Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-37 )
Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall. I know of no significant influential kingdoms that stand today that were standing 1000 years ago.
The history of these kingdoms is written in the desert sand, here today and gone tomorrow. It seems that humankind is always looking for a throne. And that includes the Jewish people. Even before Christ came they had many prophecies and proclamations of a kingdom to come and a Messiah and Savior that would come forth from their bloodline. But like many people do, they read what they wanted to read and interpreted in a way that favored them and put them all on thrones and kingdoms in power over the Earth.
The Jews by and large believed that when the Messiah came he would be a military and political figure that would conquer their enemies and put them in charge ruling over their enemies and giving them vengeance.
In Acts 1 before Christ ascended he had gathered his disciples together one last time telling them of how He would pour out the Holy Spirit upon them and the first question out of their mouths was,
“Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” Even after all the time they personally spent on Earth with Jesus and even after he had been crucified they still had in their heads that the Messiah would conquer their enemies and place them on earthly thrones. Remember farther back the wife of Zebedee bringing her two sons to Jesus requesting he exalt her sons to one on his right and one on his left in the new kingdom (Matthew 20:21)? And to this day there are many Jews who do not believe Jesus was Messiah and still await this Messiah they have created in their own image in their own minds.
People very often read ‘the kingdom of God’ and ‘the kingdom of heaven’ to be one and the same and heaven is God’s kingdom but Jesus was trying to teach a deeper truth here. It isn’t just about going to heaven one day, he was saying you can have the kingdom within you now. Yes, it will come to a fuller more literal experience when we go to heaven but while we are on this Earth living life here we can have the power, promises and privileges of the kingdom.
Think about it. The kingdom he was talking about was so much more than an earthly kingdom. Is it not written in Luke 17:20-37 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” Even Pontius Pilate when the Jews with Caiphas the High Priest handed Jesus over to him tauntingly asked Jesus about his kingdom and mocking him about where his followers were. Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” (John 18:36). This a very radical thing he said! Jesus wasn’t building a kingdom that would come and go with history. He was talking about a kingdom you could be part of that transcended the world people were conscious of and that would be within them. A kingdom with no end that would carry us in this life and the next. The kingdom Jesus spoke of will be there in times of trouble when your enemy is staring you down and threatening you, whether you are sick or well, rich or poor, strong or weak. How could this be possible unless it were within you? A kingdom he described as “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly (innermost being) shall flow rivers of living water.” John 7:38. And as he told a Samaritan woman at a well “Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:13-14. Again, he reminds us in 1 Corinthians 4:20 “For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power” and in Romans 14:17 “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” In other words, it isn’t about an earthly kingdom here today and gone tomorrow. Jesus had already proven that he was beyond the power of sickness, death and the grave, beyond the reach of those who would crucify him and bury him in a borrowed tomb. When Pilate told Jesus ‘I have power to put you to death or release you’, Jesus told him straight up that he would not even have that power except it be given to him by God the Father (John 19:11). He demonstrated power over sickness and over demon spirits and then promised that we would have that same power (Mark 16:17-18). And after Christ ascended the newly formed church demonstrated that the kingdom of God was still alive and well and within all who believed and were empowered by the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 6:19 it is written that our very bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, not some building made
by human hands or some gold-lined box (Ark of the Covenant). That which was spoken of in Daniel 2:44 was fulfilled “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.” Yes, the day would come that a literal kingdom would be established on Earth but there is a much deeper truth spoken of here, truth about a kingdom without walls, without limits, a kingdom that would indwell all who believed on his name.
“But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes and is justified, and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:6-13)
God has always been and always will be. He created all things including us but his kingdom has always been and all of his creation is infused with his kingdom. Jesus didn’t argue over what the way or the truth was he just made it clear that he was the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). It is very clearly taught throughout the scriptures that his kingdom is within us if we believe and follow his way and not our own. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God they became disconnected from God in what is known as ‘the fall’ and it took Christ coming in human form to reconnect us (1 Corinthians 15:45-47). When we are born again (John 3:3) that is what happens, our spirit is reborn and the severed bond between God and man is reconnected.
What power and authority we forsake waiting for the by and by. Yes, it is great to have that hope that when we die we will go to heaven but don’t wait till we get to heaven to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and in his kingdom. His kingdom is now and to come (Revelation 21:1-27). Philippians 3:20 says our citizenship is in heaven. 1 Peter 2:9 says “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
Yes, his kingdom is coming in a literal, tangible city coming down (Revelation 21:2) but in the meantime, let us not forsake the power we have access to in this life as we walk in his Spirit (Galatians 5:16-18) and in his kingdom within us.
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