Kingdom of God - Kingdom of Heaven

 •  3 min. read  •  grade level: 8
“The kingdom of the heavens”-the true rendering-is only named in Matthew. It is a dispensational term; while "the kingdom of God" is a moral thing. In keeping with the gospels you name, you find the terms used. Matthew groups his subjects together dispensational; Luke does so morally; both depart from the historic order to which Mark keeps more than any of the others.
With a Jew, the term "kingdom of the heavens" was familiar. (See Deut. 11:2121That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. (Deuteronomy 11:21); Psa. 89:2929His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. (Psalm 89:29); Dan. 2:44; 4:26-3544And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. (Daniel 2:44)
26And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. 27Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity. 28All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. 29At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. 30The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty? 31While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. 32And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. 33The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. 34And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: 35And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? (Daniel 4:26‑35), and other scriptures.) It is the "rule of the heavens" owned on earth. It was announced as "at hand," not as come, by John the Baptist (Matt. 3), by the Lord (Matt. 4), and by the twelve (Matt. 10). It is rejected, and in Matt. 12, which ends the gospel to the Jew, the curse of Antichrist is pronounced upon the nation, and a remnant owned who obey His Father's win. Then in Matt. 13, the Lord begins a new action, as a sower, and the kingdom of the heavens takes a new character, which the prophets did not contemplate. It is portrayed as a sphere overrun with evil, and a mingled crop-the "mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens," and instead of the true subjects taking their origin from Abraham, they do so from the Word of God, which Christ sows; others accept the authority of Christ nominally as professors.
In Luke, who is the great moralizer, the term used is "kingdom of God," of which He could say in answer to the inquiry of the Pharisees if it came with observation, that it was "in the midst of you." (Luke 17:2121Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:21) JND), for God was there in Christ. Of the "kingdom of the heavens" it could only be said it is "at hand." and it did not (and could not) commence until the ascension of Christ. To have come in during His presence, it would have been the kingdom of the earth. His authority and that of the heavens were owned, even before the coming of the Holy Ghost, during the ten days of interval, by the disciples, who waited by His directions for that coming. It will run on in its present, confused state until the Millennium. Hence it begins before the Church is started and ends after the Church is complete.
You get two places where the term gets a moral character from Paul-"The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:1717For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. (Romans 14:17)); "the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." 1 Cor. 4:2020For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. (1 Corinthians 4:20). It is the "exhibition or manifestation of the ruling power of God under any circumstances." A man must be born afresh to "see," or "enter in" to it, in the verity of it (John 3); it is not so in the kingdom of heaven, in which tares and wheat mingle. Souls may profess and submit to God's kingdom as merely profession. Hence, in Luke 13:1818Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? (Luke 13:18), he uses the term kingdom of God where nominal profession is noted in the parable, and where the "kingdom of the heavens" might be used interchangeably. Still, none but the saints would be really of it, as born of God.
When the Millennium comes in, the present, confused state of the kingdom of the heavens will be set aside by the judgment of the living, and it will then be displayed in its verity in a two-fold, heavenly and earthly state of things. The Son of man gathers out of His kingdom-the earthly part of it (see Psa. 8; Heb. 2)-all stumbling blocks and workers of iniquity. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father-the heavenly sphere of it. (See Matt. 13:41-4341The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Matthew 13:41‑43).) F.G. Patterson