From then on …

“From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!”
Mt 4,17 Rev Elbf

“From that time Jesus began to proclaim and to say, “Repent! For the kingdom of heaven has come near!”
Mt 4,17 KNT

From a certain moment Jesus began to preach. Until then, he had not done so. That was when the time was right. And when He speaks, it is about the Kingdom of Heaven, which (apparently) was once far away, but had now “come near” in Him and with His preaching.

This is the second time the phrase “kingdom of heaven” or “kingdom of heaven” occurs. The first time it is written is a chapter earlier in John the Baptist, who said the same thing as Jesus (Matt 3:2). When Jesus began to preach, He said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” (Mt 4:17).

Of course, the expression does not stand in a vacuum. Read in context, this expression makes clear sense. The audience are Jews in the land of Israel, and Jesus was born a Jew among Jews. When Mary was pregnant and Joseph was considering whether – since he was not the father – he should separate from her, an angel from God appeared to him:

“As he was considering this, behold, a messenger of the Lord appeared to him in a dream vision, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Miriam as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall give Him the name “Jesus”; for He will save His people from their sins.”
Mt 1,18-21

Nothing was yet known of a “congregation from all nations” here. The people referred to here can only mean the people of Israel in the context. There He grows up and there His preaching ministry begins. Jesus himself describes the ministry in the Gospels with the words:

“I was merely sent to the lost sheep from the house of Israel!”
Mt 15,24

There is nothing to misunderstand about that. Paul later doubles down:

“For I say, Christ became the minister of the circumcision for the truthfulness of God, to confirm the promises of the fathers. But the nations…”
Rom 15:8-9

The circumcision and “promises of the fathers” describe the expectation of the people of Israel – in contrast to the rest of the nations. From these quotations we can see that this ministry of Jesus has something to do with the promises of the fathers and with Israel’s expectation, the fulfillment of which has “come near.”

When Jesus begins to preach, He says: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”. Come near! This is not a new revelation, but it concerns something that was known before. At that time it was still far away, but with Him it has now “come close”. Here, then, a bridge is laid between the writings of the prophets (or Tenach, Old Testament) and His ministry. It is about confirming the “promises of the fathers,” as Paul later put it. The expression “Kingdom of Heaven” has something to do with the Old Testament and with Israel’s expectation.

Matthew and the Kingdom of Heaven

The expression “kingdom of heaven” is found in the New Testament in only one book, the Gospel of Matthew. No other New Testament writer uses this expression. When Matthew speaks of the “kingdom of heaven,” the other evangelists Mark, Luke and John use the expression “kingdom of God” in comparable biblical passages.

The expression “Kingdom of God” occurs far more frequently in the New Testament and is also used later (after the Gospels). However, the two terms “Kingdom of God” and “Kingdom of Heaven” are not identical. While they are both used in a similar context, not everything said about the Kingdom of God happens in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The “Kingdom of God” is a comprehensive term and includes more than just the “Kingdom of Heaven.” The Kingdom of God encompasses everything, while special expressions exist for parts of this Kingdom. Let us imagine the Kingdom of God as a circle: The largest circle is the Kingdom of God. The smaller circles are special “parts” of this great kingdom, such as the “kingdom of heaven” (Mt 4:17) or the “kingdom of the Son of His love” (Col 1:13). With such special expressions, certain expressions of the great Kingdom of God are illuminated.

The Kingdom has come near

Three times people go out with the message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”.

The first time we find it is in John the Baptist. He prepares the way for Jesus. Isaiah prophesied, “A voice cries, ‘In the wilderness make straight the way of the LORD! Pave a road for our God in the steppe!” (Isa 40:3). Then, when John the Baptist appears, we read:

“Now in those days John the Baptist comes preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, Repent. For the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that is spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.””
Mt 3,1-3

If Isaiah already spoke of John the Baptist, and John then preaches, “The kingdom of heaven has come near,” then we can confidently assume that this kingdom of heaven has something to do with the Old Testament promises. And when we read a chapter later that Jesus also proclaimed the same thing as John, we understand that Jesus also spoke of something promised in the Old Testament. John the Baptist announced what came even closer with Jesus. Both speak of the same things. John is the pioneer in this. Jesus is the promise fulfilled. With Jesus, the coming king was there, so the kingdom was also not far away.

Later, when John is in prison, he sends his disciples to Jesus with a question:

“And when John heard in prison the works of the Christ, he sent by his disciples, saying unto him, Art thou he that cometh, or shall we wait for another? And Jesus answered and said unto them: Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised, and good news is preached to the poor. And blessed is he who will not be offended in me!”
Mt 11,2-6

Here, too, it becomes clear that it was about an old promise that was now being fulfilled. Jesus was the Coming One; this was evident from His works. They were signs and wonders that confirmed his authority as well as the approaching kingdom of heaven. He was the Messiah, the King who brings peace, as Isaiah prophesied:

“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us, and the government rests on his shoulder; and they call his name: Wonderful Counselor, Strong God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Great is the dominion, and there shall be no end of peace upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with judgment and with righteousness from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”
Isa 9:5-6

Peace will have no end on the throne of David. This is a promise. Matthew continues with these promises, as it says at the beginning of the Gospel:

“Book of the Origin of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.”
Mt 1,1

Matthew places Jesus in the line of promises. He is the fulfillment. What the prophets spoke about is imminent. Now we should only understand what exactly is meant by the expression “kingdom of heaven”. We can expect to learn more about this from the Old Testament prophets. Specifically, it may be a reference to the prophet Daniel.

Daniel and the Kingdom of Heaven

Daniel was a prophet who gave his prophecies outside of Israel. With other Israelites, he was kidnapped from Israel by King Nebuchadnezzar and taken to the court in Babylon. Daniel was there with his friends:

“And to these four young men, to them God gave knowledge and understanding in every scripture and wisdom; and Daniel understood visions and dreams of every kind.”
Dan 2:17

Visions and dreams were many for Daniel. He was also a dream interpreter. His dreams and interpretations given by God show a world history directed by God, in which God Himself leads everything to good.

It is a particularly exciting story that we read in the second chapter of the Book of Daniel (Daniel 2). Nebuchadnezzar dreams a dream, and Daniel gets to interpret it. So Daniel prays to God and God explains to him in a dream face the meaning of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Nebuchadnezzar dreamed the history of the world, represented by a large statue, made of various materials. At the end of the dream, however, something happens that knocks over this statue. It breaks loose without hands a stone that overturns and crushes the statue. The interpretation is:

“And in the days of these kings the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall not be destroyed for ever. And the kingdom will not be left to any other people; it will crush and destroy all those kingdoms, but itself will endure forever: As thou sawest that from the mountain a stone broke loose, and that not by hands, and crushed the iron, and the bronze, and the clay, and the silver, and the gold. A great God lets the king know what will happen after this; and the dream is reliable and its interpretation accurate.”
Dan 2:44-45

Here is the promise to which John and Jesus refer: The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will not be destroyed forever. This is the kingdom of heaven, a kingdom that will be established on earth by the God of heaven. It replaces all earthly kingdoms that came before.

The Kingdom of Heaven is not in heaven or even the heavens, as is often assumed. It is not about a place in heaven. On the contrary, it is a kingdom on earth! We are talking about a genitive “the sky”, which indicates the origin. The kingdom of heaven has a heavenly origin, just as Daniel explains here. However, it is erected on the earth.

There is something else striking that Daniel mentions here: this kingdom “will not be left to any other people.” The kingdom that the God of heaven establishes is left to a special people. As we can see from the further course of the book of Daniel, this refers to the people of Israel. So Jesus also came to “confirm the promises of the fathers,” Paul wrote (Rom 15:8).

Now there are other references in the book of Daniel. Chapter 7 in particular provides interesting insights here. King Nebuchadnezzar is already gone, but Daniel is still at court in Babylon, where Belshazzar now reigns.

“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, the sum of the events he reported.”
Dan 7:1

Daniel saw a vision with various animals that also symbolized kingdoms. The end of the various kingdoms is as follows:

“And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all powers will serve and obey him.”
Dan 7:27

So the God of heaven establishes a kingdom “under the whole heaven”, which is the same as “on the whole earth”. This is a kingdom of God, a kingdom of God as foreseen by the prophets, and whose rule is “given to the people of the saints of the Most High.” Again, a reference to Israel. Here we also see that, on the one hand, it is correct to refer to this messianic kingdom as the Kingdom of God, but Matthew explicitly links this to the predictions of a “kingdom of heaven.” What was prophesied by Daniel is about to become reality in the Gospels. That is why Jesus begins his proclamation with:

“Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is at hand!

Between statement and interpretation

The Gospel of Matthew is the first Bible book after the conclusion of the Old Testament (Tenach). A period of about 400 years lies between the old and the new, between the prophets and promises from the Tenach and the appearance of Jesus. To understand the Gospels, it is important to understand the links with the Old Testament. Let us remember that Jesus was not a Christian, but a Jew. He did not go to church, but to the synagogue. There he read not the New Testament, but the prophets from the Tenach. His message was not new – as if He was proclaiming something that was unknown until then – but His message concerned the fulfillment of old promises.

Development is the essence of biblical history. Today’s church is not a subject in the Old Testament. Nor is it yet when Jesus begins his proclamation. So, once we forget about a “Christian” interpretation, we can become open to what is written directly. It is an attempt to simply read along with history, to put oneself back in the situation of the time, so to speak, in order to better understand what people understood and said at the time.

This way of reading the Bible is extremely helpful for understanding the text. The point is to avoid interpreting one’s own thoughts into the text (“eisegesis”) and coming to wrong conclusions. It is the difference between “I have something to say to the Bible” and “The Bible has something to say to me.” The second statement is far more powerful and exciting than the first statement. Paul writes similarly:

“My speech and my preaching consisted not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in instruction of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on the wisdom of men but on the power of God.”
1Cor 2,4-5

“And therefore we also thank God continually, that when ye received from us the word of tidings from God, ye received it not as the word of men, but, as it is true, as the word of God, which also worketh in you that believe.”
1Thess 2,13

The Kingdom in the Gospels

Already all Bible passages have been mentioned where the word “kingdom” occurs in the Gospel of Matthew. This shows that throughout the Gospels, the Kingdom is always at the center. Or rather, the Kingdom that has come near in Jesus. When Jesus preaches, it is always about this Kingdom, how to get into it, what happens there, and when it will be established.

Three times it is mentioned that the kingdom of heaven, of which Daniel once reported, has now come near:

1. Mt 3,2 John the Baptist preaches this as preparation for Jesus’ ministry
2. Mt 4,17 Jesus preaches this
3. Mt 10,7 The disciples of Jesus had to preach this

When Jesus sends out his 12 disciples, he does so with the following words:

“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not on a path of nations, and goes not to a city of the Samaritans; but goes rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel! But when ye go and preach, saying, This Kingdom of Heaven has come near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons! For free you have received, for free you give!”
Mt 10,5-8

The commission is very clear: the disciples were not to go to the nations, nor to the Samaritans, but exclusively to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (cf. Mt 15:24). Or to put it another way: If we had lived back then, Jesus’ message would not have been for us at this point. The idea that “the dear God always already speaks to all people through Jesus” is simply wrong. But Israel was allowed to rejoice, because “the kingdom of heaven” had come near for them, which was confirmed by healing of the sick, raising of the dead and the like. So this belongs together and must not simply be interpreted at will.

The idea that “the dear God always already speaks to all people through Jesus” is simply wrong.

The Gospel of the Kingdom

The approaching kingdom was good news. It was a gospel, good news. It was the gospel of the kingdom. Three times Matthew calls this “Gospel of the Kingdom”:

• Mt 4,23 And He[Jesus] went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people.
• Mt 9,35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity.
• Mt 24,14 This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a witness to all nations, and then the end will come. This last quote is from Jesus’ end-time discourse in Matthew 24 and 25.

The Gospel of the Kingdom tells the good news of the approaching Kingdom. It is not the gospel of grace, based on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for salvation from sin and death. The subject here is different and clearly stated. The Kingdom has come near – rejoice! Accept this message! Change your mind! This is the message to Israel and this (!) gospel was accompanied by healing of diseases and every infirmity (Mt 9:35 and Mt 4:23). Before the end comes, this very gospel will also be preached to all nations for a testimony (Mt 24:14). It is not to be hastily confused, much less mixed, with today’s gospel the inexpressible riches of the Christ (Eph. 3:1-9).

The Gospel of the Kingdom tells the good news of the approaching Kingdom. It is not the gospel of grace, based on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for salvation from sin and death.

The Kingdom from the Son of Man

As we have already seen, the expression “kingdom of heaven” is borrowed from the prophecies of the prophet Daniel (Dan 2:44, Dan 7:27). Daniel also wrote about a son of man receiving the kingdom in the same context:

“I beheld in visions of the night: and, behold, with the clouds of heaven came one like unto the Son of man. And he came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him before him. And dominion and honor and kingship were given to him, and all peoples, nations and languages served him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship such that it shall not be destroyed.”
Dan 7:13-14

It is not surprising that we find this Son of Man and His Kingdom back in Matthew’s Gospel. After all, it is ultimately about the same circumstances, the same king and the same kingdom. At the end of Matthew 16 it says:

“… until they have seen the Son of Man coming in his kingdom”.
Mt 16,28

Again, we see that the story borrows heavily from ancient prophecies and their fulfillment. This is not only the case in terms of content, but also in the words and expressions used. In the same context, there is a significant conversation between Jesus and his disciples, again concerning the kingdom of heaven:

“And when Jesus was come into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, What say men, who is the Son of man?

But they said, Some: John the Baptist; but others: Elijah; and others again: Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He speaks to them: But you, who do you say that I am? But Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon bar Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. But I also say to you, You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Then he commanded the disciples that they tell no one that he was the Christ.”
Mt 16,13-20

Different communities

Here, “church” and “kingdom of heaven” are mentioned in the same breath. This church (Gr. ekklesia, called out ones) knows no reference to the gospel of grace or to the nations. This comes much later, after the death and resurrection and the appearance of the apostle Paul.

However, Israel also knows a called out multitude, the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mt 10:6 Mt 15:24), who believed the message of Jesus (Jn 10:27-28), a remnant from Israel (Rom 11:5). These were actually “called out”. The word “ekklesia” (called out [Schar] or church) is not used exclusively for today’s church, for the body of Christ. It is likewise used for the church in the wilderness (Acts 7:38) or for a gathering of the synagogue or a local court (Matt 18:17, cf. Acts 19:39).

The church mentioned in Matthew 16 has no characteristics of today’s church. It is an ecclesia, but clearly distinguished from today’s church of all nations, which are not even in view there. Rather, the kingdom of heaven is also at the center here, that is, the fulfillment of promises for Israel.

The keys of the kingdom of heaven have nothing to do with weather forecasts, or with the popular interpretation that Peter is playing weather god. Peter uses his “keys” at Pentecost to offer the kingdom to Israel once again (Acts 2:36).

Jesus saw himself as the Son of Man, as Daniel mentioned. Peter realized that He is thus the Christ, the Messiah and the Son of the living God. Because of this confession that Jesus is the Messiah, Peter will receive the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Messianic Kingdom. But that Jesus was the Christ, namely the Messiah, the disciples were to keep under lock and key for the time being.

The Kingdom in the New Testament

We have seen that the talk of the “Kingdom” occupies an important place in the Gospels. Also, we have discovered that this kingdom is promised in the Old Testament and shown to have “come near” in the New Testament. We recognized the talk of the “kingdom of heaven” as specific to Matthew’s Gospel because he is the only one who uses this expression.

Now we will stretch the arc a little further. It is not just about the Gospel of Matthew, or not just about the Gospels alone. It is also about further understanding in the New Testament. Here we will now – figuratively speaking – drop a few anchors. Anchors in the form of biblical passages that suggest development. Of course, all these Bible verses would have to be read in their own context. Setting a few “anchors” can help orient you.

What is decisive is not the expression “kingdom of heaven” or “kingdom of God”, but what the writers and also the listeners of that time understood. We read about the Kingdom of God in the Gospels, but also in the Acts of the Apostles and the other epistles. If we succeed in simply reading along with the story, much of the New Testament becomes clearer. It is an exciting story that takes us from the expectations of Israel to a hitherto hidden time of a church made up of all nations.

The Gospels explicitly state:

“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into any way of the Gentiles, neither enter ye into any city of the Samaritans: but rather go ye to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Mt 10:5-6, cf. 10:24, Rom 15:8

Much later, in one of his last letters, the apostle Paul writes:

“Therefore remember that you, once of the nations according to the flesh – called “uncircumcised” from the so-called “circumcision” that is done in the flesh with hands – were without Christ at that time, excluded from the citizenship of Israel and strangers as to the covenants of promise; and you had no hope and were without God in the world.

But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been made near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace. He made the two one and broke down the dividing wall of the fence, the enmity, in his flesh. He abolished the law of commandments in statutes to create the two – making peace – in Himself into one new man and reconciling the two in one body with God through the cross by which He put to death the enmity. And he came and proclaimed peace to you who are far off, and peace to those who are near.

For through him we both have access to the Father through one Spirit. So now you are no longer strangers and non-citizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household. You are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone. Joined together in him, the whole structure grows into a holy temple in the Lord, and in him you also are being built up with him into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
Eph 2:11-22

Development in the New Testament

A development is outlined here. Between the Gospels and Paul’s statement in Ephesians, something stunning happened. What Paul wrote was outrageous. Today we are experiencing something in the church that was not known to any of the ancient prophets, and Jesus did not speak about it in the Gospels either.

Today we are experiencing something in the church that was not known to any of the ancient prophets, and Jesus did not speak about it in the Gospels either.

Throughout the Old Testament, the blessing for the nations was to come via Israel. Israel was to become a priestly nation to pass on salvation to the nations. This is how the prophets said it, this is how Jesus spoke about it, and this is how the outlook of Israel was. But the church of today, of which Paul writes impressively in Ephesians, sees all differences between Israel and the nations as abolished – in Christ. Blessings to the nations today come about without the mediation of Israel. This change is more than revolutionary.

Of course, the question then quickly arises as to how things have progressed with Israel. What happened so that something new came into being? And then what about the promises to Israel? Are they lapsed then? Or were the promises now taken away from Israel and given to the church?

We read famous statements on these questions in the Letter to the Romans, chapters 9-11.

“I say now, has God cast away His people? By no means!”
Rom 11:1

“For I would not, brethren, that this mystery should be unknown unto you, lest ye should think yourselves wise: Impenitence hath happened to Israel in part, until the fullness of the nations be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, Out of Zion shall come the Savior, he shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: and this is the covenant of me unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” With regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but with regard to election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts of grace and the calling of God are incalculable.”
Rom 11:25-29

According to this information from Paul, God has by no means dismissed Israel, but there is a limited hardening over part of Israel until the moment when the fullness of the nations (the current church) will be realized. This is how the apostle describes it. According to this, Paul saw it this way:

Paul is not saying that we should now make an assignment of guilt. He emphasizes the change in God’s ways. For Paul, it is not about condemning anyone (say: Israel), but he soberly sees what is happening and outlines how God has done something unheard of: The nations now have free access to God through His grace in Christ Jesus. That was mind-blowingly new. Israel is not finished with this, but Israel and the nations also have a future. It is as if the horizon became wider.

The Acts of the Apostles and how it continued

At the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, we can ask ourselves how the story with the Kingdom now continues. This also interested the apostles. They asked Jesus:

“They therefore, when they were come together, asked him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Acts 1:6

For forty days after the resurrection, Jesus taught the disciples about the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). Therefore, it may be surprising that there is still no mention of a church from all nations. Still it is only about the kingdom for Israel, which the disciples asked for. The book of Acts tells of a transition. It is a book full of changes. In the beginning, it is about the Kingdom for Israel. At the end of the book Paul says to the Jews in Rome:

“Be it known unto you therefore, that this salvation of God is sent unto the nations; they also will hear.”
Acts 28:28

The change during the time of the Acts of the Apostles is

• from Israel to the nations,
• from a kingdom for Israel to a salvation for all nations.
• It is also a change from Peter to Paul,
• from a situation in the land of Israel to a situation outside Israel.

These and other changes testify to how the Jewish church in Israel (with the Twelve Apostles) is replaced by a church from all nations (with Paul as apostle). Both coexist in Acts and there is also an interchange between the two as witnessed in Galatians 1-2 and Acts 15. The church in Israel is described by Paul as:

“God has not cast away His people whom He knew beforehand…So now also in the present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”
Rom 11:2-5

The church in Jerusalem and Israel was a “remnant by election of grace.” They stood in expectation of the kingdom of heaven. But when this expectation was not fulfilled, since the time for it was “set by the Father in his own authority” (Acts 1:7), this church disappeared indefinitely.

Our God and Father has a goal in mind. We are part of this purpose and have been called to experience His grace on the way to the goal and also to pass it on. The kingdom of heaven will one day be established for Israel and the nations. The book of Revelation speaks of this time. In the meantime, however, we live, and living by grace, our inner man is renewed day by day – until He comes and history continues powerfully.

Deepening

• Scheme: Overview of the New Testament 1