Part 6: The Kingdom of Heaven
“Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 3:2 KJV
This was the focus of John the Baptist’s preaching in the wilderness of Judea. There had been 400 quiet years (in between Old and New Testament) where the Israelites waited in anticipation for the one whom Isaiah, the prophet, spoke about: “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.…” (9:7). Almost out of the blue came this man wearing camel-hair garments, who ate locusts and wild honey (Matt. 3:4), who spoke about the kingdom of heaven. At this time, the Jews were being oppressed by the Romans. Was John the Baptist speaking about their redeemer?
“Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This verse is pregnant with meaning. It was the same message that Jesus preached once John the Baptist was arrested (Mark 1:15). At the end of Matthew 4 and from Matthew 8 onwards, Jesus starts healing many from various illnesses and demon possession, but if we don’t understand the meaning of “the kingdom of heaven”, we will not understand why Jesus healed all of these people.
One important thing to note is that the Israelites, and even Jesus’ disciples, didn’t know from the beginning that He was both man and God. It is only in Matthew 16 where Peter recognized Jesus as “the Christ” (the Messiah), but that was only one part of the truth. That’s why Peter was incredibly confused when Jesus told the disciples that he was to “suffer many things” and “be killed” (16:21). They thought that He, as a human, was literally going to sit on David’s throne in order to bring peace and free them from their Roman oppressors. Even after Jesus’s death and resurrection, before His ascension, some of His disciples still didn’t understand – “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6)
One of the reasons why Jesus healed many people and cast out demons – in fact, the reason why Jesus performed many miracles – was to demonstrate His authority as God in the flesh. If you flip back to the creation story in Genesis, how did God create the universe and all that it contains? By His Word. Who was there from the beginning, according to John 1? The Word. How did Jesus heal the sick and demon possessed? How did he calm the storm? (Matt. 8:26) By speaking. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.…All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1;3). Jesus is the Word. Jesus is God. Jesus was there right from before the beginning. Jesus created the universe. Colossians 1:15 tells us that He “is the image of the invisible God”. Who would be able to command a disease to leave a body? Who would be able to rebuke the ocean? The One who made it. By healing the sick and demon possessed, Jesus is showing that He is not just the Son of God; He is God.
Now we are beginning to understand the kingdom of heaven being at hand. Jesus, being Immanuel, God with us, had come to Earth, from Heaven. But that is only one part of the meaning. The word “kingdom” carries a lot of weight in the Bible. In Genesis 12:1-3, God promised Abraham innumerable descendants, a land, a great name and blessing…a promise that should make us think back to the Garden of Eden before the Fall. “God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule and blessing” (Vaughan Roberts). The perfect Kingdom.
The Old Testament is full of promises and clues to this special Kingdom. One of these come in 2 Samuel 7:9-10;12-14 (God speaking to king David): “And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more…I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son.” See the similarities with God’s promise to Abraham.
This promise was somewhat fulfilled in David’s son, king Solomon, but he was still human and sinful, and his kingdom certainly didn’t last forever. This promise, and the promise made to Abraham, was only truly fulfilled in the person of Jesus. But what “place” was being spoken about? Was it the earthly city of Jerusalem?
The prophet, Isaiah, told of a new heavens and new earth that God would create where “…the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying (65:17;19). There are striking parallels in Revelation 21: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away…Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men…And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (1, 3-4). The perfect Kingdom. The heavenly Kingdom.
This is the Kingdom that John the Baptist and Jesus preached about. It is no coincidence that we find the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7, after Jesus had been teaching in the synagogues and “preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people” (4:23). The Sermon on the Mount is all about God’s Kingdom! It will be worth your time to read and study those chapters again.
Why did Jesus heal all those people? To show His authority as the Creator of the Universe and to give them a foretaste of what His perfect Kingdom would be like – the New Heavens and New Earth where there would be no more pain, tears or disease. This is the place we too can look forward to if we have placed our trust in Jesus’s death and resurrection to forgive our sins, and believe in Him as our Lord and Saviour.
Some of you might ask, why isn’t God healing so many people today? The Coronavirus has shattered so many lives. There’s no question about God’s ability – nothing is impossible for God. He certainly can heal people of the Coronavirus, but is bodily healing honestly our biggest need? It might seem so if we focus on the here and now. Imagine that you did get healed, but never placed your trust in Jesus in your earthly life, forfeiting a place in God’s perfect Kingdom?
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” 1 John 1:1-4 KJV
“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:5-10 KJV
“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-6 KJV
“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 KJV
“But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 KJV
“Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: but their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 KJV
“Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 KJV
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 KJV
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
“For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."