"In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'" (Matt. 3. 1-2 RSV).

The expression 'kingdom of heaven' is a familiar one in the New Testament and it is understandable that several views as to its precise meaning exist. To the Jews at Christ's First Advent it definitely meant the kingship of Messiah upon earth, the period when He would reign on David's throne and exalt Israel to the leadership of the nations. The phrase really defines the royal power that is from heaven or comes from the heavens and can quite reasonably be applied to the whole of the Divine sphere of rulership. Thus it can cover, not only regenerated humanity at the climax of the Divine plan so far as it relates to man, but whatever there may eventually be of intelligent life in any part or aspect of Divine creation, all must be part of the Divine empire. It would be rather short sighted on our part to conclude that God, the infinite Creator, will only manifest His creative power in human life here upon earth. But from the point of view of the New Testament the Kingdom of Heaven can only refer to the operation of that Kingdom so far as man is concerned. The mission of John the Baptist and later, of Jesus of Nazareth, was to mankind and mankind alone.

In this sense the Kingdom of Heaven commenced its sovereignty among mankind at Pentecost, and continues extending its sway until "all that hath breath shall praise the Lord" at the end of the Millennium. But the development of the Kingdom in history is in two phases. Firstly, the formation and completion of the Church, which occupies the present 'Gospel' Age, and secondly, the calling and reconciliation of mankind in general to God, a work that is to have its greatest scope and reach its climax in the still future 'Millennial' Age. There is a tendency to separate the work of these two Ages into virtually watertight compartments and speak as if there is no sense in which the Kingdom is in operation until the Second Advent of Christ, when the visible Kingdom amongst men on earth is established. Paul plainly tells us (Col. 1.13) that God has already translated us into the Kingdom of His Son. This means an actual and factual transfer from the kingdom of darkness, and is a present fact in the experience of every consecrated Christian who has 'come into' Christ. The lawyer who "answered discreetly", was "not far" from the Kingdom of God (Mark 12.34) which means that in his perception of Jesus' message he was already at the point of entry. To-day, two thousand years later, only the smallest fraction of earth's millions have so much as heard of the Kingdom of Heaven, much less had opportunity to enter in. The key to this apparent paradox is found in Paul's words to the Athenians recorded in Acts 17. Prior to Pentecost, God had not moved actively for the world's redemption, but on and after that historic scene in the upper room in Jerusalem, He "commanded all men everywhere to repent". From that time forward, throughout all the Gospel Age and all the Millennial Age, the call to repentance has been going out and will go out. And there is a corollary to the call; "because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness" (Acts 17.31). Men are called to repent because there is to be a final judgment before this three-thousand year day of repentance and conversion is ended, and the sooner any man who at present is not reconciled to God, comes into the state of reconciliation with Him, the better it is for that man. Nevertheless it must not be assumed that Jesus and the Apostles had no other idea in mind when they talked about the "gospel of the Kingdom", than this process of coming "into Christ" which is peculiar to this Age and concludes with its termination. Jesus came as the promised Messiah, and a Messiah without a Messianic Kingdom, an earthly dominion of righteousness, is unthinkable. That was the only kind of kingdom the Jews of the First Advent knew of or anticipated, and when John and Jesus announced that the Kingdom was at hand that was the kind of kingdom they expected. Nor were they mistaken; it was after Pentecost that those who profited most by Jesus' message realised there was a spiritual counterpart to the earthly Kingdom of their dreams, and the spiritual counterpart must be developed first and hence the earthly Kingdom was still some distance away in the future. The preaching of Jesus was intended to combine the hope of both aspects of the Kingdom. He knew, none better, that only a few of those who listened would embrace the spiritual call; the many would come along later in response to the earthly call. Nevertheless, it was one command and one invitation, on one basis, and that remains unchanged until the end of the Millennium. "Repent, and be converted; believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." What God does with the repentant and converted one depends on what in His wisdom He sees He can do with him. It depends on whether the man comes to God in this Age or the next; whether he is of the clay that can be shaped and fired into a vessel of greater honour or lesser honour (2 Tim. 2. 19-2 1) and so on. There is a fallacy in the view propounded by Augustine fifteen hundred years ago in his endeavour to refute the doctrine of the Millennium, viz., that the Kingdom of God is here now in power, and that the conversion of the nations now proceeding is the evidence of this. The Kingdom of God is not here in power; the reign of Christ over the nations has not begun; the Church has not yet received any kind of power over the world. But the Kingdom is here, and has been since Pentecost, as an acknowledgement of God's supremacy in the hearts of believers. "The Kingdom of God is within you" said Jesus to some who challenged the fact of its presence (Luke 17. 21). It is not yet here in outward manifestation. Jesus and His Apostles had all these aspects of the Kingdom in mind as they taught and wrote. There are approximately 124 occurrences of the expression "Kingdom of Heaven" or "Kingdom of God" in the New Testament. A reasonable analysis of these occurrences shows them distributed thus: ‑ twenty-six refer to the spiritual kingdom in men's hearts now. Forty-two refer to the celestial destiny of the Church, beyond the Vail, after the Second Advent. Twenty-five refer to the visible kingdom to be set up on earth during the Millennium. Thirty-one are indeterminate and could not dogmatically be placed in any one of the above categories; in a good many cases these examples refer to the entire conception of the Kingdom embracing all three aspects.

AOH