Thy Kingdom Come Within

[HKHaugan]

“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, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." (Lk.17:20-21 NIV)

An old country song starts out, “They say a man’s home is his castle, he’s like a king on a throne. It may be shack down along side the track but everything in it’s his own…” ‘Like a king’ sees the man in the song as a parable of life. It points to who he perceives himself to be ‘within’ his heart. No matter how large or small, in a city or in the country, rich or poor neighborhood, wherever he rests his head away from the world, that's his palace. That is his perception.

That's where Jesus comes in when He says, “Within you.” What does that mean? Ponder, think, contemplate and consider that concept. Your mind deliberates, analyzes and seeks a conclusion. You begin to sift your life experience through the mind. Whether it is something in the moment or something that seems to be abstract and distant you are still letting the grey matter digest it. The processing is constant.

But Jesus takes the self-concept of being the ruler, the “king” of a home, castle, palace and says there is a deeper reality. We have a built in ability to conceptualize. He's come to redeem that ability, that the self concept we all have is a copy of a spiritual reality. It's our ability to see life and ourselves as parables. A home, a castle, a king describe the ultimate reality that there is a king, a mansion, that is spiritual and that He is the King and what we have in this world is a fading copy of what is eternal. It's being able to see with our spiritual eyes. Paul prays that “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened (Eph.1:18)” to see our inheritance in Jesus. We have a place with Him in eternity, His Kingdom.

But it is not something that will happen at our death. It begins the moment we accept His kingship in our hearts. Every day brings a point where an insight, a flicker of understanding gives you an ‘aha!’ moment. This is you within grasping something that is real. It is having arrived at a meaning. It is like beholding a sunset, a sunrise, a gentle breeze relaxing you on a warm afternoon and describing them. Perhaps it was a perception in a conversation, which you shared and it was accurate. It was a biblical truth that actually happened right in front of you. You verbalized an internal experience that jibed with someone you were talking to and they got a glimmer of Jesus through you. This is your private world within, your very own kingdom, your personal testimony. It builds and grows insight by insight, understanding by understanding and how, why and what you think are locked within. Each individual is an internal kingdom, a copy, an image of the Kingdom of God.

The question however, is this. Does this kingdom, this internal dominion of insight after insight last forever, expand beyond time? Like the feudal states in the dark ages, tribal cultures and the separated kingdoms in Old Testament times, they rise and they fade. Because of sin each of our internal kingdoms are fearful of what lies without. We begin separated from God and one another. Our boundaries are hidden and the spirits that occupy the battlements send false messages of self-deceit and wariness. Alone and lasting only as long as the physical body survives a personal kingdom can end in the abyss of history, unchanged, unloved, unknown, alone and forgotten.

There are always the issues of momentary doubts that the devil sends likes missiles to upset and distractus. They come in the problems of health, family, jobs and relationships that can distract us in the moment they happen. Our assurance comes in Scripture when Paul tells us, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal (2Cor.4:18).”

Jesus knew this condition. His mission was to rescue and transform the kingdom in each of us. He came to enter each personal kingdom, change its power from fear to love, from evil to good, from sin to holiness. It was not a coup or a takeover. Rather it was His willingness to appeal at the gates of our personal kingdom not by force but by His death and Resurrection. Instead of survival by constantly guarding the gates and towers within He offers a life in His eternal Spirit in every next moment.

In every next moment we have an everlasting relationship where you never have to guard your gates because with His presence within they are always open. When you let Him be King He convinces not with a sword but with a Cross, not with intimidation but with love, not with manipulation but freedom to choose by faith in Him while we are on the way every day. Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place (Jn.18:36)."

His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom of the heart, God’s heart and man’s heart. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me (Rev.3:20).” It is a kingdom of belief for the mind, trust for the heart and faith for the spirit. It is not a kingdom that you can see without and say ‘that’s it over there’ or ‘here it is.’ Rather you look within and say, ‘I asked Him to come in and be my King. He’s been here in my heart all along, standing with me. His Holy Spirit is my guide. All He asks is to enter.’

"The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart (Deut. 30:14)," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved (Rom.10:8-10).”

Welcome to His Kingdom! We are on the move!

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