Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
The kingdom of God does not come with outward display or earthly power to be pointed out in one visible place or another, but is within people and begins in the heart as righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. It was present in Jesus Himself though His divine glory was veiled in humanity, and it advances without outward show by the gentle working of God's Word and Spirit in the soul as people look to Jesus and follow Him. To have it within means to have Christ ruling in the heart with His character reproduced in the life, purifying the soul and planting God's love, righteousness, peace, meekness and lowliness there so that heaven begins on earth. That inward work brings freedom, light and joy and is revealed day by day in self-control, strength of principle and victory over appetite and passion, producing outward reformation in righteous and temperate living that reaches others like a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Readiness for Christ's coming therefore requires inward preparation in harmony with the laws of His kingdom through self-denial and surrender of the heart, for His day will come unexpectedly upon those who are not watching, praying and working, while competing voices in the last days offer other ways than repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ.
Nature of the Kingdom
The kingdom of God does not come with outward display, earthly power, or temporal political spectacle, and it is not to be found by pointing to a visible place and saying Lo here or lo there. It advances without outward show, by the gentle inspiration of God's Word and the operation of His Spirit in the soul. Its light is received by looking to Jesus and following His leading and guidance rather than human suppositions and ideas.
It is within people and begins in the heart, where it is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The kingdom was already present in Jesus Himself, though His spiritual and divine glory was veiled in humanity. Those who judged His mission by worldly signs could fail to recognize it, and the disciples themselves did not fully recognize His character and mission while He was with them. Only after His ascension and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit did they understand that they had been in the presence of the Lord of glory, and afterward they looked back with longing on the privilege of having the Son of God among them.
It is a kingdom of divine grace manifested in the hearts of His people, and only through His humiliation, suffering, and death could the kingdom of His glory finally be established. The understanding of the disciples was clouded by misinterpretation of prophecy, but Jesus opened their understanding by shedding clear light on the Scriptures about Himself, so that they saw the true character of His kingdom. He presented it as a new kingdom to be set up among people, present among them and in their very midst through knowledge of Christ and His love.
It is revealed in preaching and song, and the salvation once represented by symbols and types is made known as reality through His coming, death, and resurrection. In the last days this places the kingdom in the midst of His people with greater privilege than was given to the Jews, because the Saviour has come, been crucified, risen, and proclaimed Himself the resurrection and the life, with both the Old and New Testaments. It is a rich spiritual banquet set before them in abundance: the righteousness of Christ, justification by faith, the exceeding great and precious promises of God in His Word, free access to the Father through Jesus Christ, the comforts of the Holy Spirit, and well-grounded assurance of eternal life in the kingdom of God. All who accept the truth in the heart experience this as faith working by love purifying the soul, lived out in loving spiritual communion with one another and with God.
Christ Within the Heart
To have the kingdom of God within is to have Christ Himself ruling in the heart, with His own attributes reproduced in the life. That inward reign is established in the soul through the work of the Comforter. When His love is cherished there, the whole being longs for God, seeking from Jesus and from God's Word its duty, its wisdom, and its standard. In such a soul the kingdom brings freedom and light and joy.
God takes the defiled soul in hand to purify and refine it, implanting His own righteousness and peace and health, with meekness and lowliness, until the person is made complete in Him. This work begins at the seat of all difficulties, the heart transformed by the grace of Christ. When the love of God and the love of Christ are planted and constantly cherished there, and purity and love and devotion to God are cultivated, the heart holds what is real and abiding and akin to heaven. Then heaven begins on earth, bringing the happiness and joy and peace of heaven, a love that cannot be repressed with love for light and truth and righteousness, and only what is thus akin to heaven is carried to heaven.
Its presence is revealed day by day in strength of principle, self-control, and faithfulness. As men and women cooperate with Christ and employ their God-given powers and faculties, they gain victories over hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong. Appetites and passions, habits and circumstances, become servants and not rulers, held under control by an inwrought principle of self-denial and self-sacrifice. For God has made people masters and not slaves, to rule over the kingdom within by self-control over desires and appetites.
