The Kingdom of Heaven or In Heaven

by Bertrand L. Comparet

There is some dispute, in ecclesiastical circles, whether the kingdom of Yahweh, so often mentioned by Yahshua, is to be on earth or only in heaven. This is based chiefly on the use, only by Matthew, of the phrase the Kingdom of heaven. Because of this verse, some have argued that the kingdom must only be in heaven, being heaven itself as ruled by Almighty Yahweh. Neither Mark, Luke nor John refer to the kingdom of heaven, but only to the kingdom of Yahweh. Even Matthew uses as an equivalent phrase, the kingdom of Yahweh, four times at Matthew 6:33; 12:28; 21:31 & 21:43. In Matthew 13:43 & 26:29 Yahshua speaks of the kingdom of their Father and My Father’s kingdom. Both of these phrases obviously being equivalent to the kingdom of Yahweh. There is clearly no distinction between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of Yahweh. Then why were the two phrases used?

These different phrases happened because outwardly pious Jews had first taken the name of Yahweh out of the scriptures, substituting the word adonai, meaning lord. This happened in the seventh century B.C. At least as early as 200 B.C., they had begun to substitute heaven for Yahweh. Even today, many Jewish publications won’t use the word God, writing it G-d. Funk and Wagnall’s New Standard Bible Dictionary says the following.

“‘Kingdom of God’, usage of terms: A New Testament phrase based upon and expressing in its final form the Old Testament idea of the spiritual rule of God over men. The phrase, kingdom of heaven, is used in the New Testament by Matthew only, and is an exact equivalent of the phrase kingdom of God. The substitution of heaven for God, is based on the popular superstitious feeling, in later Judaism, which led to the avoidance of the divine names in common speech.”

So nothing can be based upon the use of the words kingdom of heaven. But what clues can we find in the Bible?

First, Yahweh’s throne and kingdom are eternal. The following Bible verses all confirm where the kingdom of Yahweh is, on earth.

Psalm 45:6: “Thy throne, O Yahweh, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom.”

Psalm 145:13: “Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.” An eternal kingdom on this earth was promised.

II Samuel 7:12-16: “And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes if the children of men: but My mercy shall not depart away from him as I took away from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee: thy throne shall be established before thee: thy throne shall be established forever.”

I Chronicles 28:5 & 29:23: “And of all my sons (for Yahweh hath given me many sons,) He hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of Yahweh over Israel. ... Then Solomon sat on the throne of Yahweh as king, instead of David his father, and prospered, and all Israel obeyeth him.”

Psalm 89:3-4, 28-29, 34-36: “I have made a covenant with My chosen. I have sworn unto David My servant, Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne for all generations. ... My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and My covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure forever, and His throne as the days of heaven. ... My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness that I will not lie to David. His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me.”

Daniel 2:44: “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”

We know Solomon never sat on the throne of Yahweh in heaven. We are told in the Bible that “Solomon sat on the throne of Yahweh as king”. Therefore Yahweh has an earthly throne, as well as a heavenly throne. It is prophesied that Yahshua shall sit upon the throne of the kingdom of Yahweh. It is quite definitely an earthly kingdom, and an eternal one.

Revelation 11:15: “And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.”

Psalm 47:2-7: “For Yahweh the Most High is terrible: He is a great king over all the earth: For Yahweh is the king of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding. Yahweh reigneth over all the heathen.” This kingdom contains evil people, who must be rejected. Are there evil people in heaven?

Matthew 11:12: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”

Matthew 13:47-50: “Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind, which when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of this age: the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 21:43: “Therefore I say unto you (the Jews), The kingdom of Yahweh shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”

We are told the children of Satan are in the kingdom of heaven, and must be expelled. This can’t be in heaven.

Matthew 13:37-43: “He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man. The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one: the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world (order). The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of the kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity.” This kingdom is one where people are material enough to eat and drink.

Matthew 26:29: “I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

Luke 22:29-30: “And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me: that ye may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

The kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of Yahweh, and it is on earth. It contains both good and wicked people at present. Both good and bad people will be in the kingdom until the second coming of Yahshua, at this time the angels will cast out the wicked. The kingdom will be here forever and those in it won’t be merely spirits. They will be real and solid enough to eat and drink earthly meals. It is the kingdom of heaven, but it is not in heaven.

Critical note by Clifton A. Emahiser: This has to be one of the better presentations Bertrand L. Comparet ever gave! Off hand, I would place it among his TOP TEN. I find little with which to disagree, but much to concur! Therefore, I will add some of my own observations. In this lesson, Comparet cited Daniel 2:44 thusly: “Daniel 2:44: ‘And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever’.” If ever Comparet turned out a masterpiece it was his Daniel’s Fifth Kingdom which would also rate among his TOP TEN. For the first four kingdoms of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream-vision the futurists use an historical view. Then, without any good reason, they suddenly switch to a futurist view which is hardly consistent. At that point they skip ahead nearly 2000 years and declare that Christ will set up His kingdom then. It was to be Christ’s Kingdom all right, but it was the Germanic (Scythian Israelite) tribes that crushed the ten toes (provinces) of the Roman empire. Therefore, the German tribes represented the “kingdom” which Daniel prophesied would “stand for ever”. That kingdom is already here, and has been for centuries, and when Yahshua Christ returns at his Second Advent, He will be crowned King!

The other passage Comparet cited for which I would like to comment is Matthew 13:47-50. The following is part of what I wrote in a brochure entitled Was Christ Politically Correct? Matt. 13:47-50:

WE’LL NOW DETERMINE JUST WHAT’S BIBLICAL AND WHAT’S NOT: For this we’ll go to Matthew 13:47-50 which reads: “⁴⁷ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: ⁴⁸ Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. ⁴⁹ So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, ⁵⁰ And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

It should be noted that the word “kind” is from the Greek “genos” (γένος) which W. E. Vine in his An Expository Dictionary Of New Testament Words defined as, “a family ... stock ... offspring ... kindred ... race ... nation.”  (#1085 in Strongs.) Under “Kind” Vine states for the most part: “KIND (Noun) 1. genos (1085), akin to ginomai, ‘to become,’ denotes (a) ‘a family,’ Acts 4:6, ‘kindred;’ 7:13, rv, ‘race’ (kjv, ‘kindred’); 13:26, ‘stock’; (b) ‘an offspring,’ Acts 17:28; Rev. 22:16; (c) ‘a nation, a race,’ Mark 7:26, rv, ‘race’ (kjv, ‘nation’); Acts 4:36, rv ‘(a man of Cyprus) by race,’ kjv, ‘of the country (of Cyprus);’ genos does not mean ‘a country;’ the word here signifies ‘parentage’; ...  ‘race’ (kjv, ‘kindred’); 18:2, 24, rv, ‘by race’ (kjv, ‘born’); 2 Cor. 11:26, ‘countrymen’; Gal. 1:14, rv, ‘countrymen’ (kjv, ‘nation’); Phil. 3:5, ‘stock’; 1 Pet. 2:9, rv, ‘race’ (kjv, ‘generation’); (d) ‘a kind, sort, class,’ Matt. 13:47, ‘kind’; in some mss. in 17:21, kjv, ‘kind;’ Mark 9:29, ‘kind’ ...”

Tony Gonyer in his July 29th, 2005 letter to Ted R. Weiland included a photocopy of this passage from Vine, but evidently Weiland regarded it as of no value. Weiland wants rather to thrust his own personal opinions on race, yet refuse the basic definition of the language of the text as it is written. The following rendition of Matt. 13:47-50 does absolutely no violence to this passage:

“47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea [of people], and gathered of every race: 48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good [racial kind] into vessels, but cast the bad [racial kind] away. 49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked [races] from among the just [race], 50 And shall cast them [the bad racial kind] into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”