There/Here; Then/Now

Jesus has been inviting people to the Kingdom of God since chapter 4. The Pharisees want to know when it would arrive. Then Jesus refers to himself 4 times as the Son of Man in vv.22-30. Perhaps the Son of Man has something to do with the expected kingdom.

Where do we first encounter the phrase the Son of Man in the Bible? After about a dozen references to male offspring of their fathers, it isn’t until Ezekiel where the term appears in almost every chapter and Daniel where the phrase describes the one who established an everlasting kingdom.

Daniel 7:13–14 ESV:2016

13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

From this time in the Babylonian Captivity forward, the descendants of Abraham have been looking for this Son of Man who would have an everlasting dominion involving all races, nations and languages.

Transition: The people expected a King and a Dominion, but they were looking for the wrong type of ruler.

Pharisees Misunderstood Location (vv. 20-21)

Pharisees wanted a Universal Utopia

1. They were looking for the one sign that would indicate that the Messianic reign had begun.

2. They wanted one sign that systemic change had happened.

3. But Jesus said “the kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed.”

By now we have all learned the huge difference between candidate promises and politician delivery. Whether you were counting on hope and change, or America becoming Great Again, or Topeka fully funding schools, or a vaccine rollout that would immediately end the pandemic, we can all point to times our leaders’ promises couldn’t make it past the opposing party. We still don’t have affordable healthcare for all. We still don’t have a wall along the southern border, and Thursday of this week I was still required to wear a mask into a restaurant despite being fully vaccinated. Derek Chauvin has been convicted and sentenced, but “justice for George Floyd” has not quieted the unrest between BLM, the Defund agenda or law enforcement officers.

4. Jesus states that there is NOT one indicator of systemic change, because the kingdom is not found in a project, but in a person. The kingdom is not apparent in an action, but in an attitude! The kingdom is not in a sign, but in a Savior!

5. When they asked “when will we see the Kingdom Daniel prophecied?” He replied “I am right here, in your midst! Instead of seeking for the miracle, surrender to the Master.

Jesus promised a Provided Presence

1. For 13 chapters Jesus has been proving that He is all we need. He has proven His authority over every possible obstacle, yet the Pharisees (with possible exceptions of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea) are unable to bring themselves to admit what their own eyes are telling them.

2. The very presence of Jesus is the remedy for all that Satan and sinful man have messed up.

3. Jesus is offering that if they would accept Him as the Messiah, their current experience could take a 180.

4. I’ve watched the quiet sorrow and faith of godly people enduring great pain that causes people without hope to break down uncontrollably. Why is it that two people in the same circumstance can react so differently? The person who has surrendered to the Lordship of Christ (a.k.a. entered into His kingdom) draws on resources that are unavailable to those outside the kingdom.

Earlier this week my family gathered in the Wisconsin Dells. The Dells were once peaceful valleys where the Wisconsin river slowly flowed. The area is now water parks and tourist traps. One of the tourist attractions is the WW2 amphibious ducks. As we rode the duck on Monday we were taken into an area known as Fern Dell. It is a Dell filled with thousands of, you guessed it, ferns. The environment in Fern Dell is noticeably different by those who are in it. In the midst of the woods, in this little stretch the canopy of the Trees protects the ferns from the heat of the sun and the moisture in the ferns cools the temperature 5-7 degrees from the path just of fern dell. In the same way, those who are within God’s kingdom (even though they are in the wilderness of this world) are protected by the canopy of God’s sovereign care and the cool water of His Spirit comforts us amidst harsh surroundings.

Application

1. The kingdom that Jesus offers in this world is not systemic change that can be pursued, it is a Savior who brings peace.

2. The Pharisees wanted a way out of the oppression of the Romans, Jesus said in John 14 “I AM the way, the truth and the Life.”

3. The Pharisees wanted peace from Greco-Roman empires, Jesus said John 14:27 (ESV) — Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you...

Transition: There is no doubt that the Pharisees did not understand the nature of God’s kingdom. The next paragraph indicates that…

Disciples Misunderstood Timing (vv. 22-37)

Kingdom could not come until Jesus had suffered (vv.22-25)

1. The indwelling peace Jesus offered in John 14 could not come until sin had been defeated and the Spirit poured out.

2. The abundant life promised in John 10:10 could not expand to its fullest until Satan was crushed.

Simon Peter will make some bold promises at the Last Supper, but Jesus knows that he would go through a crushing, restoring and infilling before he would preach that great sermon in Acts 2. Jesus knows the kingdom is about to spread like a mustard bush, but the one seed must first suffer then be buried in the ground.

Kingdom could not come while evil consumes humanity (vv.26-27)

1. Jesus says that the Son of Man will appear when people are living like they were in the time of Noah.

2. They were all living for themselves with no concern for the things of their creator.

3. They were too busy pleasing themselves to be concerned with pleasing the God who created them.

4. After Noah entered the ark, all of their evil ended when the flood came and destroyed them.

Kingdom could not come while possessions consume humanity (vv.28-33)

1. Jesus says that the Son of Man will appear when people are living like they were in the time of Lot.

2. To the “eating and drinking” (satisfying their appetites) of Noah’s day, They had developed attachments to the things they owned and built..

3. They were so impressed with their own workmanship that they never imagined a day when all that they had built would be utterly destroyed.

Kingdom could not come until judgment/division happens (vv.34-36)

1. V.33 divides people into 2 groups: those who are obsessed with themselves, and those who are willing to die to self and allow the Master to control them.

2. To this day that division of 2 still exists. There are those who depend upon and live for themselves—for their accolades, their accumulation, their actions. And there are those who lay down their lives in repentance and allow God to give them a new life.

3. The person who sleeps next to you may be on the other side of that divide. The person who works with you may be on the other side of that divide.

Those outside of the Kingdom experience death (v.37)

1. Every person comes to a fork in the road where he/she must decide if he/she will die to self and receive the everlasting life offered by King Jesus or chose to continue to live for self and experience the death that results.

2. Corpse and vultures leaves a pretty clear picture of the death that occurs to those left outside the kingdom.

Transition: In these verses I count 6 “nots” – Lots of examples of what the Kingdom is NOT and what we should NOT do. When my dog was in obedience school the trainer told us that the best way to stop negative behaviors, is to give a positive alternative. Let me conclude with some positive options.

God’s Kingdom is Primarily Personal

Eventually God’s Kingdom will be realized as a New Heaven and New Earth

1. In v.22 Jesus says that while we are longing for that ultimate experience of God’s rule, until then the kingdom will look very different. “when you will desire to see…you will not see it.”

2. Jesus knew there would be a day when we would long for Heaven and would sing songs like When the Roll is Called Up Yonder, that we would long for the Sweet By and By, that we would watch for the day when the King is Coming.

The Kingdom where Messiah rules between the Resurrection and Second Coming looks very different.

1. The Pharisees were looking for something outside of themselves that would make everything around them different. They saw the Messianic kingdom as a reversal of generations of domination and captivity for the Jewish people. God’s kingdom was never something that would happen FOR them, it would happen WITHIN them.

· Jesus was promising that In This Life we will be loved by Him.

2. Jesus taught His disciples that the Kingdom would NOT be universal during this age. Noah and Lot are 2 examples of some surviving and some dying. Some entered, others were excluded.

3. While many around us are striving for systemic changes, Jesus is calling us to personal choices. Are we going to choose selfish evil? Are we going to choose stuff and materialism or are we going to surrender to the Eternal Savior who can bring internal peace?

Conclusion:

There is a song that we sing in children’s ministry that has a GREAT lesson for what it means to seek first His Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is already being done in heaven.

We sing and make the motions, With Christ in my vessel I can smile at the storm as we go sailing home.

When we are in Christ (having died to self), His presence give us peace and reminds us that God really does love us.

God loves you so much that He is calling you today to exchange the struggles of living for yourself, for the peace and power in the life that He gives.