MARCH 24TH, 1892

MARCH 24TH, 1892

As regards your question as to the distinction between ‘the kingdom of God’ and ‘the kingdom of heaven’, the two expressions strike me as follows, viz.: the kingdom of God refers to the moral sway of God as such; a man must be born again to see or to enter into it. Our souls as christians are under the influence of what God is morally, as revealed in grace. Hence the Son could say when here, “the kingdom of God is among you”, and we read in Romans that “the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit”. These are the portion of the soul under the moral sway of God. I think the tenth leper (Luke 17) who returned to Jesus to give glory to God in a sense illustrates it. The kingdom of heaven refers (it appears to me) to constituted authority, as the Lord said, “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth”. It seems to carry out the principle indicated in Genesis 1:17, 18, viz., that the earth should be in the light and under the rule of heaven.

What God has established in heaven consequent on ^[p. 64] redemption is to illumine and rule on earth. Hence hereafter the heavenly city is the seat and vessel of light and rule; the nations walk in the light of it. We as christians are in the kingdom of heaven; we are of the day, in the light and under the rule of Him who in heaven is made Lord and Christ. I do not know if this will tend to make the matter any clearer. I think I can see the distinctness of the two things.