During these first nine lessons I would like to talk about why we are here on this planet called Earth. I do not believe we are here by chance or by some cosmic accident. It is obvious there is a purpose for our existence and that is what Lessons 1-9 are about.

LESSON 4 ─ The invisible kingdom – a new way of living Bible References:

• Luke 17:20, 21(1)
• Matthew 12:28 (2)
• John 14:7,26/John 15:26/John 16:7 (3)

Good morning, and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. Today we will be looking at the kingdom that God wants to give His favored ones.

To help you understand this I would like to look at a day, much like any other day, in the life of Jesus. As usual there is a large group of people following Him. But, on this particular day there are some very pompous religious leaders tagging along who are only there to try to trap Jesus.

These guys decided to challenge Him with the question, “When is the kingdom of God coming?”

How Jesus responds to their question is really interesting, for He said:(1) “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs that can be seen by your eyes; nor will anyone say, ‘Look, here it is! Or, there it is!’ Then Jesus said, ‘Pay attention to what I am about to tell you next; the kingdom of God is in your midst.’”

Though the religious leaders asked Him a very specific question, Jesus decided to not answer them directly and instead, teach something about the kingdom that adds a whole lot more mystery to it.

First, He revealed that the kingdom cannot be seen or identified by the human eye. And second, He said, the kingdom is in your midst.

Now Jesus is the only one who could have used this word midst to describe the kingdom, for He was the only person on the planet who understood how significant this word was when using it this way.

The word midst can be interpreted two ways – one, in your midst and the other, inside of you. And what makes this word so special is that both descriptions of the kingdom are true. When Jesus said this, the kingdom was standing in their midst, but soon it would be inside of them. Which really irritated those pompous religious leaders, because how can a kingdom be both of those?

The word kingdom used here simply means the reign of a king. And since Jesus is talking about the kingdom of God being in their midst, that could only mean He is the kingdom and therefore, He is the reign of God, for He is the only one who would specifically qualify as the reign of God in that crowd of people.

But when you interpret the word midst to be inside of you then Jesus created another mysterious dilemma, because if He is the reign of God how could He also be inside of them?

What Jesus said reveals something very special about this amazing gift God wants to give His favored ones. The reign of God was really standing there in the midst of all these people, because Jesus is the powerful reign of God! That’s the reason He could do all those astounding miracles. And every time He did one, such as a bring someone who had died back to life or give sight to a blind person, it proved, He is the powerful reign of God and it also proved that He is the kingdom of God.(2)

But just before Jesus went back to heaven, He promised His disciples that He would send Himself back to earth, which is the Spirit of God, where He would reign from inside all His favored ones.(3) And when the Spirit came, the invisible kingdom was born for the Spirit of God cannot be seen by the human eye.

This doesn’t mean the reign of God is any less powerful than it was when Jesus stood in their midst and performed miracle after miracle after miracle. The only thing that changed was now the kingdom, or reign of God, is not restricted to only being in one place at a time.

For example, the reign of God may be working inside a carpenter in England to help him think better thoughts while He’s cutting some wood. And at that same moment the reign of God could be working inside the waiter who is serving you, helping him get free from an addiction. But at the same time in another country the reign of God may be encouraging an Amazon driver who is delivering packages, to overcome their anger and forgive someone who hurt them badly.

Things like this occur a hundred, thousand times every day all around the world, and when they do, just as Jesus revealed no one ever says, “Look, there is the kingdom of God” because it cannot be seen by the human eye.

What an amazing gift the kingdom’s powerful reign is to His favored ones. The same power that accomplished all those great miracles throughout history now lives and rules on earth inside His followers.

But even though you cannot see the kingdom, it is as real as the air you breathe and as powerful as the God who created the universe with just His words. So, make sure you understand what the kingdom is that God wants you to inherit ─ it IS the powerful reign of God ruling from inside His favored ones.

Now what does that mean to you? First, it would mean you are one of God’s favored ones if you have the Spirit living inside of you because they are the only ones who inherit His invisible kingdom. And second, it would mean no matter how difficult your life becomes, the powerful reign of God is far greater than any problem you will ever encounter. Therefore, you have some serious help to deal with life’s challenges, when the kingdom is inside of you.

Another really great result of the invisible Spirit living and reigning inside God’s people, is the kingdom of God can be anywhere and everywhere all at the same time without anyone even noticing it.

So, if you are one of God’s favored ones, the powerful reign of God goes with you and is inside of you wherever you are. And that’s not religion, that is a completely different way to live. (say it with authority)

Well, that’s it for today and once again, there’s just one thing ─ What could your life be, if the powerful kingdom of God reigned from inside of you?

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