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Watchtower: Is the Kingdom of God in Your Heart?

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For Watchtower Wednesday on the Reachout Facebook page last week I pointed to an article on jw.org addressing this question. How do you understand the kingdom of God? How would you explain it to a Jehovah’s Witness?

The Kingdom of Heaven

It is always helpful to start with their understanding of kingdom. This puts them on familiar ground and gives you the chance to address specific ideas they hold to be true. The first thing of which they are sure is, ‘The Bible identifies its true location by calling it “the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 4:17, King James Version)’

What jumps out at me immediately is their use of the King James Bible. Why not quote the New World Translation? The KJV has Jesus refer to ‘the kingdom of heaven,’ a place, while their own NWT has Jesus refer to, ‘the kingdom of the heavens.’

‘Heavens’ translates the Greek ouranos which is anglicised to Uranus. It has the meaning of sky, air, firmament, any area above the earth; heaven(s), the place of sun, moon, and stars; heaven, in which God dwells. "The third heaven" may be a Jewish technical term for God’s dwelling place; "heaven" in some contexts is a euphemism for "God" (Lk 15:18) [STEP Bible]

Thayer’s gives ‘the vaulted expanse of the sky with all things visible in it, the universe, the world.’ (emphasis mine). Clearly, if your aim is to give heaven a specific location, this definition is not helpful. The Watchtower want a specific location in order to identify a seat of government for their 144,000, but it doesn’t work given their own translation of ‘heavens.’ Ironic, isn’t it?

There is a further problem with Matthew’s gospel here. They insist Matthew, in writing ‘kingdom of heaven,’ gives us the location of God’s government. The other gospels give ‘kingdom of God.’ The reason for the difference is not, however, as they think. Indeed, the explanation is very simple.

Matthew is writing for a predominantly Jewish audience, hence the many references to the Old Testament and fulfilled prophecy. Given this audience he would avoid any direct reference to God (Gk. Theos, see Mt.19:14 and Mk.10:14). Matthew is not locating a place but using a different word because of Jewish sensibilities, a word that can be a euphemism for ‘God’ as in Lk.15:18 (cf Jn.3:27; Mt.21:25)

There is further irony in their use of the KJV later. They have used this translation authoritatively to establish that ‘the kingdom’ is in heaven (Mt.4:17). Now they use the KJV as an example of poor translation in saying ‘the kingdom of God is within you,’ (Lk.17:21). They are right, of course, when they say Jesus would not tell unbelieving Pharisees the kingdom of God was within them. The NWT correctly gives, ‘the kingdom of God is in your midst.’ Yet they continue to miss the point.

The Kingdom of God is Here!

The kingdom of God is in their midst because the king is standing before them. The Pharisees have asked Jesus about the coming kingdom and Jesus’ reply is a clear ‘it is here!’ How does the Bible bring us to this declaration of the immanence of the kingdom, and what are the implications?

John the Baptist came to prepare the way for the kingdom, crying, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,’ (Mt. 3:3). He warned God’s people, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ (Mt.3:5) Luke has John warning Israel, ‘Bear fruit in keeping with repentance...Even now the axe is laid at the root of the trees,’ (Lk.3:7-9)

I am reminded of Paul’s teaching in Athens, ‘The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent…’ (Acts 17:30) There is urgency in this message for the king in whom the kingdom resides is here. ‘The kingdom of God is in your midst.’

‘Kingdom’ (Gk. basileia) carries the meaning both of the realm or domain of the king (Mt.12:25) and the king himself. When Jesus declares, ‘the kingdom of God is in your midst,’ he is saying the future hope to which Israel looked is now here in present time in the person of the king. In other words, wherever the rule and reign of God in Christ the king prevails there is the kingdom. In this sense the kingdom can be said to be in the hearts of those who love and serve the king.

Christ the king is enthroned, both in heaven and in those who love and follow him. The gospel message invites sinners to repent and prepare in their own lives a way for the king. Every day those who respond positively to the message of the gospel are entering the kingdom, becoming citizens of another country (Heb.11:16)

Luke 17:21 clearly points to the present day reality of the kingdom. Jesus teaches that it will not be necessary for people to point out the kingdom’s location because, ‘the kingdom of God is in your midst.’ In the lives of believers the kingdom is a present reality, not just some future hope.

Another key text is Mt. 16:28 where Jesus tells his disciples, ‘there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming into his kingdom.’ Peter equates Jesus’ ‘glory’ and ‘majesty’ with the transfiguration, of which he was a witness. The resurrection sees Christ rise in triumph, and the ascension sees him rise to the throne prepared for him. Pentecost sees the church endowed with power by the Holy Spirit, and Paul reminds believers we are, ‘seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,’ (Eph.2:6)

There is a present as well as a future reality to this picture of the kingdom. The kingdom can be described as, ‘the whole of God’s redeeming activity in Christ in the world,’ (New Bible Dictionary) The church is not the kingdom but it is the assembly of those who have accepted the gospel message and acknowledged the kingship of Jesus. Peter, again, reminds Christians:

‘You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.’ (1 Pet.2:9)

The church is the visible, though not yet complete expression of the kingdom, ‘a people for his own possession’ which will be fully revealed at Christ’s second advent. We confess Christ before the world and eagerly anticipate the day of his coming to rule and reign completely over all of creation.

Where is the kingdom of God? In the hearts and lives of every Christian passing through this world, being salt and light in this world, and looking eagerly for the world to come.

For more on this subject see Kingdom or Government on the Reachout trust website




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