Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21, NIV).
Did you hear that? Jesus said that “the kingdom of God is within you.” It is not a physical kingdom first. It is not about land or armies or money or earthly power. In fact, the King of this Kingdom won victory on a cross. Some of the greatest subjects of the Kingdom have been killed for their faith in this King, and today many of them look old and weak and small in the eyes of the world. The Kingdom starts within you and grows out from there.
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Peggy Noonan has written a new biography of Pope John Paul II.2 One of the most interesting things is her assessment of how transforming it was when the newly elected Polish Pope went to Communist Poland. The Communists did not know what to do with the situation. If they refused to offer an invitation, they would appear fearful of him. If they invited him to come, they might have a revolution on their hands. In the end, as you know, they had no choice but to reluctantly invite him.
When he went, he kissed the ground. Millions — literally millions — came out to hear him preach some of his most moving sermons. On the official Polish television reports of the Pope’s visit, he was barely mentioned. When the average Polish citizen saw that, having experienced the electric messages, having seen the millions who turned out, Noonan says that this average Pole thought to himself, “It’s over.” Communism died when one Pole, then a million, ten million, thirty million thought, “It’s over.” John Paul II never raised a gun or lifted his arm, but a revolution began from the inside out.
And so it is with the kingdom of God. The world was in darkness, and Satan ruled the world. But at the cross Jesus, through His sacrifice, through His resurrection, through the empowering of His people, lit a candle that could never be put out. It was over. How will America be won to Christ? Or India? Or the Middle East? Or China? From the inside out. One person, then a hundred, then a million, all saying in their hearts, “It’s over; our God reigns.”
This is how this prayer changes the world.
The Kingdom of God Is Opposed
There are two kingdoms at work in the world.
Paul wrote, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).