If You Live Today...
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21 NIV).
For Jesus and His followers the Kingdom of Heaven was
1. The power of God—that is, God doing what he wants.
2. The people of God—that is, people doing what God wants. –Brad Young, Jesus the Jewish Theologian.
"The expression malchut shamayim (kingdom of heaven) appears only in rabbinic literature and the Gospels.
The rabbis’ view was that to ensure that the observance of the mitsvot or commandments would not be mechanical; one should first commit oneself to the Kingdom of Heaven before beginning to observe God’s commandments. This committing oneself to the Kingdom of Heaven is formalized by one’s confession of the Shema, the declaration that there is but one God, but its practical expression is in the observance of the commandments. In effect, the moment a person did a good deed — that is, the will of God — at that moment he came into the Kingdom of Heaven.
There is a final redemption or completion of the Kingdom, but both Jesus and the rabbis generally viewed the Kingdom in a more practical, everyday way: doing the will of God. They would have viewed the final redemption in a fashion similar to the well-known rabbinic saying found in the Mishnah tractate Avot 2:16: 'It is not your part to finish the task, yet neither are you free to desist from it.'
There is a story in rabbinic literature that helps illustrate the first-century Jewish understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven.
A bridegroom is exempt from reciting the Shema on the first night of his marriage. . . . When Rabban Gamaliel married he recited the Shema on the first night. His disciples said to him: 'Master, didn’t you teach us that a bridegroom is exempt from reciting the Shema on the first night?' 'I will not listen to you,' he replied, 'so as to cast off from myself the Kingdom of Heaven even for a moment' (Mishnah, Berachot 2:5)." -Shmuel Safrai, The Kingdom of Heaven
It is worth mentioning, as many of you will remember from Scripture, that Gamaliel was Paul’s teacher.
With this concept of malchut shamayim (mal-koot sha ma yeem), I have pondered the thought of the common evangelical approach for the invitation to Christ:
“If you die today, will you go to heaven or hell?”
Knowing that Jesus called His followers and their movement of doing God’s will “The Kingdom of Heaven,” I would have to question whether or not the above question is the right one to ask.
In fact, I believe that the correct question is:
“If you “live” today, will you do God's will or your will?
Let's stop teaching that the invitation of Jesus is only a way to die a better death, when, according to Jesus, it is the way to live a more abundant life.
Forever learning,
Johnny
14 comments:
Technical question: was Gam. being admonished by his disciples, or is there a play-on-words somewhere that I am missing?
Hi Matthew,
There is no reason to believe that Gamaliel is being reprimanded by his disciples. Asking questions is the common tool of learning for Jewish students in the Second Temple Period of the first century. Even answers were often given in the form of a question.
When Gamaliel says to his disciples, “I will not listen to you,” his response is more of, “the young will assume the minimum, but the truly wise will not accept such an infantile approach to serving God.”
We see Jesus model this Hebraic practice throughout Scriptures, for instance, when he is asked such things as, “From where do you get your authority (ability to give new interpretations of the Torah)?” Jesus answers by asking, “Where did John get his authority?” The answer to their question, which was posed to Jesus, not as a disrespectful or arrogant comment, but with the intent of learning who it was that blessed Jesus with this authority as was often done by the anointing and blessing of another Rabbi who had authority, would have been obvious.
Questions were the chosen method for proving knowledge, and they were never discouraged. In fact, it was not uncommon to find very young students, like Jesus when He was 12 years-old, questioning great teachers. Their questioning was not the kind of disrespectful debate over a teacher’s lesson, as we often experience from young students today who try to prove that they are smarter than their teachers, but a way of getting as much as possible from the wisdom of a Rabbi.
Here, Gamaliel is being questioned for further insight after teaching that it is okay not to pray the Shema on the night of a wedding, yet he prayed it on his wedding night. The Jewish desire for learning would not come across as, “Hey, wait a minute. That’s not what you told us, Mister!” Rather, it would sound more like, “Teacher, there is more we desire to learn about the importance of praying the Shema. You, yourself recited it even on your wedding night. Is this what we should do, even though it’s not required? We want to do everything exactly as you, our Rabbi.”
Remember that Peter said, “If it is you, Jesus, then ask me to come and I will walk on the water with you” (Paraphrase). Peter wanted to do everything that his teacher did; so did Gamaliel’s disciples.
Ultimately, Gamaliel was teaching his disciples that, though there may be good excuses and even provisions for not doing all you can to do the will of God every day, I suggest we do it anyway.
Grace and peace,
Johnny
Fascinating!
I tracked down the "Kingdom of Heaven" article you cited, and found this folowing paragraph very interestng and enticing for further study and thought:
"The world of Jesus is a world in common with the rabbis, not with the Essenes or the apocalyptists. In addition to malchut shamayim, there are many other terms that are unique to Jesus and the rabbis such as mashal (parable) - in the Bible mashal refers to a proverb and not to the entire story-parables told by Jesus and the sages of his day - and teshuvah (repentance). Teshuvah is not found, for example, in the Scriptures, in Philo or in the Dead Sea Scrolls."
"The Kingdom of Heaven," by Shmuel Safrai
http://tinyurl.com/qheew
Even without digging into those ideas and observations, it has helped me understand your viewpoint of seeking to understand Gospel and Scripture within its historical context.
Namaste
Walker
Hello Walker,
Thanks for searching with me.
To gain further, fascinating insight, go to www.followtherabbi.com. You can also join a powerfully educational website at www.jerusalemperspective.com for $60 per year.
Grace and peace,
Johnny
I love, love, love this blog.
I hate the 'scare people into salvation' approach that focuses on a better way to die....when instead we should be preaching exactly what you said, a better way to live. Good stuff.
Hi Kathy,
I'm very glad to have come across so many great books and articles that give insight on Jesus' perspective of the Kingdom of Heaven.
I have spent most of my life looking forward to the promises of bliss after death, when all along, Jesus came to give us Heaven on earth and after death, i.e., "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
I will be in the Kingdom of Heaven for the rest of my life, not only after I die.
Grace and peace,
Johnny
That is great information. There are many days, today being one of them when I fall short of living in the will of God.
Teaching like this makes me want to know how to follow Jesus better. Thank You
Jason
Jason,
It does the same for me. The more I understand Jesus and his Hebrew world, the more I realize how much confusion so many well-meaning teachers have added to His pure message of hope and life.
As long as we live "for" God, we live "with" God.
I'm with you on the wanting to know how to follow Jesus better.
Grace and peace,
Johnny
I love “If you “live” today, will you do God's will or your will?"
It holds Christians accountable for their actions TODAY... not just when they die. If you say you have accepted Jesus, then you are responsible for doing God's will RIGHT NOW... not maybe tomorrow or maybe a few years from now or maybe never... but today and everyday. Awesome.
Hey Stephanie,
I also believe that this shows us how our actions have "daily" consequences, as opposed to "in the end, God will confront us with the way we "lived" our lives."
Every single moment of our lives we are given the opportunity to do things according to God's will or our own. What we choose to do is a reflection of who we have chosen to serve.
It's easier to say, "I'll start living for God tomorrow," when we don't have an understanding of our daily lives in The Kingdom. And once we understand that Heaven is as reachable today, in life, as it is in life after death, we really have no excuse but to follow His will.
Again, it brings me back to my response to those who ask, after a loved one has died, “Do you think he went to heaven?” My answer is “Was he in Heaven before he died?” A bit simplistic, I know, but the gist of what I’m saying is that death is not the doorway to heaven, doing God’s will is, which helps us to see that Heaven after death actually “Heaven in another dimension.”
Grace and peace,
Johnny
Good post. It’s also worth noting (which I think you did) that “eternal life” for the Jew was fulfilling and living Torah. That’s why Jesus responded to the rich young ruler’s question about eternal life by saying “follow the commandments.”
If Jesus were a five point Calvinist or even a radical Salvationist he would have responded “believe on the name of Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
In addition, the term “Kingdom of Heaven” is synonymous with “Kingdom of God.” Often, when referring to God, the Jews would insert the word “heaven” in place of God because the name of God was so sacred that they seldom used his name.
That’s why the prodigal son said, “father, I have sinned against heaven . . .”
Great post . . . just thought I would contribute to the discussion.
Blessings,
Bret
Thank you Bret.
I appreciate your input.
It is great to know that so many people are looking to understand the words of Jesus in their context.
Grace and peace,
Johnny
Johnny:
You know the story....
Old man lives a lives his life in disobedience to God. Then, when he's on his deathbed in the hospital, the pastor comes in and accepts the Lord. Old man passes away.
Now- is he living a great, everlasting life or an everlasting life of suffering?
- Daniel
Daniel,
Most of our confusion about the very question you ask, gets its beginnings in our misunderstanding of what Jesus' "Kingdom of Heaven" was.
Upon Jesus calling disciples to come into the Kingdom, if they would have said, "Does that mean I go to heaven when I die?" he would have responded, “Yes, and you come into "heaven" right now.”
The thief on the cross was unable to "do" the will of God in the form of good deeds for others, but his recitation of the Shema "There is only one God" was his salvation as he recognized the Messiah who God sent."
Will that person who rejects God in life, but accepts Christ on his or her deathbed be with Christ when he or she dies? I don't know. All I can say is that there are millions of people who have been given the choice to hear the gospel and follow, but refused. They are like the rich man who could not give up his riches to "do God's will" with Jesus. If that rich man who refused to "follow" Christ in life had decided to "believe" in him on his deathbed, would Christ accept him?
There are two human dilemmas with this question—1. Our wishful desire for God to do things the way we want Him to. 2. Our very limited understanding of the ways and purposes of God.
Ultimately, I think that the questioned posed in your comment is a question which can only be answered by God. I would even go so far as to say that it’s really not ours to answer at all.
Grace and peace,
Johnny
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