What IS the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN...to whom did it relate?

[Christine]

WHAT IS "THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN"?

Sometimes the "kingdom of heaven" is thought of as simply being a reference to heaven itself, and that what the Lord and the 12 apostles were preaching about was simply the issue of heaven and how to get there. With others it is thought to be a reference to a spiritual reigning of God in the hearts of men which results in transformed lives and eventually in a transformation of society. What the Lord and the 12 apostles were therefore preaching about, it is said, was the issue of men needing to repent and let God and His will reign in their hearts. In so doing, God's will will be done on this earth.


Though these are commonly accepted ideas as to what the "kingdom of heaven" is, they are at variance with what the Scriptures themselves declare it to be. The testimony of God's word is that the "kingdom of heaven" is not a reference to heaven itself, or to a spiritual reigning of God in men's hearts, but rather to the literal reigning of God Himself on and over this earth in fulfillment of the covenants God made with the nation of Israel.


ISRAEL'S COVENANTED KINGDOM

According to the covenant God made with Abraham and his seed, the nation of Israel is to be a "great nation" on this earth, and as such the means through which "all the families of the earth shall be blessed". (Gen. 12:1 3) They have land covenanted to them by God in which they are to dwell as this "great nation" and provide for the blessing of the world by God. (Gen. 13:14 18; 15:7 21; 17:1 As was later confirmed to them in the Law, they are designed by God to be "a peculiar treasure unto (Him) above all people"; a "kingdom of priests, and an holy nation". (Ex. 19:1 6)


God's plan and purpose with the nation of Israel is for them to be that "great nation" and "kingdom" in which they functioning as God's priests to the rest of the world will provide for the blessing of the world and the administering of God's dominion over it. Isaiah, therefore, prophesying about the fulfillment of God's plan and purpose with Israel, proclaimed...

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people:" (Isaiah 2:2 4a)

Israel in her kingdom and in fulfillment of God's covenant with her will provide for the subjection of the world to God's ways and for the establishment of His paths for it to walk in. The will of heaven will reign and rule on this earth in Israel's covenanted kingdom.

[Christine]

Some excellent points made here.

[MaricoG]

I am just reading that there will be time in heaven...for some reason this has just inspired me!  I want to know all about time in heaven.... If there is time for us in heaven, then there would also be time for God, even though I have always been taught that God is not in time, and there is no time for an eternal being....  I am not even sure yet how to discuss this new idea...but, if there is time...is there then an end?  Doesn't everything that has a beginning have an end?

[Christine]

I am just reading that there will be time in heaven...for some reason this has just inspired me!  I want to know all about time in heaven.... If there is time for us in heaven, then there would also be time for God, even though I have always been taught that God is not in time, and there is no time for an eternal being....  I am not even sure yet how to discuss this new idea...but, if there is time...is there then an end?  Doesn't everything that has a beginning have an end?

God has no beginning and no end. God is not limited by time such as we are. I don't think we can fathom what eternity means. Our little pea brains just cannot wrap themselves around the concept.

[MaricoG]

Yes, I know that...it is just that I was taught there was no time in Heaven!  Now, I am seeing verses that clearly depict time iin Heaven.  Such as these:

Rev 8:1  And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

Rev 6:10  [b]And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

I had always been taught that there would be no more time in eternity, and I find that there will still be time, fascinating!  I want to know more about this.... Oh yes...this one:

Rev 22:1  And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Rev 22:2  In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

And here is one Gary just came up with...because if God was not in time, He could not have taken a literal 6 days to create the world, and rest on the 7th!  And yet a day is like a thousand years to God, and a thousand years as a day...that my dear, is time to God! 

This just caught me....I think it is a wonderment.... 

[Christine]

It tis indeeeeeed!