Kingdom Come

Thank you for reading this sermon from Christ Fellowship. I hope and pray that this sermon will be a blessing of grace and truth to you. With that said, let me encourage you not to use this sermon as a replacement for your local church. Christ Jesus did not establish his Church simply for us to consume content. Instead, He calls us to be part of a real, covenant family. 

If someone asked me to preach a sermon 9 days before a presidential election and told me I could pick any text, I might actually choose this one. And in God’s good providence, it’s just where we happen to be this morning! I hope you find it to be as challenging and encouraging as I did.

20 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,

21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

By now, everyone has seen Jesus perform miracles. They know He is special. They know He is powerful. But the Pharisees are getting anxious. If Jesus is the Messiah, why is wasting time with preaching and miracles? Why doesn’t he go to Jerusalem, declare himself king, and lead the rebellion?

This was a politically motivated question. But Jesus tells them plainly they are looking for the wrong type of kingdom. He says that even now the kingdom of God was in their midst, or within their grasp.

Whenever Jesus talks about the kingdom of God, He describes it as an active, available option. It’s “at hand”. The time is now. You might even think of it as a military recruiting poster urging us to sign-up for battle.

But Jesus is also clear that the kingdom won’t come the way they expect. It’s not like the governments of this world. They want Jesus to save their nation from the Romans, but that’s not why He came.

22 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.

Notice that Jesus stops talking to the Pharisees and switches to the disciples. And He says something that they probably did not understand until later. He says, I’m here with you now… but I’m going to be leaving.

23 And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them.

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.

In other words, when Jesus returns it will be obvious to everyone. It will not be a secret.

25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

Once again, Jesus is predicting his death. The words “suffer” and “rejected” are important, because they connect Jesus to Messianic prophecy in the Old Testament.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

Jesus does not intend to establish His kingdom by force, but by sacrifice. It was never going to be a peaceful transfer of power between the world and the kingdom of God. God would either had to destroy this world… or suffer in our place.

And that is how Jesus chose to establish His kingdom.

Last week, I got to visit Washington DC with my son, Leo. Outside the White House and outside the Capitol building workers have already begun construction on the temporary structures used for the inauguration. That’s what happens when a new president takes office.

After the inauguration, they will tear the structures down, but the President will still be the President until a new one is elected.

The life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus is what we call the Inauguration of God’s Kingdom. The entire Old Testament was building up to that moment.

When Jesus ascended to heaven, the visible evidence of His inauguration disappeared. But Jesus is still King. And one day, He will return.

In the meantime, we think of God’s kingdom as having two realities. We call them “already” and “not yet”. Some things about the kingdom we already have – the Spirit of God is already applying the work of Jesus to save souls, to change lives, and to build God’s church.

Things are beginning to change, and we participate in that kingdom work. We do that by living as kingdom-minded citizens at home, at work, at school – everywhere we go.

But some things about the kingdom we don’t have yet. The world has not recognized the rule of King Jesus. We still wrestle with sin. We still die. Things are still corrupted. And this helps explain the answer Jesus gives to the Pharisees.

Now, what do you think their follow up question would be? It’s a question we are still asking today – when is Jesus going to come back? Jesus anticipates that question and gives the following answer.

26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.

27 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.

Why did God send the flood? Do you remember? Genesis 6:

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

But Jesus does not say anything in this verse about wickedness or evil. There’s nothing wrong with eating, drinking, and marrying – right? Hold on to that thought.

28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building,

There it is again! Jesus highlights the everyday lives of the people – not their wickedness, even though the people of Sodom were extremely wicked.

29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—

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

These were the two most obvious events of judgment in the Old Testament and what did they have in common? Two things:

1) God destroyed almost everyone.
2) None of them saw it coming.

And here in Luke 17, Jesus highlights not their wickedness but their worldliness. They were living their normal, everyday lives. Like us, they were busy with personal goals and ambitions, personal happiness, and current events. But they did it without any concern for God. They had no awareness of the danger they were in.

Jesus continues:

31 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.

32 Remember Lot’s wife.

What did she do? She looked back and died.

33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left.

35 There will be two women grinding grain together. One will be taken and the other left.”

Some people think this is talking about a rapture –believers taken to heaven and unbelievers left behind. But the last verse eliminates that possibility.

37 And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”

In other words, the taken ones are not the saved but the dead.

Jesus may be talking about the fall of Jerusalem. He may be talking about the future judgment. He could be talking about both. Either way, the application here is the same.

When Jesus returns, He will take the world by force, and it will be too late for many.

And so, a Christian living in the kingdom of God today is like being Noah before the flood… or Lot living in Sodom before the rain of fire. That’s what Jesus teaches His disciples.

This is not business as usual. There is a judgment coming and most people around us are completely unaware. They will not see it coming.

There’s a sense of urgency, as well as a sense of detachment. What do I mean by detachment?

Think of it as having one foot in a lifeboat on a sinking ship. We are ready to go at a moment’s notice just like Noah when the ark was completed. We are IN the world but not OF the world. I like the way 1 John describes this.

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

What does all this mean? Brothers and sisters, it means that we are not living our best life now. We’re on a sinking ship. This life is temporary. As Christians, we know this is NOT all there is. We are not satisfied with this world of sickness and death and corruption. We will not live our lives as if this is as good as it gets.

Last week, in Washington DC, I was struck by the proximity of monuments and memorials. On one side of the street is a great monument to the achievements of men and on the other side of the street is a war memorial remembering hundreds of thousands of fallen soldiers. And it’s like that all around the capitol.

It was a great reminder that humanism has failed. There were more war-related deaths in the 20th century than in all other centuries combined. And that’s after the Enlightenment!

Sickness, death, and corruption will not change no matter who gets elected next week. As Christians, we know this, don’t we?

It matters. The election matters. Everything in this life matters. But our hope is not in better leaders or a better economy or better science. Our hope is in King Jesus!

The things we see are temporary. The things we don’t see are eternal.

The kingdom of God is not a distant dream. It’s a present spiritual reality. It’s the most important reality, which means that voting is NOT the most important thing you will do in the next two weeks.

If you are a Christian, then what you are doing right now is the most important thing you can do. Worshipping King Jesus. Hearing His Word. Praying about the things that concern you. Expecting His return. Living your life in daily faith and repentance. Learning to let go of the things in this world that are holding your heart captive.

No matter what happens, the kingdom of God is forever. And forever will King Jesus be praised!