This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. Luke sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, March 28, 1993.
Now, having been questioned by the Pharisees, as to when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed. Nor will they say, Look, here it is or there it is, for behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst. And he said to the disciples, The day shall come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, Look here, look there. Do not go away, do not run after them.
For just as the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the days of the Son of Man.
They were eating and they were drinking, they were marrying and they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot. They were eating and they were drinking, they were buying and they were selling, they were planting, they were building. But on the day that lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
It will be just the same on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let not the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house go down and take them away. And likewise, let not the one who is in the field turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life shall preserve it alive. I tell you, on that night there will be two men in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left. And there will be two women grinding at the same place. One will be taken and the other will be left. Answering, they said to him, Where, Lord? And he said to them, Where the body is, there also will the vultures be gathered.”
Lord, you are sovereign with respect to your word, your word’s power in our lives. We would pray to the same end with respect to the lives of others, that indeed the lost may be gathered, but also, Father, that your people may be strengthened. We are asking also, Lord, that in keeping with your word, that pattern of authority may be in place in the respective congregations and churches throughout the world, in those churches where you are honored, where your word is revered.
Bless us too, Father. May we not be presumptuous, may we not be vain. Instead, Lord, may we be humbled before you. Knowing that our strength is found in and with you, our hope is Christ. Lord, we are animated, as it were, by your Spirit. Bless us then, Lord, open hearts and your people also throughout the world that you might be honored indeed. We ask this for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
We had them spending time in the epistles and also in Genesis for some time now, and I was getting a little hungry for some gospel. So not that the gospel isn’t found in the epistles and in Genesis, but I thought that we would take a little diversion here tonight and look once more at Luke’s gospel.
It has now been observed that the major theme of the first three Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, is the Kingdom of God, or in Matthew’s Gospel, as it is called there, the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the central organizing thought. This is the central organizing reality. We see it central to the preaching of John the Baptist, but we also see it central to the preaching of Christ.
The first messages, at least as we have them recorded for us in the Synoptic Gospels, the From each of these individuals is repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. We have been helped a great deal in this century in seeing this central organizing character of the kingdom of God for the synoptic Gospels by two very important very capable scholars.
The first was the godly professor of biblical theology at Princeton Seminary, Johardas Voss. Johardas Voss wrote his book, The Kingdom of God and the Church, in 1903. and set the tone for the study of the Synoptic Gospels amongst Reformed people in this century. Now, Ross’s insights were expanded later by another Dutchman by the name of Herman Ritterbos. Ritterbos’s book was entitled The Coming of the Kingdom and appeared in the mid-fifties.
Both of these volumes proceeded along a similar line, setting out the centrality of the kingdom and making it plain that there were actually two focuses with respect to the kingdom as Jesus proclaimed it. Yes, the kingdom was coming, but also the kingdom was very much a present reality in and through his ministry. This perspective then set the Reformed understanding of the kingdom of heaven as it is declared in the Synoptic Gospels over against some other very popularly held conceptions of the kingdom. It is the night of the discussions that have gone on during this century that I wander into this territory tonight. As you know, the Kingdom in that time leading up to the time of Jesus and even during his ministry was a major, if not the major, preoccupation for Israel. For Israel, the kingdom spoke to her of a glorious future in which there would be a transformation of things as they presently existed, a universal reorganization of things. Instead of living humbly and even in a humiliated state, instead of living under the thumb of others, Israel was convinced that there belonged to her, by the promise of God, a future in which she would be especially exalted. The kingdom would make its appearance with signs. signs would precede it, but also be a part of it, making it obvious that, in fact, the kingdom was a reality.
Now, the Pharisees, who are mentioned here in the 20th verse of Luke 17, did not come to Jesus with blank minds. with respect to the question of the kingdom of God. They had their mind very much made up. They had very definite ideas as to what the kingdom of God was, how it would be identified, what signs would accompany it. So we must not think that when the Pharisees approach Jesus to question him about the kingdom of God and when it is going to appear, that we have here a case in which the Pharisees are proving to be sincere seekers after the truth, as if they recognize Jesus as an authority on the subject.
Here, as elsewhere in the Gospels, we must see beneath the surface, and understand that there is actually a sneer stamped upon the souls of these men as they approach Jesus. They are possessed of some sort of inner snarl that crosses their lip. For them, then, there is no question in their mind, no real question in their mind, no sincere question in their mind as they approach Jesus. They do not recognize him as an authority, much less do they recognize him as the Messiah. even though they fully recognize that this individual has messianic illusions, that he is possessed of a messianic pretentiousness. Therefore, behind the questions that these individuals may direct to Jesus, we can perceive the question that really is on their mind, a question that is no question at all but an accusation.
