How is the Kingdom of Heaven described in the book of Matthew different than the Kingdom of God mentioned throughout the New Testament?
Transcript
[Steve Myers] A question came up about the Kingdom of God. On Beyond Today we talk about the Kingdom of God constantly because it was the major theme of what Jesus Christ Himself taught. And so when you think about the Kingdom of God - and I'll just abbreviate it here with the K.O.G. - the Kingdom of God was the gospel message of Jesus Christ. He preached it. He taught it. And of course it does bring up a question because over and over again throughout the book of Matthew, it doesn't refer much to the Kingdom of God, but it refers to the Kingdom of Heaven. And so you've got the Kingdom of Heaven - I'll just abbreviate it this way - the Kingdom of Heaven.
And so the question comes up regarding that, well, is it talking about our reward, going to heaven after we die? Is that what Matthew was talking about? Or what is the difference between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven?
Well, here's an interesting example. If you look over to Matthew chapter 5, Jesus Christ Himself said in verse 19, He says, “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 5:19). So, there's that example right there. In fact, it's interesting, if you look through the book of Matthew, over and over and over again you'll find this term, Kingdom of Heaven.
Now, guess how many other books in the New Testament you'll find that phrase Kingdom of Heaven? You won't find it anywhere else. It's only in the book of Matthew. The Kingdom of Heaven - in all the other gospels it talks about the Kingdom of God. So how do we relate these two and is there a difference them.
Well, if you look back just a little bit to verse 3, chapter 5 verse 3 in Matthew. Here we have one of the beatitudes. It says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." So that's Matthew 5:3. And there we have that term Kingdom of Heaven.
Now if we flip to one of the other gospels, if we turn over to Luke chapter 6. We'll compare Luke chapter 6 and it's over in verse 20. Luke 6:20, we have the parallel passage here. And in Luke 6:20 here's where Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor for yours is the Kingdom of God." So over in Luke chapter 6 we have Christ Himself saying, “Blessed are the poor for they will inherit the Kingdom of God." Matthew 5:3 says Kingdom of Heaven.
So what does that tell us? It tells us very plainly then, these are the same. The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are one in the same thing. It's not a different thing. It's not that we are going to die and we're going to heaven. Jesus Christ is going to return to Earth. He is going to establish the Kingdom of God right here.
1 Peter 1:4 says we have this inheritance that's reserved in heaven because that's where God the Father and Jesus Christ are right now. But when we follow the whole story through, we can go over to Zechariah 14:4 where it says Christ will return and His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives. He will be here on Earth. So there is no conflict. We see very plainly the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Heaven. And we can look forward to that time when Christ will return and establish the government of God right here on Earth. The Kingdom of God equals the Kingdom of Heaven.
