The Kingdom of God Within
I have come to realize
that one major reason many Christians struggle in their faith, both in their experience
and display of God, stems from a faulty understanding of Jesus Christ. One who
doesn’t understand Christ cannot be a Christ-ian.
Naturally, one may think
of Christ (in Jesus Christ) as a last name. Yet, “Christ” is
a title (e.g.: Jn 20:31; Acts 18:5), which means “messiah” or “anointed one”. Jesus
being the “anointed one” points to His kingship, that He is the King. Why? Because
in the Old Testament, anointing typically takes place on kings, such as Saul (1
Sam 10) and David (1 Sam 16) or even the High Priest (Exo 29:8), who also functions
as one having authority over the people.
With a king comes a kingdom,[1]
in which a kingdom is ultimately about the king’s rule and reign—His sovereignty—explaining
why Jesus came to preach the Kingdom of God being near (Matt 4:17; Mk 1:15).
Hence, the next question
to ask is: what is God’s Kingdom? While this question cannot be fully explored
here, an explicit and applicable statement answering this question is found in
Luke 17:21, that “the Kingdom of God is within
you.” In other words, the Kingdom of God is inside you.[2]
Jesus’ rule and reign is inside us, which means that a Christ-ian, a follower of Christ, is a
follower of the king! This explains Romans 14:17, that the Kingdom of God is expressed
in “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Righteousness, peace,
and joy that comes from the Holy Spirit, are all internal qualities—qualities within
a person. Just as heaven, a domain also characterized by the rule of God (e.g.:
Isa 66:1), is 100% righteous and filled with the peace that comes with the
whole of God’s presence (Rev 21), a believer will experience heaven when Jesus
establishes His rule and reign inside one.
This also
explains John 14:15 (cf. Jn 14:21,23; 15:10; 1 Jn 5:3; 2 Jn 1:6), where Jesus
says: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Nowadays, “love” and “command(ment)”
may not go hand-in-hand, but this passage makes sense when one rightly identifies
Jesus—that He is Lord (master) and King. One who loves and adores a king would
gladly keep (and is expressed by keeping) His commandments. The passage
continues to write that Jesus will ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit
(14:16), and He dwells with you and in you (14:17). Because God dwells in us,
we will experience the reality of being in
His reign, experiencing the Holy Spirit’s righteousness, peace, and joy. This reality
exists amid the tribulations in the world (Jn 16:33).
Vicious Cycles
What
follows is a vicious cycle, where that person may see the power and change that
comes in knowing God—which is eternal life (Jn 17:3)—through other believers’
testimonies, yet finding oneself not experiencing this at all. This will then
produce a separation between realities: the reality that the “Christian” is experiencing
versus that portrayed in Scripture (as experienced by true believers).
I came
from a Christian high school where the (former?) school chaplain stressed that 95+%
of those in my school were believers. If that is the case, why is it that almost no one confesses Christ as Lord
upon graduation (aside from how they live their lives)? My goal here is not to attack the students, but rather emphasize the possibility of a faulty understanding of
Christ—His kingship—which affected their understanding
of the Gospel.
The Gospel in Kingship terms
The
Gospel (good news) of Christ is of the grace of God (Acts 24:20; Gal 1:6), and
many would automatically juxtapose “Gospel” with “grace”. Yet, grace is not as explicitly
emphasized in the gospels. In fact, the word “grace” doesn’t appear in the
synoptic Gospels at all.[3]
The gospels’ writers seemed to emphasize something else, and in order to accurately
understand the Gospel, we need to appropriate grace.
Jesus’
proclamation of the Gospel is that the Kingdom of God is at hand (Mk 1:14-15;
Lk 4:43). Again, the Gospel needs to be addressed with Kingdom—relating to
Jesus’ kingship. The Gospel is good news because salvation (deliverance), from
the kingdom opposed to God, has come through King Jesus. Yet, when Jesus
imperatively proclaims: “repent (turn), for the Kingdom of God is at hand,” He
is not indicating that we are of His Kingdom. Rather, we are against God’s
Kingdom (cf. Matt 12:30; Lk 11:23) as His enemies (Rom 5:10).
Thus, God’s
grace comes to play when we understand that we deserve to be destroyed as rebels
of God, His righteousness, and His Kingdom; yet, Christ offers a limited opportunity
(our lifetime) to repent and turn from being His enemies to His ambassadors
(cf. 2 Cor 5:11-21). Jesus’ kingship and divine authority serves as the basis
of His grace, thence revealed in His first coming (Jn 1:14; 1:17-18).
Last, the
Gospel window also presents the coming judgment with the fullness of His
kingdom. Just as the demons are casted out (e.g.: Matt 12:28) as fleeing, defeated
soldiers—so the same will eventually apply to the unrighteous, that they will
not inherit the Kingdom (1 Cor 6:9-10). Hence, the Gospel as “the Kingdom of God
being near” serves as warning of the impending judgment at hand.
Conclusion:
When Jesus
says: “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed,” (Lk
17:20), it signifies that His rule is not seen externally, where one can say: “Look,
here it is!” (17:21). Jesus means that His rule resides inside one. Thus, people
see Jesus and His reign when they see a believer’s life and how it has been
changed from the inside out through the power of the Holy Spirit. A person
truly understands the Gospel when he/she yields from being the authority over
his/her life and pledges allegiance in wholehearted submission to Christ as
king.
[1] Βασιλεια (kingdom) is characterized by βασιλευς (king).
[2] ἐντός, the same word
translated as “within” in Luke 17:21, in translated Matt
23:26 as “inside”.
[3] The Greek word Χάρις (charis)
appears in Luke, but it is not used theologically as in other New Testament writings
such as Johannine and Pauline literature.
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