We will be doing a two-part message series starting from Luke 17 on the Two Realms, speaking of Jesus’ invisible Kingdom and the last days before His return.
Luke 17:20 - 37
Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
22 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. 23 People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them.
24 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. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything.
32 Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.
35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” 37 “Where, Lord?” they asked. He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.” (Luke 17:20 - 37)
The Material Realm
In the first verse of this passage, v. 20, the Pharisees ask Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?” The time of the coming of the kingdom was important to both Pharisees and Christians, though for different reasons. The Pharisees were expecting a big glorious kingdom as described by the prophets, especially Daniel.
In the midst of these troubles a prophet like Elijah would herald the coming of the Messiah. This Messiah would come during the Roman Empire, establish His kingdom, and vindicate His people. The people of the world would come against the Messiah who would destroy the opposing nations, restore Israel, and then the scattered Jews would come home.
Jerusalem would then be the center of the world and the Messiah would establish His kingdom. In the end, God’s truth would dominate the world, His glory would be seen by all, He would triumph over all the nations and would rule with perfect righteousness.
The Jews believed in the physical reign of a King who would bring restoration to the land where peace and comfort would prevail.
However, when Jesus came into the world 2000 years ago, He did not come to set up that kingdom. The kingdom He was talking about would not be inaugurated with great fanfare or splendor. He was talking about another kingdom, a spiritual, unseen kingdom in the hearts of His followers.
The Spiritual Realm
The Jewish people were looking for a Messiah to set up a physical kingdom and were not interested in hearing Jesus' response to their question. Jesus said:
The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst (Luke 17:20-21).
They were expecting some tangible signs to indicate the coming of the Messiah. They were looking for someone to change their situation, to conquer and rule over their enemies but they weren’t looking for a Messiah to change their personal lives and rule over their hearts.
Jesus was speaking about the spiritual aspect of the Kingdom. An invisible kingdom that has a King who would direct, preside over, and govern people’s hearts.
The spiritual kingdom is already here and will keep expanding as the Gospel is preached and people’s lives are being transformed by this kingdom that reigns over their hearts.
This spiritual kingdom will grow and multiply like a tiny mustard seed and like leaven it will permeate the world culminating in the second coming of Christ.
In v. 22 Jesus turns to His disciples and informs them that before His second coming, difficult days were coming, so difficult that they would be wishing for just one day of what it was like before these times.
Luke 21 and Matt 24 describes those days as so adverse that people will faint from terror, have so much anguish about what is happening around the world, because even the sun and the stars will be shaken. What will be ruling people’s hearts then? Fear and anxiety.
But before the beginning of the end, in v. 25 Jesus tells His disciples that He would first suffer terribly and be rejected by this generation. And after Christ’s trial, excruciating death, and then His burial and triumphant resurrection and ascension, the end time clock would begin.
The Time Between (His first and second coming)
After Jesus ascended into heaven, the angels declared to the apostles, “‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’” (Acts 1:11)
Right now, we are living in the time between Christ’s first coming and the establishment of His invisible kingdom and His second coming when Jesus will physically reign on the earth.
It is during this time which we refer to as “the church age” while we are actively waiting for His return, that we need to be intentional in our faith, daily deciding who will rule our hearts, ready for His return.
Even though we know in our heads that God is sovereign over all and is in control of everything, it is easy to get a little careless, to slack off especially because we do not physically see God.
“The question is how are we to live until Christ comes back? ”
And why do we even need to prepare for His return? Jesus later told parable to people who had the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away. Let’s turn to Luke 19:12-28.
A nobleman went to a distant empire to be crowned king and then return. Before he left he called 10 of his servants and divided up 10 pounds of silver for them to invest for him. It said that his people hated him and didn’t want him to be their king and let him know it.
When he returned as king, he wanted to find out what type of return they made on their investments.
One made 10x the original amount and was given charge over 10 cities, another servant received 5x return on the investment and was given 5 cities to govern. But the 3rd servant, had 0 return because he didn’t invest the silver he was given.
Jesus said the king was very angry with the servant and gave the silver to the one who got the greatest return on his investment.
What do you think he did with the ones who didn’t want him to be their king and rule over them? He had them brought in and executed them right there and then.
Who do you think Jesus was talking about?
Different commentators on this parable say that Jesus was talking about His disciples and the pharisees. The king in the parable of course is Jesus between the time He left the earth and the time He returns. Luke used this aspect of stewardship to tell Theophelus that Jesus taught he would be absent for an unspecified period of time.
He taught that between the present time until the appearance of the physical kingdom His followers should be watchful, ready and found faithful with all that He entrusted them with.
What will we as God’s people be doing during the time Between?
When we think about the Coronavirus that is impacting the world now, or think about natural disasters, economic upheavals, and other calamities, it is not a question of why these things are happening and to whom but a question of whether we are ready to face these calamities personally?
What are we doing, how are we acting, living, and what takes our focused time and energy? We know that Jesus already established the spiritual kingdom, we know that when he returns he will establish the material kingdom where He will rule uncontested, but what are we doing in the Time Between?
“Does Christ have His rightful place on the throne of your heart now?
Does His love, His peace, His Word, rule over your heart now? ”
