In the first article of
this web site, we briefly touched on the subject of the kingdom.
The verses in the King James Version of the bible, with which we
began, were Luke 17: 20,21. For your convenience, here they are again.
And when he was
demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come,
he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with
observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For,
behold, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU
[Luke 17:20,21]. KJV
I have been asked
questions, such as, If the fleshly things of biblical Judaism ceased
to exist by AD 70, what do I teach, or what do I preach, or what do I live?
My response was (and is), Preach,
teach and live the kingdom!
According to Luke, writing
under direction of the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of YHVH (God) cannot be
seen. The kingdom of God is within you. That is a little hard to
understand, until we see what the original Greek word is, that has been
translated by the English word kingdom. So, let us look at the
Greek word and its definition.
The Greek word in the
above verse is basileia. Its basic definition is royal power,
kingship, dominion, rule. Only in a secondary sense is it used as the
territory subject to the rule of a king. The above italics indicate
quotations from J.H. Thayer. Notice another quote from him.
Jesus employed the
phrase kingdom of God or of heaven to indicate that perfect order of
things which he was about to establish, in which all those of
every nation who should believe in him were to be gathered together
into one society, dedicated and intimately united to God, and made
partakers of eternal salvation
J.H. Thayer, pages 96,97:
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament.
It is readily obvious that
the secondary sense of a territory could not be the sense in which
Jesus used the word, for a territory could not be within you.
So, let us understand that Jesus was saying that Gods royal power,
kingship, dominion, rule was what was within them. Really,
that is not hard to understand, for today, when asked Where does God
dwell (or reign)? the answer is always in my heart,
or inside of me. Does YHVH
(Jehovah) dwell within you?
If YHVH dwells within you,
it is obviously an unseen indwelling. And consequently, the
valuable works that He accomplishes in your life (and mine) are
things that are also unseen. It is not the seen things
that are the direct influence of YHVH, however the unseen
things are the things that motivate man to do the seen things.
Before we go further, let us ponder another verse.
While we look not at
the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for
the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are
not seen are eternal [2
Cor. 4:18]. KJV
What illustration can we
use to show this? There are many, but here is one to get us to thinking
about the unseen things, and how they cause the seen things.
Remember that the seen things are temporary. They are not eternal.
When one minds the things
of the Spirit of YHVH, he manifests in his outward actions the quality of
being tenderhearted. Such is commanded of YHVH.
Finally, be ye all of
one mind, having compassion one of another; love as brethren, be
pitiful, be courteous [I
Peter 3:8]. KJV
The way that we use the
word pitiful today is not the way that it was used in the
seventeenth century. It was used then as being tenderhearted.
It is translated correctly and more to the way we understand the word, in
Eph. 4.
And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christs
sake hath forgiven you [Eph.
4:32].
EUSPLANCHNOS,
compassionate, tenderhearted, lit. of good heartedness
[W.E. Vines Expository Dictionary of
Old and New Testament Words, Vol. 3 , page 185].
Tender
is the opposite of being tough. It is the opposite of being hard.
The heart of man (within him) is where YHVH dwells, i.e., that is
where He rules and reigns in our lives. The heart of man is to be
tender, not hardhearted. We live in a world where it is easy
for us to develop a hard heart. Because of all the hatred, covetousness,
lasciviousness, uncleanness, witchcraft, hypocrisy, strivings, heresies,
drunkenness, revelings, etc. [Gal. 5:19-21], we allow our hearts to become
hard and then calloused. We do not let the good feelings, the
soft feelings, the tender feelings enter into our hearts. That
is one of the reasons why we do bad things and think bad things toward and
of others.
When someone has died, do
we feel for the bereaving who are still alive, or just let our
hearts continue to be hard. Cannot we let our shield down and learn to
feel as they are feeling? They are hurting. Do we hurt? They are crying.
Do we cry? They are sad. Are we sad? They have suffered loss. Do we feel
loss also? The outward or seen (temporary) thing is their
crying and sadness on their faces. But that comes from the unseen
part of the individual. Paul said it very well
Rejoice with them that
do rejoice, and weep with them that weep
[Rom. 12:15].
KJV
If our hearts are tender, they will
move with things; they will allow compassion and consequent sympathy and
assistance to those who need our help. If our hearts are hard, we
might go to the funeral or send some flowers, or at the least a card
(depending on how hard we hurt; or how tender our heart
really is.
Well, that is just the
beginning. Of that which I have so briefly spoken, it is what is inside
of us that is unseen that is YHVH working in our lives. Only when we
are tenderhearted will we have sympathy and consequent seen
help for those who are troubled. While you probably have heard your
preacher read a passage with the word in it, I am fairly well convinced
that you have never heard a complete sermon on being
tenderhearted. People are starving for a full meal of teaching
concerning the kingdom of God within us! But we hardly get a smell
from those who fill (?) the pulpits of the churches. Shame on us!
The kingdom (reign) of
YHVH is within us (or at least, it should be). How about letting
God begin to reign in your life? How about letting the kingdom be within
you? How about testing the waters of tenderheartedness instead of
the way that we have been conditioned in a hard-hearted world? Well, why
not think about getting started right now to let God really and truly
reign in our hearts and become tenderhearted so that we can produce the
fruit of the Spirit? It truly is worth every ounce of thinking and energy
that you put into it. Come on now. I know that it will be difficult to
continually think about it when we are faced with people with problems,
but you can do it. Try it! Now!
May YHVH bless you in your
understanding and in becoming tenderhearted, to let the kingdom of God
that is within you, shine forth for others to see. They will desire to
become like you. They will want to be around you. They will become a true
friend.