The Subjects of “The Kingdom of Heaven”—who are they?
The subjects of a kingdom are, in a general way, those who have been born within its limits, and who submit to its laws and accept its king. But when we enquire into the teaching of our Lord about the subjects of “The Kingdom of Heaven,” we are met at once with the difficulty that, in the days of His earthly ministry, the Kingdom was not yet founded[9]. The King was only preparing the way for His Kingdom to be set up. And there is necessarily a great difference between joining a Kingdom in the act of being founded, and being born under its laws and within its limits.
Consequently with respect to His teaching about the Subjects of “The Kingdom of Heaven,” two things have to be considered. First, the conditions under which men are permitted to join His Kingdom; and, secondly, the life which His subjects are required to lead.
At the very commencement of His ministry a divine picture was drawn of the character and life of the true subjects of “The Kingdom of Heaven.” For as He “went about all Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, there followed Him great multitudes of people. And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain: and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him: and He opened His mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (S. Matt. iv. 23-v. 3). Thus He began the Sermon on the Mount by declaring the blessedness of His subjects, though they would be very different from those whom the world commonly counts blessed. And the last Beatitude ended, as the first began, with distinct reference to the Kingdom, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake; for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (S. Matt. v. 10); as though to make it clear to His hearers that the blessedness spoken of throughout all the verses was connected with His Kingdom.
He then addressed those who, in their hearts, accepted Him, as “the salt of the earth;” and as “the light of the world” (S. Matt. v. 13, 14). They would not only be blessed in themselves, as His subjects, but they would also be a blessing to others. They were to be the salt which should preserve the world from corruption; and the light which should lead men to “glorify their Father which is in Heaven” (S. Matt. v. 16).
Having thus described, at the beginning of His Sermon, the general character and office of the subjects of His Kingdom, our Blessed Lord went on to answer a question, which would doubtless arise in the minds of His hearers. Would the Kingdom of which He spoke destroy, or be opposed to the Law, under which God’s People had lived from ancient times? The answer was most distinct: “Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (S. Matt. v. 17-20). So far from coming to destroy the Law, He had come that it might be fulfilled by His subjects, as it had never been fulfilled before. For they would be required to surpass even the Scribes and Pharisees in their observance of it, by keeping it in the spirit, as well as in the letter; otherwise they would prove themselves unfit for His Kingdom. And then followed examples of the observance of some of the laws of old—such as the law of purity, and the law against murder—in this enlarged spiritual sense; ending with the exhortation, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect” (S. Matt. v. 21-48).
One of the chief ways in which God’s People had failed in their service towards Him, was in the spirit in which they had discharged their religious duties. Righteousness had become but another name for formality. Prayers and alms and fasts had been turned into opportunities for showing off before men, and for gaining the reputation of sanctity. Consequently it was necessary that He should lead back His hearers to the real meaning of these duties; and set forth the principle which must guide His subjects in all their religious acts—almsgiving, prayer, and fasting—namely, this; the desire to please their “Father which is in Heaven” (S. Matt. vi. 1-18). And that there might be no mistake about the kind of rewards which they might look for, He declared that they must “lay up for themselves treasures in Heaven” (S. Matt. vi. 19-21); that is to say, they must love and long for spiritual rewards, setting their hearts upon higher things than this world can give. And the only way in which they could do this, was by devoting themselves with their whole strength to the service of God. For no half-service of God was possible: “Ye cannot serve God and Mammon” (S. Matt. vi. 24). Then if they lived for God, they might lay aside all over-anxious thoughts about this present life. If they really gave themselves up to be His subjects, they would certainly have all things ordered for them for the best. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” (S. Matt. vi. 33).
The Sermon ended with mentioning some of the difficulties which the subjects of “The Kingdom of Heaven” would have to meet in the practice of godliness. In the first place, in order to become His subjects they would have to enter through a narrow gate, upon a path which few would find. For whilst, on the one hand, “Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat,” on the other hand, “Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (S. Matt. vii. 13, 14). And when they had entered upon this narrow way, He warned them that they must be on their guard against being misled by foolish professors, because mere profession of obedience would neither prove them to be subjects of His Kingdom, nor win for them admission “in that day” into His glory and joy, “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in Heaven” (S. Matt. vii. 21-23). Therefore they must set to work to do the will of God, and so be true subjects of Messiah’s Kingdom. And then, as doers of His words, and not hearers only, they would be building like wise men “upon a rock” (S. Matt. vii. 24).
The description thus given by the King Himself of the character and life of His subjects sets vividly before us the difficulties which a Christian must overcome. It may not be always easy to decide whether the expression “Kingdom of Heaven” refers to the Kingdom as it is now on earth, or as it will be hereafter in Heaven; but it is clear that our Blessed Lord would teach in this Sermon both the difficulty of becoming a professing Christian at all, and also the need of earnest strivings after holiness in order that a subject of His Kingdom of Grace should find a welcome when that Kingdom shall have become the Kingdom of Glory. And when we think of the very different standards hitherto aimed at either by Jews or Gentiles, we see at once the reason which prevented so many of His hearers from accepting “The Kingdom of Heaven.” For it is clear that a man who had been brought up either as a Jew or as a Gentile would have to lay aside almost all his previous habits and modes of thought—he must become a new man altogether—to enter in.
Who then would enter in? Who would become subjects of the Kingdom of Heaven?