The
Coming of the Kingdom of God
[Luke
chapter 17, verses 20-37]
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For
this week's Progressive Christian Bible study we'll be going over the
second half of chapter 17 of the Gospel of Luke. When we left off
last week at verse 19, Jesus had healed ten men of leprosy while
traveling along the border from Samaria to Galilee, which would be in
the area roughly west of the modern borders where Israel, the West
Bank territory and Jordan intersect. As you recall, only one of them
bothered to come back and thank Jesus and express his gratitude for
his divine healing. “Where are the other nine?”, Jesus had asked,
but the man did not know. We should all take a lesson from this, that
we are to maintain an attitude of thankfulness and gratitude for the
eternal salvation that has been given to us by the shed blood of
Christ Jesus! I also recall charging all my readers to live up to
that responsibility, so that on the day we stand before Christ not a
single one of us would be found at fault, but that all might be found
blameless before him. I presume everyone is doing that, but if you're
not, you know who you are. Time to tighten up, everybody! Having
written all that, let's take up where we let off last week beginning
at verse 20.
“Once,
when asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus
replied, 'The Kingdom of God does not come by your careful
observation, nor will people say, Here it is', or 'There it is',
because the kingdom of God is within you.' Then he said to his
disciples, 'The time is coming when you will long to see one of the
days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Men will tell you,
'There he is!', or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them.
For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which
flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. But first he
must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.'” (Luke
17, verses 20-25)
“The
kingdom of God”, Jesus explained, “is within you”. It is not a
physical place we can visit or live in. We cannot buy from it or sell
to it. The only thing we can extract from it is also the only thing
we need for our eternities – eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord, Savior and Kinsman Redeemer. Beyond Jesus, everything else is
little more than an afterthought. There is a very good reason – as
far as most church denominations are concerned – that this is never
taught in any of the mainstream churches of today. If more people
understood that Jesus resides in the hearts and minds of every true
believer, many church buildings would have no more reasons to exist!
“The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of
the Son of Man, but you will not see it.” Here Jesus is plainly
telling his apostles that none of them will still be on earth by the
time the “Kingdom of God” is established. In other words, it was
still a long way off back then, and we still faithfully await the
establishment of His Kingdom to this day.
“Men
will tell you, 'There he is!', or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off
after them. For the Son of Man in his day will be like the
lightning....” Don't go running after people who claim to have
an 'inside track' with God! There is no such thing! Even the
apostles came to Jesus privately time after time, asking him to
please explain this or that. Any man, woman or church that claims to
have a certain access to God that is available nowhere else, well,
that's how cults get started. But more importantly, that's how
otherwise well-meaning individuals seeking a deeper relationship with
Christ get sucked into these damned cults, and cults are idolatry
because they interject an intermediary between Christ and humankind
when none is necessary! That's why I teach and preach that we have
available a direct and personalized relationship with our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ that transcends all human understanding as well
as all church denominations and cults. The most severe judgment
awaits those who perpetrate these cults on well-meaning but otherwise
naive individuals, nearly all of whom are new to Christianity. “But
first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.”
Here in verse 25, Jesus again predicts his eventual execution, which
by this point was less than a year away. The Pharisees undoubtedly
heard all these things Jesus said to the Twelve and had no idea what
Jesus was talking about. I'm sure this was intentional on the Lord's
part. Now let's move on to part 2 of 3 in our study, starting at
verse 26.
“Just
as it was in the days of Noah, so also it will be in the days of the
Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and giving in
marriage up to the day Noah entered the Ark. Then the flood came and
destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were
eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But
the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and
destroyed them all.'” (Luke 17, verses 26-29)
Here
we can see the path taken by the train of thought of our Lord and
Redeemer. In the last sentence Jesus spoke of the near future, when
he would be ”rejected by this generation”. But in the following
sentence Jesus spoke of the distant future juxtaposed with the
distant past when he spoke of Noah, Lot and the “days of the Son of
Man”, which referred to his Second Coming. Back then people were
living their lives to the fullest with no regard at all for their
souls; it was a completely hedonistic lifestyle where 'anything
goes'. We have much the same situation today. It is common in some
circles (but not all!) for people today to have more than one sex
partner, multiple marriages, and even people with criminal records –
the majority of which are nonviolent drug offenses or property crimes
– have become fairly commonplace. Back when I was a kid, these
kinds of things were the exception, but now they are the rule. And as
before in days of old, there will be a series of huge natural
disasters and major wars in the fairly near future that will wipe out
much of humankind. Whether Christians will still be on earth during
that time is the topic of endless debate, so I'm not even going
there! But the point is that these things will occur, and we must
prepare ourselves accordingly. And now let's conclude today's study
starting at verse 30.
“'It
will be just like this on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On
that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods
inside, should go down and get them. Likewise, no one in the field
should go back for anything. Remember Lot's wife! Whoever tries to
keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve
it. I tell you on that night, two people will be in one bed; one will
be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain
together; one will be taken and the other left.' 'Where, Lord?',
they asked. He replied, 'Where there is a dead body, there the
vultures will gather.'” (Luke 17, verses 30-37)
The
Second Coming of Christ will not unfold in some dramatic fashion like
a Hollywood stunt or some fantastic special effects. None of those
things would do it justice, let me be very clear about that! When
Jesus returns for the final time it will be instantaneous, “like
lightning”. But before that, when the Rapture of the Bride takes
place roughly 3.5 years prior to that (see Daniel chapter 9), those
who are called 'home' to Him will be brought before him just as
instantaneously. Moreover, whoever tries to take anything with them –
anything at all from their shoes on up – will be slaughtered
instead. It doesn't specify how this will occur, but why take a
chance on finding out when we can be with the Lord forever? “Where,
Lord?', they asked. He replied, 'Where there is a dead body, there
the vultures will gather.'”
So, we can surmise that those left behind after the true Church is
taken up will face destruction. They will be swept away along with
the destruction of the earth or by a global war. I will decline to
speculate on any possible dates for these occurrences, but you can be
very sure they will certainly occur! Until then, let's keep our
hearts and minds focused on Jesus Christ because he is the Savior of
the world and the Kinsman Redeemer of all who place their faith in
him. And next week we'll start on Luke chapter 18.
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