4 Books about what the Kingdom of Heaven is Like

What is the Kingdom of Heaven like?

This is a question we’ve been talking about this summer at Riverside Church where I preach.  We’ve been looking at the stories Jesus used to teach us about the Kingdom of Heaven.  Sometimes we call these stories parables.  They’re stories that teach us what life is like in God’s economy, how people treat each other who share God’s identity & what happens when we participate in making things on Earth as they are in Heaven.

So many times Jesus began these stories with these words, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…”  And then He would go on to tell a story that shows us the way things ought to be.  So often these stories had less to do with the idea of a future Heaven & more to do with bringing Heaven to Earth.  You may recall that in the prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray he said… “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.”

Jesus was consumed with this idea of bringing Heaven to Earth.

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As we’ve discovered this summer, there’s so much more that could be said about these teachings of Jesus.  His parables are so powerful & so full of meaning that you could read them a thousand times & learn something new every time!

So I thought I would share just a few books that have helped me a long the way with a quote or two from each one.

Here they are in no particular order…

4 Books on what the Kingdom of Heaven is Like…

The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight

“Most of evangelism today is obsessed with getting someone to make a decision; the apostles, however, were obsessed with making disciples.” (page 18)

“Notice this: what God does in sending the Son is to establish Jesus as the Messiah, which means King, & God established in Jesus Christ the kingdom of God, which means the King is ruling in his kingdom.  We need to restate this: the idea of King & a kingdom are connected to original creation.  God wanted Eikons, Adam & Eve, to rule in this world.  They failed, so God sent his Son to rule.  As its King & Messiah & Lord, the Son commissions the Church to bear witness to the world of the redemption in Jesus Christ, the true King, & to embody the kingdom as the people of God.” (page 36)

“The messianic, lordly, & kingly confession of Jesus is not incidental to the Bible.  It is the point of the Bible, & the gospel is the good news that Jesus is that Messiah, that Lord, & that King.  We are his subjects.” (page 141)

[Tweet “The apostles were not obsessed with getting people to make decision, but making disciples.”] [Tweet “The gospel is the good news that Jesus is Messiah… We are his subjects. -McKinght”]

 

Simply Jesus by N.T. Wright

“You see, the reason Jesus wasn’t the sort of king people had wanted in his own day is— to anticipate our conclusion— that he was the true king, but they had become used to the ordinary, shabby, second-rate sort. They were looking for a builder to construct the home they thought they wanted, but he was the architect, coming with a new plan that would give them everything they needed, but within quite a new framework.” (page 4)

“when God is king, the result is proper justice, real equity, the removal of all corruption & oppression.” (page 45)

“The message, then, remains very much about what ought to be happening here and now, on “earth,” not just in “heaven.”” (page 88)

“Frequently, indeed, the main thrust of a parable must be left unsaid. The parable of the prodigal son, which we have already mentioned, is a case in point. The story ends without resolution, with the father remonstrating with the older son. We want to know what happens next, and presumably Jesus wanted his hearers to think it out and to apply what they were thinking to their own situation. Like a good advertisement, a parable may be much more powerful in what it doesn’t say than in what it does.” (page 91)

“Even the story of the great wedding party to which all and sundry are invited carries within it a dark note of warning: don’t think you can come into God’s party without putting on the proper clothes. Even the great story of spectacular forgiveness is turned back against itself when the servant who had been forgiven a huge sum refused to forgive his fellow servant a tiny sum. If this is what it looks like when God’s kingdom comes on earth as in heaven— if this is what it looks like when God’s in charge— then there must have been more wrong with “earth” than anyone had supposed.” (page 97)

“The gospels are not about ‘how Jesus turned out to be God.’ They are about how God became king on earth as in heaven.” (page 149)

[Tweet “when God is king, there is proper justice/real equity/removal of all corruption & oppression.”] [Tweet “The gospels are about how God became king on earth as in heaven.” – Wright”]

 

Short Stories by Jesus by Amy-Jill Levine

“The Gospel writers, in their wisdom, left most of the parables as open narratives in order to invite us into engagement with them.” (page 1)

