Matthew 19:23 says that it is difficult for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of the heavens. In John 3:3 and 5, though, the Lord reveals that the only requirement for entering the kingdom of God is to be born again. If you have been born again, you have entered into the kingdom of God. By our second birth we have entered into the kingdom of God, but have we entered into the kingdom of the heavens? To enter into the kingdom of God is simply by rebirth, but to enter into the kingdom of the heavens is another matter. Matthew 5:20 says, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens.” To enter into the kingdom of God requires regeneration as a new beginning of our life, but to enter into the kingdom of the heavens demands surpassing righteousness in our living after regeneration. How strict this is! Also, Matthew 7:21 says, “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does the will of My Father who is in the heavens.” Since entering into the kingdom of the heavens also requires doing the will of the heavenly Father, it is clearly different from entering into the kingdom of God by being regenerated. The latter is by the birth of the divine life; the former is by the living of that life. Matthew 18:3 says, “Truly I say to you, Unless you turn and become like little children, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens.” Once we have been regenerated, we are in the kingdom of God, but to enter into the kingdom of the heavens we must have the righteousness which exceeds that of the Pharisees, we must do the will of God, and we must become like little children.
The time for us to enter into the kingdom of the heavens is revealed in Matthew 24 and 25, the prophecy of the kingdom. These chapters also reveal to us that there is a difference between the kingdom of the heavens and the kingdom of God.
Some Bible teachers claim that when the Lord Jesus came, He came with the kingdom and presented it to the Jewish people. When the Jewish people rejected Him, He received back the kingdom and the kingdom was suspended. According to these Bible teachers, the church age is not the time of the kingdom, because the kingdom has been suspended. When the Lord comes back, He will also bring back the kingdom. Even Dr. C. I. Scofield taught in such a way, but the Bible reveals that the kingdom of God has never been suspended. In Matthew 21:43 the Lord said clearly that the kingdom of God would be taken from the Jewish people and given to another people, that is, to the church. This indicates that the kingdom of God has never been suspended. Then after the Lord’s resurrection and before His ascension to the heavens, He stayed with the disciples for forty days. In those forty days the Lord spoke concerning the things of the kingdom of God: “To whom also He presented Himself alive after His suffering by many irrefutable proofs, appearing to them through a period of forty days and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). This again indicates that the Lord has never suspended the kingdom of God. Acts 8:12 says, “They believed Philip, who announced the gospel of the kingdom of God.” When the apostles preached the gospel, they preached the kingdom of God. The kingdom has never been suspended. The kingdom of God was preached by the apostles even after the ascension of the Lord and after Pentecost. Acts 14:22 says, “Establishing the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.” Some Bible teachers say that the kingdom of God is merely a matter for the Jewish people, but here the apostles were exhorting the Gentile churches to continue in the faith so that they could enter into the kingdom of God. Romans 14:17 is another verse which shows us that the kingdom of God has not been suspended: “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” With the period of the Holy Spirit, there is still the kingdom of God. Also, the context of this verse is dealing with the church life in the present age. Other verses which show us that the kingdom of God has not been suspended are 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 Corinthians 15:50, Galatians 5:21, Ephesians 5:5, 2 Thessalonians 1:5, Revelation 11:15, 12:10, and 2 Timothy 4:18 which says, “The Lord will deliver me from every evil work and will save me into His heavenly kingdom, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” Near the end of Paul’s journey as a Christian, as a servant of the Lord, he said that the Lord would save him into His heavenly kingdom.
Thus far, we have seen that the kingdom of God is related not merely to the Jews but also to the Christians. The matter of the kingdom is not so simple. By our new birth we have entered into the kingdom of God. On the other hand, as far as the kingdom of the heavens is concerned, we are still on the way to entering into it. For example, I have entered into the United States because I am in California, but I have not entered into the White House. The kingdom of the heavens is something different from the kingdom of God, yet the kingdom of the heavens is the kingdom of God because it is a part of the kingdom of God. Therefore, one can be in the kingdom of God yet still not be in the kingdom of the heavens. John 3:3 tells us that by the new birth we entered into the kingdom of God. On the other hand, we are told in Acts 14:22 that we enter into the kingdom through much tribulation. The kingdom of God is the whole realm in which God rules from eternity to eternity. In the kingdom of God there is a part which is called the kingdom of the heavens. This part began on the day of Pentecost and concludes at the end of the millennium.
With the kingdom of the heavens there are three aspects: the external appearance of the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 13), the reality of the kingdom of the heavens (chs. 5—7), and the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens (chs. 24—25). If we are going to understand the kingdom of the heavens, we must know these three aspects. On the day of Pentecost, the appearance of the kingdom of the heavens and the reality of the kingdom of the heavens began. The manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens will begin with the coming back of the Lord Jesus. When the Lord comes back, the kingdom of the heavens will be manifested. On the one hand, we can say that the kingdom has started already, but this is just the appearance and the reality, not the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens. The appearance of the kingdom of the heavens includes all of the false Christians, but only the victorious, overcoming Christians are in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. When the Lord Jesus comes back, that will be the time of the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens.