Where’s the Kingdom?

Luke 17:20-37

Introduction:

Waiting is difficult for most of us. When you know there is something big coming or promised but you have to wait for it to actually come to fruition. We just passed into November and many thoughts turn to Thanksgiving and of course, to Christmas. If you can remember being a child, do you remember it feeling like Christmas would never arrive? As an adult it feels like it was just Christmas the other day. But my goodness, we waited and waited and hoped. And oh the happiness when the day arrived. One year, on Christmas morning, we were so excited to see what was under the tree… Before we opened gifts, my little brother, Clay, needed to go out and feed his dog Duke, a miniature toy poodle. When he got to where Duke was, Duke’s body was lifeless. So he and dad took Duke out to my Mamaw’s house and buried him.

As we wait, we wait for the coming day of the Lord. We wait for Jesus to return and make all things new. This world is full of decay and disappointment that makes waiting all the more difficult.

Well known author and certified old dead guy, C.S. Lewis wrote and said many things that we still find helpful today.

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” ― C.S. Lewis

We want to know when God will make all things right. When will he make things new?

Thabiti Anabwyele points out that in verses 1-19, we get these little commercials for what the kingdom looks like in the lives of people.

The kingdom of God produces a community of people who repent and forgive. God intends for the church to practice these continually until the Lord perfects us in eternity.

The kingdom bursts forth in the world with healing and restoration of the broken, which points us to the ultimate healing and restoration when all will be made right. Distorted beauty will be corrected.

The Pharisees didn’t have the same view of the kingdom of God that we do but they too wanted to know when. So in Luke 17:20, they ask Jesus. Perhaps as they ask this, you can feel your own longing for that day.

Jesus answers by teaching them that the kingdom is already in their midst but also not yet. Already but not yet. This is how we speak of the kingdom of God. For the next few minutes I’m going to walk us through the already and not yet that Jesus lays out in these verses and then look at what that means for us everyday when we get out of bed. Let’s get to work talking about the already of the kingdom.

I. Already (v. 20-21)

Luke 17:20–21 ESV

20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

The coming of the kingdom was a hot topic in those days. You have the nation that God had chosen in the Old Testament and the city where He had set His Name, under the oppression of Rome.

The Pharisees didn’t understand the kingdom of God. They wanted and expected a physical, earthly kingdom. They wanted a king. They wanted a ruler to come and overthrow Rome and establish borders and go to war for their people’s benefit. This is one of the main reasons why they couldn’t recognize Jesus as Messiah. He didn’t come as a conquering general but a suffering servant and this was scandalous to them. But everyone, whether a physical or more spiritual view was looking for God to make everything right in the world.

These Pharisees were looking for a big, cosmic sign (something supernatural that they could read in the sky.)and couldn’t see the kingdom before them in the coming of Christ. The incarnation of Christ was a supernatural sign but they missed it.

Graeme Goldsworthy explains the kingdom by saying “it is God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule.”

God’s rule had already begun and was spreading in the hearts of men and women but they couldn’t see it. Jesus said it didn’t come in ways that could be observed. It doesn’t come in grand, cosmic signs but comes invisibly and displayed in the changed lives of people who are citizens of the kingdom of God. Hey, at least the Pharisees are consistent. They’re repeating the mistake they made back in chapter 14 when eating with Jesus and once again not recognizing that the kingdom was among them. It was there in the person and work of Jesus and spreading as people believed and followed Jesus. The reign of God was manifested in the lives of those who are already following Jesus.

The kingdom is subversive. It does not come or work in the way that people expect. Today, people still expect the kingdom in a certain way and Jesus still gives correction and points to how the kingdom looks as expressed in the lives of those who belong to it. The Pharisees wanted someone with special knowledge to tell them where the kingdom was. And many people today still expect the same thing. They want someone with special knowledge or a special word instead of trusting the Word of God that points to Christ and the kingdom available to those who trust in Christ alone for salvation.

They didn’t need signs. They needed to listen to Jesus.

And yet they missed it and still wondered and wandered.

