When He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17:20-22.
These words must have sounded strange to the Pharisees, who were greatly concerned over the influence of the young Galilean who was attracting such attention throughout the length and breadth of Judea. Was Christ indeed the long-looked-for Messiah? The Pharisees were students of the Scriptures, and were familiar with what the prophets had said concerning the kingdom of God; and in their interpretation of what had been written, had built up a theory that the kingdom of God was to be a literal, temporal, physical kingdom, like Greece or Rome,—the ancient kingdoms which had waxed and waned during the long history of Israel. They interpreted the prophecies according to their human theories, and were wholly unable to see Christ as the Son of God, and that He fulfilled the Scriptures.
The Pharisees were zealous. Doubtless many were honest and sincere in their interpretation and application of prophecy. But they missed the correct application of the prophecies concerning Christ and His kingdom because they misunderstood the sayings that pertained to the establishment of the kingdom of God. They believed that when the Messiah came, He would come as a great king, rivaling the rulers of Rome in splendor and riches; that the Jews would conquer not only Rome, but all other nations; that Jerusalem would become the metropo-is and capital of the world, the greatest and most wonderful city that had been or should ever be upon this earth. And when the humble Teacher answered, in the words of our scripture, their query as to when the kingdom of God should come, they did not understand. To them it was a mystery—how could the kingdom of God come without observation? And the other saying of Christ must have been very perplexing to them, as it is perplexing even to us many times, "Behold, the kingdom of God is within you."
Sometimes it seems as if we are likely to make the same kind of mistake that the Pharisees made concerning the kingdom of God. We are all the time talking about the future world and the glorious city promised by the prophets. We picture what a wonderful world it will be, forgetting the precious promises made concerning the work of grace that God will do on men's hearts in this present life; and thus we fail to receive what the Lord intends should be ours at the present time. For surely, if we read the Word aright, there are just as exceeding precious promises that belong to the church of Christ now as to the coming kingdom in the future state. And if we spend all our time anticipating what is to come, and fail to receive what is for us now, we make as fatal a mistake as the Pharisees made in the days when Christ was with them in the world.
Notice particularly that He says: "The kingdom of God is within you," within your heart. Think of that! It is not all future. It is not a glorious city, a world of ecstatic joy, measureless riches of grace and love, that are to be ours at some distant time. "The kingdom of God is within you." Wonderful beyond our finite comprehension! Every individual must answer for himself whether that kingdom is established in his heart. But I wish to emphasize the thought by reading various scriptures, bringing it before you anew, that you may put the question to your own heart and answer it: Is the kingdom of God within me? Is Christ King in my heart? Do I meet the conditions and the promises that we read in His word in a different way than the Pharisees met the conditions and promises concerning the first coming of Christ?
We must remember, first of all, that the kingdom of God is not material, but spiritual, and there is a world of difference between spiritual things and material things. Frequently what is promised in the words, "the kingdom of God." "the kingdom of heaven," is to be interpreted spiritually, and not as pertaining to things physical or material.
Turn to the fourth chapter of John, and read the conversation between Christ and the woman of Samaria. As Christ talked with this woman, who seemed to be intelligent, though she had had a very checkered career, He said to her:
"Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him."
Notice the thought: God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. It is plainly seen that one cannot worship God with material things. The kingdom of God is not material; it is not a place, it is not a building, it is not an organization. Rather, it is a work of the Holy Spirit performed on the heart of the believer, whose mind and thoughts are in such a condition that he worships God as supreme, and receives the transformation and change in his nature that Christ spoke of when He said to Nicodemus that one must "be born of water and of the Spirit." That change spiritualizes the nature of man—and that nature is the thought, the mind, the intellect (it is difficult to describe it in words)—so that a man is changed from a physical, material being into a spiritual being, who can then worship God in spirit.
"The kingdom of God is within you." That is a wonderful thing to think of. So many times we entertain the idea that if we could only be somewhere else than where we are, or if our environment were changed, or if our associates were different, we should be better than we are. That is all a delusion. Men are not made better by a change of place, a different environment. They are made better by a transformation that is brought about by the new birth, which changes carnality to spirituality, and makes man a spiritual being. In this act God sets up His kingdom within man, so that he does not have to travel afar, he does not need to change his country or environment, to become spiritual-minded. When man allows God to have His divine way in his heart, he learns the meaning of Christ's word: "The kingdom of God is within you." So we do not have to wait until death comes, and we are raised and taken to the future state, to have the promises of God fulfilled in us; now, in this present life, we may have the very experience, live the very life, that we are hoping to live in the kingdom to come.
How reasonable this is! The change from carnal to spiritual is to take place now, in this present life, not simply by our own volition, but by an act of the almighty power of God. He can take any man's heart, however corrupt and vile and carnal it may be, and change it so completely and fully that the Holy Spirit will dwell continually within him. And if the Spirit of God dwells in a man, that man's life will be controlled by the Spirit, he will bear the fruit of the Spirit, and live the very kind of life that the saints of God will live when they are glorified in the kingdom to come. So the child of God receives the kingdom of God now.
(To be concluded) Washington, D. C.
* Epitome of sermon preached in the Takoma Park church.
