Well, since there's nothing for me to do but wait for news of my new grandchild, I've been trying to get back to my regular morning prayer time. Here's today's insight:
Reading in I Maccabees, you can see that the author uses personified "Heaven" as a circumlocution for God. For example, "Let us cry out to Heaven, in the hope that HE will favor us" (I Macc. 4:10, see also 4:24). This provides a background for the way the NT authors switch back and forth between the phrase "Kingdom of God" and "Kingdom of Heaven," using them synonymously.
As I said in our Bible study, the way I learned it was that it was originally "Kingdom of God" but Matthew (writing to a Jewish audience) changes it to "Kingdom of Heaven" - that could be the way it happened, but I think it's more likely that it was originally "Kingdom of Heaven" (Jesus was a Jew, after all, and he certainly read the books of the Maccabees), but then Mark (writing to a Gentile audience) changes it to "Kingdom of God" for clarity. In any case, there is no difference between Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven, since in this context, "Heaven" is a personification meant to indicate God. You probably knew that already, but I think that the insight for today is that it's more likely that Jesus himself would have said "Kingdom of Heaven," knowing his audience would know that he meant "the Kingdom of which God is King" more than simply "the Kingdom that is in the place we call heaven." It's not about the place, it's about who reigns over it.
Dear friends - Please take 10 minutes to watch this personal update from me:
I mentioned in The Journey that I wrote a song based on Isaiah 2, which is one of my favorite OT passages:
In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain, and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it. Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
I hope you like the song!
I hope to have another installment of THE JOURNEY up this Saturday - here's the text for the rest of the chapter - I didn't bother with the colored text since this is all from the Gospel of John.
