Kingdom of Heaven

Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? If so, who will go where, and who determines this? These are the few questions that haunt us, particularly the religious persons. The people battle with these questions especially at the death of a beloved person. Expressions like, “go my beloved in peace”, “rest in peace”, make us wonder whether there is place or a state of life after death. Some might define it as an eschatological issue. Sometimes it is scary to think about the furnace in the hell, and who would like to be roasted in the furnace. But generally we are positive about our own life and we reward them will heaven, in face pray for that grace.

My question is does heaven exist? What do we mean when we say kingdom of heaven may come? Kingdom heaven or kingdom of God is not a place either her

e or hereafter. The Greek word basileia is better translated as ‘kingship’, or ‘reign’, or ‘rule’, so it is a ‘reign of God.’ It is an environment or a situation where God’s values prevail. Hence, heaven is here and now; when we built that kingdom of God, we have the heaven.

Is this world a kingdom of heaven? I suppose most people would give me a negative answer because the values of the world do not really correspond according to Kingdom values. At times the evil seems triumphs and good defeats. It occurred to me when the MH17 airliner tragedy in Ukraine hit the headlines, that evil people seem like triumph and destroy the innocent people. It is really shameful for us that there is a few people who try to destroy the kingdom values like the termites in the ground. But it is all-momentary, one day my hope of kingdom of God will surely prevail here on earth.

I am inclined to think that the kingdom of God is here on earth which can be present in our day today life. The pastor in the movie ‘the heaven is for real’ talks about the heaven being present here and now. He says, when a child is born, mother sees the heaven, when a patient is cared for by the nurses, they see the heaven. Therefore, it is significant to think about it and reflect on the kingdom of heaven being here and now. 

Photo: Lovely children from Kumu village in Lethem