What is the Kingdom of Heaven?

[JesusS4ves]

What is the Kingdom of Heaven? What does it mean to you? What would you expect out of such a kingdom?

 

[NotWorthy]

The three Churches:
The Church Triumphant - those in Heaven.
The Church Suffering - those in Purgatory
The Church Militant - those on earth.

It means that as long as I’m a good citizen and follow the edicts of the King, then I can enjoy the Promises of that same King in the next world.

 

[Crumpy]

The imagery of the New Testament is that we are in a covenant relationship instituted by the blood of Jesus Christ.

We also have the Old Testament where the Jews wanted to have a king like their neighbors, and so God reluctantly appoints one, with rather embarrassing results. As I recall, God is offended because HE is the king that the Israelites do not recognize.

The King is a ruler and a judge and a prophet, all of which pre-figures the eternal reign of Jesus Christ.

The King is all of that but also the defender of the people.

I think scripture uses all of the images of high priest, king, prophet, judge, etc. because Jesus is the “King of kings” - He is the King of everything, and everything in our life.

But Jesus is not the president, popularly elected and subject to recall and put into office with opposition and term limits and all the rest.

Kings as we know them have claimed divine appointment.

I’ve been told we’ve lost the sense of the King being our protector and provider according to secular customs, but as Jesus certainly was. And, most often, I’ve heard the kingdom of God is within us when Jesus rules over our heart, every part of it.

Alternately, as a song goes, if He’s not the King of everything in your life, He’s not the King at all.

 

[mdcpensive1]

The Kingdom of Heaven is the New Jerusalem as seen by St. John in the book of Revelation. How does it come about? It does by having Christ within us. This means that we are changed by being justified, washed clean in the Blood of the Lamb, and made children of God who have a claim to the Kingdom as heirs. We build the Kingdom as we grow in holiness and put on the Spirit of Christ within us.
mdcpensive1

 

[NotWorthy]

The Kingdom of Heaven is the New Jerusalem as seen by St. John in the book of Revelation. How does it come about? It does by having Christ within us. This means that we are changed by being justified, washed clean in the Blood of the Lamb, and made children of God who have a claim to the Kingdom as heirs. We build the Kingdom as we grow in holiness and put on the Spirit of Christ within us.
mdcpensive1

He proposed another parable to them. "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.

Wouldn’t this imply that the Kingdom is also here with us now? There are no weeds in the Heavenly Jerusalem

That’s why I say it’s the three churches in their three states of being - heaven, purgatory, and this world.

 

[TOME]

The Kingdom of God is simply where God is present and God’s will is operative, that is where God’s will is being done.

 

[Voco_proTatiano]

The Kingdom of God is simply where God is present and God’s will is operative, that is where God’s will is being done.

To put it simply,
the Kingdom of Heaven is what we are supposed to be building on Earth.
Lord, how we have failed!

 

[mdcpensive1]

Notworthy, you are correct in that it is comprised of the three states. I may not have clarified all that I intended to say.
It is a continual transformation of our inner souls to that which will be made worthy to be in the presence of the Father. It is both a temporal portion and a non-temporal portion.
Someone else who replied on this thread said that we are building it here on earth. That is true for us who are still here trying to attain sanctification, but there is no guarantee that the New Jerusalem or Kingdom of God will be on “Earth” as we know it. It may or may not be.
mdcpensive1

 

[TOME]

Voco pro Tatiano,

Our Holy Father had a series of reflective sermons he gave one year for Advent published as “Why be a Christian” (or something like that as a title - I’m away from all my books and I am writing this in the few spare moments I have so I cannot be more accurate). In this work he writes about the meaning of the Kingdom of God.

There are a couple of points he makes that stands out in my mind. First he acknowleged the work of modern scripture scholars who have pointed out that when Christ spoke of the Kingdom of God more often than not He was speaking of a present reality, something here and now. As our pope expressed that because of the early Church faced the reality that the expectation of Christ second coming gave way to the acceptance that the second coming wasn’t quite as imminent as the Church (as expressed in the earlier writing of Paul) thought, this dissapointment gave rise to a change in her theology of the Kingdom moving from the Kingdom of God (an existential reality) to the Kingdom of Heaven which stressed the final times and the Kingdom as a spriritual reality we strive and hope for and to be experienced through death (in other words the stress moved to one experiences the Kingdom by living a good life and when we die we go to heaven).

But as our Holy Father expressed, Christ spoke of the Kingdom of God as something present in our lives here and now. However, there is another point Benedict XVI makes clear in many of his writings and that is the Kingdom of God is first and foremost God’s work not ours. Again, many present day theologians agree on the point that the Kingdom of God is God’s activity not our and when Christ taught about the Kingdom He stressed that our role was first to become aware of this present reality and to respond to it fully and without compromise with our whole being. But as I just wrote our Holy Father has stressed in many of his works that we must relize that the Kingdom is God’s work not our and if we forget this we run into the possibility, if not probability, that we forget that we think the Kingdom is something of our own making and this could lead to all our activity becoming more closely related to social action and this runs into the real probability that our actions will lead to frustration and eventually to the thought that our actions really don’t make a difference and the Kingdom of God will never be acheived in our life time, if ever. In other words we loose sight that the Kingdom is a present reality, God’s presence and activity, not ours, and Christ demand of his followers is that we are to respond to the Kindgom, that is to God’s presence, His Love and His will for us.

 

[Voco_proTatiano]

Yes, I agree that it is G_d’s work, but we are the body of Christ, so it is in our hands to do G_d’s work.

 

[JesusS4ves]

I understand everything that you are saying–that Christ is the head or the doorway into the Kingdom. But what I’m trying to get at is what is the constructed reality of such a Kingdom.

For instance, The Known Universe consists of approximately 125-500 billion galaxies–that is the known universe; there very well could be trillions of galaxies or infinity. It’s unknown.

I was wondering if anyone had the same conception that the current construct of reality could be a representation of Heavens’ reality–that perhaps there are an even number of galaxies or more within the Kingdom. Could this be a possible construct of Heaven–that the now present reality reflects the definition of all reality? And how many realities exist apart from eachother, (is an excellent philosophical question)? That I imagine if God is infinite then the possession must be infinite, is that a firm conclusion?

I mean what is the definition of Heaven. What does it consist of deep within your heart. What is it’s construction? What is it’s will? How is it divided among princes and kings? Basicly, what is the overall aspect that you would expect from such a place?

Think of it as a let’s build a Kingdom project. And then we’ll go from there (not just the spiritual but the physical reality of the Kingdom). What you would expect.

I’ll throw a bone for starters. The abolishion of money.

Jesus says place your treasures up in Heaven so why not do just that?

 

[NotWorthy]

Um, I think this is where I get off this bus.

Philosophy makes my head hurt.

 

[mdcpensive1]

Tome, you had an excellent post. NotWorthy, my air in the tires of my bus is going down also.

mdcpensive1

 

[Deacon_Joseph]

I understand everything that you are saying–that Christ is the head or the doorway into the Kingdom. But what I’m trying to get at is what is the constructed reality of such a Kingdom.

For instance, The Known Universe consists of approximately 125-500 billion galaxies–that is the known universe; there very well could be trillions of galaxies or infinity. It’s unknown.

I was wondering if anyone had the same conception that the current construct of reality could be a representation of Heavens’ reality–that perhaps there are an even number of galaxies or more within the Kingdom. Could this be a possible construct of Heaven–that the now present reality reflects the definition of all reality? And how many realities exist apart from eachother, (is an excellent philosophical question)? That I imagine if God is infinite then the possession must be infinite, is that a firm conclusion?

I mean what is the definition of Heaven. What does it consist of deep within your heart. What is it’s construction? What is it’s will? How is it divided among princes and kings? Basicly, what is the overall aspect that you would expect from such a place?

Think of it as a let’s build a Kingdom project. And then we’ll go from there (not just the spiritual but the physical reality of the Kingdom). What you would expect.

I’ll throw a bone for starters. The abolishion of money.

Jesus says place your treasures up in Heaven so why not do just that?

The Kingdom is the known universe and the unseen spiritual realm. All creation falls under God’s jurisdiction. For us, the Kingdom is where God is(Good post by Tome).

If you want to believe the theories put forth by cosmologists and physicists, then there are 11 dimensions. Look up M-theory. Its not beyond the realm of possibility that what we traditionally call Heaven could be another universe in another dimension.

This is my stop here, time for me to get off the bus too.

 

[richardeekw]

What is the Kingdom of Heaven? What does it mean to you? What would you expect out of such a kingdom?

Where **Worshipping the Trinity **and Living with one another in JUSTICE and PEACE -; that I think is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God

 

[Nita]

Jesus gave quite a few parables regarding the kingdom of heaven in chapter 13 of Matthew’s gospel. They show that the kingdom is present within us as individuals, but also that it refers to an assembly (church) of people here on earth. He prepares us that on earth, there will be wicked people as well as good people who are members of that church. (eg. Mt 13:24-30, 36-43 wheat and tares and Mt6. 13:47-52 the net). It is not until the judgement that the wicked are cast out.

Nita

 

[jimmy]

What is the Kingdom of Heaven? What does it mean to you? What would you expect out of such a kingdom?

