After His baptism by John, His being tempted in the wilderness by the devil, and His beginning of His ministry by calling His disciples and preaching the gospel of the kingdom in Galilee, Jesus took His disciples up a mountain to tell them about the kingdom of the heavens. Although "great crowds followed Him from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan" (Matt. 4:25), only His disciples came up to Him on the mountain (Matt. 5:1).
This means that the "Sermon on the Mount" was only given to His disciples, His believers. It was not given to the Jews of the Old Testament. The Lord described the kingdom of the heavens, a very particular term used only in the gospel of Matthew - the other three gospels refer to the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is God's general reign, from eternity past to eternity future. It includes the patriarchs, the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, the church in the New Testament, the coming millennial kingdom, and the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem in eternity. The kingdom of the heavens, on the other hand, is a section of the kingdom of God, composed of only the church today and the heavenly part of the coming millennial kingdom, just as New South Wales is only a part of the nation of Australia. In the Old Testament times, the kingdom of God was already there, existing with the nation of Israel. However, the New Testament begins with John the Baptist's proclamation:
"Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near" (Matt. 3:2),
revealing that the kingdom of the heavens was actually a person, the very Jesus Christ. (Although note that John only said that the kingdom had drawn near - the kingdom of the heavens did not properly come into existence until the day of Pentecost, when the economical Spirit of God was poured out on the 120 believers (Acts 2:1-4)). Jesus confirmed this when He was questioned by the Pharisees concerning the kingdom:
"...The kingdom of God does not come with observation; Nor will they say, Behold, here it is! or, There! For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you." (Luke 17:20-21)
How blind the Pharisees were, to not see that the kingdom of the heavens was standing in the midst of them. This is why the first blessing that the Lord mentions in the so-called Beatitudes is:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens" (Matt. 5:3)
To be poor in spirit means not only to be humble, but also to be emptied in our spirit, not holding on to anything of the old dispensation, being ready to receive the new things, the things of the kingdom of the heavens. Spirit here refers not to the Spirit of God, but the human spirit, the deepest part of our being, the part by which we may contact and receive God. The Pharisees were definitely not poor in spirit; instead they were weighed down and laden with old thoughts and concepts and dead knowledge concerning the Lord and the coming of His kingdom. Oh Lord, make us poor in spirit, so that we can receive the kingdom of the heavens!
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