Luke makes Jesus say explicitly “the Kingdom of God is within you.”

[Guest guest]

" So according to the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus ridiculed those who

thought of the " Kingdom of God " in literal terms, as if it

were a specific place: " If those who lead you say to you,

`Look, the Kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds will arrive

there before you. If they say to you, `It is in the sea,' "

then, he says, the fish will arrive before you. Instead, it is a

state of self-discovery: " . . . Rather, the Kingdom is inside of

you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves,

then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the sons

of the living Father. But if you will now know yourselves, then

dwell in poverty, and it is you who are that poverty. "

 

But the disciples, mistaking the " Kingdom " for a future

event, persisted in their questioning:

 

His disciples said to him, " When will . . . the new world come?

He said to them, " What you look forward to has already come, but

you do not recognize it. " . . . His disciples said to him,

" When will the Kingdom come? " (Jesus said,) " It will not

come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying `Here it

is' or `There it is.' Rather, the Kingdom of the Father

is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it. "

 

That " Kingdom, " then, symbolizes a state of transformed

consciousness:

 

Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, " These

infants being suckled are like those who enter the Kingdom. " They

said to him, " Shall we, then, as children, enter the

Kingdom? " Jesus said to them, " When you make the two one, and

when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the

inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and

female one and the same . . . then you will enter [the Kingdom]. "

 

Yet what the " living Jesus " of Thomas rejects as naïve

— the idea that the Kingdom of God is an actual event expected in

history — is the notion of the Kingdom that the synoptic gospels

of the New Testament most often attribute to Jesus as his teaching.

According to Matthew, Luke, and Mark, Jesus proclaimed the coming

Kingdom of God, when captives shall gain their free, when the

diseased shall recover, the oppressed shall be released, and harmony

shall prevail over the whole world. Marks says that the disciples

expected the Kingdom to come as a cataclysmic event in their own

lifetime, since Jesus had said that some of them would live to

see " the Kingdom of God come with power. " Before his arrest,

Mark says, Jesus warned that although " the end is not yet, "

they must expect it any time.

 

All three gospels insist that the Kingdom will come in the near

future (though they also contain many passages indicating that it is

here already.) Luke makes Jesus say explicitly " the Kingdom of

God is within you. " Some gnostic Christians, extending that type

of interpretation, expected human liberation to occur not through

actual events in history, but through internal transformation. "

 

Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels,

Random House Inc. New York, 1989, p. 128-29.

 

 

" But those who have got Realization will enter into the Kingdom

of God. You have to enter into the Kingdom of God here, as I say, in

the Seventh Chakra. "

 

Shri Adi Shakti Devi

The New Age Has Started, Houston, USA — October 6, 1981

[Guest guest]

shriadishakti , " jagbir singh "

<adishakti_org> wrote:

>

> All three gospels insist that the Kingdom will come in the near

> future (though they also contain many passages indicating that it

> is here already.) Luke makes Jesus say explicitly " the Kingdom of

> God is within you. " Some gnostic Christians, extending that type

> of interpretation, expected human liberation to occur not through

> actual events in history, but through internal transformation. "

>

> Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels,

> Random House Inc. New York, 1989, p. 128-29.

>

>

> " But those who have got Realization will enter into the Kingdom

> of God. You have to enter into the Kingdom of God here, as I say,

> in the Seventh Chakra. "

>

> Shri Adi Shakti Devi

> The New Age Has Started, Houston, USA — October 6, 1981

>

 

 

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and last.

Blessed are they who do His commandments, that they may have right

to the Tree of Life, (A)

And may enter in through the Gates (B) of the City. ©

For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and

murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever love and makes a lie.

I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto thee these things in

the churches. (D)

I am the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning

star.

And the Spirit (E) and the Bride (F) say, Come. And let him that

hears say, Come.

And let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take

the Waters of Life (G) freely.

 

Revelations 22:13-17

 

 

A The subtle system within all beings consisting of nadis, chakras

and Sahasrara;

 

B The very narrow Agnya chakra located at the optic chiasma within

all beings where resides the Universal Savior Shri Jesus Christ;

 

C The Sahasrara, Thousand-Petalled Lotus, or Kingdom of God within

all beings where resides the Spirit and the Bride;

 

D " Once there was a single Christian group, Jesus of Nazareth's

tiny band of twelve apostles; now there are thousands. It has been

estimated that there are some twenty-two thousand separate and

distinct Christian groups around the world. "

(Charles Templeton, Farewell to God)

 

E God-Almighty, Sadashiva, Allah, Yahweh — the Father.

 

F Holy Spirit, Adi Shakti, Ruh, Shekinah — the Mother.

 

G " . . . water is a very holy thing. . . This is the time of

Aquarius means the Kundalini is made of Divine Water. "

(Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi)