 THE
INTERNAL KINGDOM
Much of what we have seen and shared of the Kingdom of God has to
do with the " Internal Kingdom". This insight focuses upon the laws of the
Kingdom being written upon the hearts and put into the minds of the New Covenant believer.
It has to do with God causing us to walk in His ways. It includes the promise " They
shall all be taught of God". This is certainly primary. Without the subjective
Kingdom there can be no objective expression of the Kingdom. The objective Kingdom is a
goal for life and ministry. Therefore, the message of the internal, subjective Kingdom is
essential, primary and foundational. No one will be able to manifest the Kingdom who is
not indwelt by the Kingdom. Now within this time period, of current church history, many
have "received" the Kingdom, internally, through the laws of God being written
upon the hearts and put into their minds as provision of the New Covenant. (Heb. 8:10.)
However, the reality of the Kingdom is not seen in this supernatural work of the Holy
Spirit. The Kingdom can only be seen in reality, as an outward expression, when the laws
are read, interpreted, understood and obeyed. If we don't understand these subjective
laws, how will we obey? If we don't obey, we have the Kingdom in name only. One aspect of
the message of the Kingdom is to constantly remind us the laws are really there, within
us. Are we being careful each day to read, understand and obey them? We carry these laws
with us. We can't forget and leave them in the backs of our bibles. These laws are not
religious. They are not something we can fake. There is no use pretending. Either we obey
or we don't. These laws are between each of us and God. They involve no one else.
Therefore, they are personal and individual. In this sense then, we can speak of the
personal Kingdom. We can speak of the "Internal Kingdom". In Christian cliches,
we hear about Jesus having His throne in your heart. In addition to the Kingdom coming to
us as the laws of heaven, the Kingdom also comes to us redemptively. It comes to us to
change us and rectify us to fit into the eternal Kingdom of Heaven. Kingdom redemption is
more than being forgiven of past sins. Redemption means to be bought back for the original
purpose. To be reclaimed. To regain full possession by purchase. Jesus paid our redemption
price, to buy us back, so God can take full possession of us for His original purpose.
Thank God for the blood of Jesus Christ that provides for our forgiveness of sins.
However, that is not the whole message of Calvary. It is also not the whole message of the
Kingdom. 1CO 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is
in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 1CO 6:20 For you have been
bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. EPH 1:13 In Him, you also, after
listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-- having also believed,
you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, EPH 1:14 who is given as a pledge
of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise
of His glory. ROM 6:22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive
your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. 2CO 5:14 For the
love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all
died; 2CO 5:15 and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for
themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. These scriptures should
fit into our lives someplace. If we preach "Grace, Grace", we can ignore the
Kingdom. These scriptures present the Kingdom aspect of Calvary. The church has preached
Calvary for now and the Kingdom for later. However, within Calvary is also the Kingdom
message. If we preach half a message we get half a commitment. Calvary without the Kingdom
has resulted in a self-satisfied church. The cliche is: Saved and satisfied. The
half-saved response to the Kingdom then is: Don't trouble me with all this sacrifice
stuff. I don't want to hear about laying down my life. Just preach to me that obedience is
"works". Just tell me I'm am saved by grace and not by works. Just preach to me
" Feel good messages", where nothing is required of me, except to believe. I'm
not interested in hearing about "my cross". Don't tell me about serving others.
Just tell me everything is O.K. because I'm born again. The Kingdom aspect of Calvary has
been confused, abstract and presented only as a future event. In short, the Kingdom has
been lost to our experience. Some still hang on to the doctrine. To no longer live for
yourself and to live wholly for Him, requires a Kingdom revelation and an inward Kingdom
work. Sometimes we get the idea that if we just tell people that, they will immediately
respond, " Oh really. I didn't know that. I will begin today ". The reality is
that the majority of those "born again" continue to live for themselves but are
quoting "It is no longer I who lives". Many who have suffered the loss of
nothing are quoting "I have suffered the loss of all things". They are referring
to their former sins and perverted pleasures. The Kingdom has become just another
Christian cliche, rather than a subjective power and demonstration of the Spirit. The
legal system of heaven and the laws of the Kingdom must still come into the " born
again believer" to accomplish an inner work of discipline and change. The
"I", "me", and "my" principle that remains must be put to
death. For multitudes " I have been crucified with Christ" is just a positional
statement. There are few who can give that as a testimony of their experience. It may be
proper for the one who is just been born again, to hold to that as a positional statement.
