Where Is The Kingdom?
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One of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible is Luke 17:21. This is another example of the mistranslations found in our well‑loved King James Bible. As found in the King James Bible, Luke 17:20‑21 reads as follows.
"And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of Yahweh should come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of Yahweh cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or Lo there! For behold, the kingdom of Yahweh is within you."
This has led many to consider the phrase kingdom of Yahweh, to be a false and misleading term. This� has led people to believe that is not referring to a kingdom at all, but just to a mere state of mind, in this� they are greatly mistaken.
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In the first place, the Greek word translated within, is entos, which really means among or in the midst of. This same word is correctly translated among, 115 times in the King James Bible. For example John :26,
�John answered them saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not."
Here is the same Greek word. Certainly no intelligent person could have said to the people standing around John the Baptist, "There is a person standing inside of you, whom you know not," so it was correctly translated among you.
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Actually, the correct translation of the Greek in Luke 17:21 is this.
"Nor will they say Lo here! Or Lo there! For the majesty of Yahweh is in the midst of you."
(Diaglott) Correctly translated, it makes sense and is literally true, mistranslated it is false and misleading.
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Consider for a moment who it was that said to Yahshua, "When shall the kingdom of Yahweh come?" They were Pharisees. Would Yahshua have told these Pharisees that the kingdom of Yahweh was within them, in their hearts? Let's see what He really knew and said about them.
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In Matthew 23:15, Yahshua is talking directly to the Pharisees and eight different times He denounces them. "Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" Are these the people who have the kingdom of Yahweh in their hearts? In the 13th verse He tells them,
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in."
In the 28th verse, He tells them what is in their hearts.
"Even so, ye also outwardly appear righteous men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."�
Is this the kingdom of Yahweh? No, and it never will be within them.
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Then where is the kingdom of Yahweh? Is it a real kingdom, not just a rarified shadow up on cloud nine? The Bible tells us what it is and where it is. Naturally the throne of Yahweh is in His kingdom. Where is that? King David and King Solomon sat on earthly thrones. The Bible tells us this was the throne of Yahweh.
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1 Chronicles 28:5 makes this clear.
"Yahweh hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of Yahweh as king, instead of David his father."
Do you think Yahweh will never occupy this throne? Listen to Isaiah 9:6‑7 speaking about Yahshua.
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty Yahweh, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David."
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Luke 1:32‑33 speaking of Yahshua says,
"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and Yahweh shall give to Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever: and of His kingdom there shall be no end".
This confirms Jeremiah 3:17, which says, "And at that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Yahweh."
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You may wonder about John 18:36 where Yahshua tells Pontius Pilate,
"My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is My kingdom not from hence."
Yahshua was speaking to a Roman who represented the fourth and last of the Babylonian order of empires, which Yahweh prophesied in the second chapter of Daniel. Yahweh gave these empires a charter to rule 2,520 years, of which seventeen centuries were yet to come when Yahshua spoke.
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Certainly Yahshua's kingdom was not of this world order. The Greek word wrongly translated world is kosmos, meaning order or system. So Yahshua told Pilate,
"My kingdom is not of this order: if My kingdom were of this system, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is My kingdom not from hence."
This did not mean that His kingdom was merely a state of mind; it meant that He always keeps His word. Having promised the Babylonian order of empires 2,520 years to rule, He would not overthrow them before the appointed time.
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The people knew the time for the coming of the Messiah was at hand. However, they didn't understand that His first coming was to be as Savior and Redeemer; they were expecting Him to come as king. Mark 11:9‑10 tells that when Yahshua came to Jerusalem just before the crucifixion, the people greeted Him as King.
"And they that went before, and they that followed cried, saying Hosanna; blessed is He that cometh in the name of Yahweh."
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After His resurrection, the apostles asked Him,
"Yahshua, will Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"
They knew this was Yahweh's kingdom, though their expectation was premature. Yahshua told His disciples in Matthew chapter 24 and Luke chapter 21, of the signs of the end of the age and of His second coming, as King of Kings. He concluded with these words in Luke 21:31,
"So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of Yahweh is nigh at hand."
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This couldn't possible refer to just a state of mind, in that case the prophesied signs would have nothing to do with it. Some would have had this state of mind many centuries earlier, while to others it would never come. Neither can it be spiritualized away and transferred to some church. Yahshua told the chief priests who were then ruling in Jerusalem,
"The kingdom of Yahweh shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." (Matthew 21:43)
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When Yahshua first came, the church of His day would not receive Him as Savior. They rejected Him because He didn't come as king then. When He comes the second time, the churches of our day will again reject Him because they will only accept Him as Savior, but not as a real and literal king. In spite of them, He will return to reign over a real and tangible kingdom; it is here on this earth.
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In Daniel 2:44 & 7:18,27 we are promised,
"And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never 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. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. And the kingdom and dominion and greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him."
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Who are the saints of the Most High, who shall rule with Yahweh in His kingdom? Are they the various people who have been selected by some church for special honor because of some act of piety? No indeed! The Bible tells us who all of Yahweh's saints are, note that not just some of them but all of them. It is Psalm 148:14, which tells us,
"He also exalteth the horn of His people, the praise of all His saints, even of the children of Israel, a people near unto Him."
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This is the same kingdom of Israel where Yahweh's throne has always been. This throne exists today in England, where the genealogy of the British royal family proves their direct descent from King David, just as prophecy had foretold. It is the same Israel, known today as the Anglo Saxon group of nations. This includes the United States, the white parts of the British Empire, Germany, Holland, and the Scandinavian nations.
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All parts of the Bible, when correctly translated, are consistent. They all prove Yahweh always keeps His word. His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that their descendants would be a great nation and a company of nations, and that He would never forsake them, have been kept. We Anglo Saxons, the Israel of the Bible, are the living proof of this. (Taken, in part, from an article entitled, �Where Is The Kingdom?� By Bertrand L. Comparet)