The Kingdom of Heaven, which is God’s government, may be so locked up that it is difficult to enter. Christ said that the scribes and Pharisees shut it up and took away the key of knowledge. They refused to go in themselves, and they barred the way for those who were trying to enter (Matthew 23:13). Many people recite scripture verses, but do not understand how they apply to their daily walk in the Kingdom.
As you read the Bible, look at it as the history of God offering His government to the people. In the Old Testament, God’s people rejected and disobeyed that government. Consequently, they were conquered by their enemies and taken captive. They lost their land and their freedom.
When Jesus Christ appeared, He offered a new way of living – one that brought peace and liberty. To find out what God expects, search the New Testament to find the covenants or agreements between God and us. Christ said, “Happy are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
Here God is making a covenant to be merciful to us if we are merciful one to another. If a man shows mercy to his neighbor, he can boldly trust God for mercy in all his needs. However, judgment without mercy shall be shown to him that shows no mercy (James 2:13). If he shows no mercy, but trusts God to show him mercy, his faith is worldly and vain. For God has promised mercy only to the merciful.
Another covenant between God and man is that if you forgive men their faults, your heavenly Father shall forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their faults, then you cannot expect your Father to forgive you your faults. God, in his mercy, has bound Himself to us. Therefore, if we forgive our neighbor, we can trust God to forgive whatever we have done amiss. But if we will not forgive others, then we cannot hope for God’s forgiveness. Instead we must face judgment without mercy.
The whole covenant is included in this: if we submit ourselves to God, to love and obey Him, then God has bound himself to make good all the mercies promised in Christ.
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The kingdom of God is to love God with all thine heart, and to put thy whole trust in him according to the covenant, made in Christ; and for Christ’s sake to love thy neighbor as Christ loved thee. And all this is within thee.” William Tyndale, 16 th Century translator of the New Testament from Greek to English.
The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are equivalent names for the same government.
