
The Kingdom of God is Within You, Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy first published his book in 1896. “The Kingdom of God is within You” puts forth his take on the nature of the kingdom of God. There are countless other books and Internet opinions about the kingdom of God. Many, if not most of these, shape the kingdom of God into an image that fits their preconceived notion or worldview (a la Leo) or is molded to fit a doctrine – something we have called presuppositional Scripture weighting.
Fortunately, there are many very plain statements about the kingdom of God in Scripture…
How Scripture answers "What is the nature of the kingdom of God?"
The kingdom of God is…
- …Ruled by a sovereign God3,11,16,18,19, who for a time has given authority to reign over to His Son, Jesus Christ12,15,17, to rule from David’s throne5,20 (until He turns it back to the Father).
- …Referred to not only as the kingdom of God1,6,7,8,9,14 but also the kingdom of heaven4 and the kingdom of His beloved Son10 (as in when Jesus refers to it as “My kingdom”2).
- …A spiritual (not physical) kingdom1,2,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,17,19,20, and in this way fulfills the prophets’ preaching about Zion and a new city/”heavenly Jerusalem“18.
- …Made up of citizens that have been born again6 – namely those that have believed and been baptized7 having come to hear and accept the gospel message8,9,10,13 and are “enrolled in heaven“18. They are priests serving God11.
- …Arrived in Jesus’ day and continues today1,4,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,16,17,18,19,20, as was promised by God to be established in the “latter days”3 (Peter20 introduces his sermon saying it is the “last days” as prophesied by the prophet Joel). It remains forever3,5,18, above and over kingdoms of men3,11 and the kingdom of Satan10,12.
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