{"id":36383,"date":"2022-09-13T12:53:30","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T17:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/please-explain-luke-1720-21-the-kingdom-of-god-does-not-come-with-observation-nor-will-they-say-see-here-or-see-there-for-indeed-the-kingdom-of-god\/"},"modified":"2022-09-13T12:53:30","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T17:53:30","slug":"please-explain-luke-1720-21-the-kingdom-of-god-does-not-come-with-observation-nor-will-they-say-see-here-or-see-there-for-indeed-the-kingdom-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/please-explain-luke-1720-21-the-kingdom-of-god-does-not-come-with-observation-nor-will-they-say-see-here-or-see-there-for-indeed-the-kingdom-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Please explain Luke 17:20-21, \u201cThe kingdom of God does not come with observation;  nor will they say, \u2018See here!\u2019 or \u2018See there!\u2019 For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>In this event, Jesus was talking to the Pharisees. How could God&rsquo;s <strong>kingdom be in the hearts of Pharisees?<\/strong> Jesus had called the Pharisees hypocrites! (Read Luke 11 and Matthew 23.)&nbsp;\u200b<\/p>\n<p>The NIV, ESV, CSB, NASB translate this as &ldquo;the kingdom of God <strong>is among you<\/strong>.&rdquo; These verses may be better rendered with the thoughts: &ldquo;The kingdom of God comes <strong>not with outward show<\/strong>&hellip;the kingdom is among you.&rdquo;&nbsp;\u200b<\/p>\n<p><strong>How<\/strong> would the kingdom be among them? Jesus, the King, was the representative of that kingdom and <strong>He was right there<\/strong>! The Pharisees were looking for a sign or some <strong>evidence <\/strong>of Jesus&rsquo; earthly kingdom, power, and authority. He told them <strong>he was the King<\/strong> of that kingdom. Though they <strong>didn&rsquo;t believe<\/strong> him.<\/p>\n<p>In the next verse, Jesus gave a fuller answer to His sincere disciples. He compared His kingdom to lightning (Greek &ldquo;astrape&rdquo; &ndash; bright&nbsp; shining &#8211; like the <strong>sun<\/strong>) which <strong>gradually brings light to the world.<\/strong> In verse 25 he further explained he first<strong> <\/strong>would need to <strong>suffer<\/strong>. His kingdom in power and glory would <strong>not be set up immediately<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Then in verses 26 through 28 he compares the days of Noah and Lot to the days of the Son of Man. As <strong>Noah and Lot were present <\/strong>during their days <strong>so the Son of Man will be present during his day<\/strong>. The world was ignorant of what was about to happen. They continued on with normal life activities. Comparing this to the parallel account in Matthew 24:37-39, this is the time of Jesus&rsquo; secret return. (See FAQ question on 1 Thessalonians 5:2 for a fuller explanation.)<\/p>\n<p>Back to Luke 17, verses 29 and 30 compare <strong>Jesus&rsquo; revealing to the day the flood came <\/strong>and the day Sodom was destroyed. <strong>Revealing<\/strong> has the thought of disclosing something<strong> hidden<\/strong>. During the initial stage of his second advent, <strong>only believers<\/strong> will recognize his return. At the later or <strong>revealing<\/strong> stage, the <strong>world<\/strong> will know. Christ will be revealed to all through <strong>intense trouble<\/strong>. This then is the<strong> answer<\/strong> to the Pharisees question, &ldquo;when the Kingdom of God should come.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The flood and destruction of Sodom were literal but <strong>also symbolic<\/strong> pictures of a <strong>destruction of earth&rsquo;s society<\/strong>. God promised He would not destroy society again with a flood. (Genesis 9:15) God will <strong>not destroy the literal earth<\/strong>. Remember: &ldquo;the <strong>earth abides forever,<\/strong>&rdquo; and &ldquo;God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it <strong>not in vain<\/strong> he <strong>formed it to be inhabited<\/strong>; I am the Lord and there is none else.&rdquo; (Isaiah 45:17)&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We look forward to <strong>Jesus&rsquo; earthly government<\/strong> which will be very different from current society. The scriptures style it &ldquo;a <strong>new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness<\/strong>.&rdquo; (2 Peter 3:13)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this event, Jesus was talking to the Pharisees. How could God&rsquo;s kingdom be in the hearts of Pharisees? Jesus had called the Pharisees hypocrites! (Read Luke 11 and Matthew 23.)&nbsp;\u200b The NIV, ESV, CSB, NASB translate this as &ldquo;the kingdom of God is among you.&rdquo; These verses may be better rendered with the thoughts: &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/please-explain-luke-1720-21-the-kingdom-of-god-does-not-come-with-observation-nor-will-they-say-see-here-or-see-there-for-indeed-the-kingdom-of-god\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Please explain Luke 17:20-21, \u201cThe kingdom of God does not come with observation;  nor will they say, \u2018See here!\u2019 or \u2018See there!\u2019 For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.\u201d&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}