The kingdom was already within their grasp and they did not grasp it. But the kingdom was and is also “not yet.”

II. Not Yet (v.22-37)

Let’s take this in three divisions of verses.

Luke 17:22–25 ESV

22 And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

v. 22-25 Will Long to See the Day

Jesus has not yet returned for the consummation of all creation. We still wait for His glorious, physical, bodily return for His church. I preached a whole message on this in the summer during our series through our confession of faith.

Guaranteed - You will not miss this day. Everyone, whether believer or unbeliever will know this has happened.

I wish this went without saying but Christians should not follow anyone who makes the claim that Jesus has come in a secret or hidden way.

It will be bright. It will be sudden. And it will be unmistakable. It will be a full stop, end of this world in this way and time for judgement. The coming of the kingdom in the not yet will arrive and be inaugurated by Christ’s return. Sin will be no more. Evil will be vanquished. Those who have trusted Christ, believing the Gospel will be with Him for eternity and those who have rejected Him will be sent to Hell for eternal conscious torment. It’s unpleasant but true. It’s terrifying that anyone would choose it.

Verse 25 is Jesus letting them know that there is a plan and an order to what has to happen. He has an obligation to fulfill as a sacrifice. He’s tipping His hat to His eventual death at the hands of these people. He must die to redeem a people for Himself.

He would give His life even for a generation that rejected Him. And yet if they had repented He would have welcomed them. But they refused and rejected Him. It truly is a tragedy. It’s when you watch a movie and you see someone doing something really dumb and you want to scream to them not to do that. It gives those kinds of feelings.

Luke 7:31–34 ESV

31 “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, “ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ 33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

In v. 26-32 Jesus explains with some analagies how life as usual will go on and then suddenly the judgement will come.

Luke 17:26–32 ESV

26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife.

Noah

In the days of Noah, the people were evil but they were eating and drinking and getting married and then one day, Noah went into the ark with his family and the flood came and destroyed everyone who was not in the ark. They didn’t think anything bad could happen to them. They certainly didn’t believe Noah needed that big boat. And them not believing it didn’t stop it from happening. It came and they were gone, separated from God for eternity.

Lot

Jesus also uses the illustration of the days of Lot. You can read about this in Genesis 19. Lot lived in Sodom. The people were wicked there, practicing homosexuality so much so that we use the city’s name as another name for it. Genesis 18 says their sin was very grave. God sent some angels to Lot and the men of the city tried to have their way with them but Lot wouldn’t let them. God was about to destroy the city and the angels get Lot and his family and get them headed out and away from town.

The people were carrying on doing their normal, everyday things and then fire and sulfur rained down and destroyed them. It was sudden and there was no time for escape. I’ve seen images from the volcano eruption in Pompeii where people were caught so off guard that they were petrified in whatever position they were standing or sitting in. People were caught unprepared. In Lot’s day people were unprepared to face judgement and they didn’t know it was imminent.

Jesus is saying, it’s going to be sudden like that and then judgement. It’s a teaching but a warning as well. Do you notice that He uses imagery that was familiar to His original audience. A housetop seems like a funny place for someone to be but homes in Jesus’ time would have a flat roof with stairs on the outside.

He tells them they won’t have time and that the one in the field shouldn’t turn back. And then verse 32.

Luke 17:32 ESV

32 Remember Lot’s wife.

As they were leaving Sodom, running for their lives Lot’s wife looked back though they were told not to.

Genesis 19:17 ESV

17 And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”

Now if we skip ahead to verse 26 as they are fleeing:

Genesis 19:26 ESV

26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

I can see it in my imagination. She turns and looks back longingly at her home, her belongings, maybe people she knew. Jesus says to remember her. Don’t be like her because those who do not wholeheartedly obey the Lord’s commands, an obedience that comes from faith in Christ, will face divine judgment.

The Pharisees won’t be ready for the coming of the King of Glory. But the disciples will. Those who love and trust Christ Jesus will be ushered into eternity.

In v. 33-37 Jesus continues talking about the suddenness of His return at the end of the world.

Luke 17:33–37 ESV

33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. 34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. 35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” 37 And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”

Much has been made over these verses and their corresponding ones in Matthew. Many have believed this is what gets referred to as the “rapture” where the church (believers) are caught up with Jesus in the air and taken away from the trouble here on earth. It’s the main event in the book series “Left Behind.” There is a bit of an issue using these verses for that. It’s possible that Jesus meant one person is taken away to glory and the other is left behind to face tribulation. However, based on the context and wording used here and elsewhere it seems more likely that the person taken away is the person taken away to judgement and the ones left behind are the ones who are spared. In that scenario the believers would be the ones left. This is the language that gets used in I Thessalonians 4:17.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 ESV

17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

In this verse, it’s clearly the believers who are “left behind.”

Either way it doesn’t change the truth that God divides the redeemed and the damned at the judgement. The redeemed by the blood of Christ will spend eternity in paradise and those who reject Christ spend eternity in hell.

Husband and wife

Business partners

Duet partners

Class Group Project Members

Two senators

No one is excluded from having an eternal destination. And though you have the time you are alive to either believe the gospel or deny it, when Christ returns, that will be it. No chances after that. This week we celebrated Reformation Day on the 31st. 508 years ago a monk named Martin Luther nailed 95 points of debate and calls for reform of the church to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany. The Roman Catholic church taught that there was an in-between placed called purgatory where you would spend maybe a millinia while you were “purged” (hence purgatory) of your uncleanness and then could be admitted into heaven. Luther was so upset because the church was selling indulgences. These were certificates people could buy with money to decrease the amount of time they or their loved ones would have to spend in purgatory before going on to reward. This is blatantly false but people believed it. Jesus doesn’t teach this. It’s one or the other. Once death or the end hits, that’s it. Judgment time.

Jesus says that anyone seeking to preserve their life will lose it but those who loses their life will keep it.

This verse really does a good job of showing one of the paradoxes of the gospel. It seems like it doesn’t work logically. Remember, I said the kingdom is subversive.

If you hold on to your place in the world, your possessions and all that you have you will wind up losing life in addition to all of our stuff.

But if we give ourselves away to Jesus in full faith in his perfect sinless life, His atoning death in our place, for our sin on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead, surrendering our whole life to Him, then we will live forever.

The world thinks we are nuts. They think we are crazy for doing this. Just like the Pharisees they don’t understand. They want the big and mystical.

Martyred missionary Jim Elliot once wrote in his journal,

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” - Jim Elliot

III. Be Prepared

What a tragedy to be looking for the kingdom when it’s right in front of you. That is the situation these Pharisees were in.

There is a warning in this for us today as well. We should take Jesus at His Word and not look for some kind of special knowledge other than what He has given us.

Are you ready for the end of the world?

Jesus’ return is closer now than it was yesterday. When you leave here it will be closer than it is right now. Jesus is coming. Are you ready if it happens now? You may say, yes I’m ready pastor, I know Jesus. Okay, in your life is there anything going on that if Jesus showed up during it you would be ashamed of? Why are you still doing that thing, whatever it is? There may be sin in your life that you have been holding onto. Why? What is it about that sin that you won’t release it? Is it because you don’t know what the Word of God says about it? Or maybe it’s because it’s more precious to you than the Word.

The Word of God is our authority for life. I mentioned Martin Luther earlier. The Reformation is important because God used that time in church history to make sure the gospel was clear and because of that we get to stand here and know the true gospel. Emerging from the reformation were the five solas or the stances of the reformers:

Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone)

Sola Fide (Faith Alone)

Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)

Solus Christus (Christ Alone)

Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone)

The scripture is where we get our authority and how we can know what God has said.

We should take heed to the gospel and live lives centered on Jesus life, death, and resurrection. Out of this trust we should live lives obedient to the demands of the kingdom citizen. As we are doing this we should be telling everyone else about these kingdom realities. It is here in the lives of followers of Christ and it is also not yet but coming soon at the return of Christ and will be for eternity and the only way you get to take part is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone.