Chapter 8—God’s Kingdom in the Heart
Behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Luke 17:21
.
The government under which Jesus lived was corrupt and oppressive;
on every hand were crying abuses—extortion, intolerance, and grinding
cruelty. Yet the Saviour attempted no civil reforms. He attacked no national
abuses, nor condemned the national enemies. He did not interfere with the
authority or administration of those in power. He who was our example kept
aloof from earthly governments. Not because He was indifferent to the woes
of men, but because the remedy did not lie in merely human and external
measures. To be efficient, the cure must reach men individually, and must
regenerate the heart.
Some of the Pharisees had come to Jesus demanding “when the kingdom
of God should come” (
Luke 17:20
). More than three years had passed since
John the Baptist gave the message that like a trumpet call had sounded
through the land, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (
Matthew 3:2
). And as
yet these Pharisees saw no indication of the establishment of the kingdom....
Jesus answered, “The kingdom of God cometh not with outward show
[margin]: neither shall they say, Lo here! or lo there! for, behold, the
kingdom of God is within you.” The kingdom of God begins at the heart.
Look not here or there for manifestations of earthly power to mark its coming.
The works of Christ not only declared Him to be the Messiah, but showed
in what manner His kingdom was to be established.... It comes through the
gentleness of the inspiration of His word, through the inward working of
His Spirit, the fellowship of the soul with Him who is its life. The greatest
manifestation of its power is seen in human nature brought to the perfection
of the character of Christ....
When God gave His Son to our world, He endowed human beings with
imperishable riches—riches compared with which the treasured wealth of
men since the world began is nothingness. Christ came to the earth and stood
before the children of men with the hoarded love of eternity, and this is the
treasure that, through our connection with Him, we are to receive, to reveal,
and to impart.
[17]
26