The Kingdom of Heaven & The Kingdom Of God

Biblegems #231

Question: Is there a difference between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God? Also, what does it mean that "the kingdom of heaven is near," "theirs is the kingdom of heaven," "Your kingdom come. . . on earth as it is in heaven," "seek first His kingdom," etc. Are all of these kingdoms the same? Is it a state of mind? An actual place? 

Special note: The biblical concept of the Kingdom is one of the richest themes in Scripture, as these questions demonstrate. Because it is so rich in meaning—and so complex—I will be devoting the next several Bible Gems posts to this topic. Even so, we will be just scratching the surface, but hopefully shed some light that will help us all search the topic on our own with some sense of solid ground beneath our feet. Buckle up for a great journey into God’s Word!

First, some stats: The phrase “the kingdom of heaven” is unique to the Gospel of Matthew and appears 32 times. On the other hand, the phrase “the kingdom of God” appears 66 times and is spread throughout the four Gospels, Acts and four New Testament letters. In fact, “the kingdom of God” is used 32 times in the Gospel of Luke and 6 more times in Acts, the sequel to Luke’s Gospel. Combined, Luke-Acts accounts for more than half of its uses in the New Testament.

Next, let’s explore “the kingdom of heaven.”

Matt. 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

This is precisely the same terminology used by John the Baptist (Matt. 3:2). Like John before Him, Jesus declared that God was about to establish His kingdom upon the earth as promised through the prophets:

         Dan. 2:44 In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.

In light of the impending arrival of this kingdom set up by the God of heaven, people everywhere should repent—switch their loyalty to the Lord, before it is too late. This is not some “spiritual” kingdom only, as taught by some, but the literal messianic kingdom to be established at the end of the age.

         Jer. 23:5-6  “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Savior.”

Each time Jesus speaks of the kingdom of heaven He has in view this messianic kingdom. The Beatitudes in Matthew (5:1-11), for example, describe the kind of people who will typify the citizens of that kingdom: “humble” (5:3), those healed of broken hearts (5:4), etc. These are the people of the Kingdom of Heaven who will “inherit the earth” (5:5)!

Jesus also uses “the kingdom of heaven” as a synonym for “the kingdom of God,” using the terms interchangeably:

         Matt. 19:23-24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

There is much more to this topic, which we will explore in upcoming Bible Gems.

The Resurrection—A Myth Reborn?

Biblegems #194

Question: Is the New Testament account of Jesus' death and resurrection a re-hash of old myths?

This is a common claim, and the mythological comparison made most often is the ancient Egyptian story of Osiris. Below is a summary of the Osiris myth.

Osiris’ Death and Resurrection Myth

The story of Osiris, the principal ancient Egyptian deity of the afterlife, survives from writings known as the “Pyramid Texts” (2400–2300 BC), the Palermo Stone (2392-2283), and the “Coffin Texts” (2181–2055 BC), which contain portions (and substantially differing versions) of the myth. A play composed by the Greek historian / author, Plutarch (46 AD – 120 AD) retells the story.

The most original form of the story is found on the inside walls of sarcophagi (the Pyramid texts), which describe very graphically how Osiris is murdered and dismembered by his brother Set. The body is discovered by his two sisters, Isis and Nephthys, who build a sarcophagus to contain it. They reconnect his body parts and bring life temporarily back into the corpse, long enough for Isis to conceive a son (Horus) for Osiris. Set finds Osiris’ corpse, dismembers it, and throws into the Nile. Osiris’ and Isis’ son Horus collects the pieces, buries them inside a sarcophagus and gives it over to the underworld deity, Nut. Osiris’s body is restored to an embryonic state and transported to the afterlife.

Two things should be noted at the outset. First, the story details change in substance, not just in minor details, even in the very earliest sarcophagi. Second, no attempt is ever made in the Osiris myth to connect the characters to a distinct historical setting. It is told as a story, not as an historical event.

Jesus’ Historical Resurrection

Jesus’ resurrection is firmly established in history by those who witnessed and recorded the event. The accounts are so precise and close in time to the actual event that the eyewitnesses would have been laughed out of town for their flagrant lies if the resurrection had not happened! Instead, those who were not followers of Jesus had to come up with alternate explanations for the empty tomb (see Matt. 28:11-15).

Here are just a few of the many markers placing the resurrection of Jesus firmly in time and place as an historical event. The Gospel accounts record:

• the accurately identified Roman officials and Jewish leaders.

• the specific day, time and named individuals at the empty tomb (Matt. 28:1; Mk. 16:1-2; Lk. 23:56-24:4).

         • the eyewitness testimony of the named women who first met the resurrected Jesus (Matt. 28:9-10; Mk. 16:9-11; Lk. 24:10-11).

         • the many eyewitness accounts of the resurrected Jesus, identifying time and place: (Matt. 28:18-19; Mk.16:14-18; Lk. 24:36-41).

         • The apostle Paul, roughly 25 years after Jesus’ crucifixion, could personally identify more than 500 people who saw the resurrected Jesus, most of whom were still alive (1 Cor. 15:3-8).

The oft-cited criticism that the Gospel accounts do not agree with each other about the resurrection is simply not true. The differences are either extremely minor, or else not differences at all—just details included by some and not others. For examples, see my related Bible Gems posts. [i]

The fact is, the Gospels were written for the expressed purpose of providing accurate accounts of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus:

         John 21:24-25 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

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[i] #41, “Three Days And Three Nights”; #128, “When Did Jesus Enter Heaven”; #129 “Reincarnation & Resurrection”. See also: #178-179; #182-183.

The Women And The Empty Tomb

Biblegems #182

Question: When I read all four Gospel accounts of the resurrection I get confused as to who actually visited to empty tomb, who they told about it and when. How do these accounts harmonize?

The important thing to remember when comparing accounts in the Gospels of the same event is that each Gospel writer addresses a particular audience. Consequently, certain details (like the names and number of people first to arrive at the tomb) could be important to one because the audience would recognize the names, but not so important for another where the audience would be unfamiliar with the names.

The human author’s purpose in writing the Gospel also affected what was included in the resurrection accounts. Resurrection Sunday was a very full day, and each Gospel compressed the events, focusing on some events more than others. The beauty of this, of course, is that we get a much fuller picture of that glorious day when we see it through the eyes of all four. God uses the unique perspective each Gospel gives to help us learn about the resurrection as if we were hearing it from four different people.

Here then is a harmony of the Gospel accounts regarding those who first came to the tomb and who they spoke to about what they saw.

The first visitors to the tomb, those who discovered it to be empty, were all women, and there were more of them present than we have names for. One of these women was very well known—at least by name—to the early church at the time the Gospel accounts were written.

All four Gospels emphasize that Mary Magdalene came to the tomb at dawn on Resurrection Sunday (Matt. 28:1; Mk.16:1; Lk. 24:10; Jn. 20:1). Matthew speaks of “another Mary” that was with her (Matt. 28:1), who Mark identifies as “the mother of James” (Mk. 16:1). Mark also identifies another woman in the group that came to add spices to Jesus’ body—Salome (Mk. 16:1).  Luke, who also mentions the two Marys, but not Salome, then adds the name of one more—Joanna (Lk. 24:10). John only gives us the name of Mary Magdalene because she was the one who told the disciples of the empty tomb on behalf of the other women (Jn. 20:1). But it is also John who quotes Mary telling the disciples: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” (Jn. 20:2). Clearly, John also knew of the other women at the tomb.

Finally, all four Gospels agree that the women ran to the disciples to tell them what they had discovered (Matt. 28:8; Mk. 16:7-11; Lk. 24:9-10; Jn. 20:2). Mark adds the interesting side note that between the tomb and their announcement to the disciples, the women did not stop along the way to tell others of the empty tomb (Mk. 16:8).

What a wonderful gift God has given to mankind:

         Rom. 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.