What
did “Heaven” mean to Jesus -- “store up treasures in Heaven” or “kingdom of
Heaven”? Before we learn what it meant to him, let’s consider what it
means to millions of Bible readers today. The place we will begin our study is the
BHC Bible Study Tools
Section on our website. Be sure to bookmark it and use it in all your
Bible studies too.
The
first tool we will use is a dictionary to
look up the word “heaven.” The first entry is:
The abode of God, the angels, and the spirits of the righteous after death; the place or state of existence of the blessed after the mortal life.
If
this is what “heaven” means, then the picture it creates in the reader’s mind is:
(1) “store up your treasures in the abode of God, the angels, and the spirits of the righteous after death.”
(2)
“the kingdom of the abode of God, the angels, and the spirits of the righteous after death.”
You
may be surprised to discover that Jesus wasn’t talking about a place when he
used “Heaven.” As far as what would happen after the “Great Day of Judgment” he
said:
Do not mistakenly
assume that “to life eternal” means “go to Heaven.” Long before the
time of Jesus until today, ShAMAYIM
(Hebrew word translated “Heaven”) was used as a very common euphemism[ii] in
the Jewish culture for ELOHIYM (God)
or YAHWEH (the sacred name of God). It
was used to avoid breaking the commandment of “taking the name of ELOHIYM in
vain,[iii] Common
euphemisms for “God” are: ShAMAYIM (Heaven),
HaShem (the Name), the Holy One, the Almighty, and many more.
Another
BHC Bible Study Tool
– the Jewish Encyclopedia – provides
important cultural clues for what words meant to Jesus. When Jesus said, "malkut shamayim" (kingdom of Heaven), his Jewish audience
knew it was an expression of the "sovereignty
of YAHWEH" that would become a reality in the Messianic age when -- “YAHWEH
will reign as the sole King on earth.” Make sure to understand that the
focus is “on the earth” -- not in “Heaven.”
When
you see the phrase “kingdom of God”
in the New Testament -- instead of “kingdom of Heaven” -- it is probably a good clue that the author was either
not writing to a Jewish audience or was not familiar with the Jewish culture –
or both.
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[i]
Matthew 25:46
[ii] A
euphemism is the
substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something
unpleasant. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/euphemism
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