The Coming Kingdom

Luke 17:20-37 

20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."

22 Then He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, 'Look here!' or 'Look there!' Do not go after them or follow them. 24 For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

31 "In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. 32 Remember Lot's wife. 33 Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. 35 Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. 36 Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left."

37 And they answered and said to Him, "Where, Lord?"

So He said to them, "Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together."

Jesus told us of the coming kingdom of God to be seen first within us and ending up coming down from heaven among us on a better earth wiped clean from sin as a spiritual and physical cleansing by fire.  When asked first ofall by the Pharisees who beloved in spirits, angels, and an afterlife (Acts 23:8), unlike the Sadducees, Jesus told them these truths of the kingdom now and to come (Luke 11:2, Revelation 12:10) as we pray for.  He told them that we cannot see it coming (Matthew 24:33, 27) most of all because the kingdom is within us (Romans 14:17), pointing to the fact that regeneration is required to be part of that kingdom of heaven and of God.  His kingdom means that He is Lord of us and rules us as such; it is not just a place for us, but a place of Him where we enter in.  He Himself will be the new temple in the capital of this new celestial country as Revelation 21:22 informs us.  The kingdom of God then begins with our regeneration of salvation in us on this earth and continues to eternity in the new heaven and earth (Isaiah 65:17, 2 Peter 3:13) where His righteousness lives and remains on everyone there without end as now in this sin-stained world needing to be cauterized and (2 Peter 3:7, 10, 12-13) to then be remade as intended in Eden’s garden.  We are not to futilely attempt to determine or define the coming of the end of this world’s kingdoms and the beginning of God’s kingdom on earth as Jesus warned the people then.  His return for judgment on all will be as quick as a flash of lightning seen by everyone at once without any warning or prediction.  We therefore must be prepared with the kingdom of God within us before that kingdom entra escapes us.  We must be citizens of that heavenly country (Hebrews 11:16) before His arrival as there is no passport to allow us to enter later (Hebrews 9:27-28) if we are not already members of the household (Ephesians 2:19) of God in Christ.  People will assume they can enter when He returns but will unfortunately be denied access because they did not enter the one narrow gate (Acts 4:12, Matthew 7:13-14, John 10:2-3, 9) into this kingdom while still on this old earth.  Instead, most will be living for the passing pleasures of sin until they are taken unaware because they did not listen or hear the gospel of del from sin and its due punishment apart from the pardon of Jesus Christ through Hos atoning sacrificial suffering and death with the resurrection promising our own in Him.  Like Sodom of old, the kingdoms of this world will be taken by complete surprise in the judgment by fire to come on the world on His unannounced return.  Are you ready?  We can observe enough general signs (Matthew 24:6-8) to know trouble is brewing but the exact day and time are beyond us.  Since we know the precursors to judgment day and the coming kingdom, it is time to repent from our pursuit of the temporal passing pleasures of sin to believe and receive Him (John 1:12) that we may enter the kingdom of God in Christ now and become citizens with the only right to the kingdom to come.  Do you have assurance that you will be able to enter it?  Are you already a citizen of this kingdom of God?  Be certain (2 Peter 1:10-11).