A Kingdom Not of This World
by Darrell Godinez

Yeshua said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place” ( John 18:36, New International Version).

This quotation from Yeshua is a point of contention. It seems to deny a fundamental characteristic of the Messiah. The Jewish scholar Klausner agrees that the Messiah is certainly the greatest of all men,

With this in mind, Yeshua’s kingdom “not of this world” seems to present Yeshua’s salvation and redemption as an inward and spiritual reality.

Judaism, in all its forms and manifestations, has always maintained a concept of redemption as an event which takes place publicly, on the stage of history and within the community. It is an occurrence which takes place in the visible world and which cannot be conceived apart from such a visible appearance. In contrast, Christianity conceives of redemption as an event in the spiritual and unseen realm, an event which is reflected in the soul, in the private world of each individual, and which affects an inner transformation which need not correspond to anything outside. (2)

In contrast to these statements, Yeshua made it clear that there is a difference between being “in the world” and “of the world.” While Yeshua’s kingdom is in the world, it is not of the world in the sense that it does not function as a kingdom of the world would function.

At his last Passover with his disciples, Yeshua prayed to the Father:

Being “not of the world” means not being conformed to the world; at odds with the world’s values or its practices. Yeshua told his disciples, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you” (John 15:19).

However, it is clear that Yeshua makes himself known as the Messiah in the world. When John the Baptist’s disciples asked him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. (Matthew 11:3-5).

Certainly Yeshua is declaring his work as the expected Messiah in the world. Some of the first actions of his ministry were the casting out of demons and healing the sick. This is in keeping with Isaiah’s expectation, “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy” (Isaiah 35:5-6). This expectation of healing is repeated by another Jewish writing, the Syriac Book of Baruch, dated 70-80 C.E. Klausner quotes it this way: After the Messiah

When Klausner discusses another Jewish writing, the Ethiopic Book of Enoch (about 68 B.C.E.), he mentions that it contains “much of the views found in the Gospels, which of course were popular Jewish views of an earlier time.” (4) It is significant that he affirms the Jewishness of the Gospels. One of these views found in Enoch is that “God preserves the lot of the righteous because they have hated and despised, in the name of the God of Spirits, the world so full of wrong, and all its deeds and ways.” (5)

When we read that “the righteous have despised the world,” it is easy to hear Yeshua’s statement that he has called his disciples out of the world, and it is easy to hear Yeshua expressing Jewish attitudes when he says his kingdom is not of the world, even though it is still in the world.

Yeshua says his kingdom is “from another place,” not “in another place.” Yeshua calls his people, Jew and Gentile, to live in holiness and obedience. The scripture says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9). He makes us his people in his kingdom not of this world.

=====================
(1) Joseph Klausner, The Messianic Idea in Israel, (New York: Macmillan, 1955), 523-524.
(2) Gershom Sholem, The Messianic Idea in Judaism, (New York: Schocken Books, 1971), 1.
(3) Klausner, 340.
(4) Klausner, 294.
(5) Klausner, 294.