"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. And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation."
In today's lesson, Jesus was asked when His kingdom (His Church) would come, in response, Jesus made two distinct statements, He said; "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:" and "the kingdom of God is within you."
The first statement said, in essence, the origin of His Church was not something that could be physically observed. This means that when a soul is saved, or when a person becomes a child of God, there will be no outward signs. In other words, one cannot determine whether or not a person is a child of God simply by looking at him or her.
The second statement clearly says the the "kingdom of God" is "IN YOU", referring, of course, to those who had devoted their spiritual selves to Him.
This means that one's true devotion to God, through Jesus Christ, can only be made known by the person who is a Child of God.
The bodies of the saved are the temples of God, just as Paul said in his letter to the Church at Corinth; "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (Corinthians 3:16)
Although there are many "Christian" denominations today who contend that the "Church" was not established until Pentecost, today's lesson clarifies that Christ's Church began when the first Apostle, (Peter) believed that Jesus was the Son of God and accepted Him as saviour.
Jesus told Peter; "That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."(Matthew 16:18) This also clarifies that Peter was the first member of the Church, and that Christ's Church was built from that point forward with the souls of all who would come to believe that Jesus was the Son of God and the only remitter of sin.~
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