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.

"Judge Not" & Jury Duty

Biblegems #227

Question: I have heard "judge not lest ye be judged" (KJV) being used in opposition to jury duty and some other forms of justice in our governmental system.

The phrase, "judge not lest ye be judged" comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:1.  While the word used for “judge” can be applied to a wide variety of situations, including the legal system, the immediate context makes it clear that Jesus has something else entirely in mind.

In Matthew 7:1-5 Jesus explains precisely what He means. First, He explains the consequences of passing judgment on others. "Judge not lest ye be judged" means that by judging others a person exposes himself to being judged by the very same standard he uses against someone (v.1-2). The situation Jesus has in view is interpersonal, not judicial. “Judging,” here, means to speak badly of someone with a critical attitude. James makes the same point:

         James 4:11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor? (NIV ’84)

Second, Jesus provides an example in verses 3-5 of what He means by “judging.” He humorously portrays a person who has a huge wooden plank sticking out of his eye attempting to pick a speck of sawdust out of another person’s eye. The point is clear: we have no business criticizing others for things we are guilty of ourselves.

It is interesting, however, that Jesus does not command us to never judge others; rather, He instructs us in verse 5 to take care of our own problem before we attempt to talk to someone else about their problem! That by itself shows that "judge not lest ye be judged" is given as a proverb, a guideline for behavior in interpersonal relationships.

Jesus Himself taught elsewhere that it is necessary to “judge” others, so long as we do it properly:

         John 7:24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.

For example, it is imperative that believers become adept at judging whether a person is genuinely representing God or not. We have to be skilled at testing the spirit of a person:

         1John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

As believers, we are free to participate in the jury system in good conscience. In fact, as Jesus’ followers we should be above reproach in that setting. Jesus is speaking to the attitude of our hearts in dealing with other people, nothing more. This is precisely what God’s Word addresses repeatedly, as in Romans 14:

         Rom. 14:10 You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.

Sermon On The Mount, Or Plain?

Biblegems #216

Question: Matthew 5:1-2 begins the account of Jesus’ sermon "On The Mount," but the account in Luke 6:17, 20 seems to place same the event “in the plain.” Why?

Both Matthew and Luke refer to the same event. The confusion over whether Jesus’ famous teaching took place on a mountain or in the plain comes from the translation process, not from the original language.

The phrase translated into English as “into the mountain” (KJV) or “on the mountainside” (NIV) is the Greek phrase “eis tau oros.”  The term does not imply that Jesus climbed a specific mountain, followed by his disciples and the crowd of thousands. “Oros” can mean “mountain,” or it can mean “hilly area,” “mountain region,” etc. The exact same phrasing (tau oros) is found in Matthew 14:23, 24:16, and is alternately translated as “mountainside” or “the mountains” (i.e., hill country), depending on the context.

The context helps place the meaning accurately. Chapter 4 locates Jesus in the town of Capernaum near the Sea of Galilee (4:13). There Jesus selected his first inner circle of disciples (4:18-22). Using Capernaum as a launch point, Jesus and his disciples travelled throughout Galilee spreading the news of the coming Kingdom of God, accompanied by miraculous healings and spiritual deliverance (4:323-25). This drew large crowds from well beyond Galilee who followed him wherever he went (4:25).

Thousands of people packing the streets and camping out as Jesus moved from town to town and synagogue to synagogue (4:23) created a major difficulty. So Jesus left Capernaum and the heavily populated towns and relocated his base of ministry to the hill country west of the Sea of Galilee. And, as Jesus expected, the crowds followed him there as well.

When we view the same scene through the Gospel of Luke, a few more details emerge that help clarify the picture. According to Luke, once Jesus had relocated to the hilly region on the other side of the lake, he continued to travel each Sabbath to the synagogues to teach (Lk. 16:1-9). After returning from one such outing, Jesus returned to their encampment in the hills, and left the crowd to spend a night alone in prayer (16:12). The next morning he rejoined the crowd, picked out several of them to join him separately, and from that number officially appointed his core group of 12 disciples (13-15).

Jesus then “went down with them and stood on a level place” (NIV). There he began to teach what we now call “The Sermon On The Mount.” Jesus was still located in the hill country with the crowd, but he found a level spot from which to teach.

The King James Version translates the Greek word “pedinos” (i.e., “level place”) as “plain,” giving modern readers the image of a wide prairie of the Old West. All that the word really conveys in the original language is a relatively flat spot compared to the surrounding area.

Once again, a little study in biblical context and word usage clears up confusion and apparent contradiction. As the Scripture testifies of itself:

         Ps. 12:6     And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times.

Vain Repetition

Biblegems #54

The Bible says not to use “vain repletion” in our prayers. Does that include our constantly repeated prayers for lost loved ones? Should we just "ask" and turn it over to the Holy Spirit and say “done"? How does one differentiate between "repetition" and "concern"?

The passage in question comes from Jesus’ sermon on the mount:

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking (Matt. 6:7 KJV).

The word in the Greek NT for “vain repetitions” more literally means “to babble.” There are two ways this can be interpreted, both of which may well have been what Jesus meant. To “babble” can mean to talk on an on, filling the air with words for the purpose of impressing others and impressing God. To “babble” can also mean to utter meaningless sounds, nonsense words, repeating such sounds over and over. This practice is frequently used—then and now—to aid in self-hypnotic meditation.

Either way (or both), Jesus says, ‘Don’t do it.’

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matt. 6:8 NIV).

In contrast to this kind of babbling prayer, Jesus teaches us to be persistent in prayer regarding things of importance. He gives an example in Luke 11: 5-8 of a man who wakes up his friend at midnight to borrow some bread, but is unsuccessful. However, because of his friend’s persistence, the sleepy man finally gives in.

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you (Luke 11:9).

Praying persistently for the salvation of your unsaved loved ones does not fit the definition of babbling. God wants us to remain persistent in this kind of prayer, and not to give up, because He is not giving up on those we are praying for…

…who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4).