What did Jesus mean by 'the kingdom is within you'?
Jesus meant that entering the literal, physical, political kingdom He will set up on earth at His return requires an inner spiritual relationship with God. The kingdom is not merely ethereal or invisible; it is spiritual, physical, and political, and one must be born again to see it.
Les explains that all through Scripture there is only one kingdom—the kingdom Christ will set up on earth when He returns as King of kings and Lord of lords. When Jesus said 'the kingdom is within you,' He was not describing an ethereal, invisible kingdom. Instead, He was saying that to become part of that literal, physical, political kingdom one day coming on earth, a person must have an inner spiritual relationship with God. That is what He meant to Nicodemus: except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. This kingdom of heaven is the same kingdom that will be on earth. John the Baptist announced it was at hand because Jesus, the essence of the kingdom, was about to begin His earthly ministry. The kingdom is spiritual, physical, and political, and it will come to fruition when Christ returns and sets it up on the earth.