,
As we go through the Easter week story, we can see that the Lord is trying
to change the appearance that people have. The appearance is that the Lord is
coming to be some kind of earthly ruler who will set up an earthly Utopia. But
you can’t just see His Kingdom “here” or “there.” It does not just exist in one
country and not in another.
The Kingdom of God is truly within us. It is something we can take with
us everywhere we go, no matter where we are. Nor is it something we have to
wait for until we die. Surely the fullness of the Lord’s Kingdom does exist in
heaven, but how much of it can exist in us now? How much can it exist in this
world?
The Heavenly Doctrines give us good definitions of what the Kingdom
is here in this world: “By the Kingdom of God, in the universal sense, is
meant ‘the universal heaven;’ in a sense less universal, ‘the true church of the
Lord;’ and in a particular sense, ‘everyone who is of the true faith, or who is
regenerated by a life of faith.’” (Secrets of Heaven 29)
The Lord’s Kingdom is the universal heaven. It is on this earth as the
true church of the Lord with everyone who follows that true faith. In a more
particular way it is with those who are regenerated by a life according to that
faith. We read that “a person who has been
regenerated has the Kingdom of God within
him and becomes in image the Kingdom of
God or heaven.” (Ibid. 5212)
So where is the Kingdom of God? It
doesn’t come with obs