Good News In Our Midst

When he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with something observable; no one will say, ‘See here!’ or ‘There!’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” Then he told the disciples, “The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you won’t see it. They will say to you, ‘See there!’ or ‘See here!’ Don’t follow or run after them. For as the lightning flashes from horizon to horizon and lights up the sky, so the Son of Man will be in his day. But first it is necessary that he suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man: People went on eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage until the day Noah boarded the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It will be the same as it was in the days of Lot: People went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, a man on the housetop, whose belongings are in the house, must not come down to get them. Likewise the man who is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to make his life secure will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” “Where, Lord?” they asked him. He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there also the vultures will be gathered.”

That’s a good question.

Have you ever wondered, Jesus when will the Kingdom come?

When will all this wrong be made right?

When will all this chaos finally be put to order?

When will the oppressors be dealt with?

When will sin no longer have a hold?

When will the curse no longer bind us?

When will the world, the flesh, and the devil be overcome?

When will war be no more?

When will evildoers be brought to justice?

When will righteousness and justice rule.

When will holiness fill the earth?

When will the Kingdom come?

When will death, and sorrow, and sickness be no more?

When with the righteous shine like the sun?

When will the glory of the LORD be the light of the earth?

When will the Kingdom of God and His Son come?

Even so LORD Jesus come quickly!

When?

I think we’ve all wondered that.

I know I’ve wondered that.

In days of despair.

In times of trial.

In moments of spiritual wrestling.

When evil seems to be winning.

When will the Kingdom come?

That’s a honest question, when asked honestly.

And if we are honest, I think it’s a question we’ve all asked, prayed, questioned.

When Jesus? When?

And it’s a question the Pharisees asked of Jesus.

But it wasn’t a question of Kingdom curiousity, it was a challenge to the claims of Jesus as the Messiah.

See, the prophets had spoken the Word of the LORD.

They had said that there would be signs in the heavens, flashes of light, the sun going dark and the moon turning blood red.

But those signs hadn’t occompanied the arrival of Jesus.

Yes, the magi followed a sign in the heavens to the birth of King Jesus.

But the Pharisees knew that there must be more.

And Jesus would agree with them.

But Jesus understood scripture better than they did.

Let’s dig in.

The Kingdom Is In Your Midst

Luke 17:20–21 CSB

When Jesus?

That the question.

And Jesus says The Kingdom Is In Your Midst.

Jesus is basically going to answer the question in two ways.

The Kingdom Is Here and the Kingdom Is Coming

See the Pharisees could see that the Kingdom was in there midst because they were looking for signs in heaven instead of the sign righ in front of them.

Jesus is saying you’ve been looking for some fireworks in the sky when the Kingdom is standing right in front of you.

The Kingdom has come.

Everwhere Jesus went he went about proclaiming and demonstrating the KIngdom.

He was announcing and inviting all who would to come to the Kingdom.

The King came to make a way into the Kingdom.

The King came to show the way of the Kingdom.

The Kingdom was in their midst.

The Kingdom is here, Jesus said.

And by faith in King Jesus we, according to the author of Hebrews, already belong to this heavenly Kingdom.

It’s a Kingdom that cannot be shaken.

A Kingdom whose foundations are solid.

A kingdom of righteouesness and justice.

A kingdom that cannot be overthrown and will not colapse.

On Christ the Solid Rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand.

The foundation is Christ.

The Kingdom is secure.

And the King is standing right in front of the Pharsisees.

But they refused to believe because they were looking for signs in the heavens.

Those signs would come.

But when those signs come its too late.

The King Must Suffer

See what the Pharisees refused to see was that before the Kingdom could come in power and before the King could be raised triumphant they king had to suffer.

It’s the prophecy of Isaiah.

Jesus came announcing Is 61:1-2

Isaiah 61:1–2 CSB

The Spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance; to comfort all who mourn,

But Jesus knew that for the captives to be freed the King had to Take the crushing of Is 53:4-9

Isaiah 53:4–9 CSB

Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth. He was taken away because of oppression and judgment, and who considered his fate? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he was struck because of my people’s rebellion. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, but he was with a rich man at his death, because he had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully.

They were looking for a sign of power when Jesus came to show the sign of sacrifice.

There would be no resurrection power if there was not first sacrificial love.

I think often we are like the Pharisees, looking for lightning bolts and shows of strength instead of listening to the lowly and showing love to the powerless.

We look at the wrong signs to find the Kingdom of God.

We look at the wrong people to find the Kingdom of God.

I think over the past few years as our country has grown ever more partisan and political.

We’ve have politicians promise hope and change.

We’ve had politicians promise to Make Us Great Again.

And yet we are just as broken and hopeless as we’ve been in decades.

Why?

Because we are Luke 17:22-23

Luke 17:22–23 CSB

Then he told the disciples, “The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you won’t see it. They will say to you, ‘See there!’ or ‘See here!’ Don’t follow or run after them.

We are running after false Messiahs.

We long to see the day of His coming and we grow impatient.

And we put our hope in people to change hearts and minds and governments.

We need Jesus.

Jesus is our only hope of Kingdom Come.

