Hosea 1:1, 10-20 or Genesis 15:1-6
Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23 or Psalm 33:12-22
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Luke 12:32-40
The early Christians anticipated Christ's return to earth within a short time after his ascension. Their minds were filled with images of a new world order, a new government, and a new sense of peace. It seemed that Jesus spoke of this many times, like his affirmation in Luke 12, "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." These people had faith that this new kingdom would come soon, whose "architect and builder is God." (Hebrews 11)
That a new heaven and a new earth will be upon us someday, I have no doubt. But the expectations of the early Christians regarding a new outer, physical kingdom here on earth have yet to be realized. We can readily see that humankind suffers under the dominion of pervasive forces, and has so suffered for millennia. True peace, safety, equality, and justice still elude us.
And yet, it is also apparent to me that the Kingdom of God is all around us, and in us, wherever we turn, just waiting for us to say, "Yes, come in...Come in to our lives and show us the way." It's as though all we have to do is walk into that room, that holy chamber of our soul, and flip the switch to "on."
This is the inner Kingdom of God that Jesus spoke most often about. It is already here, present to us, in the present moment, if we could only keep our dysfunctional ego from blocking it. God wants us to have it, and to have it now – not at some distant point in the far-off future.
"The Kingdom of God is within you," Jesus declares in Luke 17. "The Kingdom of God is at hand," he asserts in Matthew 10. This inner Kingdom of God is the place we have to start if we want to bring the outer Kingdom of God to us. It's an inside-out proposition.
The inner Kingdom of God happens when we open ourselves up to the wisdom and teaching of Jesus, learn it, and apply it to our lives. It's the wisdom and love found not only in the Gospels, but also from the teachings of the Advocate he gave to us in our hearts: "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you." (John 14)
Listening, believing, applying, and practicing the wisdom and love of God will bring the inner Kingdom of God to us, which will eventually lead us to the outer Kingdom of God. By opening up to, and accepting this wisdom and love, we will begin to find a balance in our own lives between our mind, body and spirit that brings an inner peace.
This inner peace will work its way out to those people around us, building solid relationships based on the love and wisdom of God. And, over time, this will begin to change our culture and society itself. Eventually, we will find ourselves in a new heaven and a new earth.
But we must never forget the living glue that holds all this together is the continued Presence of God in our lives. Without this Presence, the balance in our lives begins to crumble, and we lose sight of the vision. There is no perfection without the continued Presence of God. It was designed this way to keep us always together, and should never be forgotten.
That is why we build our lives around prayer and meditation, study and reflection, and service to others – to open ourselves up to this inner Kingdom of God, thank God for it, adopt it, practice it, and use it in our lives. For us, it's not a destination, but a continuous journey of learning – of falling down and getting back up, of trial and error, of mistakes and forgiveness.
Let us join our hands and hearts, and step into the inner Kingdom of God, as it's His good pleasure to give it to us.
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