The Lord’s Day – 24 April 2005
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS INTRODUCED BY THE KING
Following on from the previous Lord’s Day, in which we took a very brief look at a very large subject, The Return of Christ, chiefly through Matthew 24, it will be helpful if we continue to look more closely at some of the related scriptures referred to in that study. God willing, today we will begin to look at some of these in the course of our continuing study.
As we do so, we will continue on from where we left off, at the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness - Matthew 4:1-11. It is in the very next part of that chapter in which Matthew’s Gospel introduces the public ministry of Jesus and with that, the kingdom of heaven.
Reading: Matthew 4:12-17
All the preaching and teaching of Jesus must be seen in the light of the background of who he is, where he has come from, where he has gone and is now, what is his purpose and plan for his people, and now more particularly, what is this “kingdom of heaven” he refers to in the very first instance of his preaching.
Before we proceed to the main lesson of our text this morning, let us note that in verse 12-16 we see a prophecy fulfilled concerning the first advent of Christ, which is a figurative prophecy. It speaks of Christ being “the light of the world”, and it uses figurative or poetic language to speak of God’s Word as “light”. There is much confusion in our day concerning the interpretation of Bible prophecy, largely because there are all sorts of opinions about it. Many of which have no scriptural basis. There is a popular school of prophecy today which demands that, as all the prophecies concerning Christ’s first advent were fulfilled literally, then we must interpret literally all the prophecies concerning His second advent. The particular lesson in this prophecy is that, as here is proof that some prophecies were figurative, then we must expect that there might be figurative prophecies concerning the second coming of Christ. For example, if beasts with many faces, stars in Christ’s hand, rivers, armies, seas, periods of years etc., the Revelation is much more easily understood in the light of other parts of the Bible. We won’t continue to follow this theme just now but it is an invaluable lesson to remember in order to avoid confusion about end times prophecy.
Firstly, take note that:
“the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17)
This has been observed in our previous session, looking at Matthew 24, and noticing that the kingdom of heaven is not something yet in the future, that the kingdom is a present kingdom and a spiritual kingdom, and that the King himself is already reigning from his throne in heaven. These basic facts about the kingdom of heaven will become more and more clear as we see all the contents of the Gospels in the light of these truths.
Proceeding on now, the body of our study will be taken up with a look at some other scriptures as we follow the question that arises out of our text:
WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN?
It is “of heaven”. It is very important to keep this term in mind. Words are meant to have meaning! If it is the kingdom “of heaven”, then that should tell us something, i.e. it is from heaven. This is explained in perfect detail by the Lord in John 18:33-37: “not of this world … not from hence…”; also Luke 17:20-21, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation … for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”
There is a great lesson in this point: We see in this a clear case of how many times people simply do not read what is written, and that every word of scripture is important. We must learn to prayerfully and intelligently study the scriptures and have a dictionary always at hand, otherwise we will naturally read into the words some completely different meaning. The reason we do is that our minds are already affected by prevailing views – what we might call “propaganda”. I have seen examples of this over the years, and you no doubt have also, when people have vowed and declared that I said this or didn’t say that when I know perfectly well what I said, but they were simply not listening, or they somehow shut out the parts they didn’t want to hear, or they were so affected by emotions that they decided that I was angry etc. etc. This generation is very much a feeling generation and not a thinking generation! There are many people who are so emotionally attached to their own ideas and opinions that if you dare to disagree with them they will accuse you of all sorts of malice. I have encountered this over the years with many men of God who should be far more honest and objective, some of whom have international ministries. Another example: I recall on occasions how the news media have reported that a certain Foreign Minister gave an angry response to comments from officials of other nations, and the “anger” word was used with great emphasis, but watching the interview on TV, you could not detect the slightest anger, just a firm statement. This sort of thing is typical of this emotionally charged generation. People are even suggesting that teaching in the Churches should take the form of high tech visual presentations and highly orchestrated programmes with many and various parts to keep the attention of hearers. Many people will tell you they had a wonderful Church meeting, which often means that it was highly emotional and made them feel great for a while, but ask them to explain what they learned and how their faith was strengthened and they probably won’t be able to give an intelligent response.
So, brothers and sisters, don’t let all the emotional and sensational preaching and propaganda sway you, for today there is an epidemic of emotionalism overriding the plain facts. Read and understand the scriptures! Hold fast to the Truth and be blessed!
Christ’s kingdom is not of this world but of heaven! It is not ruled from this world but from heaven! There are important implications of this truth which affect us daily: The papal kingdom of Rome is of this world, not of Christ; The kingdom of George W Bush is of this world, not of Christ. George Bush was recorded in the news media as saying recently that the new Pope is a man who “serves the Lord”. All Christians (i.e. all who believe the Scriptures) should immediately know from this that George Bush is not a Bible-believing Christian and that gullible Christians in the US and in Australia should wake up to what they are supporting! Such a statement would never have been made by Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, Tyndale, Zwingle, Bunyan, Newton, Whitefield, Wesley, Spurgeon, and hundreds of other well-known Protestants and Reformers. This is kindergarten level understanding among Bible-believers! If you see a kingdom being built in this world it is not the kingdom of heaven. Have time and modern education removed the basic facts of history? Did the martyrs die in vain? Were all the Reformers crazy? If we capitulate and agree with this modern propaganda, then we not only declare this but that Christ also was deceived or a madman! It would be blasphemy to even contemplate the idea in the light of the plain Biblical facts before us! The kingdom of God has to do with grace and truth. We operate graciously, trusting God to bring His will to pass, not striving and pushing and shoving and threatening and abusing as the world does.
It is also called “the kingdom of God” – There are those who would make a distinction between these two and say that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are two different things, but this position cannot be supported by an honest and thorough look at the scriptures. There are even those who would declare that there are more than one gospel; the gospel of Christ and the gospel of the kingdom. As we have observed in part before, this kind of perspective is of those who want to retain the Old Testament/Covenant in some form, instead of accepting that with the coming of the New Testament, the Old is passed away (See Hebrews 7:21-8:2). They would therefore say that the kingdom is not a heavenly kingdom but an earthly kingdom which Christ will rule from Jerusalem, and which has not yet begun, but the Scriptures say the very opposite is true.
See a comparison of Matthew 5:3 & Luke 6:20, Matthew 8:11 & Luke 13:29, Matthew 11:11 & Luke 7:28, Matthew 13:11 & Mark 4:11, Matthew 19: 23 & 24. There may well be other examples but these are more than sufficient to establish beyond any question that “the kingdom of heaven” and “the kingdom of God”, when spoken of in the Scriptures, are exactly the same thing.
There can hardly be any doubt that the intention of the Lord, who inspired the Scriptures, was to provide us with this vital information, for the express purpose of teaching us that the kingdom of God is a heavenly kingdom!
There are many implications to this, but all boil down to one: Have faith in God and in Christ and learn to pray, “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” This is how the kingdom of heaven impacts the earth.
Secondly and finally, we must note that:
“Repent!” is the command of the King.
We must repent of (among all our other sins), a casual approach to the scriptures.
We must repent of a lack of diligence in searching and studying the scriptures carefully with an eye for detail.
We must repent of not making Scripture Alone! As our unbending rule.
We must repent of being content with what other people say and teach about the kingdom of God.
We must repent of giving any place to anything which opposes the doctrine of Christ.
We must repent of supporting political figures who support the kingdom of Antichrist rather than the spiritual kingdom of Christ.
We must repent of not giving due place to Christ’s absolute and eternal reign in heaven now.
We must exalt and praise Him who lives for ever and whose “kingdom shall have no end”!
We must not cease to teach and preach Jesus (not the traditions of men)!
Why must all be called upon to repent? – The kingdom of Heaven is at hand! There is no time to day dream and casually consider the great issues of life and death and judgment! Are we ready for the kingdom of heaven? Are we ready to meet the enthroned and reigning King? Are we already His loyal subjects? If not there is a terrible and final pronouncement to be heard at our departure from this world. But to those who confess Him before men in this world, he will confess before His Father in heaven. This is Good News indeed!