Hey Aaron,

One of my favorite passages on the kingdom is Luke 17:20-21. I’ve studied it a little but it still completely baffles me. Could you help a poor jock out?

The pitiful FCA guy

20 Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as R737 to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs R738 F390 to be observed; 21 nor will they R739 say, `Look, here it is!’ or, `There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in F391 your midst.”

well…let me give you the longish short answer. The first thing to be clarified is, “What is the kingdom of God?” The kingdom of God is the rule and the reign of God. It is, as a kingdom is for any king, the realm over which he exercises his rule.

The Pharisees, when asking this question, had a million preconceived ideas about what would happen when the Kingdom of God came. They saw it exclusively as an apocalyptic event. It was, in their minds, the end of the world when the Messiah would come and set up an earthly kingdom, Jerusalem would be the capitol of the world, the righteous would be lifted up, the unrighteous would be punished. So this is, for them, a LOADED question! In essence they’re saying, “OK Jesus, here’s a good one…when’s the end of the world coming?”

But the Pharisees ideas about the Kingdom of God were incomplete. Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God was already present…he also taught that the kingdom was ‘almost here’ or ‘at hand’…he also taught that the kingdom had been delayed…and he taught that the kingdom was altogether future, or the end of the world fulfillment that they were picturing. All of which were simultaneously true! What the Pharisees didn’t know is that all of the powers of the kingdom that would one day come to earth in full at the end of the age, were already inaugurated in the coming of Jesus. In other words, even though the kingdom (the rule and reign of God) wasn’t fully established, it was already there.

However, the Pharisees were picturing all of the apocalyptic end-of-the-world-stuff that they’d read about in Daniel and Isaiah–the sun refusing to shine, the moon turning to blood, darkness covering the earth, earthquakes, etc…they had a whole set of expectations for dramatic signs and wonders that would accompany the coming of the kingdom. But Jesus told them to stop looking just for those things…that their concept of the kingdom was too limited…it wasn’t only a future expectation, it was a present reality as well.

So Jesus’ answer, if you think about it, was pretty hilarious. The Pharisees ask, “when is the end of the world?” And Jesus replies, “You’re standing in it right now.” And they were!