That inward work beginning within produces outward reformation, with principles of righteousness issuing from the heart in true temperance and healthful living. It gives power and ability to stand as faithful sentinels and true reformers, whose influence reaches others and the world like a well of water springing up into everlasting life and making lasting impressions on other hearts. External restrictions, pledges, or changed circumstances alone cannot bring this reform, and to begin outside to work inward is an always-failing plan. Those who feed on the Word show the kingdom by practice, standing on the Lord's side in unity with Jesus Christ and seeking by precept and example to reform the world, in contrast to those who refuse to be taught of God and hold the traditions of men.
Watchfulness and Readiness
Readiness for the coming of Christ is inward preparation, for the one in whom the kingdom of God is present lives in harmony with its principles and laws, and that kingdom is not identified by pointing to a place or outward sign. Merely agreeing with what is good and right is not enough, since following God requires self-denial and the surrender of the heart. To have the kingdom within is to have Christ ruling in the heart with His attributes reproduced in the life, and those who feed on the Word show it by practice, standing on the Lord's side in unity with Christ and seeking by precept and example to reform the world. It means that appetites, passions, hereditary and cultivated habits, and circumstances are servants and not rulers, controlled by an inwrought principle of self-denial and self-sacrifice learned from Christ and seen in John the Baptist, Daniel, and the three worthies. The question for each person is whether this kingdom is within, with ears open and heart softened and subdued, always ready and composed in Christ.
Having the kingdom within in this way makes a person ready and composed in Christ even when sudden upheavals such as earthquakes come. The warning against saying Lo here and Lo there meets the last days, when many varied religious groups will make competing claims and offer sinners a way other than the Bible's way of repentance toward God for breaking His law and faith in Jesus Christ. Those who refuse to be taught of God hold the traditions of men and join in union with Antichrist against God, and the two parties stand in collision until the Lord appears and sets up a kingdom that shall stand forever.
As part of Luke 17:20-37, the teaching belongs to a warning that the Lord's day will come unexpectedly to those who are not watching, praying, and working. The kingdom advances without outward show, and God has ordained that His work be presented before the world in distinct, holy, sacred lines. When men interpose themselves between others and God to lead them into paths God has not appointed, they hinder that inward kingdom work in many places and will face God's judgment for opposing His claims upon them.
The kingdom of God does not come with outward display or earthly power to be pointed out in one visible place or another, but is within people and begins in the heart as righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. It was present in Jesus Himself though His divine glory was veiled in humanity, and it advances without outward show by the gentle working of God's Word and Spirit in the soul as people look to Jesus and follow Him. To have it within means to have Christ ruling in the heart with His character reproduced in the life, purifying the soul and planting God's love, righteousness, peace, meekness and lowliness there so that heaven begins on earth. That inward work brings freedom, light and joy and is revealed day by day in self-control, strength of principle and victory over appetite and passion, producing outward reformation in righteous and temperate living that reaches others like a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Readiness for Christ's coming therefore requires inward preparation in harmony with the laws of His kingdom through self-denial and surrender of the heart, for His day will come unexpectedly upon those who are not watching, praying and working, while competing voices in the last days offer other ways than repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ.
Nature of the Kingdom
The kingdom of God does not come with outward display, earthly power, or temporal political spectacle, and it is not to be found by pointing to a visible place and saying Lo here or lo there. It advances without outward show, by the gentle inspiration of God's Word and the operation of His Spirit in the soul. Its light is received by looking to Jesus and following His leading and guidance rather than human suppositions and ideas.
It is within people and begins in the heart, where it is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The kingdom was already present in Jesus Himself, though His spiritual and divine glory was veiled in humanity. Those who judged His mission by worldly signs could fail to recognize it, and the disciples themselves did not fully recognize His character and mission while He was with them. Only after His ascension and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit did they understand that they had been in the presence of the Lord of glory, and afterward they looked back with longing on the privilege of having the Son of God among them.
It is a kingdom of divine grace manifested in the hearts of His people, and only through His humiliation, suffering, and death could the kingdom of His glory finally be established. The understanding of the disciples was clouded by misinterpretation of prophecy, but Jesus opened their understanding by shedding clear light on the Scriptures about Himself, so that they saw the true character of His kingdom. He presented it as a new kingdom to be set up among people, present among them and in their very midst through knowledge of Christ and His love.
