Posted on: 22 Oct 2020
[Shri Anil asked: Before Jesus’s crucifixion, He was brought before the Roman governor named Pilate. Pilate asked Jesus, “Are You the king of the Jews?” Jesus asked him “Is that your own idea, or did others talk to you about me? Pilate replied, “Am I a Jew? Your own people and chief priests handed You over to me. What is it You have done?” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now My kingdom is from another place.” Swami, in Your preaching, You mention that the entire universe is the kingdom of God, including this world and upper-worlds. In that case, why did Jesus refer to a kingdom, which is not in this world? Kindly clarify.]
Swami replied: God is beyond this entire creation, which includes this earth and the upper worlds also. Jesus was not referring to this earth in contrast with the upper worlds. Certainly, the entire creation is under the control of God. Jesus was talking in the context of what was said about Him by the Jews referred to by the Governor. Jesus was referring to the spiritual world, which is quite different from this materialistic world. What Jesus preached was about God and not about a worldly king. The priests had deliberately created utter confusion with the words ‘king’ and ‘kingdom’, which was part of their plot. The governor also understood the plot of the priests, but he followed the administrative norms of favouring the majority. In fact, the actual public majority was with Jesus alone. But the members of the public presented before the governor were under the control of the priests. So, a false majority public opinion was presented before the governor. All this happened as per the will of God alone because His program was to soften the hearts of those people and kindle kindness in them.
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| Shri Datta Swami | Why did Jesus say that this world was not His kingdom, when all of creation is God's kingdom? |