The kingdom of heaven or Elohim is a major, not to be underestimated, missing element in the preaching of gospel message in the mainstream Christian church and, I suspect, most Hebrews roots or Messianic congregations as well. This is in spite of the fact that Yeshua preached it and commanded his disciples to do so as well. This is in spite of the fact the Gospels defines message of John the Baptist, of Yeshua and his disciples as “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Not only do few churches teach about repentance of sin or Torahlessness, but fewer still teach about the kingdom of heaven.

This gross failure and blatant overlooking of these key elements of the gospel message is punctuated by the fact that the kingdom of Elohim is the fourth most mentioned subject that came out of Yeshua’s mouth during his ministry (144 references in the Gospels of Matthew and John). The only other subjects that Yeshua mention more frequently were himself (316 references), his Father (184 references), the hypocritical religionists of his day (e.g., the scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees et al; 177 references) followed by the kingdom of Elohim or heaven. In the Gospel of Matthew alone, “the kingdom of heaven” is mentioned 33 times. In the New Testament, “the kingdom of God” is mentioned 69 times. Let’s follow the biblical example and keep the main things the main things.

Since the Gospel writers juxtaposed the two subjects of repentance and the kingdom of heaven, it is worth noting that the Bible is clear: without repentance of sin, one cannot enter the kingdom of heaven/Elohim. There is zero place for sin in the presence of a holy, totally pure and sinless (in Heb. kadosh) Elohim, for, as we read in Hebrews, without holiness, no one will see Elohim (Heb 12:14).

Before delving into the subject of the kingdom of Elohim or heaven, let’s explore briefly what the modern church is more likely to teach about and then hold that up against the template of the actual words of Yeshua.
During his ministry, Yeshua preached on about 136 topics. The following list contains a number of topics that the church preaches on a lot compared to the number times Yeshua talked about them:

• Prophecy – 1 time
• The rapture or the resurrection of the dead – 1 time
• Grace – 1 time
• Money – 3 times
• Blessings – 4 times
• Forgiveness – 24 times
• Heaven –10 times
• Hell – 17 times
• Salvation – 27 times
• Sexuality – 2 times
• Sickness (physical) – 1 time
• The soul –1 time

Some subjects Yeshua never discussed include: