Paul defines the Kingdom of God as being righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). This means that God's gifts of his righteousness, and his peace, and his joy - beginning with his love - are all inside of us. They belong to us.
WHERE IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD?
Jesus says, "The Kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21). God is a very personal God, and his Kingdom is very personalized for us. It's not an entity, a government, or even a place. It's a reality that is intended to exist for us on a daily basis.
Is there an actual 'heaven,' which some refer to as the Kingdom of God? Yes there is. The Bible speaks of heaven as being place where we spend eternal life. But what Jesus wants us to see is that it begins here in this life on earth. This is what he calls 'being born from above,' in John 3. God's Kingdom is something that enters into us here and now.
It's like eternal life. Eternal life is eternal - it lasts forever - and Paul calls it 'immortality' (II Tim 1:10). But here, he also says that both (1) life and (2) eternal life or immortality are brought to life to us through the gospel. Jesus says something similar in John 17:3 in his prayer to the Father: "This is eternal life: that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." Eternal life is both later, and it is now.
WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD?
We actually just saw this in Romans 14:17. In addition to God's love, which underlies everything, Paul says the Kingdom consists of three things:
(1) God's righteousness in us (II Cor 5:21, Rom 5:17)
(2) God's peace in us (John 14:27) - God is often called 'the God of peace'
(3) God joy is in us (John 15:11, 17:13)
This is a picture of total mental and physical health. When we know God's righteousness is ours, and receive it as Romans 5:17 says, then peace and joy become ours. We cannot know God's righteousness living under laws, rules and precepts, because this puts the focus on us. It makes us feel guilty, condemned and unrighteous (Rom 3:19, II Cor 3:6). Most of us don't know our righteousness because we live principle-focused lives.
HOW DOES THE KINGDOM OF GOD WORK?
See these in reverse-order. Joy is the outward expression of what is inside: it can be seen by others. Peace is our inward mood, attitude, or thought processes. Righteousness is the reason for peace and joy. Righteousness is of the spirit, peace is of the soul, and joy is seen in our bodies: by others in the way we live.
Joy expresses the person of God in us, and peace is what radiates joy.
But what is it that causes peace to reside in us? It is knowing our God's righteousness in us that produces peace in us, as we see in Romans 14:17. Paul says the same thing in Romans 5:1: "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Justification is what produces our sense of righteousness - which is what produces peace.
Everything comes down to us knowing our righteousness in Christ - our justification by him because of his death on the cross. When we live in this state of being, and when God's gift of righteousness becomes daily reality to us, then we live in peace and joy.
This is true even "when bad things happen to good people." Our peace and joy are not determined by outward circumstances, but by the inward reality of God in us.
BEING IGNORANT OF GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS
Paul says we are ignorant of God's righteousness in us when we live life trying to establish our own righteousness (Rom 10:2). When we live trying to establish our own righteousness by means of things we do, then we don't 'submit ourselves to the righteousness of God.' Paul says this happens when we live by means of laws and rules (Phil 3:9).This is actually living in 'the kingdom of SELF,' and not 'the kingdom of GOD.'
Living life by law destroys the power of God's love in us (II Cor 5:14).
Psychology teaches that love (in various expressions) is the strongest force on earth. Yet so many Christians try to live by law rather than in God's love. It's like they trust law more than they do God's grace.
Living like this will never produce the Kingdom of God in us: righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Again, the Kingdom of God is a place: it is eternal life in heaven. But it must begin here by us believing and trusting God, and allowing his Kingdom to take up residence in us, and become reality to us.
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