Kingdom of Heaven:

The phrase Kingdom of Heaven appears only in Matthew. The Kingdom of Heaven is a
Semitic idiom, where heaven is a substitute for divine name (Lk. 15:18). The Kingdom of God
means God is King. Whoever accepts God as their king, in that person’s life Kingdom of God
has come. It is the dominion of God coming into being here in this world.
The KOG is the main theological theme in the teaching of Jesus. From the beginning (3:2)
Matthew describes the preaching of John as being one of repentance in view of the nearness
of the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew presents it as the summary of Jesus’ proclamation from
the time of John’s arrest (Mtt. 4: 17) and this summary character is repeated in 4:23 and 9: 35.
The Kingdom of God appears at the first (5:3) and last beatitudes (5:10) suggesting that
humility and righteous suffering are necessary presuppositions for possessing the kingdom.
The members of the Kingdom of God should demonstrate righteousness or divinely willed
behavior. This raises the question whether Matthew is thinking of a future kingdom where the
people who have these qualities enter or of a present kingdom in which its members live out
these qualities. For Matthew it is undeniably future and entry to it is expressed in the future
tense. However, there is also a sense in which it is present, and the evidence is found in 23:13
which clearly refers to entry to the kingdom in the present tense. The Kingdom is powerfully
at work, and it grows like a tree.
The term Kingdom of God does not occur in the OT; however, the idea is present in the
Prophets. God is presented as King, and we could see a twofold emphasis on God’s kingship.
He is addressed as king, both for Israel (Exod. 15:18; Num. 23:21; Deut. 33: 5; Isa. 43:15)
and of all the earth (2Kin. 19:15; Isa. 6:5; Jer. 46:18; Ps. 29:10). These passages affirms that
God is now King, nevertheless, other passages speak of a day when he shall become king and
rule over His people (Isa 24:23; 33:22; 52: 7; Zeph. 3:15; Zech. 14:9ff). The Hebrew Prophetic
hope expects the Kingdom to arise out of history and to be ruled by a descendant of David in
an earthly setting (Isa. 9: 9, 11). When the Jews lost a hope of a kingdom in the history, they
looked for an apocalyptic inbreaking of God in the person a heavenly Son of Man with a
completely transcendental Kingdom “beyond history” (Dan. 7). The emphasis is always
eschatological
The immediate background of Jesus' use of the term "kingdom of God" is to be sought in the
apocalyptic literature. Schnelle cites Pss. Sol 17:1, 3 and 46 where it states that God of Israel
is king forever while at the same time the expected Messiah appears as the representative of
God’s kingdom (Pss. Sol 17: 32, 34) and quoting various rabbinic literature he states that the
coming and the presence of God’s Kingdom was a core element of Jewish hope at the time of
Jesus. N. Perrin says that in 1 QM (The scroll of the war rule) 6:6; 12:7 and also in some other
apocalyptic literature the key term, the kingdom of God, expresses the expectation that God
will act decisively and openly and bring about the inauguration of a new age in which He will
manifest His sovereignty over all His foes (and foes of Israel or a remnant within Israel).
The Gospels show that the coming of Jesus and His teaching in Galilee signaled that this
expectation was being realized. Matt. 4:17 (Mark 1:15) contains the important announcement
that with the coming of Christ the kingdom is present: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand".
A unique characteristic of the proclamation of Jesus is that for Him, the coming kingdom of
God is not only near but is already present. In the Beatitudes Jesus announces the presence of
the kingdom of God to those who had been regarded as outsiders. {See the Beatitude to the
poor (5:3), the hungry (5:6) and to the mourning (Matt. 5 :4)}. Those who are poor and
oppressed have been deprived of their rights and can only hope for mercy and help from
others. Jesus offers them participation in the kingdom of God in their state of absolute
dependence. Jesus reveals the essential nature of the kingdom of God that is the sovereignty
of God, God’s goodness in giving gift and God’s acceptance of human beings. The rulership
of God takes place in the Kingdom of God; there God alone is the giver and human beings are
the receivers of God’s gift. Jesus pronounces His blessing on these people and grants them a
share of life in the presence of the Kingdom of God.
(2) The presence of the kingdom of God is manifest in the overthrowing of the power of the
Devil and the expulsion of evil (Matt. 17: 14-18) and Matt. 12:28 “But if it is by the Spirit of
God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.” The binding of
the "strong man" in 12:29 is to be understood in the light of the expectation that Satan would
be bound in the last days W. G. Kummel (p. 109) commented: "It is the meaning of the mission
of Jesus, when announcing the approach of the Kingdom of God, to make this future at the
same time already now a present reality.
The theology of the Kingdom of God is embedded in these two verses (12:28-29). Jesus
declares that God has acted in His kingly power to restrain the power of Satan even before the
end of the age to reveal His kingly power and destroy Satanic evil. In other words, God’s
kingdom in Jesus’ teaching has a two-fold manifestation: at the end of the age to destroy Satan,
and in Jesus’ mission to bind Satan. Before Satan’s final destruction people will be delivered
from his power. Here is an unsolvable mystery in NT Theology. The enemies of God’s
kingdom are now seen not as hostile evil nations as in the OT but spiritual powers of evil.
(Ladd)
(3) Many of the acts of Jesus can make sense only if they are seen as His implicit
announcement that the kingdom is on the scene. The outstanding events are (a) the conflict
with the demons (Matt 12:28 par. Luke 11:20) (b) the entry into the Holy City (Matt. 21:1-
10) and the cleansing of the temple (21:12-13), both of which are His claim to realize the
present hour as the Savior who was expected at the end time; and (c) His offering bread and
wine at the Last Supper (26: 26-29), which allowed "the disciples to share the messianic
salvation in present experience" (Kummel, p. 121).
4. The parable of the mustard seed, the mustard bush is already growing and the parable
Leaven, the dough will soon be completely leavened (Matt. 13: 31-33) testify the hidden
beginning of the kingdom of God. It implies that the kingdom of God is growing in the present.
It seems indisputable, then, that the Jesus claimed to embody the present kingdom in His own
person and acts.
Future
Side by side with the teaching "the kingdom of God is in your midst" (12:28) is the idea that
the kingdom is an object of future hope. Matt. 16:28— the coming of the kingdom "with
power" lies in the future, Son of man will come in apocalyptic glory, at an unspecified time
Matt. 25:13. The coming of the kingdom of God will inaugurate the age to com (Matt. 6:10 -
thy kingdom come). In Matt. 18:4 and in. 19: 23-24 Jesus talks of the Kingdom as something
to be entered. The coming of the Kingdom means the final destruction of the devil and his
angels (Matt. 25:41), and the formation of a redeemed society unmixed with evil (Matt. 13:36-
43). In Matt. 8:11-12 Jesus affirmed that the sons of the kingdom will be excluded from the
eschatological banquet with Patriarchs and their place taken by Gentiles. These references
suggest the futuristic orientation of the Kingdom of God.
The present age is one of proclamation of it, but it is also apparently one of growth as the
parable of the mustard seed and Leaven suggests. If it is growing, then there must be a sense
in which it is present.
There is a tension between the kingdom as an eternal heavenly state into which people will
enter and the kingdom as the dominion of God coming into being here in this world. It is more
a contrast between a heavenly kingdom and a dynamic kingdom that constitutes a space within
this world in which God’s blessing are realized. In this sense the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem
is significant. At his triumphal entry into Jerusalem the people give praise for the one who
comes in the name of the Lord, for the coming kingdom of our father David (21:7-10). This
seems to suggest that the entry of Jesus to Jerusalem was seen as the entry of the Messiah and
hence was an integral stage in the coming of the kingdom. Therefore, the coming of the
kingdom is closely linked with the coming of the Messiah. Messiah is here means that the
kingdom is being established.
The association of the kingdom with the entry of Jesus to Jerusalem strongly suggest that the
suffering and death of Jesus are crucially related to its coming. The second half of the Gospel
emphasizes the coming suffering and resurrection of Jesus and that his death took place in
accordance with the plan of God. In 20:28 Jesus predicts giving his life as a ransom for many
and in the same context he refers to drinking the cup of divine wrath This can be linked with
the words spoken at the Last supper (Matt. 26:26-29) about his body and pouring out his blood,
like the sacrifice that inaugurated the old covenant at Sinai (Exd. 24). So, it is apparent that
the death of Jesus as the means whereby people are delivered from sin and its direct
consequences. Therefore, the death of Jesus is the plan and work of God in bringing the
kingdom.

The coming of the kingdom is affected by the work of the Messiah. People enter into the
kingdom by responding to the message of Jesus in repentance and faith. Those who make
positive response in faith come into the sphere of God’s salvation and life. The people those
who respond to the call to discipleship have been given the secret of the kingdom. Jesus is
revealing the secret of the kingdom and about the Messiah to his disciples, the mystery that
God has kept hidden in the past. Full understanding of Jesus is gained by personal encounter
and willingness to share his way in self-denial. To be a disciple is to possess the mystery of
the kingdom i.e., to understand what is going on and to partake of it. It is to recognize Jesus
as who he really is and to see that the kingdom really is present in him. (Marshall).