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Heaven

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elijah23

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From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matt 4:17 RSV

I think Jesus is saying that heaven is the transformation that takes place in our lives when we repent of our sin.

We will know as soon as we repent of our sin.
 
elijah23 said:
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matt 4:17 RSV

I think Jesus is saying that heaven is the transformation that takes place in our lives when we repent of our sin.

We will know as soon as we repent of our sin.
Click to expand...

Jesus was calling those around Him to repent, for the Kingdom of God is near---at hand---AVAILABLE!

He wasn't describing the place called heaven.
 
Alabaster said:
Jesus was calling those around Him to repent, for the Kingdom of God is near---at hand---AVAILABLE!

He wasn't describing the place called heaven.
Click to expand...

Heaven, the Kingdom of God, is not a place, I do not believe. It is the transformation that takes place in our lives when we repent.

And you are right, heaven is here NOW.
 
I basically agree with all these posts - the term "kingdom of Heaven" or, equivalently, the term "Kingdom of God" does not refer to "heaven" as we normally use the term. Yes, "heaven" exists, but the term "kingdom of heaven" refers to the reign of God here on earth, both in our "inner lives" and in the broader world at large.
 
It is too bad that the literal rending of the phrase "kingdom of heaven" is not used.

In Matthew, the first of the Gospels, as set forth in his Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, Dr. George Berry correctly translates it as "the kingdom of the heavens."

Daniel put it this way in Daniel 7:27, "Then the sovereignity, power and greatness of the kingdoms undr the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom."

It is used only in Matthew, being specially in harmony with the purpose of the Gospel, to set forth Jesus as the coming Messiah to rule over the kingdom of (or from) heaven on the earth.
Certainly this Messianic Kingdom to come, is also in the sphere of the kingdom, or dominion, of God, which I believe includes the whole universe. And thus, "the kingdom of God" is used exclusively in the other three gospels.

Indeed, we in the Church/body of Christ are in the Kingdom of God. Our hope is in the heavenlies as revealed by Paul, especially in Ephesians chapts. 1 thru 3.

Bick
 
elijah23 said:
Heaven, the Kingdom of God, is not a place, I do not believe. It is the transformation that takes place in our lives when we repent.

And you are right, heaven is here NOW.
Click to expand...

There is a place that Jesus called heaven, where He says God is and God's throne is, where He reigns with the Father and where we go when we die, and where Jesus promised to be preparing a place for us now, and FROM WHERE He will come to get His Bride.

There are a lot of things there for you to deny if you want to hold onto your fallacy.

What do you do with, "Our Father who art in heaven..."????
 
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