The Kingdom of Heaven

Some thoughts, though not organized well because sometimes I just need to ramble.

Seemingly contradictory statements in Scripture are where most of the major Christian controversies are born. The most discussed in Evangelical circles are Calvinism vs Arminianism, the Atonement, and the Kingdom. The first two I may devote a post or series of posts too in the future, but today I'd like to tackle the third.

The contradictions that introduce the argument come straight from the teachings of Christ, so suggesting that they truly are contradictions is a gross misunderstanding and near-blasphemous misrepresentation of Christ Himself. "The Kingdom of Heaven is like..." beings several Parables which are given directly to His disciples. Couple those with the Sermon on the Mount and several statements Christ made to various people and you get a somewhat hazy but important theology of the Kingdom. Here's the Saxon Paraphrase Bible version.

So, open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 3...

John the Baptist is preaching and he says "Jesus is coming" but he uses the words "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"

then in chapter 4

Christ preaches the exact same thing as John - "I'm here" but He also uses these words "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand"

chapter 5

He gathers a group of followers, people who were interested in Him because of His miracles, His words and probably curiosity. He describes to them how a Kingdom citizen is to live. He describes a moral person with a love for God and man. He describes someone interested in what God thinks and with a keen sense of the suffering of others. He describes someone who isn't selfish, isn't greedy, isn't blood-thirsty, and most of all isn't prideful. He uses contemporaries (the Pharisees) as an example of how not to be a Kingdom citizen. He is describing a culture, but a culture of ideas and paradigms not actions. When he says "blessed are the poor" He means "happiness comes from spiritual things, not material" when he says "love your enemy" he means "we are in a struggle for souls, not territory, we are not trying to conquer the world, we are trying to convert the masses". This is not a description of thousands of years from then. This is not Heaven in the sense of Zion with the elders, angels, beasts, and the golden streets. This is Heaven, Christ reigning over the people of His church, His own flesh and blood, the Body of the Living King. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

chapter 10

Christ commissions his "army" to go an preach the same thing "I'm here, your King has arrived" using those same words "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand"

chapter 11

The Kingdom of Heaven is filled with Saints, and those Saints are the most valuable things in God's Universe

chapter 12

Christ casts out demons either by Satan (illogical) or by God (logical) and then draws the corollary that if it is by God then the Kingdom is here

chapter 13

starting at verse 24,

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a group of people, some of which are followers of Christ, some of which are not --- and they won't be separated until its time to judge finally.

now at verse 31,

The Kingdom of Heaven is greatness born out of small, specific actions, thoughts and ideas

verse 33

The Kingdom of Heaven should (and will) permeate every aspect of your life

verse 44 & 45

The Kingdom of Heaven should be valued above all else

verse 47

The Kingdom of Heaven will be purified, and the judgement will make sure of it -- this and the sower shows that at first it will not be pure, and that it will need to be purified

chapter 16

Here's where you've got some "contradiction"

Christ hands Peter the "keys to the Kingdom" (seemingly future tense) and then declares that those present will "not taste death till they see the coming of the Son of Man in His Kingdom" (also seemingly future) I think these back me up from my previous claims in the Sermon on the Mount. Christ was telling them that His crucifixion, resurrection (the coming of the Son of Man in His Kingdom) and Ascension were very near (even could be described as "at hand"), so near the listeners would not have time to die.

How do you describe getting saved to a 5 year old? Jesus Christ is coming to live in your heart.
What is He doing there? Reigning. Unlike the sin that before had "reigned in your mortal body" He is King now. The Church is His body and the Kingdom is then/now/then. Or as my dad says (he didn't originate it, just "bleeds it" haha) already, not yet.

So, am I an amillennial, Heaven Forbid! The same common sense approach to Kingdom teaching allows for a common sense Eschatology suggesting that when John describes a 1000 yr period of physical a Kingdom with particular defining aspects (such as Saints judging Angels, the reinstatement of Israel, the bodily reign of Christ in Jerusalem, the binding and eventual loosing of Satan and the final judgment) he isn't drawing pictures.


Next time, possibly I'll address missions in light of the Kingdom mandates, or not I'll see how I'm feeling.

Braves are going through a bit of an up and down stretch. JUpton is mired in a horrible slump which has countered the emergence of Uggla's and BJ's production. It is becoming evident that the reason the Braves are good is because their starting pitching is phenomenal. That leads to a difficult query - who does Brandon Beachy replace? BB was the staff ace, no doubt about it, before he had to get TJ. Now Minor is the 2nd or 3rd best lefty in the NL (Kershaw, Lee, Corbin and Minor is some order), Medlen is the guy who started 25 straight wins last year, Maholm has been stellar, Huddy is a future HoFamer and Teheran has given up more than 2 runs only 3 times over his last 9 starts. I hate to say it, but either Juilo gets sent down or Maholm gets traded, but we better get half the farm and an impact now reliever or Frank's got some 'splainin to do.