Looking for the Kingdom

Today we are in chapter 17, verses 20 to 37.

I encourage you to open your Bibles to Luke chapter 17, verses 20 to 37.

Luke 17:20–37

We did print it for you today in the worship guide.

We usually do not do that because we want people to bring their Bibles

so that they can see the context of the passages that they read.

But if you don't have a Bible today, you can use the worship guide that we printed for you.

Before I read and preach, let me pray for God's help.

Heavenly Father, we gather once again around your Word

because we believe that you speak today through your Word.

Because we believe that you rule us through your Word.

Because we believe that in your Word we find life and joy and peace.

Because through it we come to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

So we ask once again that you will address us from your Word.

So that instead of being distracted by the currents of this world,

that we might be able to maintain our focus and perseverance

as we follow after your Son, Jesus Christ.

So that we might live with awareness of and anticipation of

the Kingdom of God that will be fulfilled

as you promised.

So now help us as we incline our ears to hear.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Luke 17, verses 20 to 37.

Luke 17:20–37

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,

nor will they say,

Look, here it is, or there.

For behold, the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you.

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.

And they will say to you,

Look there, or look here.

Do not go out or follow them.

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.

But first, He must suffer many things

and be rejected by this generation.

Just as it was in the days of Noah,

so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.

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.

Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot,

they were eating and drinking,

buying and selling, planting and building.

But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom,

fire and sulfur rained from heaven

and destroyed them all.

So will it be on the day

when the Son of Man is revealed.

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.

Remember Lot's wife.

Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life will keep it.

I tell you, in that night,

there will be two in one bed,

one will be taken and the other left.

There will be two women grinding together.

One will be taken and the other left.

And they said to him,

Where, Lord?

He said to them,

Where the corpse is,

there the vultures will gather.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

According to a poll conducted in 2012

for Reuters,

it spanned 20 countries,

it said that one in seven people,

about 14% of the world's population,

believe that the world will end in their lifetime

for one reason or another.

And according to the Wikipedia page

that lists all the dates

that have been predicted for apocalyptic events,

there have been no less than 173

end-of-the-world predictions

that have already come and gone.

And most recently,

Ronald Wineland,

a leader of a cult that splintered off

from a Christian denomination,

predicted that Jesus would return

on June 9, 2019.

It's two months ago.

He had previously predicted

the world would end in 2011,

and 2012,

and 2013 as well.

Such attempts to predict

the end of the world

often becomes obsessive

and unhealthy.

And this was the case

for ancient Jews as well.

Many of them were preoccupied

with reading astrological science

to figure out

when the end of the world would come.

And they believed

that the world,

as they know,

will come to an end

when the Messiah comes,

the Christ comes,

to establish the kingdom of God.

And so,

it's not surprising then

that after Jesus performs

wondrous signs,

such as healing lepers,

and announcing the kingdom of God,

that they asked Jesus

this question

at the beginning of our passage.

When will the kingdom of God come?

Verse 20.

They're asking,

if you claim that you are

performing the signs of the kingdom,

when will this kingdom

of God's rule and authority

actually come?

And Jesus answered them this way

in verses 20 to 21.

The kingdom of God

is not coming

in ways that can be observed,

nor will they say,

look, here it is,

or there,

for behold,

the kingdom of God

is in the midst of you.

There's no way,

Jesus is saying,

to observe

the coming of the kingdom of God

by studying the stars

or the times.

No one can say,

look, here it is,

or there it is,

because the kingdom of God

will not be tied

to a specific,

visible location

like the kingdoms

of this world.

For behold,

the kingdom of God

is in the midst

of you.

And with this statement,

Jesus is challenging

the Pharisees'

misunderstanding

about the kingdom of God

in two ways.

First,

they believe that

the kingdom of God

was still to come

in the future

and not yet here

in any real sense.

But Jesus is saying

that the kingdom of God

is already here.

It has not been

fully consummated yet,

that does lie in the future,

but it has already come

in a real sense

with Jesus.

And so he says,

it is in the midst of you.

And second,

the Pharisees believed

that the kingdom of God

will come with

observable signs

that we should look for,

trying to set a timetable

for Christ's return

or for the kingdom of God.

But Jesus tells us

that there is no need

to look around

because the kingdom of God

is in their very midst.

Sometimes this phrase,

in the midst of you,

gets interpreted to mean

that the kingdom of God

is within us,

in our hearts.

And in the past,

I have thought the same.

