"For Behold, The Kingdom of Heaven is Within You"

One of the age old questions since the time of Christ and before, was the "coming of the Messiah" and the end of times. When would the Kingdom of Heaven come to earth? Since Christ's time this question has plagued and dominated theological discussions and has been a source of division, speculation and outright fraud. Some sects even have gone so far as to commit mass suicide in anticipation of the event commonly referred to as the second coming, or the "rapture".

Ironically, Christ himself was challenged on this account by the Pharisees of the Sanhedrin. And his answer to this day is unfortunately ignored, or misunderstood.

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.

The simplistic beauty of this answer has always stood out as a key insight to the Gospel of Christ and provides a clear path to the Kingdom to all who simply read it. The Pharisees demand from Christ to know when he feels the kingdom of God would appear on the earth. His answer however states it will not. According to Christ's answer, the kingdom will not have an "arrival date". "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation", or in other words, is not something we will "see". It will not be some remarkable occurrence where men shall cry "lo, it is here!" or "lo, it is there". Instead he told them, ...the kingdom of God, is within us.

What does that mean? The kingdom is within us? The answer is obvious. Either its here, or its not. But it won't be something we will see with our eyes happening in an instant. It will be something that will evolve over time. Christ gave us his commandments for living the divine life. He gave us a pathway to achieving earthly bliss, by how we treat one another and how we can work together as a people, forgiving trespass and learning to love and coexist one with another, no matter how different we may be. Thus, the kingdom of heaven is literally inside each of us. We each have the individual power to live in such a way as to make the world around us a heaven, or a hell. Unfortunately man has usually chosen to make it a hell, yet the power is still within each of us to live in such a way as to make the world around us more like heaven, and less like hell. Be kind to one another, turn the other cheek, forgive and forget, help each other, help the poor, the needy, the widow and the convict. Have compassion for all living things. Do no harm, work well and enjoy our time hear, and lo and behold the kingdom of heaven, will be here.

Thus, the kingdom of heaven is truly within us. All we have to do, is let it out.

No doubt this message will come as blasphemy to those denominations anxiously awaiting some war-like second coming where Christ will appear in a fiery chariot, guns blazing to lead a righteous Christian army to victory over whoever gets in their way. But the fact is Christ made it clear his kingdom was not of this earth, and these sects make the same mistake the Zealots of old did in supposing Christ as Messiah would bring about some sort of military victory over evil, or at least who they deem evil. (usually liberals, Muslims, Gays and Lesbians, Jews, Atheists, and anyone else they don't like or feel is not in line with their hardliner dogmatic ideologies). But as he told them then, so now too the Kingdom is not going to be established on this earth via military victory. Christ doesn't need our guns. God doesn't need our armies. The puny armies of man are as vanity to God, and he is no respecter of nations, or principalities. Our government, is not God's government, nor will his government ever be established, via ours. Render unto Caesar that which is Caesars and unto God that which is Gods, was the admonishment of Christ. And God requires a broken heart and a contrite spirit, not a gun.