But the one who has experienced the Kingdom in power, has that scripture as a personal
testimony. For Paul that was not a positional statement. When the truly Kingdom person
says "Old things have passed away, all things have become new" it is the realism
of what God has done. There are two extremes presented as the " Gospel of the
Kingdom". One is the internalized, personal and individualistic aspect of the
subjective Kingdom. The other is the outward, externalized, impersonal and universal
aspect of the objective Kingdom. Both are right collectively but separately they are both
extremes. The gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus preached was a balance between the two. The
inward Kingdom with an outward expression. Mat 5, 6, and 7 reveals the balance. If we made
up our own parable we could say, " The Kingdom of heaven is comparable to a balance
scale where the subjective work of the Kingdom of God perfectly balance the objective work
for the Kingdom of God. The subjective Kingdom is first and primary and the objective
Kingdom is next and secondary. However, the subjective Kingdom is not more important than
the objective Kingdom. It requires both for the Kingdom to have expression. The subjective
Kingdom has it's expression in the demonstration of the objective Kingdom. We are using
the term " Objective Kingdom" to define a work or function that has the inward
Kingdom as it's motivating force. The outward work should be the result of the inward
Kingdom life. We are making a distinction between " the Kingdom work" and the
ordinary work that has been taught and learned by rote. This could apply to discipleship
that is learned as a classroom subject. Discipline that is enforced by position or title.
It could be the handing out of doctrine books so all can teach the same thing. The motive
may be good but the method is outside the Kingdom. The early church had no New Testament
Bibles, no tape players, no literature and no doctrine books. Then how did they survive?
How did they know what to preach? They must have had the "Inward Kingdom". I
know we call that " the anointing" but there had to be something for the
anointing to rest upon. Today we have multiplied millions who have received "THE
ANOINTING" but there is little evidence of the Kingdom in that anointing. The
"Inward Kingdom" may be an offensive term to some who have not considered the
inward laws and government of God as a normal Christian experience. We may more likely use
terms like "they are really saved" or " they have recognized the Lordship
of Jesus Christ". Some may use the term " they have come to a complete
consecration". The holiness people might refer to it as " entire
sanctification". Watchman Nee calls this " The Normal Christian Life". Most
sound like Christian cliches that have lost the power of definition. We are using "
The Inward Kingdom" to speak of the New Covenant promise " They shall all be
taught of God". The Heavenly Father disciplines the son He loves. Enduring discipline
has to do with submitting to the inward dealings of God's government in our lives. HEB
12:5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "My
son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by
Him; HEB 12:6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom
He receives. " HEB 12:7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as
with sons; for what son is there whom {his} father does not discipline? To apply these
scriptures to the discipline of elders or church discipline is too shallow. The New
Covenant promises to put inward laws into our hearts and minds. HEB 8:8 For finding fault
with them, He says, "Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, When I will effect a new
covenant With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; HEB 8:9 Not like the
covenant which I made with their fathers On the day when I took them by the hand To lead
them out of the land of Egypt; For they did not continue in My covenant, And I did not
care for them, says the Lord. HEB 8:10 "For this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their
minds, And I will write them upon their hearts. And I will be their God, And they shall be
My people. HEB 8:11 "And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, And
everyone his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' For all shall know Me, From the least to
the greatest of them. HEB 8:12 "For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I
will remember their sins no more." This is not one man teaching another man. If the
Kingdom is comparable to leaven, then the Kingdom must do an inward work until spirit,
soul and body are leavened with the subjective Kingdom. It seems clear that the Kingdom
must do an inward, transforming work in us. Paul and others went into new areas where the
gospel had never been preached. These were pagan and heathen cultures. They preached a few
weeks, established a church and left them on their own. They had no New Testament. No hand
out literature, no tapes and no telephones. There was no contact with these new souls. How
could they survive, and that even with persecution? They must have received the New
Covenant as "Life". God must have been teaching them. That is what we are
calling " The Inward Kingdom". Now the inward Kingdom is not designed to lay
dormant and have no expression in outward life and ministry. All who have the inward
Kingdom life have the potential for outward Kingdom ministry. If the outward kingdom
ministry is the result of God's inward work, then ministry is not a matter of one person
teaching another the fine points of ministry. Ministry is the spontaneous outflow of
Kingdom life. All who have the inward kingdom life have the potential for outward Kingdom
ministry. Jesus said MAT 24:14 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in
the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come. This is
surely going to require more than a few "trained" ministers or even satellite
T.V. In ACT 11:19 we see how this could happen. So then those who were scattered because
of the persecution that arose in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and
Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone. ACT 11:20 But there
were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and {began} speaking to
the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. ACT 11:21 And the hand of the Lord was with
them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. The bible says the Apostles
remained in Jerusalem so these were ordinary people who had no New Testaments, carried no
Old Testaments and had no modern means of evangelism. Still everywhere they went they
preached to the Jews and to the Gentiles. They were not sharing the four spiritual laws.
They didn't take those who were interested to the "trained ministers" for
instruction. They must have just ministered the life that was in them. Thank God, it
doesn't say what message they preached or we could copy it, memorize it and preach it
without the inward Kingdom life. In Acts it says Paul preached the Kingdom of God and the
Lord Jesus Christ. However, it doesn't record what that message was. Why has God hidden
from us what the Gospel of the Kingdom is? Why hasn't He given us a sample sermon to
follow? Because that is exactly what we would do. We would just preach it without the
inward Kingdom life. If we first get the Kingdom within, the Kingdom message will come
out. We won't have to buy 52 sermons on the Kingdom for $52.00 from the latest ads. The
inward Kingdom has an outward expression. The gospel of the Kingdom of God. This is not
something you can be taught by man or something you can learn by rote. ( rote means: the
repetition of forms or phrases by a routine but often without attention to meaning).
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