KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, an Expression often used in the New Testament, to signify the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Calling of the People to the Faith, the Preaching of the Gospel. The Old Prophets, when they described the Characters of the Messiah, scarce ever failed of inserting the Name of King and Deliverer; and when they spoke even of his Humiliations and Sufferings, they interspersed some Touches which shewed his Power, his Reign, his Divinity. For Example, when Zachary foretold Jesus Christ’s Entry at Jerusalem: Behold, said he, thy King cometh unto thee. He is Just and having Salvation, lowly and riding upon an Ass, and upon a Colt the Fole of an Ass. The Jews and the Apostles, who were accustomed to these ways of speaking in the Prophets, expected the Kingdom of the Messiah to be like to that of a temporal King, who was to exercise his Power upon his Enemies, to make great Conquests, restore the Monarchy of the Jews, and raise the Throne of David once more to all its Splendor, subdue the Nations to his Dominion, and reward his Friends and faithful Servants, in Proportion to their Fidelity and Services. Hence it was that the Apostles had so often Contests about Precedency in this Kingdom; and that the Sons of Zebedee prevailed with their Mother to desire of our Saviour the two first Places in it; and Jesus Christ to prove that he was the true Messiah, Mat. xviii. 11. Mark ix. 13. 34. Mat xx. 21.declared to them often, that the Kingdom of Heaven was come, or was at Hand; and when he spoke of what was to happen in his Church after his Resurrection, he said in like Manner, that such a Thing would be seen in the Kingdom of Heaven. Lastly, he very frequently began his Parables in these Words: “ The Kingdom “ of Heaven is like unto a rich Man, a Father of a Family, a Treasure, &c.
We therefore may observe in the Gospel, several Acceptations of these Words, the Kingdom of Heaven.
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They are taken for the first coming of the Son of God, for his temporal Birth, his Preaching, his Manifestation to the World. Luke xi. 20.For Example: If I with the Finger of God cast out Devils, no doubt the Kingdom of God is come upon you. Saint Matthew in another Place says, that Jesus Christ went about all Luke xvii. 21.the Cities and Villages preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. And Saint Luke, The Kingdom of God is within you. Which is parallel to John i. 26.what Saint John says; There standeth one among you whom ye know not.
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These Terms are made Use of to shew the Vengeance which God was to exercise upon the incredulous Jews, and which accordingly he exercised after the the Death of our Saviour upon Jerusalem, by the Arms of the Romans, who destroyed this City and the Temple in it, and committed such Cruelties there, as have occasioned the last Siege of it to be looked upon, as one of the most lively Images of the last Judgment. In this Sense the Kingdom of Heaven is taken in Saint Mat iii 2.Matthew: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand. God is ready to let his Arm fall heavy on the wicked; he hath the Ax already in his Hand wherewithal to hew down Trees that are good for nothing. See likewise the Parable of the ten Virgins, and Mat. xxv. 1, 2, 3.that of the Servants with whom the Father of the Family left a certain Number of Talents to be improved by them: The foolish Virgins Mat. xxv. 23,24,&c.excluded from the Wedding, and the unprofitable Servant cast into a Dungeon, denote the incredulous Jews forsaken by God, and given up to the Vengeance of their Enemies.
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The Kingdom of Heaven signifies eternal Bliss, the Reward of God’s faithful Servants: Mat. vii. 21.He who doth the Will of the Father which is in Heaven, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And in another Place; Suffer Mat. xix. 14.the little Children to come unto me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. And again: Mat. v. 3Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Mat. viii. 12.4. This Expression is made Use of to signify the Calling of the Gentiles, exclusive of the Jews. For Example, Jesus Christ, after having spoken of the Centurion’s Faith, foretells the calling of the Gentiles, and Rejection of the Jews in these Words: The Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out. In the same Sense are related the Parables of the Feast which Strangers were called to, upon the Refusal of those Friends, whom the Father of Mat. xxii. 2.the Family had invited to it; and that of the Husbandmen who drove their Masters Servants Mark xii. 2. Mat. xiii. 44.out of the Vineyard, and killed his Son.
- The Kingdom of Heaven most frequently denotes the Church of Jesus Christ, the preaching of the Gospel, the Manner of God’s Conduct towards the Elect in Order to bring them to the Faith, and afterwards to Happiness. In this Sense Jesus Christ says, that the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Treasure hid in a Field, which a Man discovers, and purchases at the Price of his whole Fortune; and unto goodly Pearls, for which a Mat. xiii. 45.Merchant gives all that he is worth. By this Treasure, and these Pearls, nothing else is meant but Faith in Jesus Christ. In another Place he compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a Field, where Tares are found mixed with Mat. xiii. 47, 48. Mat. xiii. 3, 4, 18.the good Seed; to a Net with which good and bad Fish are gathered; by which the Church is meant, that containing always in this World good and bad Christians. He says frequently, that his Reign will begin after his Resurrection, that the Gospel will be preached then principally, and his Elect called by him to the Faith.
The Kingdom of God is often synonymous with the Kingdom of Heaven. But in the Old Testament the Kingdom, or the Reign of God signifies his infinite Power, the sovereign Authority exercised by him over all Creatures, over the Kingdoms of the World, over the Hearts of Mankind. The Author of the Book Wisd. x. 10. Wisd. x. 14.of Wisdom says, that God shewed his Kingdom to Jacob, who fled from the Anger of Esau; he opened the Kingdom of Heaven to him in shewing him the mysterious Ladder by which the Angels ascended and descended; Ecclus xlvii. 13.and Ecclesiasticus, that God gave unto David, Testamentum Regni, the Covenant, Assurance, the Promise of the Kingdom for him and his Successors: It is said likewise, that God did not forsake Jacob, and that he procured for him Sceptrum Regni, the Scepter in Egypt; not that in Reality he reigned there, but had an Authority there almost equal to the King’s, See Gen. xli, 40. Only in the Throne will I be greater than thou. Nebuchadonozar swears by his Throne, and by his Kingdom, that he would surely be Judith i. 12.avenged.
The Kingdom of Hell, the Kingdom of Satan, signifies either the Empire which the Devil exercises over other Devils, or that which he exercises over the Wicked in this Life; or lastly, that which he has over the Souls of the wicked who are in Hell. The Author of the Book of Wisdom says, that the Kingdom of Hell was not upon the Earth before the Sin of the first Man, Nec Wisd. i. 14. Οὐδὲ ᾿Αδου βασίλειον ἐπὶ γῆς.infernum regnum in Terra. Or according to the Greek, That Pluto had not then his royal Palace upon the Earth. He did not exercise his Dominion over Mankind. And our Saviour in the Gospel, Every Kingdom divided against itself is brought to Desolation; and if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then shall his Kingdom stand? He answers the Accusation of the Pharisees, who said, that he cast out Devils in the Name of Belzebub Prince of the Devils. He shews the Impossibility of this, because it must then be said, that Satan endeavours to destroy his own Dominion, and that the Kingdom of Hell is at Variance with its own Subjects.
The Psalmist represents the Wicked to us in Hell like a Flock of Sheep, of whom Death is the King and Shepherd; Sicut Ps. xlviii. 15.oves in inferno positi sunt, mors depascet eos. The Prophets describe Hell as a sort of Commonwealth, where the Kings and Potentates of the Earth still preserve some vain Appearance of their first Grandure. See Isai. xiv. 9, 10, &c. And Ezek. xxxi. 15, 16, 17. and xxxii. 20, 21, &c.
In the Book of Job, and in the first of Job i. 6. 1 Kings xxii. 20, 21.Kings, Satan is represented as appearing before God’s Tribunal, and receiving Orders from his Majesty to afflict or to deceive Mankind. Thus the Hebrews did not believe that he had an absolute Power, or an independent Kingdom, even to do Evil: They acknowledged only that he was the Executioner of God’s Orders, and the Minister of his Justice, or Vengeance, or of his Trials of Mankind.