From beginning to end the Bible shows that God has a consistent goal to obtain a kingdom as a realm for His reigning where His glory can be expressed (Matt. 6:13). After God created the universe, He allowed an archangel to rule for Him (Luke 4:6). Later this archangel rebelled against God (Ezek. 28:13-17; Isa. 14:12-15) and became Satan, God’s enemy; thus, God’s authority was challenged. In order to deal with His enemy and to express His authority, God created man and appointed him to rule the earth on His behalf with authority over everything (Gen. 1:27-28). However, not long after man was created, Satan deceived and corrupted man (3:1-7), which frustrated the establishment of God’s authority on earth. In response to man’s corruption and fall, God established a way of redemption (v. 21; 4:4) so that man could be saved, and His original intention to express His authority on earth through man could be accomplished. Then Satan invented culture and influenced man to rely upon himself for his living so that man would ignore God’s means of salvation (vv. 3, 5, 16-22). Eventually, man became utterly corrupt and was judged by God through the flood (6:11-13). Noah, however, found favor in the sight of God, accepted His way of salvation, walked with Him, submitted to His authority, and was ruled by Him (vv. 8-9). After Noah left the ark, God gave man authority to govern other men (9:6), but Satan used man’s God-given authority to establish many nations. Satan caused man to leave God’s rule to the extent that man fully rebelled against God at Babel in an attempt to overthrow His authority (10:32—11:4). God immediately came in to judge mankind (vv. 5-9), but from among men He chose and called out Abraham so that He could exercise His authority through Abraham’s descendants as a nation (12:1-2).
After Abraham was called by God, he stood in a heavenly position under the rule of God, and God’s authority once again had a way on earth. Soon, however, Abraham’s descendants went down into Egypt, losing their heavenly position and authority and falling under Satan’s authority in the hand of Pharaoh. Then God came in to save them out of Egypt in order to make them His kingdom wherein He could exercise His authority and express His glory (Exo. 19:4-6). However, they followed the way of the nations not long after they entered Canaan, and they asked for a man to be their king, rejecting God’s rule and authority (1 Sam. 8:4-7). Ultimately, God chose a man among them who was according to His own heart, David, and through him God exercised His authority and reigned among them (Acts 13:22). Soon after, however, Israel and the descendants of David again rejected God and His authority. At this time, they lost their kingdom to the Babylonians, and God lost the realm on earth where He could exercise His authority. Later Ezra, Nehemiah, and a group of Israelites were raised up, so God again gained a place on earth where He could exercise His authority. But a short time later, Israel again fell and became desolate. This frustrated God from exercising His authority among them until the Lord Jesus came.
When the Lord Jesus began to minister on earth, He said, “The kingdom of God has drawn near. Repent” (Mark 1:15). When He met a demon, He would cast it out so that the authority of God and the kingdom of God would be extended (Matt. 12:28). Even though the Lord Jesus manifested the authority of God, which is the kingdom of God (Luke 17:21), through signs and wonders among the Jews in His three and a half years of teaching, they were unwilling to repent, to turn to God, or to submit to His authority. Consequently, the Lord told them that the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to another group of people—the church (Matt. 21:43).
Today the kingdom of God, the realm where God exercises His authority on earth, has passed from the Jews—the Israelites—to the church. On the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius (Acts 2:14-41; 10:34-43), Peter, through the power of the Holy Spirit, used the keys of the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 16:19) to open the doors of faith to both Jews and Gentiles so that all who repented and believed could enter the kingdom of God. Those who receive God’s salvation through regeneration (John 3:3, 5) are delivered out of the authority of Satan and transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love (Col. 1:13). Collectively, they are the church. The church is the realm where God can exercise His authority on earth; it is God’s “holy nation” (1 Pet. 2:9). This kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36); it is heavenly. It is not physical but spiritual; that is, it is not a matter of physical things, such as eating or drinking, but a matter of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). When the early church was in a proper condition, God was able to exercise His authority and express His glory in the church through the Holy Spirit.
Soon, however, the church on earth became degraded and desolate. Inwardly, she was full of sins, human opinions, and the world, giving Satan ground and frustrating God’s authority from freely moving. In this situation God came in to call out overcomers to return to the original position of the church (Rev. 2—3). The overcomers represent the church to deal with Satan’s authority of darkness so that God can freely exercise His authority. These overcomers will bring the kingdom of God, God’s authority, to earth, which will cause the Satan-usurped kingdom on the earth to become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ (12:10; 11:15). Then the overcomers will reign over the earth with Christ in the millennial kingdom (20:4-6), allowing God’s authority to freely reign over the entire earth and filling the entire universe with God’s glory.
At the end of the millennial kingdom, after the Lord destroys the authority of Satan in his last rebellion, He will give back to God the kingdom that He received from God (1 Cor. 15:24). At that time there will be a new heaven and new earth, and God will obtain an eternal realm in which He can rule and reign with His Son and with us, the saved ones, as His Son’s counterpart. His authority will be unchallenged, and His glory will be expressed for eternity.
This has always been God’s heart’s desire, and this has always been God’s goal. To enter into the kingdom of the heavens is to participate in the heavenly reality of God’s goal so that we can enter into its heavenly manifestation in the millennial kingdom and enjoy God’s authority and glory. This is clearly revealed in the Bible, and it is intimately related to us. Thus, we must spend time to study the topic of entering into the kingdom of the heavens. If we are patient, many questions will be answered spontaneously as we examine this topic. First, we need to see the definition of the kingdom of the heavens.