If you are the Messiah, then where are the signs of your messianic kingdom? Now it is not only necessary for us to understand what is beneath the surface of the Pharisees’ approach to Jesus, it is necessary for us to understand what they recognized as legitimate signs attendant to the kingdom. The signs that they were interested in were not those common ordinary garden variety murals. They weren’t simple religious wonders.
They weren’t healings, particularly, nor were they the casting out of demons. for they fully believed that there were those in their own circles that had the power to perform such things. Jesus makes that observation about them on one occasion. By whom, then, do your sons cast out demons, he says? If you’re indicting me, suggesting that I cast them out by the Prince of Darkness, by Beelzebub himself, So no, the Pharisees do not have in mind here signs of the common ordinary garden variety, miracle types, wonders.
Messiah, in their estimation, would come accompanied by extraordinary signs. cosmic in character, universal in scope. The kinds of signs they were looking for were those that would rearrange things in heaven and on earth, those that would be premonition with respect to even the great conflagration and the consummation of all things, even the end of the age.
They see no such signs. So when they ask Jesus when the kingdom will come, they are scoffing. They are accusing. We see no signs appropriate for the Messiah and his reign. In any sense accompanying your ministry, therefore, you cannot be. You are not the Messiah. Rather, you are an imposter, a fraud. the boldness of Jesus’ response. If these Pharisees recognize in him no authority, he is not put off by that for a moment, but asserts his authority so as to put the Pharisees in their place.
The Pharisees say, the kingdom is coming with these great signs. and the Messianic ministry will be punctuated by such signs as we expect. But Jesus says the kingdom is not coming with signs, and the Messianic ministry will not be punctuated by such signs as you expect. And I happen to know that for a fact. And then, without even as much as breaking stride in his remarks, he tells them that what they expected with signs is already present without them. The atonement of God, Jesus said, is not coming with signs to be observed.
Not only is Jesus bold now with respect to the kingdom, bold with respect to his understanding of it, unhesitant in his assertions with regard to it, but as he finishes out, rounds off his remarks to the Pharisees, he will be bolder still. for he will set himself in the center of their attention. He will set himself center stage with respect to any consideration about the kingdom of God. For behold, he says in verse 21, the kingdom of God Now, I don’t have to tell you that the conclusion of that twenty-first verse has been a center of controversy, even with respect to how it is to be translated.
We have before us tonight the New American Standard translation of that statement by Jesus. To give you an idea of just how this statement has been interpreted by various groups, there are those who wish to turn this statement by Jesus into testimony that Jesus, after all, was a first-century humanist. Here we have a genuine statement from Jesus. Now, there are many ingenuine statements. But here we have a genuine statement, for Jesus tells us the truth about the kingdom of God. And what is that truth? That truth pertains to the inner potential that resides within civilization and humanity generally conceived. Nothing supernatural, no appeal to any kind of external force, no God out there anywhere. Forget all of that. Get rid of that language from your vocabulary. It has no place. In fact, it had no place in the vocabulary of Jesus.
The kingdom of God is solely something that pertains to the inner potentiality of civilization and humanity generally conceived. And along this line, Jesus is really one of the first ones to tell us that our fondest hopes and desires, our dreams in fact, for this world and our lives are actually attainable through our native capabilities.
The problem with the Pharisees was that they were a bit too spiritual. They actually did believe in supernatural realities. Jesus was the prototypical modernist. There have been others, of course, who have seen the interpretation of this statement by Jesus along other lines. They have judged this approach of the humanists as being too crudely secularist. They instead now have interpreted Jesus’ remark as referring to something that, yes, is spiritual, but yet pertains to the inner potential of the individual soul.
So rather than focusing upon society at large, or humanity generally, we’ll narrow things down a bit. We’ll speak about personal potential. We’ll speak about the power of positive thinking. We’ll speak about the power of possibility thinking. And we’ll see Jesus, then, in our hands, made useful to us in the West, this one who was essentially a religious philosopher of the East. Well, thank you, Norman Vincent Peale. There have been others, Christians well-intentioned, who have preferred the King James reading of this text. Remember how that goes? The kingdom of God is within you, so translates the King James.
I have preferred this translation because they have felt compelled to protect what they call the present spiritual nature of the kingdom. They veer away from the humanist and secularist approach. These people are thoroughly supernaturalistic in their intention and design. They veer away from these who are the propounders of a philosophy of positive thinking. But they are also concerned to protect what they call the present spiritual character of the kingdom.
And along this line they say, then, that the kingdom of God, as Jesus here declares it, and in keeping with his intention, has no present outward manifestation but is inward, and the inward character of it will eventually be validated in the day of resurrection in the kingdom that belongs to the heavenly estates. Not only has this interpretation had devastating effects upon Christians in their understanding of what the Christian life and world are all about, but it is a major cause for the present low view of the Church held by many evangelical and conservative Christians. For if the kingdom of God is within you and has no present outward manifestation, we can in no sense identify that kingdom with the Church.
But I want you to note the force and the power of Jesus’ words that makes even this interpretation impossible. Jesus is speaking to Pharisees. Well, you note that, he is speaking to Pharisees. And Jesus would hardly be saying to Pharisees, his enemies, the kingdom of God is within you, because it obviously wasn’t in them. So it is the force and power, then, of Jesus’ statement.
He intends, as I pointed out, to call attention to himself. And notice the way in which he does that. For he prefaces what he says at the end of verse 21 with the words, While he’s telling them, these Pharisees, that there are no signs to behold, these Pharisees are compelled to behold him. In fact, I believe that it is not stretching this text too far to suggest that there is laid within it the suggestion of a gesture by Christ. So that in response to these Pharisees and their question, Jesus then presents himself with the gesture, Behold, indicating himself He, the embodiment of the kingdom, is in their midst.
Quite a few things can be said from this point on with respect to this passage. We could even go beyond those that we have critiqued thus far to critique a few more. We could do a pretty good job of critiquing, say, dispensationalism and its ideas of the kingdom. Let me point out, in conclusion, three things that I trust may well be helpful to us in our reflections about the kingdom and its nature. This is summary. of what we have said for the interests of focusing our thoughts.
Jesus in this text places himself at the center of every question about the kingdom of God. You cannot ask questions about the kingdom of God without considering Christ and his Jesus is at the center of every question that can be conceivably asked about the kingdom of God. So absolutely true is this, that it is confirmed by the remainder of what we find in Scripture.
Have you ever been somewhat nonplussed by the fact that when you get to the gospel of John, there doesn’t seem to be much vocabulary about the kingdom of God in that gospel at all? Have you been stymied somewhat by the fact that when you get to the epistles of Paul and you’re reading through them, there doesn’t seem to be much language there at all about the kingdom of God? Well, what’s happened as you move from the synoptics to the rest of the canonical literature in the New Testament? You see, Jesus is so identified now with the kingdom of God, he himself is the embodiment of that kingdom, no, in fact, he absorbs that kingdom, even to the place of displacing the kingdom in discussions about the kingdom, so that rather than discussing the kingdom, we now discuss Jesus. That is not that the kingdom has disappeared, it is that the kingdom has been summed up in, absorbed in, the person and the work of Jesus Christ.
I know that there are many, many misinterpretations of this, and we have even heard representations of those misinterpretations tonight. But Jesus is saying unequivocally, the Kingdom is here. And it is an event that has taken place in his own coming. The Kingdom is here. Now, this must be understood in light of what we must also say. The kingdom is here, but at the same time, this Jesus will teach us to pray, Thy kingdom come, as if it were not here. So you are faced with both, and you must embrace both. The kingdom is here, and yet the kingdom is coming.
Now, how do we focus our thoughts with respect to the presence of the kingdom in our present circumstance? If indeed Jesus pointed to himself in his statement that the kingdom of God is in your midst, he then was pointing out to these Pharisees the reality of his own existence and his own body. His own body. And where is the body of Christ today? another one. Behold the kingdom of God. Now, that ought to change your life. If nothing has up to this point. The Church, then. Living stones. The people of God, the body of Christ. Here is the concrete demonstration of the kingdom’s present.
How far from the mark is dispensationalism? How far from the mark is dispensationalism? That movement that refuses to identify the kingdom of God with the church of Jesus Christ. While it is true to say that the kingdom has an ideal and future character, it is not a dream yet to be realized.
It is a present reality, and that reality is known in the person of Christ in whom we, by the Spirit, abide. Whom to love and to trust is eternal life. Let’s pray. O Lord, give us a heart for the kingdom and for the King. May we see the King always and ourselves identified with him so thoroughly. that we now would even be bold to make the claim that we are his body. Truly, the present demonstration of the kingdom of God in the world. O Lord, help us to live as those who are identified with the kingdom and even as the kingdom. For your glory. Amen.
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