The
Oh yes, the
Well, to begin with we need to look at what the word heaven means. Of the roughly 441 times the King James translators used the word heaven, heavens, or some other variation in the Old Testament, 398 of those came from the Hebrew word shamayim which means:
Interestingly enough if we were
to scan the Old Testament we would find that out of the 398 times shamayim was translated into some variation of heaven, it
was speaking about the Eternal Heaven, at most, only about 77 times. In the
rest of the instances, the words heaven or heavens are used to simply describe
the sky, universe, or God’s supremacy over all creation. What? You don’t
believe me? Grab a Strong’s Concordance and a Hebrew Lexicon and you will
simply be amazed.
Well
that touches on the word heaven in the Old Testament, but what about the New
Testament? I am glad you asked. Things get a bit more interesting here. The New
Testament Scriptures contain about 5 different Greek words that were translated
into heaven or some variation thereof. We will focus on the word that was most
often used. Of the roughly 292 times the King James translators used the word
heaven or some variation thereof in the New Testament, ouranos was the original
Greek word for 264 of those.
Let’s
talk about ouranos. What does it mean? You’re just full of good questions today!
Alright, ouranos means:
Now things are a bit more blurred in scripture where the word ouranos was translated into some variation of heaven. However, out of the approximately 264 times this word appears in scripture there are at least 80 times that it either definitely does not have to do with the Eternal Heaven or at least is highly questionable as to its meaning. As for the other approximate 184 occurrences of ouranos, well, they require a special key in order to understand the message they convey. Don’t panic, all is not lost. Thankfully there is another Greek word that is often joined with ouranos, and goes a long way in clearing up this muddy water. What is this word you ask? This is none other than basileia. This is the word that is translated into the word kingdom in the New Testament. Basileia is defined as follows:
Of the 154 times this word
appears in scripture, there are at least 32 instances where it is joined
directly with the word ouranos (heaven) creating a phrase with a very special
meaning. As exciting as this is, it does not stop here. There is another 88
times in which basileia is coupled with other words to create phrases with the
same meaning. When we see this in scripture it usually appears as either “the
Kingdom”, the “
There that clears everything up just nicely don’t you think? What? You’re still confused? Really?
Ok. Let me give you some verses of Scripture to chew on: Let me see, ah yes. Check these out:
“Now after that John was put in prison,
Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the
“In those days came John the
Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for
the
“From that time Jesus began to preach, and to
say, ‘Repent: for the
“Joseph of Arimathaea, an honorable
counselor, which also waited for the
“And he said unto them, Verily I
say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not
taste of death, till they have seen the
“For the Kingdom of God is not meat and
drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Romans
14:17
That last quote looks familiar
doesn’t it? The
Well, you’re absolutely correct,
but only partly. Scan back up and look at all those quotes again. Do you see a
theme forming? They are all pointing to the idea that this kingdom which is
being preached is not something far away. In fact it is at hand, near, close.
Jesus said that some of the very disciples that were standing with Him while He
spoke would not die until this kingdom had come with power. Joseph of
Arimathaea was waiting for the
I know I am getting a bit too
excited. Let me slow down for a moment. What is the
“Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself: That in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will: That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.”
You see, God has shown us a mystery too great for us. God has purposed in Himself that when the time is right, God will gather all things which are in Heaven and which are on Earth in Christ.
Let me clarify something. Before Christ there was no hope for man to ever be rejoined with God. Adam and Eve ruined that for all mankind. In eating that forbidden fruit Adam and Eve sinned and consigned mankind to eternal separation from God both now and for eternity. Don’t fret; I’m not getting off track. Well, at least not too far. Notice how I worded my statement “Before Christ there was no hope for man.” You see! Isn’t that marvelous! Oh, you don’t see? That’s fine. You will in a moment. Christ has always existed even before the foundation for the world. We read in John chapter 1 verse 1 “In the beginning was the Word (that’s Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus always was. There has never been a time when He did not exist. So you see there was always hope for mankind! What do you mean “how do I know?” Look I will show you. It’s right here in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 “According as He hath chosen us in Him (Jesus) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love”: That’s right; before God even bothered to create the world He already had a plan and the means to execute that plan. Before the words “Let there be Light” were ever uttered God purposed to save a people too great to be numbered from every nation, tribe, tongue, and kindred through the blood of Jesus.
Now, let’s get back to the point I was attempting to make using Ephesians chapter 1 verses 9 through 14. God chose us before time began; He predestined us unto eternal salvation in order to bring joy unto Himself. Jesus paid for us and bought us with His blood and now we have an inheritance. Wow! God, the creator of all things is giving me an inheritance. I can hardly wait to see how great it is. Oh Wait. Isn’t that how this whole discussion started? I don’t want to wait until I die to gain my inheritance. We had better read on some more in Ephesians. Let’s see, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.”
There it is; that magic word
which brings the whole matter to light. Earnest, a fancy word for down
payment, or in other words give me something now please. You see it now don’t
you? Yes you do. I see that sparkle in your eye. The
Can you see that special key I
mentioned earlier being forged? As we study through scripture especially the
words of Jesus we begin to realize that it is this Earnest (The Kingdom of
Heaven) that is most often under consideration, and not the Eternal Heaven. I
know it does kind of fly in the face of today’s popular doctrines. However,
once you consider that God’s people were chosen in Jesus even before the world was
brought into being (before anyone had ever worked any good or evil), and that
Jesus successfully paid the full measure of our debt thereby making us adopted
children of God, there is really not much more to say about the Eternal Heaven;
at least not in the context of how it relates to our earthly lives. However,
the teachings that Jesus gave us about the
Now don’t feel bad if you didn’t
see it before. After all even Jesus’ own disciples and the religious elite of
His day didn’t understand what Christ was talking about when He often mentioned
the
Why are you scratching your head?
Oh, I see. Well the people of Jesus’ day were looking for a physical kingdom.
They expected a Messiah (Christ) to come who would lead a rebellion against
I know it sounds great. It’s kind
of like good news. Yes, that is exactly what it is. Good news, or as we have
come to call it: The gospel of the
You look troubled. What’s
bothering you? No, the Old Testament saints didn’t have the
Now as to the importance of the
You have got to love the plain
English that Jesus uses to explain things. Wait, or was that Hebrew that was
translated into Greek that was translated into old English. Anyway let me help
shed some light on this very important parable. The doctrine of the Kingdom can
sound small and trivial in comparison with the weight and breadth of scripture
when first heard. But after it has been sown in the mind and heart, meditated
on, and studied, it actually becomes the tree in which all other branches of
scripture are held. It is in these branches, held up by the doctrine of the
You didn’t know I could sound so
fancy did you? Anyway let’s take a quick look at the power of the
“Another parable put He forth unto them, saying, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.’”
In this parable Jesus shows us
the power contained in the doctrine of the
Thanks for putting up with me
through this discussion. It is my deepest prayer that you will take this key
(the knowledge of the