It is revealed in preaching and song, and the salvation once represented by symbols and types is made known as reality through His coming, death, and resurrection. In the last days this places the kingdom in the midst of His people with greater privilege than was given to the Jews, because the Saviour has come, been crucified, risen, and proclaimed Himself the resurrection and the life, with both the Old and New Testaments. It is a rich spiritual banquet set before them in abundance: the righteousness of Christ, justification by faith, the exceeding great and precious promises of God in His Word, free access to the Father through Jesus Christ, the comforts of the Holy Spirit, and well-grounded assurance of eternal life in the kingdom of God. All who accept the truth in the heart experience this as faith working by love purifying the soul, lived out in loving spiritual communion with one another and with God.
Christ Within the Heart
To have the kingdom of God within is to have Christ Himself ruling in the heart, with His own attributes reproduced in the life. That inward reign is established in the soul through the work of the Comforter. When His love is cherished there, the whole being longs for God, seeking from Jesus and from God's Word its duty, its wisdom, and its standard. In such a soul the kingdom brings freedom and light and joy.
God takes the defiled soul in hand to purify and refine it, implanting His own righteousness and peace and health, with meekness and lowliness, until the person is made complete in Him. This work begins at the seat of all difficulties, the heart transformed by the grace of Christ. When the love of God and the love of Christ are planted and constantly cherished there, and purity and love and devotion to God are cultivated, the heart holds what is real and abiding and akin to heaven. Then heaven begins on earth, bringing the happiness and joy and peace of heaven, a love that cannot be repressed with love for light and truth and righteousness, and only what is thus akin to heaven is carried to heaven.
Its presence is revealed day by day in strength of principle, self-control, and faithfulness. As men and women cooperate with Christ and employ their God-given powers and faculties, they gain victories over hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong. Appetites and passions, habits and circumstances, become servants and not rulers, held under control by an inwrought principle of self-denial and self-sacrifice. For God has made people masters and not slaves, to rule over the kingdom within by self-control over desires and appetites.
That inward work beginning within produces outward reformation, with principles of righteousness issuing from the heart in true temperance and healthful living. It gives power and ability to stand as faithful sentinels and true reformers, whose influence reaches others and the world like a well of water springing up into everlasting life and making lasting impressions on other hearts. External restrictions, pledges, or changed circumstances alone cannot bring this reform, and to begin outside to work inward is an always-failing plan. Those who feed on the Word show the kingdom by practice, standing on the Lord's side in unity with Jesus Christ and seeking by precept and example to reform the world, in contrast to those who refuse to be taught of God and hold the traditions of men.
Watchfulness and Readiness
Readiness for the coming of Christ is inward preparation, for the one in whom the kingdom of God is present lives in harmony with its principles and laws, and that kingdom is not identified by pointing to a place or outward sign. Merely agreeing with what is good and right is not enough, since following God requires self-denial and the surrender of the heart. To have the kingdom within is to have Christ ruling in the heart with His attributes reproduced in the life, and those who feed on the Word show it by practice, standing on the Lord's side in unity with Christ and seeking by precept and example to reform the world. It means that appetites, passions, hereditary and cultivated habits, and circumstances are servants and not rulers, controlled by an inwrought principle of self-denial and self-sacrifice learned from Christ and seen in John the Baptist, Daniel, and the three worthies. The question for each person is whether this kingdom is within, with ears open and heart softened and subdued, always ready and composed in Christ.
Having the kingdom within in this way makes a person ready and composed in Christ even when sudden upheavals such as earthquakes come. The warning against saying Lo here and Lo there meets the last days, when many varied religious groups will make competing claims and offer sinners a way other than the Bible's way of repentance toward God for breaking His law and faith in Jesus Christ. Those who refuse to be taught of God hold the traditions of men and join in union with Antichrist against God, and the two parties stand in collision until the Lord appears and sets up a kingdom that shall stand forever.
As part of Luke 17:20-37, the teaching belongs to a warning that the Lord's day will come unexpectedly to those who are not watching, praying, and working. The kingdom advances without outward show, and God has ordained that His work be presented before the world in distinct, holy, sacred lines. When men interpose themselves between others and God to lead them into paths God has not appointed, they hinder that inward kingdom work in many places and will face God's judgment for opposing His claims upon them.