Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). The kingdom is inside you, but is that an idea of the kingdom (a conceptual kingdom)? “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:17-19)? “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17). I believe the kingdom within is more than a concept.

Truly, the kingdom of God is everywhere. Being within is inclusive with everywhere. God did not invade a place that did not exist within the domain of God when creating the earth. God created all creation in the kingdom of God. In Genesis, we can read that God gave humans dominion over the earth. “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). You cannot give something that is not yours to give.

When Jesus said the kingdom of God is within, was He speaking only of the indwelling Spirit God had not yet poured out on flesh? Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees in answer to their questions about when the kingdom would come. In other places, the scripture speaks of the evil and trouble within humanity. “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). “So Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God’” (Luke 18:19). The Pharisees were not bringing forth good things, but Jesus said, “The kingdom is within you.”

What places the kingdom within you is not your own works, but our own ideas may be suppressing the kingdom within. The Pharisees possessed the kingdom within, but did not release the kingdom because their righteousness was not the righteousness of God. “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:3-4). “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:8-9).

The kingdom of God is within you. If you believe and confess Christ Jesus, you will be saved. Let the kingdom flow out of you. What you believe in your heart comes out of your mouth in your confession. From out of your inner most being, from out of your diaphragm, will flow rivers of living water. If you confess that the righteousness of God is your righteousness and believe God raised His righteousness from the grave, you will be saved (reconciled with God in Christ). God has poured out the Spirit of God on all the earth. We have a Helper and a Comforter. The kingdom of God within is released and with our testimony of the goodness of God, we can share the message of reconciliation (the message of grace, the message of the kingdom of God).