The Church manifested through the Eucharist. It is the presence of God to us. It is the foretaste of the heavenly paradise in the liturgy of the Church.

 

[jimmy]

Wouldn’t this imply that the Kingdom is also here with us now? There are no weeds in the Heavenly Jerusalem

That’s why I say it’s the three churches in their three states of being - heaven, purgatory, and this world.

As Pope Benedict says in his book Called To Communion, the kingdom includes the sanctification for the kingdom. Christ came to gather the people of God into the Church as the new Sinai. It is a new covenant as was predicted in Jeremiah31. In Exodus Israel gathered at Sinai. In the Church we gather at Zion.

The kingdom was established by Christ at the last supper. It is His imminent presence in the Church through the Eucharist. If you examine Luke22 you can’t miss the fact that Christ is establishing the kingdom. He makes it clear from beginning to end of the last supper. As He says at the end of the last supper, He establishes them as kings that they may eat and drink with Him in the kingdom. This is refering to the Eucharist. As our great pope said in the book mentioned above, ‘what was promised was the kingdom, what came was Jesus.’

This kingdom is the new Jerusalem. It is the presence of heaven on earth.

 

[jimmy]

Voco pro Tatiano,

Our Holy Father had a series of reflective sermons he gave one year for Advent published as “Why be a Christian” (or something like that as a title - I’m away from all my books and I am writing this in the few spare moments I have so I cannot be more accurate). In this work he writes about the meaning of the Kingdom of God.

There are a couple of points he makes that stands out in my mind. First he acknowleged the work of modern scripture scholars who have pointed out that when Christ spoke of the Kingdom of God more often than not He was speaking of a present reality, something here and now. As our pope expressed that because of the early Church faced the reality that the expectation of Christ second coming gave way to the acceptance that the second coming wasn’t quite as imminent as the Church (as expressed in the earlier writing of Paul) thought, this dissapointment gave rise to a change in her theology of the Kingdom moving from the Kingdom of God (an existential reality) to the Kingdom of Heaven which stressed the final times and the Kingdom as a spriritual reality we strive and hope for and to be experienced through death (in other words the stress moved to one experiences the Kingdom by living a good life and when we die we go to heaven).

But as our Holy Father expressed, Christ spoke of the Kingdom of God as something present in our lives here and now. However, there is another point Benedict XVI makes clear in many of his writings and that is the Kingdom of God is first and foremost God’s work not ours. Again, many present day theologians agree on the point that the Kingdom of God is God’s activity not our and when Christ taught about the Kingdom He stressed that our role was first to become aware of this present reality and to respond to it fully and without compromise with our whole being. But as I just wrote our Holy Father has stressed in many of his works that we must relize that the Kingdom is God’s work not our and if we forget this we run into the possibility, if not probability, that we forget that we think the Kingdom is something of our own making and this could lead to all our activity becoming more closely related to social action and this runs into the real probability that our actions will lead to frustration and eventually to the thought that our actions really don’t make a difference and the Kingdom of God will never be acheived in our life time, if ever. In other words we loose sight that the Kingdom is a present reality, God’s presence and activity, not ours, and Christ demand of his followers is that we are to respond to the Kindgom, that is to God’s presence, His Love and His will for us.

I think that in the book I mentioned above the pope mentions that He doesn’t think that the apostolic church believed that the end was really that imminent. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven refer to the same thing.

 

[TOME]

Jimmy,

Yes, in the gospels the both the terms “Kingdom of God” and the
“Kingdom of Heaven” are used. We find in Matthew the term “Kingdom of Heaven” for various reasons. And as scholars have pointed out is the expectations of the second coming did under go a real change. This change can be found in the writings of Saint Paul. Time and deaths of eyewitnesses of the Resurrection were the primary reasons for this change. I remember reading on work, I forget whose, and the author wrote how easily this change came about and caused no real crisis within the Church and the acceptance that the second coming might not be as soon as was originally thought can be detected in the gospels themselves.

So yes by the end on the apostolic times (around 100 AD) the Church had accepted that the second coming was, as Jesus taught, totally up to the Father. But this development in the Church’s understanding gave rise to the thoelogy I was refering to, namely in the writings from 100 AD on we find a gradual movement to the stress on the Kingdom of God being express more in the term “Kingdom of Heaven” with the stress on it being something “other” that is something we experience after death or at the great final judgement. But as our Holy Father has written, in the gospels more often than not when Christ speaks of the “Kingdom” it is something that is present here and now because it is God’s presence and activity in human history and this demands, as I wrote earlier" our recognizing God’s presence and our total response of our intellect and will expressed through how we live our lives.