Two phrases appear all over the Gospels — 'Kingdom of Heaven' and 'Kingdom of God' — and most readers treat them as interchangeable synonyms. They're not. Failing to distinguish them is one of the primary reasons so many people misapply Jesus's teaching, confuse Israel's promises with the Church's promises, and end up with a distorted picture of both the present age and the one to come.

Last time we examined the baptism of the Holy Spirit — distinct from salvation, available to all believers. Now we turn to two terms that Jesus used constantly and that most Christians have never been taught to distinguish: the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God.

The Greek word for "kingdom" is basileia, meaning "a realm" or "a region governed by a king." Think about it this way: in recent centuries, some countries that were once kingdoms became republics when they no longer had a king. Without a king, there's no kingdom.

The country itself stays the same—same people, same cities, same mountains and rivers—but it's no longer a kingdom. You simply cannot have a kingdom without a king.

1. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

Here are all the passages in the Bible where "the kingdom of Heaven" appears: Matthew 3:2; 4:17; 5:3, 10, 19, 20; 7:21; 8:11; 10:7; 11:11-12; 13:11, 24, 31, 33, 44, 45, 47, 52; 16:19; 18:1, 3, 4, 23; 19:12, 14, 23; 20:1; 22:2; 23:13-14; 25:1.

Notice something interesting? Every single one of these references appears in Matthew's Gospel. That's because Matthew presents Christ as Jehovah's King. Mark shows Christ as Jehovah's Servant, Luke presents Him as Jehovah's Man, and John reveals Him as Jehovah's Anointed One—God manifested in the flesh.

The word "Heaven" in all these passages is actually plural in the Greek. The phrase "kingdom of Heaven" literally means "the kingdom from the heavens." It's a dispensational term referring to the Messiah's kingdom on Earth—not originating from this world. The sovereignty comes from Heaven because that's where the King is from John 18:36.

This is why Jesus was born and what His ministry was all about from the very beginning Matthew 3:2Matthew 4:17.

The Gospels cover four main subjects:

• First, the proclamation of the kingdom Mark 1:14-20Luke 4:14-5:11John 1:35-4:54
• Second, the proclamation of the king Mark 1:21-8:30Luke 5:12-9:21John 5:1-6:71
• Third, the rejection of the king Mark 8:31-10:52Luke 9:22-18:43John 7:1-11:53
• Fourth, the rejection of the kingdom Mark 11:1-14:25Luke 19:1-22:38John 11:54-17:26

Not only was the kingdom rejected, but people even rejected hearing any more about it Matthew 22:2-7Acts 1:6-7Acts 3:19-26. After that, the earthly realization of the kingdom was postponed. It's on hold until the King returns from glory Acts 3:20Revelation 19:11-21.

The parables of the kingdom of Heaven we'll explore reveal this postponement and what happens during this time when both the King and His kingdom are rejected. Regardless of where you land on other doctrines, we can all agree that the literal kingdom hasn't been set up yet—and won't be until Christ's second coming.

Satan is still the ruler of this world system and will continue to be until Christ returns to eject him from Earth and restore dominion to man Revelation 19:11-21Revelation 20:1-10Zechariah 14:1-5Matthew 24:29-31Matthew 25:31-462 Thessalonians 1:7-102 Thessalonians 2:7-12Isaiah 63:1-5Daniel 2:44-45Daniel 7:9-14, 18, 27Luke 1:32.

Right now, the kingdom of Heaven isn't the literal reign of Heaven over Earth. Instead, it's the "sphere of profession"—the professing Christian world. This becomes crystal clear in each parable we'll study below. During this Dispensation of Grace, this sphere of profession covers what we call Christendom, taking in both the good and the bad—anyone who claims to be a child of the future kingdom (Mt. 13).

In the next dispensation, the Millennium, everything changes. The kingdom of Heaven stops being just the sphere of profession and becomes the real, literal kingdom of the Son of Man—the very kingdom that was rejected at the beginning of this age. Christ will rule with a rod of iron, putting all enemies under His feet, whether they genuinely profess to be sons of the kingdom or not 1 Corinthians 15:24-28.

The kingdom of Heaven is what the prophets foretold—designed to re-establish the kingdom of God over the rebellious part of the universe so God can be all-in-all, just as He was in the beginning.