Where Is the New Jerusalem Part 2

Another misconception that is preached in some modern churches is the idea that the Kingdom of God, or the kingdom where Gods ruling nations exist are inside of you (not to be confused with the prophetic New Jerusalem that will come to earth at the Messiah's return).

This belief comes from the misinterpretation of Luke 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.”

The misinterpretation of this verse unfortunately leads some people to believe that the regathering of Israel is not a literal kingdom, but rather it's just a state of mind inside of you. When the translators were translating the bible they used the word “within” when the word they should have used is the word among, or in the midst of.

The Greek word that caused the confusion is the word en-did-oos-ko Strong's # 1737. This word and its derivatives directly mean to surround yourself closely with something such as clothing. This word does not mean inside of you by any stretch of the imagination. If someone reads this verse in its entire context using the incorrect word “within” it would read as if the Messiah is telling the Pharisees that the Kingdom of God was within the Pharisees themselves which is wrong even from the point of view for the Jewish-Christian (Judeo-Christian) which can be shown easily in Matthew 23 when the Messiah denounced the Pharisees eight times. Then he addressed the Pharisees and chief priests of Jerusalem in Matthew 21:43 and told them that the kingdom will be taken from them and given to a different nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

Another verse that Clergy use to try to show the kingdom is inside of you is when the messiah told Pontius Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world as in John 18:36. The correct meaning of the Greek word that was mistranslated as “world” is the word kos-mos Strong's #2889 which literally means order or arrangement. The correct interpretation of this sentence if written correctly would read something similar to “my kingdom is not of this order, or system”, in other words he was no threat to the Roman system of government at that point in time.

It was known by all at that time that the Messiah's kingdom had nothing to do with the ungodly Babylonian system that the Romans had adopted for their system of government. This concept can be be illustrated in  Mark 11:9-10 when he was being brought into the rebuilt Godless city of Jerusalem and it was announced that the Kingdom of David cometh. The Apostles then asked the Messiah after his resurrection “is the kingdom of God was coming now?” In Matthew 24 and Luke 21 he told them of the signs of its coming.

We are in our Fathers Kingdom (Luke 20:9-16) and the Messiah is our kinsman redeemer. We are not doing a good job of ruling his kingdom through his perfect laws, we are letting it be destroyed through gradualism and through the leaven of the pharisees (Matt 16:6), and this is exactly the reason why the tells us to pray the words “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”, (Matt 6:10). 

Eventually he will return as the stone that destroys the Babylonian system we are enslaved under because his Kingdom here on earth has become corrupted. He will establish his prophetic ruling city as the time is nigh, what a glorious day it will be!

There's no way any reasonable person can look at the bible and spiritualize the kingdom away into a state of mind within you.

Praise be the name of the Lord!