The Kingdom of God Within

"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." (Luke 17:20-21)

The end of all things as we have known them is at hand. The unsound and worthless feet of the image of Babylon, part of iron and part of miry clay, are even now crumbling beneath the awesome weight of the legs of iron, the belly and thighs of brass, the breast of silver and the haughty head of gold (Daniel 2:31-45). The image of Babylon is complete. This art of human device now stands before the deceived but admiring eyes of men, a thing of infinite beauty, an image to be trusted, having stood the ravages of millenniums of time. But they do not seem to know that its feet are dross, mingled, weak and corrupt, for they are formed of iron and clay which cannot cling together, and should a stone but fall upon them, collapse they must and with them the haughty image of the systems of this world.

I need not tell you that Daniel, a prophet dearly loved of God, saw the total collapse of the confused systems and governments of this world when in spirit he saw a stone, cut out without hands, smite the image on its useless feet of iron and clay, shattering them in pieces. "Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind (the Spirit) carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth" (Daniel 2:35).

The stone that smote the image, utterly destroying it with one blow upon its deficient feet, must not be regarded as another of earth's corrupt governments. This stone is not made of flint or granite. This is a stone, chosen of God and precious. This is the stone, which the builders rejected, but God has made it the head stone of the corner (Psalm 118:22). This precious stone is also a living stone, a person who is none other than the Son of God, Jesus Christ the King. It was of Him that Peter wrote, saying, "To whom coming, as unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively (living) stones, re built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe He is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed" (1 Peter 2:4-8). The inspiration of the Almighty leaves us in no doubt as to what and who this precious one is that smote the image of Babylon on its feet and then went on to build a kingdom that filled the whole earth. God has declared that "in the days of these kings (represented by the image) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall ever be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44)

There are many sacred realms in scripture where I often fear to tread, not because I doubt their truth or fear to believe the wonders which their truths portray, but I fear those impious men who would with rough-shod feet and unbowed head stomp in to gaze with unsanctified eyes at the burning bush of God's sacred revelation, or who, like Uzzah, stretch forth an unsanctified hand to steady and adjust that which is wholly of the Lord, “There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen: the lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it” (Job 28:7-8). It was because of these that Jesus always spoke in parables that He might safely hide the deep things of God from the carnal heads of the wise and prudent men, and reveal them unto babes who walked in the love and fear of the Lord. I find little difficulty in persuading men and women to believe in sonship. They pounce on the truth like vultures and peddle the message like the hucksters of Petticoat Lane, but I find very, very few men who have the spirit of sonship, the spirit that with bowed head and contrite heart breathes in love and yieldedness, "Abba, Father!" He who has the spirit of sonship has no will of his own; neither has he any plans of his own, nor any ambitions of his own. He has no joy or humility of his own, nor gifts, nor sacrifices, nor righteousness, but his soul is bound in a bundle of life with the Lord his God, and the souls of his enemies, them shall he sling out as out of the middle of a sling (1 Samuel 25:29). His one love and all-consuming passion is bound up in the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.

I have written these solemn facts with purpose and fear lest the ambitious and unsanctified Christian should seize upon the truth we now discuss as just so much more ammunition for his gun or wind for his bag, for some preach Christ of envy and strife and some of good will, while others preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, see Phil. 1:15-16.

The stone, which the builders rejected, is Christ. He is the head stone or the cap stone. The builders of the systems of this world, whether of government or of religion, have rejected Him as their head. Through all the ages the defiant shout of the multitude has been, "We will not have this man to reign over us." He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from Him. My heart's desire and prayer to God for those who read is that the Holy Spirit would now open our eyes to clearly see the full force of the truth set forth in this inspired statement of Peter: "To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively (living) stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:4-5).  May God now open the eyes of our understanding to see that the precious living stone of whom the Spirit speaks is not one stone, but many individual living stones, united by the Spirit of God to become one stone. We, being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another. With all reverence and godly fear I tell you that that one stone, formed of many living stones, is the fullness of God's Christ. The spiritual house which God is building of many living stones is nothing less than the body of Christ, every stone in this building, this house not made with hands, is a living stone. Every living stone is an elect and chosen son of God. Every elect and chosen Son of God is a member of His spiritual body. This is the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Corinthians 5:1). This is the Father's house of many mansions which Jesus called "My Father's house" (John 14:1-2). It is in this spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5), this holy temple, this spiritual body, that God is preparing a place for us even as Jesus said: "In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:2-3).

While we entertain the idea that the Father's house is heaven and the many mansions are beautiful palaces in which we will live when we get to heaven, we miss a whole realm of truth as well as being guilty of very childish understanding. The truth that God would have us know is this: He at infinite cost is building a house for Himself, an eternal mansion in the heavens from which He will govern the whole universe in glory and righteousness. The stones of that mansion are living stones. The living stones are elect and precious saints of God. With reverence and godly fear I proclaim the ineffable truth that these living stones are the in-Christed, the people Paul speaks of as being "in Christ". They are members of His body (1 Cor. 12:12), of His flesh, and of His bones (Eph. 5:30). In one Spirit, even the Holy Spirit, they are all baptized into one body (I Cor. 12:13), and that my body is Christ's body (verse 12), the spiritual house (1 Peter 1:5), the temple of the Lord (2 Cor. 6:16), an house not made with hands (2 Cor. 5:1), and My Father's house (John 14:2).

Oh, the goodness and the greatness of the purpose of God! How infinite His understanding! How wise His ways! How almighty His acts! How infinitely patient His long suffering! Who among men can fathom or describe the purpose of the Lord? Who can ever add to His wisdom or detract from His power? God in wisdom has created the heavens and the earth. From the glass of the earth He took a portion of its dust to form a man, and from the mass of mankind and all the stones thereof He elected and chose the living stones who would form His living temple, His house not made with hands. See with what infinite power the Almighty presses His searching and edifying question upon us, for thus the Lord demands: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are" (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

George R Hawtin

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