Three passages in the Bible contain the phrase, "the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." They are Mt 3:2, 4:17 and 10:7. The first verse it’s John the Baptist speaking, the other two it’s Jesus speaking.
and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
In each case "at hand" is 1448; eggizo; to make near, approach, be at hand, come near, be (come, draw) nigh.
Therefore, Jesus was saying that the kingdom was coming soon. Notice that in two of the passages they are told to REPENT because the "kingdom was coming soon?" This implies to me that if they didn’t repent by the time the kingdom actually arrives, it would be too late and there would be consequences. The consequences, I believe, was the wrath to come.
In the Mt 3 passage, just 4 verses later, JTB goes on to say the below to some very specific people:
[SUP]7 [/SUP]But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? [SUP]8 [/SUP]Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, [SUP]9 [/SUP]and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. [SUP]10 [/SUP]And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [SUP]11 [/SUP]I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. [SUP]12 [/SUP]His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Here we see that those wicked religious leaders seem to be counting on their lineage to Abraham for their salvation. Yet JTB makes clear that “God will raise up other children to Abraham from stones (i.e. gentiles) who will instead gain their inheritance of the kingdom to come. JTB likens the Pharisees and Sadducees to trees that bear no fruit that will be cut down. (That just solved the rest of Rev 7:3 & 8:7 for me as I now know who the trees were. Thank you!!)
Anyway, I don’t believe the Kingdom of Heaven came until the Presence of Christ returned circa 66-70 AD. That’s when judgment wrath began and it would be too late to repent. People were still repenting after Pentecost and coming to salvation (the kingdom) long after Pentecost.
The “Children of the Kingdom” were those wicked leaders who would be cut out of the kingdom to be possessed by the Patriarchs; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (the fathers of Israel) and all the saints. All Jews were “sons of the Patriarchs” but some would be cast out and swept away with His winnowing fan (in His hand) like the chaff on the threshing floor and burned up with unquenchable fire.
