The Kingdom of God is Within You

by
Philip du Nard

When the Lord Jesus Christ was instructing His disciples to pray, one of the petitions in "the Lord's prayer" is Thy kingdom come Matt.6:10. We might reasonably conclude from this that at the time He uttered these words, the kingdom of God had not yet come. At the end of His earthly ministry, just before ascending into heaven, His disciples asked Him, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?Acts 1:6 This is another way of asking when His kingdom would come. The Lord did not tell them, "It's already come, it's within you. In verse 7, He said, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power."

If it was not for the disciples to have this information, we might also reasonably conclude that it was not for the scribes and Pharisees to have this information either. So when in Luke 17:20-21, the Pharisees demanded of Jesus Christ that He say when the kingdom of God should come, instead of Him answering their question as to time, we find Him answering them as to the manner in which it would come. He answered that it would not come with "observation" and said, "For behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

Sometimes new age eastern religionists will quote this as they think it supportive of some of their mystical ideas at the same time that they ignore everything else Christ said about the kingdom but even Christians will sometimes isolate this passage from all the other scriptures pertaining to the kingdom to put forth the idea that the kingdom of God is not a literal kingdom at all but rather a nebulous spiritual concept that has place within the human heart.

In view of the fact that the Christ and the prophets taught that the "first dominion," that is, the first manifestation of the kingdom of God would come to a nation, Micah 4:7-8 ; Matt. 21:43, that people would come from the east and the west to sit down in that kingdom Matt. 8:11, that it would have to be cleansed of wickedness Matt.13:41, that the disciples would occupy twelve thrones in that kingdom Matt. 19:28, and that it eventually would spread throughout the entire earth Daniel 2:35, all suggestive of a literal kingdom, this passage in Luke does require some explanation. Deuteronomy 28:1-2, 15, 43 provides an example of how the phrase "within you" is used which is probably how the Lord used it.

In verses 1-2, Moses speaks of the promise of national blessings that would come to the Israel nation if they walked in God's ways and a list of blessings follows. In verse 15, we are told that curses would come for disobedience and a list of curses follows. Verse 43 states one of those curses. "The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high, and thou shalt come down very low."

Are we to understand that each individual Israelite had a stranger, that is, a foreign person residing within their heart? This is what we must conclude if we are consistent and interpret this passage the way some believe we must interpret the Lord's statement about the kingdom of God being "within you." This, of course, would be an absurd interpretaton. But it is no more absurd than teaching that the kingdom of God is within each of us individually. Rather, the stranger within is a reference to a foreign people within the nation as a whole. Another way of expressing it would be "the stranger in your midst."

We have to allow for the possibility that the Lord was telling the Pharisees that, in like manner, the kingdom of God was not something in their unregenerate hearts or in the hearts of believers, for that matter, but rather, speaking to them as a group, it was in their midst. And indeed, the Greek word translated as within could just as easily and legitimately been translated as "among." He could have gestured toward Himself as King and toward His disciples as future rulers in that kingdom and, therefore, with the nucleus of the kingdom being present, said," Behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst." The James Moffat translation of the Bible says, "The Reign of God is now in your midst." But, of course, it had not yet come because in "the Lord's prayer," the Lord Jesus Christ had instructed His disciples to pray that it would come.

Some will say that this is just another interpretation. True enough. There is not enough information in this passage alone to tell us which interpretation is correct. But if you take the position that the kingdom of God is something in your heart, you are taking a position that is not to be found anywhere else in the Scriptures and you cancel out everything the prophets say about the kingdom of God on earth. Christ said a person had to be born again in order to enter the kingdom of God. To be sure, being born again and becoming saved makes you a new creature and brings about a change of heart. But the new birth enables you to enter the kingdom. It does not bring the kingdom into you.

The Lord said the kingdom would come without observation because humanity. including Christians, would not realize the significance of what was taking place before their very eyes so there would be no great announcement to that effect at the inception of God's kingdom nation. In other words, there would be a period of time during which it would be developing unrecognized by all. But at some point it would be appropriate to say, "Behold, it is here in your midst." By contrast, the Lord would return "with power and great glory" Matt. 24:30. But present day preachers and teachers have it backwards. They say it is the King that comes without observation and the kingdom comes in suddenly in all its full glory.