The Kingdom of Heaven

We'll have a very detailed look at this in the next few weeks however its important to note that over His entire ministry in the Gospels:

a) Jesus mentions being 'Born Again' just once in John Chapter 3 'privately' at night with a further explanation to the religious theologian Nicodemus.

b) Jesus uses the word “church” (ekklesia) just twice, both in Matthew:
Matthew 16:18 — “I will build My church…”
Matthew 18:17 — “tell it to the church…”

That’s it. Born again and Church are rarely used — Jesus of course focused on people, not institutions. We know quite clearly that Jesus loved the Church (The body of Christ that IS), not an institution! and as St Paul says He gave Himself for it.

c) However the big story that always remains is the fact that Jesus preached The Kingdom of Heaven/Kingdom of God as His absolute primary message c. 97 Times!

He preached the “Kingdom of Heaven”
✔ c. 31 times Used only in Matthew — Jewish phrasing and deliberate.

He preached the “Kingdom of Heaven”
✔ c. 66 times and The “Kingdom of God” in Mark, Luke, and John

These are the differences between The Kingdom of Heaven and The Kingdom of God:

Matthew uses “Heaven” as a respectful Jewish circumlocution apparently Jewish tradition avoided saying “God” directly in everyday speech.

So Matthew — writing to a Jewish audience — uses:
Kingdom of Heaven instead of Kingdom of God This is probably like saying:
“Heaven rules” instead of “God rules”

“Blessed be Heaven” instead of “Blessed be God” It’s reverence, not difference. Mark, Luke, and John say “Kingdom of God as its likely Gentiles did not avoid saying “God,” so the other Gospel writers use the more direct phrase: Kingdom of God (66 times across the Synoptic Gospels)

Same meaning.
Different audience.
Different phrasing.

This is not the whole story as there may be further differences and we'll explore these in much more depth. Its interesting that when Jesus sent out anointed disciples the 12/7/72 He said announce that "the Kingdom has arrived (is here and present)" its from this point of declaration that the atmosphere in all the village changed and there are healing's, deliverance's and miracles so there's are plenty of questions for us to ask not least is why are we not preaching as they did !?.

Its not just that in all The Kingdom is mentioned c. 121 times or more in the New Testament! (Paul spent his last two years on the subject and Jesus spent His last 40 days in Earth teaching things 'pertaining' to The Kingdom of God) its because it was clearly the main message Jesus preached, it was His main theme and that's what we'll try and decipher/to uncover and find out why it doesn't seem to be the main theme for all of us or even any of us!