All who will accept Him as their King—all the men and women and little children in the world, of every land and of every age—may be admitted as the subjects of “The Kingdom of Heaven.” For “He died for all” (2 Cor. v. 15).
And “The Kingdom of Heaven,” though it is a spiritual and heavenly Kingdom, is as yet here on earth, and will not be in Heaven, until the subjects of the King have been tried and found faithful, and the number of the elect shall be accomplished.
It follows that the statements of Holy Scripture respecting “The Kingdom of Heaven,” which are to be considered in the following pages, refer not merely to the world to come—to that which we commonly understand by the word Heaven—but to that Kingdom which has been founded here on earth; and into which, as Christians, we have been already called. And the subject becomes of infinite importance to us all, when it is understood that “The Kingdom of Heaven” is, at this present time, that Kingdom of grace in which we may obtain salvation through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He has called us all to be subjects of this Kingdom now, that, by obtaining a share in His precious merits, we may be brought into a state of present salvation; and that, by continuing in this state through His grace, we may be recognised as His subjects in that great day, when the Kingdom of Grace will have become the Kingdom of Glory Everlasting.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Christ is the Greek word which corresponds with the Hebrew word Messiah, meaning “The Anointed One.” Amongst the Jews three classes of men were anointed to their official duties—Prophets, Priests, and Kings. And the name “Messiah” implied that they expected the Deliverer to bear office in these ways; and especially as King, the highest of these offices.
[2] In a similar passage of S. Matthew the difficult expression occurs, “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (S. Matt. xi 12); but the meaning seems to be the same. Our Lord was calling attention to the fact that the expected King had come and His Kingdom was open to the eager zeal of such as would seize upon it and press into it.