What is the Kingdom of God?

   I have heard this phrase so many times in the Bible, but I really didn't know what it really meant.   To understand what the Kingdom of God is, we must first understand what a kingdom is.

     So what exactly is a kingdom?   Websters 1828 Dictionary says,

 "1. The rank, quality, state, or attributes of a king; royal authority; sovereign power; rule; dominion; monarchy 2. The territory or country subject to a king or queen; the dominion of a monarch; the sphere in which one is king or has control."

So a kingdom consists of a ruler, a jurisdiction, and subjects.

In the Kingdom of God, who is the ruler?

God.

What is the jurisdiction?

The whole universe.

Who are the subjects?

Us humans, (and all the beings on the other worlds)

So we see that the kingdom of God definitely has some differences from worldly kingdoms.

For one, earthly kingdoms rise and fall, but praise God,God's kingdom  never falls!

Also the kingdom of Jesus is governed by a totally different way,

Worldly kingdoms hold the allegiance of their subjects by force,or by fear of punishment;

But the kingdom of God has the allegiance of its subjects through love!

We obey Him because of the love He has shown us in giving His Son to buy us back.

Let's look at some texts of what the kingdom of God is.

Luke 17:20-21 says,

"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." 

What in the world does this mean when it says that the kingdom of God is in you?

You might think,'Oh that doesn't make any sense!'

The kingdom of God is not an earthly kingdom where it's set up at some location. It consists of us as the loyal subjects and Jesus as our king in our hearts! Isn't that wonderful? It's that simple! All we need to do, is accept the invitation for Jesus to come and work in us!  

Revelation 3:20 says,

"Behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with Me."

  Another beautiful thing is, that to become a citizen of God's kingdom, we aren't a citizen just because we were born in it, as in earthly kingdoms, but by voluntarily surrendering our 'old man' in exchange for Christ by baptism!  But just as in earthly kingdoms, we must show that we are worthy citizens by following the laws of God's government!  However, we don't gain favor of God by being good! We accept the righteous life that Jesus lived as our own!

So let's decide to have Jesus live in us and for us to be His loyal subject!