The Kingdom of God is the reign and rule of Jesus Christ in the hearts and lives of believers with whom and through whom the government of His Kingdom will be manifested and established on earth.
Jesus said it and He meant exactly what He said. “The kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:21. The Greek preposition for “within” also translates, “inside of you.” I like that! The Kingdom of God is inside us. Given our previous definition of the Kingdom of God, we see it has to be this way. The Kingdom of God is the reign and rule of Christ in the hearts and lives of men. Understanding the importance of the internal, eternal, invisible, immortal, and spiritual nature of the Kingdom of God abiding within us is crucial.
What, then, did Jesus mean by the statement, “The Kingdom of God is inside you?”
The Bible teaches that we as individuals are three in one. We are a spirit with a soul in a body. “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thess. 5:23. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Heb. 4:12.
When we were born again, the Holy Spirit entered our spirits and quickened us to new life in Him. He is in us and we are in Him. John 15:1-8; 17:20-23. He resides within our spirits. He is Spirit and He communicates Spirit to spirit. The Kingdom of God is a reality that initially takes place within the spirit of man through the power-life of His Holy Spirit residing in us.
The Kingdom of God is FROM within us
Not only is the Kingdom of God within us, it also courses out from within us. I say “out from within us” for the sake of emphasis. It is an outward expression of an inner reality. We find, then, that the Kingdom of God is among us, within us, and goes out from within us.
The Kingdom of God is coming forth from within us in the manner in which Jesus pictured it to the Samaritan woman at the well: He explained that “Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:14. Later Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” John 7:38.
From these two scriptures, we see that the headwaters of this river is within each of us who believe. We read in Revelation 22 that John was shown “a pure river of water of life clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Can there be any doubt, based on these other words of Jesus, that this river flows out of us from where Jesus sits enthroned as King—He who is the water of Life? This river is an expression of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is from within us, flowing outward as a river. It is a river of life. Revelation 22:2-3 continues to tell us that “on either side of the river there was the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.” The river is the very life and power of God that flows out of Jesus from His throne that is established within us.
Reflect on the poetic verse in Psalms 46:4, keeping in mind that the scriptures confirm that this river of life flows out of us. “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
The Kingdom of God is within us fully, yet it is gradually overtaking us. It is increasingly coming forth from within us. We may at times be aware of it coming forth from within us.
FROM WITHIN YOU, THE KINGDOM COME
