In this chapter, and many other places, Jesus refers to the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. Did you ever stop to ask what He means by these phrases?

I did a bit of digging on the subject and found that this has been a topic of a lot of discussion and commentary over the ages. Much more than we can cover here. I did find a very concise answer over at GotQuestions.org. Let me share it with you:

The kingdom of God is the rule of an eternal sovereign God over all creatures and things (Psalm 103:19; Daniel 4:3). The kingdom of God is also the designation for the sphere of salvation entered into at the new birth (John 3:5-7), and is synonymous with the “kingdom of heaven.”

The kingdom of God embraces all created intelligence, both in heaven and earth that are willingly subject to the Lord and are in fellowship with Him. The kingdom of God is, therefore, universal in that it includes created angels and men. It is eternal, as God is eternal, and it is spiritual—found within all born-again believers. We enter the kingdom of God when we are born again, and we are then part of that kingdom for eternity. It is a relationship “born of the spirit” (John 3:5), and we have confident assurance that it is so because the Spirit bears witness with our spirits (Romans 8:16).

God is sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient and the ruler over all of His creation. However, the designation “the kingdom of God” compasses that realm which is subject to God and will be for eternity. The rest of creation will be destroyed. Only that which is part of the “kingdom of God” will remain.

So I hope next time you hear the phrase “the Kingdom of Heaven” or “The Kingdom of God”, you’ll have a better understanding.