<p>3:2&nbsp;<em style="font-size: 11pt;">Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is at hand</em><span style="font-size: 11pt;">- There has always been the rulership of God over the individuals whose hearts accept His Kingship. But through the work of the Lord Jesus, this rulership was made so much greater, and His example, teaching and spirit enabled believers to come more totally within that rulership. But clearly the Kingdom was &quot;at hand&quot; not in the sense of its literal establishment on earth physically, but in that as King of the Kingdom, the Lord Jesus could rightly have &quot;the Kingdom of Heaven&quot; as a title.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>It appears that Matthew under inspiration expressed the Gospel in terms which were attractive and not unduly provocative to his hearers, hence he uses 'Heaven' for 'God' as was common Jewish practice. We too should present the Gospel with the same kind of forethought to the sensitivities and nature of our audience, rather than baldly present 'truth' to them considering that we have thereby done our duty. We are not seeking to merely fulfil a duty, but to actually &quot;so speak&quot; that we convert men and women.</p>
<p>A possibility is that the Kingdom of God / Heaven could have come soon at that time [&quot;at hand&quot;]&nbsp;<em>if&nbsp;</em>Israel had repented. Then they would not have killed their Messiah and King but rather accepted Him. Whilst God's purpose was not ultimately thwarted by Israel's rejection of the Lord Jesus and their impenitence, the Divine project would have taken a different form if they had repented and accepted Him. We note that those who responded to John&rsquo;s call to repentance were again asked to &ldquo;Repent&rdquo; by the Lord (Mt. 4:17). Their repentance was therefore only surface level. The Lord cursed the fig tree (cp. Israel) because they had only leaves, an appearance of repentance and spiritual fruit in responding to John&rsquo;s message, but actually there was not even the first sign of real fruit on that tree when it was really analysed. The Lord describes John as mourning to his audience, and them&nbsp;<em>not&nbsp;</em>mourning in sympathy and response (Lk. 7:32). They rejoiced in the idea of repentance, but never really got down to it.</p>