One afternoon, a Pharisee approaches Yeshua with a question:
“When will the kingdom of God come?”
In a culture longing for political liberation from Rome, this was not a casual question. Many expected a messiah who would wield power, overthrow oppressors, and restore Israel’s glory.
But Yeshua’s answer silences them:
“The kingdom of God does not come by observation…
…the kingdom of God is within you.”
I’m not sure we can truly grasp the mind-blowing implications of that statement—in our own lives, let alone within the historical context in which he spoke those words.
The word he uses in his response—malkutha—does not primarily mean a political “kingdom” defined by borders or power structures.
Malkutha in the Semitic context refers to the present moment—a way of living, loving, and listening that reflects one’s awareness of the preeminent wisdom of The Source of All That Is.
And, taking it a step deeper, within the context of Yeshua’s own words, he is saying that within each of us, if we are willing to have ears to hear and eyes to see, is the:
the divine flow
the active presence of God
the reign of Love
the profound harmony that arises when we are aligned with the Source, and
the awakening of divine consciousness within the human heart when we do so.
The kingdom was not something to wait for.
It was something to wake up to.
This was salvation: not by entering a place but opening to a Presence.
“I Came That They Might Have Life… and Have It More Abundantly”
Imagine hearing these words in Yeshua’s voice:
“I came that they might have Life,
and have it abundantly.”
Not life later.
Life (with a capital “L”) now.
Life awakened.
His tone is not booming; it is inviting.
A recognition that people had forgotten their birthright.
A reminder that they had been living far below who they truly were.
In Aramaic, life is deeply tied to the foundational understanding that underpins one’s spiritual path.
The singular form chay conveys the dynamic, breath-driven essence of life itself, while the plural form, hayye emphasizes life as a shared, communal, and divinely sustained reality that manifests as:
spaciousness
joy
expansion
inner clarity
the removal of constriction
the flow of divine breath within
Abundant Life is not material wealth.
It is unrestricted Love moving through a human life.
“I am in the Father, and You in Me, and I in You”
Later, when Yeshua gathers with his closest followers in a quiet upper room, he speaks a truth so profound that most later traditions (and most of humanity) hardly know what to do with it:
“I am in the Father (the Source of All That Is),
and you are in me,
and I am in you.”
This is Ultimate Union.
Oneness.
Interbeing.
This is salvation.
Not climbing a ladder toward God.
Not pleading for mercy.
Not passing a test.
Not being cleansed of inherited guilt
(Though communing with God,
receiving mercy, and
being freed from the burdens that weight us down
are experiences that come as
we open our hearts
to the Presence).
Salvation is recognizing and living out the profound realization that you were never separate in the first place.
It is the dissolving of the illusion of distance.
It is the opening of the eyes to the Presence already dwelling within.
It is what mystics later called the birth of God in the soul:
not because we become divine in essence,
but because we awaken to the divine spark that has been within us all along.
In the next post: We will conclude Chapter Three with the story of Nicodeumus and what it truly means to be “born again.”
In the days and weeks that follow, I’ll continue to post sections from the new book as I craft them, or as they craft me. Your thoughts and comments, as always, will be greatly appreciated.
~ Christopher Harding
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