FOR centuries men have searched for the kingdom of heaven as if it were some far-off place. Yet when Jesus walked among the people, he told them that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and in proof of this he destroyed all kinds of mental and physical inharmonies. The sick were healed; the maimed were made whole; the sinful were regenerated; even the dead were raised.
"Kingdom of Heaven" is defined by Mrs. Eddy in the Glossary of the textbook, Science and Health, as, "The reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme" (p. 590). Christian Science, in complete agreement with the teachings of Christ Jesus, affirms that the heavenly kingdom, "the reign of harmony in divine Science," is at hand. Moreover, it demonstrates this fact by healing, through spiritual means alone, all types of human discord just as the Master and his disciples healed at the beginning of the Christian era.
To an individual beset with mental or physical inharmony, the kingdom of heaven may not appear to be very close at hand, or readily accessible. In his struggles with the mortal beliefs of sin, sickness, and death, such a one may ask, "What makes heaven seem so far away?" Like the Pharisees of old, may he not be thinking of the kingdom of heaven as some place to be observed by the material senses rather than a spiritual state of consciousness?
