Luke 17:20-21, “20 Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21 nor will people say, Here it is, or There it is, because the kingdom of God is within you.’”
Jesus proclaimed that the kingdom of God came upon the earth when He came in the flesh. The “kingdom of God” is, “the reign of Jesus Christ as King.” God’s kingdom had always been in heaven, but once Jesus came to earth, the Father’s kingdom came with Him. This is why Jesus taught His disciples to start praying to the Father, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Since the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, the Kingdom of God has been powerfully advancing, to all people, through the church.
As Jesus’ disciples, we should not only hope to one day reign with Him upon the earth in His second coming, but we should receive the kingdom of God in our hearts now and display it for all to see.
When someone repents of his sin and accepts Jesus as the Lord of his life, he is automatically given the kingdom of God in his heart; but the kingdom of God doesn’t end with salvation. This is where the kingdom begins!
We are told what the kingdom of God is like upon the earth, by Paul, in Romans 14:17. Here, he describes the kingdom of God as righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. First, you experience God’s righteousness because Jesus made you righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21). You are who God says you are and can do all that He says you can do. Second, you are promised peace, with God, and with your thoughts. You are at peace with God, by faith in Jesus, because of His sacrifice (Romans 5:1); and, your thoughts are free from worry and anxiety, because the mind of Christ is in you (1 Corinthians 2:16).
Last, you have joy in the Holy Ghost because, no matter what you are facing in life, God’s presence is with you (Psalm 16:11). Joy, from a biblical perspective means, “to be blissfully happy down deep in your soul.”
Paul also wrote, in 1 Corinthians 4:20, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power,” to remind us that when we have God’s kingdom, we have the power of God to do every good work, including operating in the gifts of the Spirit. And, he wrote, in Colossians 1:13-14, “13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins,” to ensure that we never forget where we came from and that we should always be thankful for our place in the kingdom of God.
Bill Johnson wrote, “Jesus did not go through all His sufferings so we could go to church; He did what He did to atone for sin. And by doing so He made it possible to raise up a new breed of world changers, those who could maintain the standard He set in love, purity and power. This reality is one of the great prophecies that Jesus spoke: ‘Greater works than these shall ye do because I go to the Father’ (see John 14:12). Not only does Jesus’ life compel us to follow the miracle worker, so do His promises.”
Live, today, with the reality of God’s kingdom being in your midst and that one day it will come in full display for all to see when Jesus, the King returns!
REFLECTION
Do you believe the kingdom of God is in your midst?
ACTION
- Ask Jesus to give you the fullness of His Kingdom by His Holy Spirit.
- Daily guard the righteousness, peace and joy God’s kingdom brings.
- Display the kingdom of God with power, wherever you go — on your job, in your family, in your community, etc.