“Religion has been defined as designed to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. We do well to think of the parables of Jesus as doing the afflicting. Therefore, if we hear a parable and think, “I really like that” or, worse, fail to take any challenge, we are not listening well enough.” (page 3)

“The “kingdom of heaven” will convey different specific ideas to different people. For some it is a time when all pain will cease, and Jesus “will wipe every tear from their eyes” (Rev. 21.4). For others, it’s a place with pearly gates and golden slippers. The Gospels give some hints, aside from parables, as to what this heavenly realm looks like. Ironically, it may not be what many of us would want. I do wonder, do all those who pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done,” really want a change in the status quo, or are they pretty satisfied with the “kingdom” we have in the here and now? Do they really want the time when, as Jesus promises, the first will be last and the last first (Matt. 19.30), when a final judgment occurs, or when we are assessed not by whether we said, “Lord, Lord” (Matt. 7.21– 22; 25.11; Luke 6.46), but whether we loved our enemy and fed the hungry?” (page 7-8).

[Tweet “do all those who pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done,” really want a change?”]

Stories with Intent by Klyne R. Snodgrass

“Parables were the means Jesus used most frequently to explain the kingdom of God and to show the character of God and the expectations that God has for humans.” (page 2)

“Communication is not about abstract meaning; it acts and seeks to change things. The question for each parable is: How did Jesus seek to change attitudes and behaviors with this parable?” (page 3)

“At the heart of the Christian faith is the expectation that one day God will set things right — that the kingdom will come and that Jesus will be vindicated and his dream put into effect.” (page 518)

[Tweet “Parables were the means Jesus used most frequently to explain the kingdom of God. – Snodgrass”] [Tweet “At the heart of the Christian faith is the expectation that one day God will set things right.”]

 

Here’s two more bonus books on prayer that were helpful to me when teaching parables about prayer.

The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson

“Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers. God isn’t offended by your biggest dreams or boldest prayers. He is offended by anything less. If your prayers aren’t impossible to you, they are insulting to God.” (page 13)

“Drawing prayer circles isn’t some magic trick to get what you want from God. God is not a genie in a bottle, and your wish is not His command. His command better be your wish. If it’s not, you won’t be drawing prayer circles; you’ll end up walking in circles.” (page 14)

“So while God is for us, most of us have no idea what we want God to do for us. And that’s why our prayers aren’t just boring to us; they are uninspiring to God. If faith is being sure of what we hope for, then being unsure of what we hope for is the antithesis of faith, isn’t it? Well-developed faith results in well-defined prayers, and well-defined prayers result in a well-lived life.” (pages 22-23)

[Tweet “Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers. – Batterson”] [Tweet “God is not a genie in a bottle, and your wish is not His command. – Batterson”] [Tweet “while God is for us, most of us have no idea what we want God to do for us. – Batterson”]

 

 The Power of Crying Out by Bill Gothard

“I saw that the Bible makes a distinction between ‘prayer’ & ‘crying out to God.'” (page 12)

“The prayers of biblical saints were very much more often spoken out loud – with corresponding fervency.” (page 19)

“We know from our families that a true father’s heart hears his children’s cries, & that the children naturally cry out to him.  In the same way, crying out to God is our child-to-Father impulse, planted in our hearts by the Holy Spirit within us.”  (page 22)

“Like fasting or kneeling, crying out is a Scripture-sanctioned way to pray with intensity & commitment.” (page 24)

“Christians in those early days were known as people who called upon the name of the Lord.  They thought of themselves in those terms… (Acts 9.14; Romans 10.12; 1 Corinthians 1.2). (page 30)

[Tweet “…the Bible makes a distinction between “prayer” & “crying out to God.” – Gothard”] [Tweet “The prayers of biblical saints were very much more often spoken out loud… – Gothard”] [Tweet “…a true father’s heart hears his children’s cries… – Gothard”]

 

What are some of your favorite books on the Kingdom of Heaven?  I’d love to hear what you’re reading that has helped you in your faith journey.  Leave a comment below with your favorite books.  Thanks!