“Growth From Within”

Saturday, May 04, 2013

I'm a little confused about the Kingdom. Jesus said the Kingdom is "within you" but I thought the Kingdom is the Church, Christians who have been born again. What did Jesus mean when He said the Kingdom is within you? When He told us how to pray - the Lord's prayer, He said to pray for the Kingdom to come. Does that mean in our hearts or the establishment of the Church?

Sincerely,
What To Pray For

Dear What To Pray For,

The kingdom is the church.  Paul says that all Christians have already been transferred into the kingdom (Col 1:12-13).  Both John the Baptist and Jesus preached that the kingdom was coming very soon (Matt 3:1-2).  Jesus told the disciples that some of them would see the kingdom come within their lifetime (Matt 16:28).  What large organization was Jesus in charge of that started within the lifetime of Jesus’ apostles?  That would be the church!

In Lk 17:20-21, Jesus is addressing one of the common misconceptions about His kingdom.  It wouldn’t be a physical kingdom with castles, fortresses, and armies.  Jesus’ kingdom would grow within the hearts of those who followed Him.  That is because His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom… a kingdom not of this world (Jhn 18:36).  On the first day of Jesus’ kingdom/church, three thousand people entered that kingdom through baptism (Acts 2:38-41).  An entire nation cropped up overnight… without a single shot being fired.

As far as the Lord’s prayer, you are correct – He did pray that the kingdom would come… that is because it hadn’t yet.  At the time of Jesus’ prayer, He was still preaching that the kingdom was near, not here (Matt 4:17).  Today, it would be appropriate to pray that the kingdom expand, grow, be further established, etc., but it is already here.

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