Vol.XII No.X Pg.1
December 1975

The Kingdom Within

Robert F. Turner

When Jesus was asked when the kingdom of God should come, he answered, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation... behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Lu. 17:20-21) I fear many think of the kingdom as something into which individuals are put, instead of something put into individuals — a change in the life and character of individuals, as they determine to know more of Christ and follow Him more closely.

There was a time, the first Pentecost following Christs resurrection, when the kingdom came with power (Mk. 9:1, Acts 1:8). But one may correctly assign the time of the coming (when Christs reign became operative), and fail to grasp what came. Christs kingdom is not a place, and we are not citizens because we occupy that place. One is not a millionaire because he is named in a list of millionaires; he is so listed because of his possessions. We are accounted as citizens in Christs kingdom when our will is subject to His will, and He reigns in our life.

Jesus told a certain scribe, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. He was not referring to time, but to the nature of the kingdom, seeing the scribe understood truth (Mk. 12:34).

Things we have (our buildings, our numbers, etc.) do not determine citizenship; even what we have done (our programs of welfare and evangelism) are subject to various interpretations. But God looks at what we are. In the final analysis, He wants us to BE something — and when we are what we should be, we will do rightly.

Many cults of our day have altered the scriptural kingdom of God so drastically (in their preaching) that they think of it as an earthly paradise where fleshly appetites are gratified. Try to teach their witnesses the true nature of the kingdom, and you will find most of them so conditioned by materialistic concepts as to be completely blinded to truth. The god of this world hath blinded the mind of them... (2 Cor. 4:3-f.)

Seeking first the kingdom (Matt. 7:33), means faithful service to God is the most important goal of your life.