Christian Art | The Kingdom Of God Is Within You | King James Audio Bible KJV
Luke 17: 20-25 – Week 32 Ordinary Time, Thursday (King James Audio Bible KJV, Spoken Word)
20 ¶ And 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:
21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
22 And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.
23 And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.
24 For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.
25 But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
The Kingdom of God has come in the person of Jesus. This is Jesus’ message, and it is this that will lead to his being crucified. It is this toward which the language of apocalypse directs us: our old way of being fractures with the coming of Jesus; the new reality of which we are a part is as lightning flashing across the sky – across the whole sky, the whole of our world, from one side to the other. And still we are told there is to be no visible sign of the coming of the Kingdom. It is within us, in the midst of us, when we walk as disciples with Jesus.
There are difficult times ahead. The destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Temple, will be for the Jews akin to the end of the world – Jewish worship would never be same again. Jesus’ disciples will also face great hardship as they work to establish the Church, to the point where they will long to see just one of the days of the Son of Man, of Christ’s complete and final victory, visibly manifest. They and we are warned to resist false prophets, who will seek to reduce the totality of Christ’s coming to specious isolated occurrences, ‘lo here’ or ‘lo there’. We are to understand that the true nature of the coming of Jesus is unimaginably beyond the old and now obsolete reality such specifics might indicate.
Jesus tells the disciples that he must suffer and be rejected before the glory of the Kingdom can be complete. Jesus is to fulfil his role as the Suffering Servant (cf. Isaiah 53). His eschatological teachings are anchored, as is the whole of his mission, on the cross. These sayings of Jesus both describe and explain the crucifixion, and they lead directly toward it, producing it: a wise moral teacher or liberal rabbi the priests and the scribes and the Pharisees could have coped with; a man who claims divinity as the Son of God, who tells us to have faith in him, placing himself at the centre of a new covenant, is an outrage to established Jewish orthodoxy and dangerous indeed.
Where true love is dwelling, God is dwelling there;
Love’s own loving Presence love does ever share.
Love of Christ has made us out of many one;
In our midst is dwelling God’s eternal Son.
Give him joyful welcome, love him and revere;
Cherish one another with a love sincere.
King James Audio Bible | Endnotes
The Kingdom Of God Is Within You
Jesus is questioned by the Pharisees about when the Kingdom of God will come. In response, Jesus says: ‘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 17:20-21 KJV)
At its core, Jesus’ statement suggests that the Kingdom of God is not an external reality that can be observed or located in any one place, but rather an internal reality that can be experienced within the hearts and minds of individuals. The Kingdom of God is not a physical place that can be visited, but rather a spiritual state that can be attained through faith and righteous living.
This interpretation is consistent with other teachings of Jesus throughout the New Testament. In Matthew 6:33, for example, Jesus teaches his followers to ‘seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you’. Here, Jesus is suggesting that the kingdom of God is something that can be sought and attained by individuals who prioritize righteousness and faith in their lives.
Saint Augustine believed that the Kingdom of God is not a physical place, but rather a spiritual state of being that is marked by a deep sense of peace and fulfillment. Saint Augustine wrote: ‘The kingdom of God is within you, when your heart becomes the temple of God.’
In the Protestant tradition, Martin Luther emphasized the importance of faith in attaining the kingdom of God. He wrote: ‘The kingdom of God is where faith is, for whoever believes in Christ has eternal life and is a citizen of the kingdom of God.’
There have been many Christians who have emphasized the importance of seeking the Kingdom of God within oneself. The 14th Century Christian mystic Julian of Norwich wrote extensively about the concept of the kingdom of God as an internal reality that can be experienced through contemplative prayer and deep spiritual reflection.
In modern times, Pope Francis has spoken about the importance of cultivating a sense of internal peace and fulfillment as a way of attaining the Kingdom of God. Pope Francis has emphasized the importance of living a life of service and compassion, saying: ‘The kingdom of God is among us when we share in the love and mercy of Jesus Christ.’