Be engaged in the culture and the world, but don’t chase after false Christ’s or false prophets who came a man is our deliverer or hope.

Jesus is the only one who can deliver on every promise.

We long for power.’

Jesus said before the Kingdom comes in Power the King must suffer.

Paul expresses this beautifully in Philippians 2:3-11

Philippians 2:3–11 CSB

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others. Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Because Jesus was willing to suffer Jesus was worthy to be exalted.

Because Jesus was willing to defeat the curse be death Jesus was giving the blessing of Life.

Because Jesus was willing to be laid on the stone table of the law and suffer the death of sinful man, and redeem us from the curse, HE become our Victory.

The King must suffer.

And because He was willing to suffer in our place we get a place in the Kingdom of God.

Luke 17:24–25 CSB

For as the lightning flashes from horizon to horizon and lights up the sky, so the Son of Man will be in his day. But first it is necessary that he suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

See, lighting will come, darkness will cover the land, the cross brought darkness over Jerusalem. The ground shook.

And many said then, Truly this man was the Son of God.

But before glory came humiliation.

The King Will Come Again

This is the Not Yet part of the Kingdom.

In the present we belong to that unshakable Kingdom.

In the present the King rules in our hearts.

In the present the Kingdom is seen thru the fog of the Church.

In the present we see thru a dark glass, we see in part and we know in part, but we the King returns we will see face to face.

Are you ready for that day?

Luke 17:26–35 CSB

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man: People went on eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage until the day Noah boarded the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It will be the same as it was in the days of Lot: People went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, a man on the housetop, whose belongings are in the house, must not come down to get them. Likewise the man who is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to make his life secure will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”

Here’s the thing about the return of the King and the coming of the Kingdom in fullness, not everyone will care to prepare for it.

Like the days of Noah, like the days of Lot.

You know the days of Noah, he built an ark to prepare for the judgement on wickedness.

He preached repent.

He told folks to get ready.

They mocked him.

They ignored him.

They continued doing what they always did.

Eating, drinking, getting married.

Those weren’t bad things.

Those weren’t the things that had to repent of.

Lot.

You know the story.

Sodom was destroyed because of wickedness.

Pride. Greed. Sexual sin. Arrogance. Disregard for the poor.

But that’s not why Jesus says about Sodom.

They were buying and selling, building and planting.

Normal things.

Here’s what JEsus is saying, don’t allow the everyday cares of life distract you from your need to be ready for the Return of King Jesus.

The Day of the LORD will come.

Remeber Lot’s wife.

On her way out of destruction she turned around longing for the wicked city she was leaving behind.

A double minded person is unstable in all their ways.

Don’t look back.

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.

The Kingdom is Coming and it will bring justice and righteousness.

Be ready.

Not everyone will live for the Kingdom.

Don’t go back to your old ways.

Don’t go back to your old priorities and false gods.

Be ready.

The King and Kingdom will come.

Those who hate righteousness and justice will be dealt with.

Every knee will bow before the King and tongue will declare that Jesus Christ is LORD, the He is the King of Heaven and earth.

But what does your knee bow before now, and who does your tongue declare now to be King.

The Kingdom is for all who will come to Jesus.

Hebrews 3:15–16 CSB

As it is said: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all who came out of Egypt under Moses?

If you hear His voice, TODAY is the day.

2 Corinthians 6:2 CSB

For he says: At an acceptable time I listened to you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. See, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation!

Now is the acceptable time.

Today is the day.

Prepare yourself for the Coming Kingdom.

The King Is Near

I want to offer a word of hope and encouragement to you now.

It may seem as if the King and Kingdom are far off.

It may seem as if you are all alone.

It may seem as if darkness is winning.

It may seem like the days of Noah and Lot.

And you may think God doesn’t care And God isn’t there.

Here me this morning.

Here the word of Jesus in Luke 17:30

Luke 17:30 CSB

It will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

You may not think much of that verse.

But here this that I came across while preparing my message this morning from the Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit Commentary. Luke 17:30. - Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. /// "Is revealed," that is to say, he has been present all along, through those long ages of waiting; only an impenetrable veil has hid him from mortal eyes. In that day will the veil be lifted, "and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced" (Zechariah 12:10 (https://biblehub.com/zechariah/12-10.htm)

He Has Been Present All Along.

He will be revealed, but He is near to you now.

You may walk by faith now but one day you will see him High and Lifted Up and his Glory filling the whole earth.

No matter what you are facing, Jesus has been present all along.

He’s wept with you.

He’s held you.

He’s kept you.

He’s delivered you.

He’s healed you.

He’s wiped your tears.

He’s healed your broken heart.

He’s saved you.

You thought you were on your own.

No.

On that day He will be revealed.

But Jesus Has Been Present All Along.

From your first breath to your final sigh.

In sorrow and rejoices.

Jesus Has Been PResent All Along.

Oh who I long for that revealing.

Oh the great appearing of great God and Savior.

Come quickly LORD Jesus.

But while we wait, while you wait don’t lose heart.

Jesus Has Been Present the Whole Time.

Jesus Is With You Even Now.

The King Is Near and He will never leave or forsake you.

He has been present the whole time.

And He the only reason you have hope.

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