What Is The Kingdom of Heaven?

Tom:

This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in Matthew 4, and we’re going to pick up with verse 12.“Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.”Verse 16: “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.”

Dave:

Well, I’m sure that the atheists have some criticism of this:Oh, this isn’t really a fulfillment of prophecy at all.I don’t know what they say about this one.I know what they say about some others, but anyway, we are not concerned with them.Well, it’s a prophecy telling about the coming of Jesus, and His preaching.He said, in John’s gospel chapter 8: “I am the light of the world, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”And that’s exactly what this portion is saying.The people that sat in darkness they saw a great light, and what is the light?Well, the light of the world, Jesus Christ came.But it doesn’t mean that they would follow this light or that they would heed Him.Tragically, they did not.

Tom:

Now Dave, we’ve talked about this before, but it seems appropriate to address it here.On the one hand, as you said, here we have a prophetic fulfillment, Jesus the light.Okay, but at the same time John is cast into prison and his circumstances—maybe he’s not too sure that Jesus, who he is related to, is really the Messiah, or as he said, Or is there another one to come?

Dave:

Well, some of the details that the Scripture gives are very interesting, and I’m sure they are all there for a reason.We think of Jesus as growing up in Nazareth.That’s where He was a carpenter with His father Joseph, and so forth.And undoubtedly, He left from Nazareth to go into His ministry.Now, suddenly, He goes to Capernaum leaving Nazareth.He came and dwelt in Capernaum because He’s heard that John was cast in prison.So, we’ve got a little detail filled in here.Why did Jesus move from Nazareth to Capernaum? But He does, eventually come back to His home town.Now the doubts that John had in prison, we read of those, as we mentioned in Luke 7.So, this is a fulfillment of prophecy, and it gives us an interesting insight into how this came about to be fulfilled, just as the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, how did that come about?Well, because Joseph was from the family of David also, and there was a census.And so the man, who in this case is not His Father, but he’s passing for that, they go back to his place of birth.It was not Mary’s place of birth, because this was the city of David.And now we get another little insight into why He moved from Nazareth to Capernaum.And He has some harsh things to say about Capernaum later on.

Tom:

Right.Picking up with verse 17:“From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent:for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”Now Dave, this has been somewhat an issue of controversy.Repent, do we need to repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, is that the condition for entering into the kingdom of heaven, and what is the kingdom of heaven?

Dave:

Well, Matthew talks about the kingdom of heaven, and I think it is—Well, John cannot enter into the kingdom of God.I can remember the Brethren had a great distinction between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God.But if you go back and read the verses, the Bible says exactly the same thing about the kingdom of heaven and it says about the kingdom of God.You cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless you’re born again.It never says that about the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a net and it gathers all kinds of fish, some of them you’ve got to throw out, and so that’s the kingdom of heaven.I would say that the kingdom of heaven encompasses even professors, but now—

Tom:

Professors, those who profess to be believers, but are not true believers?

Dave:

I think you’ve got a lot of churches today, Tom, where there are a lot of people who are not Christians, but are they sort of in this broad net of the kingdom of heaven? I think that they would be.

Tom:

But Dave, does that mean that nevertheless they have eternal life, they are going to be in heaven.

Dave:

Absolutely not, absolutely not.But He began to preach and to say: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”You know, furthermore, I think, Tom, when Christ came—it’s puzzling, and I don’t claim to have the last word—some people would say, Well, supposing the Jews hadn’t rejected Him, would He then have taken the throne of David?Well, you can’t speculate like that, it didn’t happen, it wasn’t going to happen.

Tom:

God’s foreknowledge.

Dave:

Nevertheless, Jesus did, I believe, present himself tohis people in that way.This is the Messiah, this is the one you have been waiting for, supposedly. He is the Son of David.Sometimes, for example, a blind man cries out:Son of David, have mercy on me!So, there was this aspect, the Messiah, He is descended from David, He’s going to take the throne of David.But of course, they were not familiar enough with all the Scriptures.For example, you have two comings, you cannot escape it.We know that there would be two comings of the Messiah, because in Isaiah 53—

Tom:

Beyond the first and second coming, are you talking about—

Dave:

No, I’m just talking about we know that at least the Messiah would come to this earth twice.Now, not getting into the Rapture yet at this moment.How do we know that?Because you could not put into one coming what the Old Testament said about the coming of the Messiah.For example, Isaiah 53, it says that He is going to be rejected, He is going to be crucified, He is going to die for our sins.And yet it says, He will prolong His days, the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.How can He be killed and yet set up a kingdom?So, they didn’t understand that.Jesus is presenting himself as what they are looking for, what they are believing in, and they reject Him as that as well, even though He does so many miracles, heals and feeds them the hungry, and so forth.So Tom, I find enough, there is enough in these Scriptures to do a lot of study, a lot of thinking about, and we’re just kind of giving a quick run through or we would never get through.

Tom:

Right.

Dave:

But the Bible never contradicts itself and it’s amazing because of all the details it gives, it keeps them all straight.

Tom:

Verse 18:“And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea:for they were fishers.And He saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Dave:

Again, Tom, we are getting some details here that are very interesting.I believe that the disciples went back after following Jesus.They began to follow Him twice, and we’ll have to come back and talk about that, it gives details.Here in Luke, when He calls them, they are washing their nets, they are mending their nets, and so forth, they are in the boat.Here it is an entirely different time, and that is when Peter finally leaves everything to follow Jesus.But prior to that, he goes back to his fishing after he started to follow Jesus.