The Kingdom of Heaven is the eternal reign and realm of God.  It is not God, yet is inseparable from Him and His attributes.  It is the perfect picture of government, as we understand such, in that it is perfectly just and righteous, perfectly merciful, humble, and powerful.  Indeed all true human government derives itself from it.

We must not confuse the Kingdom with the church.  The church is related to the Kingdom, and the Kingdom is related to the church, but we must not look at the outward expression of what we know as “church” and equate it with the Kingdom.

To further the issue of explaining what the Kingdom is, it can be likened to explaining to a rock what breathing is like.  You can talk all day long, but a rock has no capacity to even understand, let alone grasp what you are saying.

Jesus declared this, when talking to Nicodemus (John 3:3, 5):

I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again . . . I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

If you cannot see the Kingdom unless you are born again, it follows that if an unbeliever can see it, it is NOT the Kingdom.

Jesus also said:

My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.

John 18:36

The Kingdom is not so much a thing to be explained but to be discovered and experienced.  Jesus employed many metaphors (parables) to explain this thing which no human language was adequate nor capable to explain.  Yet, to the person experiencing the reality of it, His language was as clear and direct, perhaps more so, than talking directly about it.  He did not need to employ special codes or ciphers in His parables, nor was He working out of some sort of hidden or secret knowledge.  Rather, He was revealing secrets hidden from the foundation of the world, hidden in plain sight, so that only those simple vision and a pure, believing heart could see or understand.  Sometimes, it is the things that are the most elementary that are the hardest for us to recognize.  Like pride.  Or jealousy.  Or bitterness.

The Kingdom of Heaven exists, consists of, and is manifested through the realm of the Holy Spirit.  This is not some spooky, far-out there place, it is merely invisible, and to those indoctrinated into the western mindset, that is, the spirit of the world and unbelief, it seems like a vapor.  This is actually the problem we face in the western church.  We are trained by Babylon to look at the shiny golden image set before us on the plain of Shinar and bow down to it, instead of seeing the invisible.  We are trained into the dualism of Persia, focusing on good versus evil instead of life, and intimidation by force.  We are trained by the Greek mindset to abstract away from spirit and truth.  All told, until Jesus breaks us free, we are enslaved and have no notion of anything different.

But Jesus changed all that.  He broke the statue of Daniel 2, and scattered it to the four winds of heaven.  For a span of 1500 years, there was a world power ruling on the Earth.  Babylon, Medes and Persians, Greece, and finally Rome.  These all dominated the entire “civilized world”, and ruled alone.  Somewhere, unless you count the Roman Catholic Church as a continuation of the world-dominating power of Rome, Rome broke into pieces, along with the other four empires, and was scattered to the wind.  Why did Rome disperse in history?  Historians cannot tell you.  But I can.  The spirit of Rome was broken, and it was scattered by the wind to the four corners of the Earth.  For 1500 years, from the days of Nebuchadnezzar until the dispersion of Rome around 300 to 400 AD, there was a world power.  Since that time, there has been no one-world government on the face of the Earth (again, unless you directly implicate the Roman Catholic Church).  The statue is broken.

And what was left?  The church, sure.  But, the Kingdom that God has set up in His Son.  The same Kingdom that Jesus came declaring for the three and a half years of His ministry.  The same one that led Him to make statements such as, “If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20).  Not a part of the Kingdom, because Jesus had the Spirit without measure, without limit or in part (John 3:34).  Not one of God’s Kingdoms, but THE Kingdom.  The same Kingdom of which Jesus said, “And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14).

You see, Jesus is the door to the sheep-fold.  There are not two sheep-folds, there are one.  There is not two doors, but one.

Think about these parables Jesus relates…

The Kingdom has the same force as sin in a person’s life… Like yeast, if you get some in you, it will take you completely over (and your neighbor on either side).

If you plant it, and it finds a clear, prepared soul (read this as REPENT! and live as a prude, and forsake the spirit of the world and of Babylon, you’ll never miss it!), though it is the smallest of all seeds (words), it will be larger than any other garden plant.  (again, saying the same thing as above).

If you FIND it, whether looking or not, if you ascertain its value and appraise it correctly, you WILL sell all, forsake everything you have and know, father, mother, house, field, brother, sister, children, your own life, and acquire that pearl.  Finding it, seeing it, is not enough.  It must be procured.  If you really want it, if it were this easy, it would be worth losing your arm, leg, or eye to possess and retain it.  Yet, it is not a burden, nor a religious yoke, when correctly seen, for it is of more worth than what is lost.  Even Matthew 13:44 is NOT a primarily concerned with the COST of the Kingdom, it’s about its WORTH!

Though there are the false things around at all times, and they are not removed so as not to disturb the real which is still growing, the true is still the true, and the false is still the false.  There is no gray, there is no question.  One is capable of producing fruit, and the other never will, even if you weeded out all the true grain, and left only the tares.  The Kingdom is never cross-bred with the tares, with a the possibility of questions of recessive and dominant genes.  But instaed, He is now gathering out of His Kingdom all that which offends.

What is the Kingdom?  It is that realm of Heaven…  If you haven’t ever found something that is worth losing your life for, I would suggest continuing your search in desperation until you do.  If you ever do, it will take you over.  Be earnest, repent.  Save yourself from this corrupt and perverse generation.  You know when you have it, because peace is worth any price, righteousness is a wonderful covering, and joy becomes the upright in His Presence, as we sing praises to the Most High.

Satan said in Isaiah 14 the following words over and over:  I Will.

Isaiah 14:12-15

How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

You said in your heart,

“I will ascend to heaven;

I will raise my throne above the stars of God;

I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.

I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.

David had a different heart, but used the same words:

Psalm 146:1-2

Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.

I will praise the LORD all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

His end was different.

1 Kings 2:45

But king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before Yahweh forever.