The MISSION DISCIPLESHIP explains The Kingdom of God, The Kingdom of Heaven, The Kingdom of Decision... The banishment of self. Donald Neal McKay presents a new, contemporary look at the sayings of Jesus Christ as they apply to today's Church, Christian and Christian Disciple.

"From that time Jesus began to proclaim, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." - Matthew 4: 17

"Now after that John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the gospel.' " - Mark 1: 14 - 15

"For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the
kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 5: 20

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.' " - Matthew 7: 21- 23

>> Most important >> "When he entered Capernaum, a centurion (Roman military commander of 100 men) came to him, appealing to him and saying, 'Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.' And he said to him, 'I will come and cure him.' The centurion answered, 'Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go', and he goes, and to another, 'Come', and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this, and the slave does it.' When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, 'Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the
kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will
be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' And to the centurion Jesus said, 'Go; let it be done for you according
to your faith.' And the servant was healed in that hour." - Matthew 8: 5 - 13

"Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying 'The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.' " - Mark 1: 14

"But he said to them, 'I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.' So he continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea." - Luke 4: 43 - 44

"I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the Kingdom of God
is greater than he. - Luke 7: 28

"Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, 'To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that 'looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.' " - Luke 8: 9 - 10

"Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, 'Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.' Jesus answered him, 'Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above.' Nicodemus said to him, 'How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?' Jesus answered, 'Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above. The wind blows were it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.' Nicodemus said to him, 'How can these things be?' Jesus answered him, 'Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?' " - John 3: 1 - 10

Your attention has been drawn to the 'kingdom of heaven' and the 'Kingdom of God'. Are they one in the same? No, they are not. The kingdom of heaven is the abode of reward that awaits the souls of those who were faithful to the Word of God. The Kingdom of God is altogether a different matter. The kingdom of heaven is passive; the Kingdom of God is empiric; and according to Jesus' words, indicative of what is to come and be experienced by humankind on earth. The kingdom of heaven has long been established and, according to Jesus, is inhabited by, among others, the Patriarchs of the Jewish faith: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Matthew 8:11).

At the time of Jesus' ministry, Israel and Judea were boiling over with messianic movements. Want-to-be 'messiahs' were everywhere to be found. The Jewish historian, Josephus, chronicles many of them, and in addition to messiah fever, the Holy Land was gripped in the throes of revolt fomented by the Zealots, who with violent means attempted to throw off Roman rule. For devout Jews, the freedom of Israel would come from the appearance of The Messiah, one who would lead a mighty, heavenly and earthly army against all oppressors of Israel. Messianic movements were prevalent before Jesus arrived, and continued on until the Jewish Revolt in 70 AD, and then Bar Kokhba's revolt in 135 AD after which the Jews were forced by Rome to vacate the Holy Land. (I will leave it up to the reader to pursue a broader education of this time in Jewish history.) To the general public in the Holy Land, Jesus was at first taken to be yet another messiah. Even John the Baptist, the baptizer of Jesus, while in prison sent word by his disciples to Jesus with this question: "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" Jesus answered, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me." (Matthew 11: 2 - 6)

Jesus let John's disciples come to their own conclusions as to whether he was The Messiah, or not. The actual revelation of his being The Messiah Jesus kept until a private moment, and exclusively to his own disciples: "Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, 'Who do people say that the Son of Man is?' And they said, 'Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' He said to them, 'But, who do you say that I am?.' Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.' " (Matthew 16:13 - 17). Then at the end of this passage of declaration it reads, "Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah." (Matthew 16: 20) . There were plenty of messiahs in the area, and we even have notice of one being given in Luke 9: 46 - 50: "An argument arose among them as to which one of them was the greatest. But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took a little child and put it by his side, and said to them, 'Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.' John answered, 'Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.' But Jesus said to him, 'Do not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you.' "

The 'messiah business' at this time in Israel could be profitable for the charismatic preacher. Those who supported such ventures would contribute handsomely, mainly to keep the Roman government and the established priest and Pharisee classes in a state of continual unbalance. Other messiahs actually did preach a message that fell favorably on receptive ears: that the kingdom of heaven was at hand and could arrive at any moment. These people were not talking about the Kingdom of God. The time was ripe for the coming of The Messiah, and there were plenty of pretenders to the throne. John the Baptist preached and believed it: "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world." (John 1: 6 - 9)

John, having been specifically sent by God knew that he wasn't The Messiah, but was unsure as to exactly who was the true Messiah. For John's followers, the time was at hand for THE eschatological event of the ages: the final days of the world. The ever faithful of the time were expecting the coming of the kingdom of heaven... they were not expecting the coming of the Kingdom of God. That is the difference between Jesus and the other messiahs. The others foretold of the advent of something that was familiar to the Jews, a place and state foretold of and described throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus' mission was to reveal to humankind the existence of a dynamic that was foreign to the Jews; a dynamic that could only be told of through the use of parables. Objective, and mocking, skeptics have asked, 'Where is the Kingdom of God? Jesus has come and gone, but nothing really has changed here in the world, has it? If the Kingdom of God really exists on earth, why is it that the past two thousand years have seen no improvement in the quality of life? There have been wars of unspeakable horrors, the Jews have become pariahs of the nations, Christianity in its many flavors has mutated into something that, at times, has inflicted concurrently both grim conditions and inspiration on humankind; a mixed bag, so to speak."

To me, these are legitimate questions and comments. Legitimate, that is, when asked in ignorance or misunderstanding.

For most, the Kingdom of God has never been understood. The kingdom Jesus allowed us to enter by his sacrifice and our redemption is a state of eschatology and not a historical place, nor a once-and-for-all happening. The Kingdom of God is an ever-moving and repeatedly occurring dynamic that cannot be constrained and defined as a single historic milestone.