One of the greatest sayings recorded in literature was uttered by a man who lived in a province under the authority of Rome at the beginning of the Christian era. In this country were many religious sects whose followers frequently clashed; persecution unto death because of a man's religious convictions was not an uncommon occurrence. The inhabitants of the province were heavily taxed by Rome, and priestcraft fattened on temple traffic; sensuality, greed, and cruelty were rampant in high places. There was an army of occupation in the land, and this meant daily life pursued in the shadow of fear. Slavery flourished under a rigid caste system. Justice yielded too often to expediency. The times were difficult ones, no man's head resting securely on his pillow unless he abjectly honored Caesar, and Caesar trembled on his throne lest someone should arise to wrest it from him.
In the midst of this complex and dangerous atmosphere lived a man of the people, a member of a race despised by the Romans, who, though a humble wayside preacher, was yet the master Teacher. Herod the Great had tried to dispose of him when he was born, but he had been carried into exile, where he had remained until Herod died. As this great Teacher mingled with the populace, he uttered what to them was strange doctrine. His words were carried from mouth to mouth until they reached the Roman governor and the Jewish Sanhedrin. Seditious words they seemed, because they declared the presence of a higher power than Caesar's.
To those who thronged this holy man— to the bewildered, oppressed, and broken in spirit, to the sick, sinful, and sorrowful— there came from his lips an utterance that was to outlast his human experience and the rule of the Roman Empire. This utterance was the immortal declaration (Luke 17: 21), "The kingdom of God is within you." And not only to those men of Palestine did Christ Jesus thus speak, but to all men in every age who, through his word, seek deliverance from the oppression of mortality.
