Jesus said, "If those who lead you (plur.) say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in heaven,' then the birds of heaven will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. But the kingdom is inside of you. And it is outside of you.
Here in Saying #3 Jesus is explaining that the kingdom of God is neither in the Heavens nor under the sea, or under the earth, that is the grave. which in Greek and Roman culture is paradise in Hades.
"If your leaders say to you ..." This announcement that the kingdom is not in heaven above or in the underworld that is “in the sea” which means “under the earth. (see Greek Text Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 654.13 provides the variant reading ”under the earth.) -
The kingdom is within you as hope in the heart and it is outside of us spread out over the earth, and people do not see it. (Saying 3, 113 Acts 1:7; Pr 30:4)
It is not in the heaven or in the sea (3/2; cf. Rom. 10:6-7)
Then the birds of heaven will be there before you. If they say to you ‘It is in the sea!’ then the fish will be there before you.
This part of the saying makes a sort of joke out of the belief in going to heaven after death or hell (the sea)
In any event, it is present and not in the sky.
But the kingdom is inside of you. And it is outside of you.
It is within us as a spiritual reality and outside of us as the “commonwealth”.
10) Jesus said, "I have cast fire upon the world, and see, I am guarding it until it blazes."
In Saying 82 fire and the kingdom are equivalent terms just as Jesus is equivalent with the Kingdom so here when he throws fire upon the world we should understand that he has come to reveal the knowledge of the Kingdom upon the world.
Thus the Kingdom is also Christ Jesus (Saying 82) so it is the son of man that is within us, since Christ is the Kingdom (Saying 82), it is Christ within us, the hope of glory
We must come to know our true self. Our true self is not the person of this world, but the one who was born of God. We are spiritually maturing and growing in knowledge of who we are. We may not be clearly seeing our true self (who is Christ) right now, but we will once we come to fully know and be our True self. We are God’s image that must become perfect like our heavenly Father this is our purpose to reflect the identity, character and glory and become the image of Christ, who is the true image of God. We can only do this in Christ where our true self (life) will be kept hidden in Christ Col 3:3, 4.
So in this light real poverty is when we do not know your true self in Christ. The use of the term 'poverty' is meant for life outside of true knowledge This is spiritual poverty where our minds are lost in deception and our hearts feel homeless because we have not returned to our Father’s house 1Cor 3:16 6:19 Eph 2:20-22 1Pet 2:5. Finally, Jesus says, “you are that poverty” Paul says that nothing good could come from him Rom 7:18 He said that “Paul” had died and Christ now lived in and through him Gal 2:20. Paul knew that his true life was found when he had the spirit of Christ, which is the mind of Christ and not the natural or worldly Paul.
The commonwealth of Israel is a spiritual Kingdom made up of the true believers the Israel of God Gal. 6:15, 16; 1 Paul says, “Thanking the Father who rendered you suitable for your participation in the inheritance of the holy ones in the light. He delivered us from the authority of the darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love (Col. 1:12-14). In this way, the true believers in the “good news” were brought into a realm of light. However, with what was their enlightened condition connected? It was connected with a kingdom. When God “delivered [them] from the authority of the darkness,” he at the same time “transferred [them] into the kingdom of the Son of his love.” (Col. 1:13)
However saying 3 does not deny the future kingdom of God upon the earth only the belief in heaven going. We can begin to live it now, like we will in the future Kingdom of God, when Jesus comes to establish the Government of God on this earth.
it is not “pie in the sky when you die, bye & bye.”
But it is still future
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