During the Lord’s time here on earth he was repeatedly questioned by the Pharisees and Sadducees in an effort to catch him in his words and prove that he was not the Messiah for whom they were looking.  One of the marks of the Messiah was that he was going to come and establish an everlasting kingdom.  The Jewish people were oppressed by the Romans and he was repeatedly questioned as to whether or not he would “restore the kingdom” at that time. When his accusers brought him before Pilot, they claimed he called himself a king.  When Pilot asked him if he was a king, he did not deny the claim, but simply stated, “My kingdom is not of this world:”  Imagine the mental shock of his statement to the Pharisees in this passage of scripture: Luk 17:20-21, ” 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.”  They were looking for a natural restoration of the lineage of David and a freedom from the bondage of Rome.  What they did not understand was that instead of an everlasting physical kingdom, Jesus Christ came to establish an eternal spiritual kingdom free from the bondage of sin and death.
He accomplished that task with his sacrifice on Calvary, and the door of his kingdom is open to all those who willingly obey his word.  He told Nicodemus in John 3:1-5, that those who will enter into his kingdom, those who will become subjects of his reign, must be born again into it.  That birth consists of water and the Spirit, as outlined in Acts 2:38, “Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”  When you repent and turn from sin, wash them away through baptism in his name, and are filled with his Spirit you become his subject.  He rules within your soul … his kingdom is within you.  How awesome is that?!?!
Rom 14:17 says, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”   Yes we still look for a final place of residence in that new heaven and new earth he speaks of in Revelation, but what a joy to know that we are already citizens of that country.  If you have not obeyed God’s plan for your new birth, don’t wait any longer.  Start your pilgrimage today.  I pray we rejoice together in the day when he returns to redeem his children from the earth.
GOD BLESS AND HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

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