But the more I think about it,

I don't think that's what it means

because Jesus is speaking here

to the Pharisees

who are the last people

in the Gospels

to whom Jesus will say,

the kingdom of God

is inside you.

And secondly,

Jesus is also,

pointing out

the fact that

the kingdom of God

is something that we enter in,

something we,

by submitting to

the lordship of Christ,

to the rule of God,

it's something we enter into.

The Gospels do not speak,

usually,

of the kingdom of God

entering into us.

He never speaks of it that way.

And so Jesus is saying

that the kingdom of God

is God's rule,

it's His domain,

it's wherever Jesus reigns,

and it's wherever Christ

and His followers are,

those who are the subjects

of the king,

the citizens of the kingdom of God.

That's the kingdom.

And Jesus is teaching the Pharisees

the reality of that.

And after He says that,

Jesus then turns around

to the very disciples

who do belong

to the kingdom of God.

And then He says this,

in verse 22,

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.

Even though the kingdom of God

has already been started,

inaugurated,

Jesus speaks of a future day

when it will be consummated,

when the king will return

in full glory

and power and authority.

There is this already here,

but not yet fully here,

aspect to the kingdom of God.

A heavenly colony,

so to speak,

has been established

here on earth.

But the kingdom of God

has not exerted its rule

over the entirety

of this world yet.

And so Jesus says

the days are coming.

It's yet to come.

When you will desire

to see one of the days

of the Son of Man

and you will not see it.

And the days are coming,

it's referring to the future days.

And one of the days

is kind of an idiomatic way

of saying first of the days.

So these disciples,

the days are coming

when the followers of Christ

will long to see the first

of the fullness

of the kingdom of God.

The first day,

the initial,

the beginnings

of the reign of Christ

in full power.

That's what they will long to see,

but they will not see

the Christ return that way.

The phrase Son of Man

is the most common way

that Jesus refers to himself

in the Gospels.

And it's an allusion

to Daniel chapter 7

Daniel 7:13–14

verses 13 to 14.

Daniel said this,

I saw in 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,

that's God,

and was presented before him.

And to him,

the Son of Man,

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.

So this is the expectation

that's behind

this frenzy

about the kingdom of God

and the Son of Man.

The Son of Man

will come with

the very authority

of God himself

to rule.

But that time,

Jesus says,

lies in the future.

It's not now.

But this won't stop people

from looking for him.

It says in verse 23,

and they will say to you,

look there

or look here.

Do not go out

or follow them.

Jesus is warning us

false rumors

will circulate.

Timetables

will be proposed.

But don't be deceived

by them.

Earlier in Luke

Luke 9:23

chapter 9,

verse 23,

he uses

very similar verbs

like this

to describe

following him,

to describe

Christian discipleship.

He told them

to come after him

and to follow him.

And Jesus

is making a contrast here.

In order to be

faithful disciples

who go after Christ

and follow Christ,

we cannot be disciples

who go out

after these rumors

and timetables

and follow these

distractions

because they really

are distractions

from true

Christian discipleship.

And Jesus

gives us the reason

why we should not

be duped by these

speculations

in verse 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.

If a lightning

were to strike

right now,

no one's going

to look around

and wonder to themselves,

did a lightning

just strike?

Because we're all

going to know

that lightning

just struck

because it's obvious.

It comes with

the crack

of deafening thunder.

It lights up the sky

from one end

to the other.

It's visible.

It's obvious.

It's plain to everybody.

And the return

of Christ,

the coming of the Son of Man

and his full authority

will be the same.

There will be

nothing to mistake

about it.

So there's no need

to speculate

or go searching

for him

because as one

Bible scholar

Alfred Plummer

sums it up,

none will foresee it

and all will see it

at once.

But there is something

that must happen

before the Son of Man

returns in glory.

Jesus says

in verse 25,

The Son of Man's return

in all power,

glory,

and authority

will first be preceded

by his suffering

and rejection

at the hands of men.

In Luke,

as in the other

Synoptic Gospels,

Jesus repeatedly predicts

that he will suffer

and die.

But this is the only place

of all the Gospels

where Jesus connects

his suffering

with his glorious return

in the future.

And that juxtaposition

is jarring.

That glorious Son of Man

that Daniel 7 talks about,

he will first suffer

and be rejected.

That Son of Man

who will light up the sky

and have all dominion

over all kingdoms,

over all peoples

and nations,

who will judge the world

and bring justice,

that Son of Man

will first suffer

and be rejected

by this generation.

Jesus' reign

in glory and power

comes through the path

of humility

and suffering

and that's instructive

for us as people

who seek to follow him

in his footsteps.

Sometimes Christians

who emphasize

the end times

have this triumphalist

attitude.

We will conquer

the world for Christ.

We will win this nation

back through our activism.

We will grow

ever more influential

and powerful

and prepare the world

for Christ's return.

We have all heard

these slogans

or rallying cries.

But Jesus teaches us here

that the glory,

authority,

and power

await only those

who go through

suffering

and rejection

and humility.

Jesus says later

to his disciples

in Luke chapter 21,

Luke 21 · chapter mention

people will lay their hands

on you

and persecute you,

delivering you up

to the synagogues

and prisons

and you will be brought

before kings

and governors

for my name's sake.

This will be your opportunity

to bear witness.

The church that is not

prepared for suffering

is a church

that is sure to decline

because God intends

for us to bear witness

to this world

in the context

of suffering

and rejection.

We should expect

rejection

when we share

the gospel of Jesus Christ

with people.

We should expect

various forms

of suffering

and persecution

in this life.

To follow Christ

is to submit

to his lordship

and to give up

our selfish desires.

To follow Christ

is to

consider others

better than ourselves,

to look out

for their interests

not merely our own.

To follow Christ

is to stand firmly

on his word

in a world

that rejects

God's word.

All of these things

necessarily

lead to suffering.

So have you

accepted this reality?

Are you prepared

to suffer for Christ?

Nobody ever said

that following Christ

will be free

of hardship.

But is following

Christ better?

Is following

Christ sweeter?

Is following

Christ to experience

his comfort

and guidance

every step of the way?

Absolutely.

Because in suffering

with Christ

we have fellowship

with him.

He is with us

and he is worth

forsaking the entire

world for.

And because of this

we can endure.

Looking forward

to the fact that

the suffering

in this life

is not the end.

It's not the final word.

There will be glory

that comes.

There will be redemption,

vindication

that comes

when Christ

returns.

Whether we die

before he comes

and go to him

or whether we remain

alive for his return

we will see him

face to face.

And when we see him

face to face

the demons

that we have been

fighting both literal

and figurative

will be subdued

underneath

our feet.

The world

that had hated Christ

and had persecuted

his people

will be repaid.

the sins

that had plagued

us

in this life

that we had fought

so long against

will be behind us

forever

and all of our sorrows

will be washed away

and he will wipe

away our tears

and we will get

to behold

Christ's gracious

and loving face

the face of our Savior

the one whom we

today dream about

and fight for

and long for

and persevere

for.

it's only by

remembering this

by living with

awareness of

and anticipation

for the kingdom

of God

that we can

persevere to the

end

and be faithful

to Christ

in the midst

of our sufferings.

And so Jesus

continues this

teaching in

verses 26

to 30

verse 26

just as it was

in the days of

Noah

so will it be

in the days

of the Son of Man

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

likewise

just as it was

in the days

of Lot

they were eating

and drinking

and buying

and selling

and planting

and building

but on the day

when Lot

went out

from Sodom

fire and sulfur

rained from heaven

and destroyed them all

So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

Jesus compares the time leading up to the return of Christ, His return in power.

He compares that to the times of Noah and Lot.

During the times of Noah and Lot, the people of that age were characterized by really unprecedented wickedness, desperate wickedness.

And that's why they received such severe judgment.

In Noah's time, by a flood that drowned them all during Lot's time, fired himself a kind of volcanic-like punishment raining from heaven.

And only Noah and Lot and their families escaped these judgments.

And they alone were prepared for God's judgment.

And Jesus warns about that in the same way.

And note the comparison that Jesus is making. It's very interesting.

Because even though the times of Noah and Lot were characterized by great wickedness,

Jesus makes nothing of how wicked they were.

And Jesus is not trying to say here that His generation and the people that will be there at the time of Christ's return will be extraordinarily wicked.

He doesn't say that.

The only comparison He's making here is not of their depravity, but of their unawareness.

Of the fact that they will be unsuspecting when Christ returns.

They will be immersed in their normal, harmless, day-to-day activities.

Like eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, buying and selling, planting and building.

And that's precisely the point.

People will be going about their business as usual when the Son of Man returns in full glory and power.

They will be completely oblivious to the fact that their eternal fate hangs in the balance.

Jesus made a similar point earlier in Luke chapter 14 where people in a parable refused the invitation to God's heavenly banquet

Luke 14 · chapter mention

because of their preoccupation with their property, their family and their jobs.

These are necessary preoccupations of life.

There's nothing inherently sinful about them.

But even these harmless occupations, these concerns, they're not valid reasons for neglecting to pursue Jesus Christ.

And if they become the reason why we do not pursue Jesus Christ, then they will become fatal reasons.

They will become the reasons that damn us for eternity.

This is an important point for us to recognize.

I firmly believe that if you look at the spiritual obituary of the people that are in hell at the end of the days,

many of them will have very ordinary sentences.

Not that they committed heinous crimes,

but that they were given to day-to-day preoccupations so that they were blind to Christ's message.

That they didn't believe in Jesus.

You can be unprepared for the return of Christ because you're consumed with being a serial adulterer.

But you can also be unprepared because you're simply trying to be a devoted spouse and a family man.

You can be unprepared for the return of Christ because you're a hedonist running headlong after all these illicit pleasures of life.

But you can also be unprepared because you're simply distracted with working and earning money and buying and eating food.

Christian writer C.S. Lewis illustrates this idea in a very imaginative way in his books, The Screwtape Letters.

The Screwtape Letters is a series of dialogues between two demons.

One is named Screwtape.

He's kind of the senior devil.

And he is advising kind of, I guess, an intern or whatever, Wormwood.

And he advises him, interestingly, to involve his patient, his human subject, in ordinary kind of small sins.

And he writes it this way.

You will say that these are very small sins.

And doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness.

But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the enemy.

That's God.

It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the light and out into the nothing.

Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick.

Indeed, the safest road to hell is the gradual one, the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick.

Even things that are harmless in and of themselves, such as eating, drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, and marrying and being given in marriage.

If they prevent us from being followers of Christ.

If they lead us away from Christ, they'll lead us unawares down the path to hell.

And that's why Jesus is warning his disciples sternly here.

Don't be caught unprepared when the Son of Man returns to render his final judgment.

Be expectant.

Live with awareness of and anticipation for the kingdom of God.

And if we live with such awareness and anticipation for Christ's return,

we will not be encumbered by the things of this world.

And that's what Jesus emphasizes in verses 31 to 32.

On that day, let the one who is on the housetop with the goods in the house not come down to take them away.

And likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back.

Remember Lot's wife.

If you have ever done a fire drill at school, you are familiar with these instructions.

First, stop whatever you are doing immediately.

Second, do not gather your belongings.

Leave everything behind.

And third, head straight to the emergency exit.

You guys have all heard these instructions.

As a child, I always wondered why my teachers told me not to gather my belongings.

If there's a fire, I don't want my stuff to burn.

Why should I leave them behind?

Of course, the rationale is that seconds can be the difference between life and death as a fire spreads.

And the moments spent gathering your belongings can be your very undoing.

And trying to carry, lug those luggages along with you can prevent you from a speedy exit.

And it can in fact block other people from exiting as well.

Jesus is getting at the same idea.

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.

When Jesus returns, there will be no time to go back and gather our belongings.

When Jesus returns, there will be no second chances, no time to change our mind.

We will have to leave all of our earthly possessions and preoccupations behind us.

And so Jesus warns us, remember Lot's wife.

In Genesis 19, when God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah because of their exceeding wickedness,

Lot's family alone is rescued because they're warned beforehand.

And as the family is escaping, Lot's wife, it says, looked back at Sodom that was being destroyed.

And she became a pillar of salt as punishment.

Lot's wife could not leave the life she knew behind.

She looked back with regret and longing and was punished as a result and became a pillar of salt.

19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon says this about Lot's wife, that she was, quote,

almost saved, but not quiet.

How tragic is that verdict?

What are your worldly attachments?

What are you trying to salvage from this world?

The paycheck you worked hard for?

The spouse or family you always wanted?

The house you had dreamed of?

The retirement you saved for?

Are these things keeping you from following Christ?

Will they say of you when you die, almost saved, but not quiet?

Jesus continues in verse 33,

Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life will keep it.

Whoever clings to his own life and tries to maintain his autonomy and rebellion against God,

instead of surrendering his or her life to God,

will actually end up losing his life.

But whoever forsakes his own life for the sake of following Christ will end up saving it.

So let me ask you, what good is grabbing your laptop only to be consumed by the fire?

What good is having all the respect and power you could accumulate in this world?

What good is being beautiful and desirable and famous?

What good is a billion dollars?

If after all, at the end of your days, you perish eternally apart from Christ?

Only those who lose their lives in order to live for Christ will find eternal life.

Only those who have a healthy disinterest in the things of this world

will actually live in a way that gives evidence of interest in the kingdom of heaven.

So I tell you, Jesus says in verses 34 to 35,

Just to clarify, this is not speaking about the popular concept of rapture.

I don't know if some of you guys have heard of that.

It's the idea that all believers will instantaneously be transported from earth to heaven

before Christ's return, or depending on how you view it, that could vary.

But that idea of a rapture is not actually a biblical idea.

It was popularized by the fictional series Left Behind.

I don't know if you've read it.

It's entertaining, but it's fiction.

That idea of a rapture that you may be familiar with

was invented by a man named John Nelson Darby in the 19th century.

It has no historical basis in church history.

It has no scriptural basis in God's word.

It's based on a misinterpretation of 1 Corinthians 15, verse 52.

1 Corinthians 15:52

The only kind of rapture that the Bible speaks of is in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 17,

1 Thessalonians 4:17

where it says that those who are alive at the time of Christ's return, who are left,

will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,

and so will always be with the Lord.

That's the only kind of rapture that the Bible speaks of.

And there, the word to meet the Lord in the air is not speaking of departing

and being transported away from earth.

It's actually the word that is used when you go out of your house

to greet a guest that's coming so that you could usher them in into your house.

So the going up to meet the Lord in the air is you meet Him in heaven,

in the air, so you can come down with Him to be a part of His rule and reign

in the new heavens and the new earth.

So it's not talking about rapture that you're disappearing.

So that's not in view here at all in verses 34 to 35.

What I think is in view here is instead at the final judgment,

there will be a clear separation between those who belong to Christ

and those who do not.

By all outward appearances, humanly speaking, they will be indistinguishable,

but they will be distinguished by their allegiance to Christ.

They could be roommates or siblings or husband and wife sharing one bed in a room,

sleeping at night, but one will be taken and the other left.

They could be next door neighbors or co-workers grinding at the mill together,

the ones you share your desk with, the ones that you are in the same project with,

but one will be taken and the other left.

That's why the urgency to share the gospel is ever present with us.

And even though Jesus already taught His disciples in verses 23 to 24

that there's no reason to look for this and search for His return,

it will be as plain and visible to all like a lightning that lights up the sky,

disciples can't help but to still ask at the end here in verse 37,

where, Lord?

Where will all these things take place?

Where will the Son of Man descend?

Where will the separation of the righteous and the wicked take place?

And Jesus reiterates His earlier point by quoting a proverb.

Where the course is, there the vultures will gather.

Jesus uses the same proverb in Matthew 24, 28,

and there, and likely here as well,

I think Jesus is just using that to make a general point.

It's similar to the English proverb that we're familiar with,

where there's smoke, there's fire.

If you see smoke, that's evidence that there's fire somewhere.

In the same way, wherever the vultures are gathered,

you can be sure that there is a corpse.

So the presence of vultures invariably indicate that there's a corpse.

In a similar way, when you observe these things that Jesus speaks of,

when the judgment is taking place, there will be no mistaking it.

There will be no missing it.

It will be obvious when it happens.

Jesus will certainly return to judge the world,

and He will appear when people are least expecting Him.

And when He comes, there will be no opportunity to change our minds last minute.

His judgment will be final,

and that's why we as God's people must live with awareness of

and anticipation for the Kingdom of God.

But I want to ask you,

if you are all prepared for His coming,

some of you have not yet put your faith in Jesus Christ,

how then can you prepare for this fearful judgment?

How can you escape God's judgment?

Jesus hinted at this earlier in verse 25 when He said,

But first, the Son of Man must suffer many things

and be rejected by this generation.

Jesus is on His way right now to Jerusalem

to die on the cross for the sins of those who put their faith in Him.

And He does it for our sake.

Jesus is the loyal Son of God

who alone does not deserve to be punished.

None of us deserve to escape the flood judgment

that befell Noah's population.

None of us deserves to escape the sulfur and fire

that came on Lot's generation.

We all deserve God's fearful wrath

because we have rebelled against Him

even though we are creatures that belong to Him,

are accountable to Him.

We have lived for ourselves,

for our own glory,

for our own selfish pleasures,

instead of living for God.

Someone must pay the price.

And God, out of His love for us,

sent His only Son, Jesus Christ,

to pay the penalty for our sins on the cross

so that we who believe in Him

might be forgiven of our sins.

might be received as good subjects,

citizens in good standing of the kingdom of God.

And as people who have experienced that mercy and grace,

that's how we live now

without seeking to preserve our own lives.

We live to lose our lives for the sake of Christ

with awareness and anticipation

for the kingdom of God.