The Basileia de Ouranos

The Kingdom of Heaven

Matt. 13: 10 ~ And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?"He answered by saying, "Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given."

kingdom ~ basileia, royal dominion

heaven ~ ouranos, the sky or the residence of God

It's hard for democratic peoples to wrap their minds around the idea of a forever kingdom, since the idea of monarchies and kings went out of style long before hula hoops. But that is the language that surrounds the salvation that is in Christ. It is because He stands alone as the sole monarch of "heaven." And only in Matthew's gospel is it referred to as this basileia of ouranos, or kingdom of heaven. In the other gospels it is called the kingdom of God; but the meaning is the same.

In the popular imagination, heaven is pictured in many ways. We are all familiar with the imagery of clouds and cherubs and saints playing harps. There are also the pictures supplied in Revelation of gems, thrones, rainbows, a sea of glass, beasts, walls, gates, gold, pearls, a river, and the tree of life bearing 12 kinds of fruits.

Is this what it is in fact? Or are these symbolic images of something beyond description?

I like to think of heaven as fulfilling the Star Trek intro: "Going where no man has gone before." There is a great big cosmos out there. Did God create it for just His own enjoyment? Or are we meant to go there, in a kind of cosmic, expanded Garden of Eden, in a dominion under Christ that includes everything He has made, everywhere.

God didn't make man in His image in order that we would experience this one sad and shredded existence. The Bible calls Jesus "the expressed image of God," the actual copy of Himself. What God is in heaven, Jesus was in earth. Then it says "we will be like Him," not now in entirety, but in the "sweet by-and-by." Jesus is the firstfruit of the new creation. We follow suit.

When Jesus was Immanuel ~ God with us ~ He was the kingdom of heaven in the flesh. When He died and rose again, He sent that Kingdom to us in the person of His Holy Spirit. That Kingdom is now in those of us who believe: He is described in the New Testament as the "deposit" of the inheritance that is only available in Christ. His Holy Spirit is our insurance that we are inheritors of this incredible kingdom.

Jesus had to go away for this to take place in us. He couldn't give it to us while Heaven was present in mortal flesh. At that point, He said "the Kingdom of heaven is near," but the Holy Spirit now says, "I, Heaven, am present within you." That is, in reality, those who trust in Christ are already there, seated in heavenly places, in the Basileia de Ouranos.