Kingdom of Heaven and Kingdom of God

 •  3 min. read  •  grade level: 7
"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. You find the terms used are in keeping with each individual Gospel. Matthew groups his subjects together dispensationally; Luke does so morally; both depart from the historic order, to which Mark keeps more than any of the others.
With a Jew the thought of the "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); Psalm 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 pronounced as "at hand," not as come, by John the Baptist (Matt. 3); by the Lord (Matt. 4); by the twelve (Matt. 10). The King was rejected; and in chapter 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 will. Then in chapter 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: a sphere overrun with evil, and a mingled crop-the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens. Instead of the true subjects taking their origin from Abraham, they do so from the word of God, which Christ sows, others accepting the authority of Christ nominally, as professors.
In Luke (Luke is the great moralizer), the term used is "kingdom of God," of which the Lord Jesus could say in answer to the inquiry of the Pharisees (they asked 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); J.N.D. Trans.), 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, so to speak. His authority and that of the heavens was 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 a good margin of time after the Church's history is over, as it had commenced before it.
There are two places where it 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); not so of the kingdom of heaven, in which tares and wheat mingle. Souls may profess and submit to God's kingdom, as merely profession. Hence Luke 13:1818Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? (Luke 13:18) 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 again.
When the Millennium comes in, the present confused state of the kingdom of the heavens will be set aside by the judgment of the quick (living); and it will then be displayed in its verity in a twofold- heavenly and earthly-state of things. The Son of man gathers out of His kingdom; that is, the earthly part of it (see Psalm 8; Heb. 2), all stumbling blocks, and them that do iniquity. And then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father; that is, 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).)