Kingdom of God
According
to Romans 14:17
and Luke 17:21, this is a
SPIRITUAL kingdom which is presently within the hearts of God's people.
Those
who have received Christ as Saviour have been translated spiritually
into this
great kingdom (Col. 1:13; Eph. 1:3; 2:6). As a Christian, I am already
in the Kingdom
of God and it is in me.
Kingdom
of Heaven
Most
immediately assume
that this kingdom is the same as the Kingdom of God, but it isn't. Just
as God
and Heaven are not the same, the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of
Heaven are
not the same. God is spiritual (John 4:24,
while Heaven is God's physical creation (Gen. 1:1). Hence the Kingdom
of God is
a spiritual kingdom, while the kingdom of Heaven is a literal and
physical
kingdom. God gave Adam dominion over this kingdom in Genesis 1:28. It's
an
earthly kingdom, but it was God's will for it to be run "as
it is in heaven" (Mat 6:10). As the Old Testament
continues, we find God appointing different men over this Physical
kingdom
(Noah, Abraham, David, Solomon, etc). Evidently, the Kingdom of Heaven
departed
in Jeremiah chapter 22, when God swore that no descendant of Coniah
would
prosper sitting upon the throne of David. This ushered in the "times of
the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24) with the Babylonian captivity. Then came the
kingdoms of the Medes and Persians, then the Greeks, then the Romans,
According
to Luke 4:6, Satan is in charge of these worldly kingdoms, and he gives
them to
whomever he wishes. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says that he is the "god
of this world."
Then
came GOD'S King,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews. The Jews knew that God had
promised them a kingdom (Gen. 49:10; Isa. 2:1-4,5; Isa 49:5-8,9-12,13; Psa 2:8;
Jer.
23:5; Luk. 1:30-33, etc.). John the Baptist and Jesus both preached
that the
kingdom of heaven was at hand (Mat. 3:2; 4:17), but the Jews REJECTED
their
King and chose a GENTILE king instead {John 19:15). Therefore the
kingdom was
NOT restored to Israel. After the resurrection, the disciples asked
Jesus if He
was now going to restore the kingdom to Israel (a literal,
physical, and
visible kingdom--the Kingdom
of Heaven), and
He said, ". ... It is not for you to know the
times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power "
(Acts 1:6-7) They were not asking Him to restore the SPIRITUAL Kingdom
of God (Romans 14:17),
for
they never had it to start with. They'd never been born again by the
Spirit of
God. They wanted THEIR kingdom back--the literal and physical Kingdom
of
Heaven.
Now,
when Jesus returns
the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven will actually become one,
but
let's not make the mistake of thinking that they're the same now. One
is
spiritual, while the other is physical.
Harley Hitchcock
