven, the coming millennial kingdom that Jesus will establish on earth, and the kingdom that is spoken of in terms of today.

We hear: “…seek first the Kingdom of God” and rightly identify this as a required supreme priority and a quest that must be executed before we do any other thing. As Christians we are completely willing to seek the kingdom, but do we know what we are seeking and why?

Some of the questions we may have are:

• Should I be seeking to get to heaven, where the kingdom exists?

• Am I actually just to be seeking to understand the kingdom that is in heaven?

• Am I simply striving to be ready for the Lord’s return, so He will include me in his millennial kingdom?

• Am I to seek the kingdom in such a way that I look to others like I am focused on His coming kingdom?

• Am I to be seeking a stronger relationship with the church as a representative of the kingdom?

• Is it within my power as a Christian to bring the God of the heavenly kingdom down from heaven to rule me?

• If any of these are true, how and when will those things be added to me?

It can get confusing and even seem like a mystery that we are not supposed to understand. Those of you who believe you have a strong understand of the kingdom are either eliminating portions of these questions, picking and choosing those elements that can be interlaced, or are weaving all of it into a nice kingdom package.

I believe we have strong biblical proof that there are 2 kingdom identities; one that is currently in heaven and another that must also exist now, but is difficult to understand.

The easy one to understand is the identifiable kingdom of heaven that is the existing & coming kingdom of heaven, which is in heaven now and will be brought down from heaven with Christ. This is a real biblically known kingdom that exists with Christ in heaven today and will become the (Transcendental) tangible millennial kingdom of Heaven manifest on earth when Christ retrieves His Bride.

The other manifestation is the known transcendent kingdom of God, which is building here on earth NOW and is a seemingly intangible truth of theology. For this series, we will refer to the known transcendent kingdom of God as the NOW kingdom of God. Although the NOW kingdom is not something we can touch or are physically standing in, it is made tangible for the Christian through our experience with it – but still, we cannot understand how it gets here. So, let us take a look at these kingdom identities.

THE TRANSCENDENTAL COMING KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

Luke 21:31  So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. 

Jesus tells us about His coming kingdom in Luke 21:31, Jesus reveals through a parable that the kingdom is to come soon. This kingdom is associated with a time to come and an actual or physical place. It is understood that the kingdom Jesus is identifying in this statement is a place that will be entered into by His followers – a physical place to which Christians, in a new form, will be taken upon His return – the actual tangible kingdom of Christ.

The statement, “at hand” identifies an actual time near to our current time, but yet in our sight. We can surely agree that Jesus teaches us in Matthew 6:10 that His kingdom, that will exist on earth, has not yet been put in place and will manifest on earth in a real and tangible form and an actual time in the future.

Mattthew 6:10 

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Also in Matthew 6:10, Jesus tells us that the kingdom He will establish will be a place on earth where only His holiness will exist. Through this truth of the Lord, we can know that the kingdom of heaven already exists in heaven, but Jesus tells us that it is not yet on earth. The prayer He recommends is used to call on Jesus to move the kingdom of heaven to earth, and there is one more significant statement made in this verse. That the will that will be filled in His kingdom will not be man’s will. Not only that, the will He identifies as will be in His kingdom, will be just as it is in heaven right now. We should acknowledge for a later discussion that only Jesus’ will exists in the Kingdom of Heaven today – and there will never exist human will in the kingdom of heaven.

With this we can know that the kingdom of heaven cannot exist now on earth.  If humans are present and have free will, it is not possible for His requirement that only His will exist in His kingdom of heaven. It stands that it is impossible that the kingdom of heaven can be on earth now, since God currently allows free-will in this place. (We will get back to this)

Putting this all together:

The kingdom of heaven is a place (noun) that exists now in heaven and does not yet exist on earth, but will become physically manifest in a future place and time.

Purpose of the Kingdom of Heaven

We also need to connect with the purpose of the kingdom of heaven. What we know so far in this study is that it is the place where Jesus is King and all who are a part of it worship only Him. We know the people in the kingdom live only according to His will. This is true of the kingdom as it is in heaven today, as there is no sin and only God’s will in His heavenly kingdom. By extension and because there is no sin in the kingdom of heaven, man mist be stripped of sin when given his new glorified body. In this way, the kingdom of heaven will remain holy on earth as it is in heaven.

The Greek word for Kingdom is basileia, which refers to a royal rule that establishes a realm or kingdom. 

In the case of the Millennial Kingdom, what will be established is a constituent group of Christians that will be the subjects of the royal authority - Jesus Christ.

In the heavenly kingdom on earth, the realm will be made up of those Christians who were once the lost of earth and are now saved in Christ and moved as His bride, in a perfected body, to the millennial kingdom of heaven. McArther refers to this as the fourth phase of the kingdom, or “the manifest kingdom in which Christ will rule, physically, directly, and fully on earth for a thousand years”.[1]

[1] The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on Matthew 3

[2] The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on Matthew 3