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Engaging Eternity: The Kingdom Of God Within

Engaging Eternity: The Kingdom Of God Within

Last updated on: November 28, 2025 at 2:19 am by Henry Karlson

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Engaging Eternity: The Kingdom Of God Within 2025-11-28T02:19:44-05:00 Henry Karlson

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Kimon Berlin: The New Jerusalem: John Of Patmos Watches The Descent Of New Jerusalem From God In A 14th Century Tapestry/ Wikimedia Commons

Bede Griffiths says many of us have been accustomed to either look to the past for some golden age which we would like the reestablish or to the future hoping that we can create in it the utopia which we desire. He says, however, that neither the past nor the future will provide what we seek, because what we want, what will satisfy is, is only found in and with the eternal kingdom of God. This is not to say we have no hope for our temporal existence, that it cannot be made better. The kingdom of God is the eschatological reality which we seek, and that reality is an eternal reality, something which can be approached and engaged at all times, be it the past, the present, or the future:

In the West, we tend to consider the future as the ideal, whereas the tendency until recently was to put the ideal in the past. In fact the ideal is not really in time at all. It can be projected into the past or into the future, but best of all is to realise that the eternal reality is here and now. Then it is as valid to look back as to look forward.[1]

We must be careful and avoid the quietist error, thinking we should abandon our responsibility to world and enjoy the presence of the kingdom of God in solitude. We are expected to see the problems which people face and do what we can to fix them. Just because we cannot create a just and perfect society does not mean we cannot make a better one. We should not let the perfect become the enemy of the good. Indeed, we are given grace through our contact with the kingdom of God, grace which is meant to be shared with the world so that it could become better.

If we look within ourselves, we will see the kingdom of God is there, and it has been present with us since our creation. This is because we are made in the image and likeness of God, and so within ourselves, we find our connection to God’s eternity:

The fact of our being formed in God’s likeness (Gottebenbildlichkeit) contains an eschatological, future aspect. Just as the biological commonness of human life points to the common destiny of death, the return to the dust of the one Mother Earth, so also the breath of God given to man includes the calling to eternal community with God in himself. Such community is likewise a brotherly community of all the children of God. The divine, salvific will extends to all men (1 Tim. 2:4); all are invited to the divine marriage feast, all are destined ultimately as citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem to be members of the community of the saved. [2]

Humanity was made good, and that goodness reflects divine goodness, a goodness which is not bound by time. We are born temporal creatures, finding ourselves changing with the flow of time. We are called to not only to use the time we have been given to become better ourselves, but to do what we can to work with God and make the world around us better as well. We are to bring our own uniqueness to the world, to put our own unique stamp on history, and in doing so, we will find we are acting as sub-creators with God. Unlike God, we do not create ex nihilo; instead, we take what is given and shape it, acting like demiurges in the cosmos. Our connection with God, our connection to the reign of God, to the eschatological reality, allows us to do so in a positive fashion, which is why our work must not be confused as being the same work as God, but rather seen as derivative of it. In the eschaton, we will find that the divine Logos, the incarnate God-man, will completes our work for us and renders what we do, what we establish in time, into eternity where it can properly thrive:

Gospel readings are introduced by the phrase “at that time,” which is a guidepost to the opening of new horizons. This signifies that Christ is the Kairos of God, the moment of eternity eternally present. It is the time of Christ which happened two thousand years ago but which is valid and real in the now. Christ is always present, always real, always carrying eternity to us and carrying us into eternity, and towards our final destination.[3]

Our final destination is the kingdom of God, but as the kingdom of God is eternal, it is always with us and beside us and a part of us. A dualistic understanding of eternity, one which sees time and eternity as completely separate, will only lead to a Gnostic rejection of creation, because it will see what is found in time will not last, but will eventually end up being destroyed. This is not the way of God.

The kingdom of God is all around us, it is within us, it is with us, it is established in eternity and it is eternal, and yet because it is eternal, it is also manifested in many ways in time, with the incarnation being what connects the two, making sure time not only is found to exist within eternity, but for it to be open to and penetrated by eternity:

The Kingdom of God is eternal life in communion with God in loving obedience to his divine will. It is life in union with the Blessed Trinity; life lived toward the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. It is the life which Christ has given to men by his incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and glorification. It is the life to be lived already in this world by the People of God.[4]

Let us, therefore, be attentive to the kingdom of God and in doing so, live our life as a reflection of our eternal existence, bringing the grace of the kingdom of God with us in all we do. That way, we can realize our temporal existence is not in vain. We will be able to work for a better world, one which better imagines or represents the kingdom of God to all.

[1] Bede Griffiths, River of Compassion (Warwick, NY: Amity House, 1987), 73.

[2] Joseph Ratzinger, “The Dogmatic and Ascetical Meaning of Christian Brotherhood” in Man Before God: Toward A Theology of Man. Ed. Dennis Burkhard OFM, Leo A. Connolly, William T. Merten, and Michael G. Steinhauser (New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1966), 115.

[3] Archbishop Joseph Raya, The Abundance of Love: The Incarnation and Byzantine Tradition (Combermere, ON: Madonna House Publications, 1989; 3rd ed.: 2016), 91.

[4] Thomas Hopko, The Orthodox Faith. Volume 2: Worship (Yonkers, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1981; rev. ed. 2016), 153.

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