Heaven vs. the Kingdom of Heaven

A study presented to my adult class after dealing with Luther's explanation to the petition of the Lord's Prayer, "Thy will be done on earth as in heaven."

After our last class together, I could see quite a bit of confusion on everyone’s face regarding the kingdom of heaven, how we perceive it, what it’s about, and how God’s will relates to it. I’d like to spend just a little more time on this topic and this petition of the Lord’s Prayer so that hopefully we can end some of the confusion and have some concept of what Scripture tells us about Heaven and its relationship to how we operate in accordance to God’s will.

Defining Heaven

For the most part, folks tend to define heaven as "that place we go after we die where God is." Now, this definition has given people much comfort for generations, but it does beg the question: where is God? If we believe that God is all present (as He is portrayed in the Scriptures), does that mean that God is with us here and now? Does that mean heaven is a reality that we can experience now. The answer, I believe is yes, so I would actually shorten the definition of heaven by taking out the "we go after we die" portion, leaving the definition as "that place where God is."

Yet this definition can become confusing particularly with the imagery we get within Scripture. For instance, the book of Revelation paints a really cool picture of heaven:

From Revelation chapter 7:

13Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?" 14I said to him, "Sir, you are the one that knows." Then he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. 16They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; 17for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

From Revelation chapter 21:

3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." 5And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."

Obviously, our world does not look like these pictures. That raises some interesting questions. If heaven is a part of our reality now, why does evil occur? Is evil something we as humans perpetuate on everything? Is there such a thing as natural evil? How does the devil play into things? Is God somehow more present in some places than in others? And the list goes on. Therefore, I believe we must add another definition to our thoughts of heaven and in particular to our understanding of God’s will.

Defining the Kingdom of Heaven/Kingdom of God

A subtle but important distinction must be made between heaven and the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Heaven/Kingdom of God is the place where God’s will is practiced at all times and in all places. It is literally the reign of God or the reign of heaven. No longer does evil hold any sway. No longer does hunger impose it’s might. No longer does human selfishness govern–God does. The Kingdom of Heaven is the time when all is set right–when the vision portrayed in the book of Revelation becomes a reality on earth. We aren’t there yet.

But does that mean God is separate from our reality? Does that mean God doesn’t have His hands dirty in our world? No. He’s here, living and moving and acting. His Kingdom just hasn’t been established in full. Heaven is here now, but the Kingdom of Heaven is not yet. This is why I said last time we live in the now but not yet. Heaven is a reality in which we get snippets of, when our hearts and minds and eyes are attuned to it, but it has not fully come. And we long for its coming.

As Christians, we believe we have been exposed to the reality of God’s reign. We believe we have been given a vision of something glorious and worth living in. We believe we have seen a place of peace, harmony, joy, worship, and justice. We believe we have been given a picture of the way things are supposed to be like, and we believe we should not be satisfied until things down here look like they do up there. (Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.) We long and hunger for the way things should be, and we feel a passion to work toward such things in the here and now.