Beatitudes: Where is the Kingdom of Heaven?

In the first and last Beatitude, Jesus talks about the Kingdom of Heaven. It is linked to being ‘poor in spirit’ and being ‘persecuted for righteousness’.

Jesus also mentions the Kingdom in numerous places throughout the Gospels. And He describes the Kingdom through parables and analogies.

But where is this Kingdom? Jesus tells us in the Gospel according to Luke.

Luke 17 v 20-21

Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

Some translations say among you or within you. The Kingdom of Heaven is in a believer’s heart.

The Principality of Heaven

The Kingdom is also amongst the principalities. Where Christians come together in worship, the Kingdom of Heaven is in their midst. If we look at the early part of the Book of Revelation, the letters are written to the Angel of each church.

Revelation 2 v 1

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:”

This means that wherever the people of God assembly, the Kingdom of Heaven is present.

In Heaven

Finally, the Kingdom of Heaven is (unsurprisingly) also in Heaven. It is the Kingdom which Christ is bringing from Heaven to Earth.

The Kingdom of Heaven is the only kingdom where, when a subject dies, they still are part of it.

The typical understanding of death in the Ancient World was when you died, you descended into the grave. Your body would decay and your spirit would live out the rest of days as a shadow in the Underworld.

The Christian, as part of the Kingdom of Heaven, sees the decay of their body, but their spirit remains hidden and alive in Christ.

Colossians 3 v 3

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Death cannot remove the Christian from the Kingdom of Heaven, as they are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8 v 38-39

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

As part of Christ’s resurrection, those in the Kingdom of Heaven, both on Earth and ‘hidden in Christ’ in Heaven, remain in one single Body.

The Kingdom of Heaven transverses Heaven and Earth. Death has no power to restrict the boundary of this Kingdom. Death is powerless.

All those Christians who have ‘fallen asleep’ in Christ are still the brothers and sisters of those on Earth.

And they rejoice! Not just in worship of God, but also when someone repents and joins the Kingdom of Heaven.

Luke 15 v 7

I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents