Being asked by the Pharisees when God’s Kingdom would come, he answered them, “God’s Kingdom doesn’t come with observation; neither will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ for behold, God’s Kingdom is within you.”
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. They will tell you, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Don’t go away or follow after them, for as the lightning, when it flashes out of one part under the sky, shines to another part under 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. As it was in the days of Noah, even so will it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married, and they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, even as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky and destroyed them all. It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he who will be on the housetop and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away. Let him who is in the field likewise not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever seeks to save his life loses it, but whoever loses his life preserves it. I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two grinding grain together. One will be taken and the other will be left.”
They, answering, asked him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there the vultures will also be gathered together.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 31, 33, 37 With any outward pomp and show of majesty, to…
With any outward pomp and show of majesty, to be known by: for there were otherwise many plain and evident tokens, whereby men might have understood, that Christ was the Messiah, whose kingdom was so long looked for: but he speaketh in this place of those signs which the Pharisees dreamed of, which looked for an earthly kingdom of Messiah.
The kingdom of God is not marked of many, although it be most present before their eyes: because they fondly persuade themselves, that it is joined with outward pomp.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv20–37 20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees,…
20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Ver. 20. When the kingdom of God, &c.] This they asked in scorn: q.d. You tell us often of the kingdom of God, and that it is at hand; but when comes it once? All things continue as they did, &c.
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Cometh not with observation] That is, with outward pomp or superstitious seeking after.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 31, 32, 33, 34, 37 Whether the Pharisees spake this deriding him, who in…
Whether the Pharisees spake this deriding him, who in his discourses had been often mentioning a kingdom of God to come, or in simple seriousness, for they generally expected the coming of a Messiah, and a secular kingdom, which he should exercise in the earth, particularly over the Jews, (having first destroyed the Gentiles), is very hard to determine; their mean opinion of Christ inclineth some to think the former; their generally received opinion about the kingdom of the Messiah giveth some countenance to the latter. Our Saviour’s answer fitteth them, whatsoever they intended by their question:
The kingdom of God (saith he) cometh not μετὰ παρατηρήσεως, with observation. The word signifies a scrupulous and superstitious observation. Thus the verb from whence it cometh signifieth, Gal 4:10. The verb also signifies a captious observation, Mar 3:2; Luk 6:7; 14:1; Luk 20:20; Act 9:24. But that sense cannot agree to the noun used in this place. The generality of the best interpreters agree the sense here to be, with external pomp and splendour; and therefore Beza expounds the noun here by a periphrasis, ita ut observari poterit, in such a manner as it can be observed. As if he had said, Men have taken up a false notion of my kingdom, as if it were to be a secular kingdom to be set up in the world, with a great deal of noise, and pomp, and splendour, so as men may observe it and gaze upon its coming. But that which I call my kingdom is not of this nature. Our Lord expounds it in the next verse:
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The kingdom of God is within you; it is of a spiritual nature, not obvious to human senses, but exercised over the hearts of my people. Whether our Saviour speaketh this in reply to the Pharisees, or (as some think) beginning a discourse with his disciples, which he further pursueth, I cannot determine.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv20, 22, 26, 31, 33, 37 The generality of the Jews, and particularly the Pharisees,…
The generality of the Jews, and particularly the Pharisees, expected that the promised Messiah should be a temporal prince, and deliver them from the Roman yoke, under which they groaned. Accordingly the Pharisees here demanded of our Saviour, When the kingdom of God, of which he had so often spoken, should come? Christ answers them, That his kingdom cometh not with observation: that is, with pomp and splendor, which men may observe and gaze upon; but he tells them, the kingdom of God was now among them, by the ministry of John the Baptist and himself; and was already set up in the hearts of his people, by the secret operations of his Holy Spirit.
Learn hence, that the false notion which the Jews had of the Messiah and his kindgdom, (that he himself was to be a temporal prince, and his kingdom a secular kingdom, to be set up with a great deal of noise, pomp, and splendor,) did hinder the generality of them from believing in him.
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Secondly, that the kingdom which Christ designed to set up in the world, was altogether spiritual, not obvious to human senses, but managed in the hearts of his people by the sceptre of his Spirit. My kingdom cometh not with observation, but is within you.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v20 We have here a discourse of Christ's concerning the…
We have here a discourse of Christ's concerning the kingdom of God, that is, the kingdom of the Messiah, which was now shortly to be set up, and of which there was great expectation.
I. Here is the demand of the Pharisees concerning it, which occasioned this discourse. They asked when the kingdom of God should come, forming a notion of it as a temporal kingdom, which should advance the Jewish nation above the nations of the earth. They were impatient to hear some tidings of its approach; they understood, perhaps, that Christ had taught his disciples to pray for the coming of it, and they had long preached that it was at hand. "Now," say the Pharisees, "when will that glorious view open? When shall we see this long-looked-for kingdom?"
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II. Christ's reply to this demand, directed to the Pharisees first, and afterwards to his own disciples, who knew better how to understand it (Luk 17:22); what he said to both, he saith to us.
1. That the kingdom of the Messiah was to be a spiritual kingdom, and not temporal and external. They asked when it would come. "You know not what you ask," saith Christ; "it may come, and you not be aware of it." For it has not an external show, as other kingdoms have, the advancements and revolutions of which are taken notice of by the nations of the earth, and fill the newspapers; so they expected this kingdom of God would do. "No," saith Christ, (1.) "It will have a silent entrance, without pomp, without noise; it cometh not with observation," meta paratērēseōs - with outward show. They desired to have their curiosity satisfied concerning the time of it, to which Christ does not give them any answer, but will have their mistakes rectified concerning the nature of it: "It is not for you to know the times of this kingdom, these are secret things, which belong not to you; but the great intentions of this kingdom, these are things revealed." When Messiah the Prince comes to set up his kingdom, they shall not say, Lo here, or Lo there, as when a prince goes in progress to visit his territories it is in every body's mouth, he is here, or he is there; for where the king is there is the court. Christ will not come with all this talk; it will not be set up in this or that particular place; nor will the court of that kingdom be here or there; nor will it be here or there as it respects the country men are of, or the place they dwell in, as if that would place them nearer to, or further fRom. that kingdom. Those who confine Christianity and the church to this place or that party, cry, Lo here, or Lo there, than which nothing is more contrary to the designs of catholic Christianity; so do they who make prosperity and external pomp a mark of the true church. (2.) "It has a spiritual influence: The kingdom of God is within you." It is not of this world, Joh 18:36. Its glory does not strike men's fancies, but affects their spirits, and its power is over their souls and consciences; from them it receives homage, and not from their bodies only. The kingdom of God will not change men's outward condition, but their hearts and lives. Then it comes when it makes those humble, and serious, and heavenly, that were proud, and vain, and carnal, - when it weans those from the world that were wedded to the world; and therefore look for the kingdom of God in the revolutions of the heart, not of the civil government. The kingdom of God is among you; so some read it. "You enquire when it will come, and are not aware that it is already begun to be set up in the midst of you. The gospel is preached, it is confirmed by miracles, it is embraced by multitudes, so that it is in your nation, though not in your hearts." Note, It is the folly of many curious enquirers concerning the times to come that they look for that before them which is already among them.
2. That the setting up of this kingdom was a work that would meet with a great deal of opposition and interruption, Luk 17:22. The disciples thought they should carry all before them, and expected a constant series of success in their work; but Christ tells them it would be otherwise: "The days will come, before you have finished your testimony and done your work, when you shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man" (one such a day as we now have), "of the prosperity and progress of the gospel, and shall not see it. At first, indeed, you will have wonderful success" (so they had, when thousands were added to the church in a day); "but do not think it will be always so; no, you will be persecuted and scattered, silenced and imprisoned, so that you will not have opportunities of preaching the gospel without fear, as you now have; people will grow cool to it, when they have enjoyed it awhile, so that you will not see such harvests of souls gathered in to Christ afterwards as at first, nor such multitudes flocking to him as doves to their windows." This looks forward to his disciples in after-ages; they must expect much disappointment; the gospel will not be always preached with equal liberty and success. Ministers and churches will sometimes be under outward restraints. Teachers will be removed into corners, and solemn assemblies scattered. Then they will wish to see such days of opportunity as they have formerly enjoyed, sabbath days, sacrament days, preaching days, praying days; these are days of the Son of man, in which we hear from him, and converse with him. The time may come when we may in vain wish for such days. God teaches us to know the worth of such mercies by the want of them. It concerns us, while they are continued, to improve them, and in the years of plenty to lay up in store for the years of famine. Sometimes they will be under inward restraints, will not have such tokens of the presence of the Son of man with them as they have had. The Spirit is withdrawn from them; they see not their signs; the angel comes not down to stir the waters; there is a great stupidity among the children of men, and a great lukewarmness among the children of God; then they shall wish to see such victorious triumphant days of the Son of man as they have sometimes seen, when he has ridden forth with his bow and his crown, conquering and to conquer, but they will not see them. Note, We must not think that Christ's church and cause are lost because not always alike visible and prevailing.
3. That Christ and his kingdom are not to be looked for in this or that particular place, but his appearance will be general in all places at once (Luk 17:23, Luk 17:24): "They will say to you, See here, or, See there; here is one that will deliver the Jews out of the hands of the oppressing Romans, or there is one that will deliver the Christians out of the hands of the oppressing Jews; here is the Messiah, and there is his prophet; here in this mountain, or there at Jerusalem, you will find the true church. Go not after them, nor follow them; do not heed such suggestions. The kingdom of God was not designed to be the glory of one people only, but to give light to the Gentiles; for as the lightning that lightens out of one part under heaven, and shines all on a sudden irresistibly to the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of man be in his day." (1.) "The judgments that are to destroy the Jewish nation, to lay them waste, and to deliver the Christians from them, shall fly like lightning through the land, shall lay all waste from one end of it to another; and those that are marked for this destruction can no more avoid it, nor oppose it, than they can a flash of lightning." (2.) "The gospel that is to set up Christ's kingdom in the world shall fly like lightning through the nations. The kingdom of the Messiah is not to be a local thing, but is to be dispersed far and wide over the face of the whole earth; it shall shine from Jerusalem to all parts about, and that in a moment. The kingdoms of the earth shall be leavened by the gospel ere they are aware of it." The trophies of Christ's victories shall be erected on the ruins of the devil's kingdom, even in those countries that could never be subdued to the Roman yoke. The design of the setting up of Christ's kingdom was not to make one nation great, but to make all nations good - some, at least, of all nations; and this point shall be gained, though the nations rage, and the kings of the earth set themselves with all their might against it.
4. That the Messiah must suffer before he must reign (Luk 17:25): "First must he suffer many things, many hard things, and be rejected of this generation; and, if he be thus treated, his disciples must expect no other than to suffer and be rejected too for his sake." They thought of having the kingdom of the Messiah set up in external splendour: "No," saith Christ, "we must go by the cross to the crown. The Son of man must suffer many things. Pain, and shame, and death, are those many things. He must be rejected by this generation of unbelieving Jews, before he be embraced by another generation of believing Gentiles, that his gospel may have the honour of triumphing over the greatest opposition from those who ought to have given it the greatest assistance; and thus the excellency of the power will appear to be of God, and not of man; for, though Israel be not gathered, yet he will be glorious to the ends of the earth."
5. That the setting up of the kingdom of the Messiah would introduce the destruction of the Jewish nation, whom it would find in a deep sleep of security, and drowned in sensuality, as the old world was in the days of Noah, and Sodom in the days of Lot, Luk 17:26, etc. Observe,
(1.) How it had been with sinners formerly, and in what posture the judgments of God, of which they had been fairly warned, did at length find them. Look as far back as the old world, when all flesh had corrupted their way, and the earth was filled with violence. Come a little lower, and think how it was with the men of Sodom, who were wicked, and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. Now observe concerning both these, [1.] That they had fair warning given them of the ruin that was coming upon them for their sins. Noah was a preacher of righteousness to the old world; so was Lot to the Sodomites. They gave them timely notice of what would be in the end of their wicked ways, and that it was not far off. [2.] That they did not regard the warning given them, and gave no credit, no heed to it. They were very secure, went on in their business as unconcerned as you could imagine; they did eat, they drank, indulged themselves in their pleasures, and took no care of any thing else, but to make provision for the flesh, counted upon the perpetuity of their present flourishing state, and therefore married wives, and were given in marriage, that their families might be built up. They were all very merry; so were the men of Sodom, and yet very busy too: they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. These were lawful things, but the fault was that they minded these inordinately, and their hearts were entirely set upon them, as that they had no heart at all to prepare against the threatened judgments. When they should have been, as the men of Nineveh, fasting and praying, repenting and reforming, upon warning given them of an approaching judgment, they were going on securely, eating flesh, and drinking wine, when God called to weeping and to mourning, Isa 22:12, Isa 22:13. [3.] That they continued in their security and sensuality, till the threatened judgment came. Until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and Lot went out of Sodom, nothing said or done to them served to alarm or awaken them. Note, Though the stupidity of sinners in a sinful way is as strange as it is without excuse, yet we are not to think it strange, for it is not without example. It is the old way that wicked men have trodden, that have gone slumbering to hell, as if their damnation slumbered while they did. [4.] That God took care for the preservation of those that were his, who believed and feared, and took the warning themselves which they gave to others. Noah entered into the ark, and there he was safe; Lot went out of Sodom, and so went out of harm's way. If some run on heedless and headlong into destruction, that shall be no prejudice to the salvation of those that believe. [5.] That they were surprised with the ruin which they would not fear, and were swallowed up in it, to their unspeakable horror and amazement. The flood came, and destroyed all the sinners of the old world; fire and brimstone came, and destroyed all the sinners of Sodom. God has many arrows in his quiver, and uses which he will in making war upon his rebellious subjects, for he can make which he will effectual. But that which is especially intended here is to show what a dreadful surprise destruction will be to those who are secure and sensual.
(2.) How it will be with sinners still (Luk 17:30): Thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. When Christ comes to destroy the Jewish nation, by the Roman armies, the generality of that nation will be found under such a reigning security and stupidity as this. They have warning given by Christ now, and will have it repeated to them by the apostles after him, as they had by Noah and Lot; but it will be all in vain. They will continue secure, will go on in their neglect and opposition of Christ and his gospel, till all the Christians are withdrawn from among them and gone to the place of refuge. God will provide for them on the other side Jordan, and then a deluge of judgments shall flow in upon them, which will destroy all the unbelieving Jews. One would have thought that this discourse of our Saviour's, which was public, and not long after published to the world, should have awakened them; but it did not, for the hearts of that people were hardened, to their destruction. In like manner, when Jesus Christ shall come to judge the world, at the end of time, sinners will be found in the same secure and careless posture, altogether regardless of the judgment approaching, which will therefore come upon them as a snare; and in like manner the sinners of every age go on securely in their evil ways, and remember not their latter end, nor the account that they must give. Woe to them that are thus at ease in Zion.
6. That it ought to be the care of his disciples and followers to distinguish themselves from the unbelieving Jews in that day, and, leaving them, their city and country, to themselves, to flee at the signal given, according to the direction that should be given. Let them retire, as Noah to his ark, and Lot to his Zoar. You would have healed Jerusalem, as of old Babylon, but she is not healed, and therefore forsake her, flee out of the midst of her, and deliver every man his soul, Jer 51:6, Jer 51:9. This flight of theirs from Jerusalem must be expeditious, and must not be retarded by any concern about their worldly affairs (Luk 17:31): "He that shall be on the house-top, when the alarm is given, let him not come down, to take his stuff away, both because he cannot spare so much time, and because the carrying away of his effects will but encumber him and retard his flight." Let him not regard his stuff at such a time, when it will be next to a miracle of mercy if he have his life given him for a prey. It will be better to leave his stuff behind him than to stay to look after it, and perish with them that believe not. It will be their concern to do as Lot and his family were charged to do: Escape for thy life. Save yourselves from this untoward generation. (2.) When they have made their escape, they must not think of returning (Luk 17:32): "Remember Lot's wife; and take warning by her not only to flee from this Sodom (for so Jerusalem is become, Isa 1:10), but to persevere in your flight, and do not look back, as she did; be not loth to leave a place marked for destruction, whomsoever or whatsoever you leave behind you, that is ever so dear to you." Those who have left the Sodom of a natural state, let them go forward, and not so much as look a kind look towards it again. Let them not look back, lest they should be tempted to go back; nay, lest that be construed a going back in heart, or an evidence that the heart was left behind. Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt, that she might remain a lasting monument of God's displeasure against apostates, who begin in the spirit and end in the flesh. (3.) There would be no other way of saving their lives than by quitting the Jews, and, if they thought to save themselves by a coalition with them, they would find themselves mistaken (Luk 17:33): "Whosoever shall seek to save his life, by declining from his Christianity and complying with the Jews, he shall lose it with them and perish in the common calamity; but whosoever is willing to venture his life with the Christians, upon the same bottom on which they venture, to take his lot with them in life and in death, he shall preserve his life, for he shall make sure of eternal life, and is in a likelier way at that time to save his life than those who embark in a Jewish bottom, or ensure upon their securities." Note, Those do best themselves that trust God in the way of duty.
7. That all good Christians should certainly escape, but many of them very narrowly, from that destruction, Luk 17:34-36. When God's judgments are laying all waste, he will take an effectual course to preserve those that are his, by remarkable providences distinguishing between them and others that were nearest to them: two in a bed, one taken and the other left; one snatched out of the burning and taken into a place of safety, while the other is left to perish in the common ruin. Note, Though the sword devours one as well as another, and all things seem to come alike to all, yet sooner or later it shall be made to appear that the Lord knows them that are his and them that are not, and how to take out the precious from the vile. We are sure that the Judge of all the earth will do right; and therefore, when he sends a judgment on purpose to avenge the death of his Son upon those that crucified him, he will take care that none of those who glorified him, and gloried in his cross, shall be taken away by that judgment.
8. That this distinguishing, dividing, discriminating work shall be done in all places, as far as the kingdom of God shall extend, Luk 17:37. Where, Lord? They had enquired concerning the time, and he would not gratify their curiosity with any information concerning that; they therefore tried him with another question: "Where, Lord? Where shall those be safe that are taken? Where shall those perish that are left?" The answer is proverbial, and may be explained so as to answer each side of the question: Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. (1.) Wherever the wicked are, who are marked for perdition, they shall be found out by the judgments of God; as wherever a dead carcase is, the birds of prey will smell it out, and make a prey of it. The Jews having made themselves a dead and putrefied carcase, odious to God's holiness and obnoxious to his justice, wherever any of that unbelieving generation is, the judgments of God shall fasten upon them, as the eagles do upon the prey: Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies (Psa 21:8), though they set their nests among the stars, Oba 1:4. The Roman soldiers will hunt the Jews out of all their recesses and fastnesses, and none shall escape. (2.) Wherever the godly are, who are marked for preservation, they shall be found happy in the enjoyment of Christ. As the dissolution of the Jewish church shall be extended to all parts, so shall the constitution of the Christian church. Wherever Christ is, believers will flock to him, and meet in him, as eagles about the prey, without being directed or shown the way, by the instinct of the new nature. Now Christ is where his gospel, and his ordinances, and his church are: For where two or three are gathered in his name there is he in the midst of them, and thither therefore others will be gathered to him. The kingdom of the Messiah is not to have one particular place for its metropolis, such as Jerusalem was to the Jewish church, to which all Jews were to resort; but, wherever the body is, wherever the gospel is preached and ordinances are ministered, thither will pious souls resort, there they will find Christ, and by faith feast upon him. Wherever Christ records his name he will meet his people, and bless them, Joh 4:21, etc.; Ti1 2:8. Many good interpreters understand it of the gathering of the saints together to Christ in the kingdom of glory: "Ask not where the carcase will be, and how they shall find the way to it, for they shall be under infallible direction; to him who is their living, quickening Head, and the centre of their unity, to him shall the gathering of the people be."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv20–36 Neither shall they say,.... Or shall it be said…
Neither shall they say,.... Or shall it be said by any, making their observations, and pointing to this, or that place:
lo here, or lo there; in this, or that place, country or city, the kingdom of God is set up; the throne of the Messiah is there; and there are the "regalia", or ensigns of his regal power; no such thing will fall under the observations of man, not but that this would be said, and was said by some persons, as it is suggested it should, Luk 17:23 and it appears from Mat 24:26 that some would say he was in such a wilderness, and others, that he was in some private retirement in a house, or that he was in such a town or city; as particularly it was said in Adrian's time, that he was in a place called Bither, where Bar Cochab set up himself for the Messiah: but the sense of the words is, that no such thing ought to be said; and if it was said, it would not be true; nor should it be credited: and the Cambridge copy of Beza's adds, "believe not"; as in Mat 24:26
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for behold the kingdom of God is within you: in the elect of God among the Jews, in their hearts; it being of a spiritual nature, and lying in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; in the dispossession of Satan, the strong man armed; in the putting down of the old man, sin, with its deceitful lusts, from the throne; and in setting up a principle of grace, as a governing one; and so escapes the observation of natural men, and cannot be pointed at as here, or there: hence it appears, that the work of grace is an internal thing; it is wrought in the hearts of men; it has its seat in the inward parts, and is therefore called the inner, and the hidden man: it does not lie in words, in an outward profession of religion: it is oil in the vessel of the heart, and is distinct from the lamp of a visible profession; it does not lie in external works and duties, but it is an inward principle of holiness in the soul, or spirit of man, produced there by the Spirit of God, and is therefore called by his name, Joh 3:6 and it also appears to be a very glorious thing, since it is signified by a kingdom: it is a rich treasure; it is gold tried in the fire, which makes rich; it is an estate, that good part, and portion, which can never be taken away; it is preferable to the greatest portion on earth men can enjoy; even the largest and richest kingdom in the world is not to be compared with it; it is a kingdom which cannot be moved; and as it is glorious in itself, it makes such glorious who are partakers of it: "the king's daughter is all glorious within", Psa 45:13 and it is high in the esteem of God; it is the hidden man of the heart, but it is in his sight; it is in his view, and is in his sight of great price: it is likewise evident from hence, that it has great power and authority in the soul; it has the government in it; it reigns, through righteousness, unto eternal life; and by it, Christ, as king of saints, dwells and reigns in his people. Now this is not to be understood of the Scribes and Pharisees, as if they had any such internal principle in them, who were as painted sepulchres, and had nothing but rottenness and corruption in them: but the sense is, that there were some of the people of the Jews, of whom the Pharisees were a part, who had been powerfully wrought upon under the ministry of John, Christ, and his apostles; and were so many instances of efficacious grace, and of the kingdom of God, and of his Gospel coming with power to them. Though the words may be rendered,
the kingdom of God is among you; and the meaning be, that the king Messiah was already come, and was among them, and his kingdom was already set up, of which the miracles of Christ were a full proof; and if they could not discern these signs of the times, and evident appearances of the kingdom of God among them, they would never be able to make any observation of it, hereafter, or elsewhere.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 31, 32, 33, 37 The kingdom of God cometh not with observation -…
The kingdom of God cometh not with observation - With such outward pomp as draws the observation of every one.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 37 Verse 20. Cometh not with observation] With scrupulous observation.…
Verse 20. Cometh not with observation] With scrupulous observation. That this is the proper meaning of the original, μετα παρατηρησεως, KYPKE and others have amply proved from the best Greek writers. As if he had said: "The kingdom of God, the glorious religion of the Messiah, does not come in such a way as to be discerned only by sagacious critics, or is only to be seen by those who are scrupulously watching for it; it is not of such a nature as to be confined to one place, so that men might say of it, Behold it is only here, or only there: for this kingdom of God is publicly revealed; and behold it is among you; I proclaim it publicly, and work those miracles which prove the kingdom of God is come; and none of these things are done in a corner."
Dr. Lightfoot has well observed that there are two senses especially in which the phrase "kingdom of heaven," is to be understood.
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1. The promulgation and establishment of the Christian religion.
2. The total overthrow of the Jewish polity.
The Jews imagined that when the Messiah should come he would destroy the Gentiles, and reign gloriously over the Jews: the very reverse of this, our Lord intimates, should be the case. He was about to destroy the whole Jewish polity, and reign gloriously among the Gentiles. Hence he mentions the case of the general deluge, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. As if he had said: "The coming of this kingdom shall be as fatal to you as the deluge was to the old world, and as the fire and brimstone from heaven were to Sodom and Gomorrah." Our Lord states that this kingdom of heaven was within them, i.e. that they themselves should be the scene of these desolations, as, through their disobedience and rebellion, they possessed the seeds of these judgments. See Clarke on Mt 3:2.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv20, 22, 26, 31, 33 Luk 17:20-21. When he was demanded of the Pharisees…
Luk 17:20-21. When he was demanded of the Pharisees — It is uncertain whether what is here mentioned took place while our Lord was on his journey, or after he came to Jerusalem; when the kingdom of God should come — That is, when the kingdom of the Messiah, which they had learned to term the kingdom of God, was to commence? They had very grand notions of the extent of the Messiah’s kingdom, of the number of his subjects, the strength of his armies, the pomp and eclat of his court, and were eager to hear of its being speedily erected. Or, being inveterate enemies of Christ, they might possibly ask the question in derision, because every thing about Jesus was very unlike to the Messiah whom they expected. He answered, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation — With such outward pomp as draws the observation of mankind: or, as Dr. Whitby explains the expression, not with that royal splendour or worldly grandeur which shall render it conspicuous in the eyes of the world, as you expect. Neither shall they say, Lo here, or, Lo there — This shall not be the language of those who are, or shall be, sent by me to declare the coming of my kingdom, nor shall men seek for it in this or that place, saying, Lo, it is here, or, Lo, it is there; for behold, the kingdom of God is within you — It is an internal, spiritual kingdom; erected in the hearts of men, consisting in the subjection of their wills to the will of God, and in the conformity of their minds to his laws. Wherever it exists, it exists in men’s hearts. See Rom 14:17. Or, as our Lord was addressing the Jews, and especially the Pharisees, and cannot be understood as speaking of the power his kingdom had gained over their hearts, whose temper was entirely alienated from the nature and design of it; the clause, perhaps, ought rather to be rendered, The kingdom of God is among you. Thus Beza, Raphelius, Whitby, Doddridge, and many others understand it: namely, as signifying that the Messiah’s kingdom began now to appear among them, the gospel of the kingdom being now preached, miracles, in confirmation of it, being wrought, and the grace of God, which accompanied it, turning many sinners from the evil of their ways, and transforming them into the divine image. Thus Grotius paraphrases the passage, “Already among you;” that is, “among this very Jewish people, that kingdom begins to exert its power; you not observing it, and an evident sign of this are miracles. Accordingly, Mat 12:28, Christ speaks to the same Pharisees after this manner: If I, by the finger of God, cast out devils, then is the kingdom of God come nigh unto you; or rather, come upon, or among you, (as εφθασεν εφ’ υμας, properly means,) where, by the word you, the whole Jewish people are in like manner intended.” See also Mat 21:43, where our Lord says, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 37 Was demanded - Was asked.
Was demanded - Was asked.
Of the Pharisees - This was a matter of much importance to them, and they had taught that it would come with parade and pomp. It is not unlikely that they asked this merely in “contempt,” and for the purpose of drawing out something that would expose him to ridicule.
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The kingdom of God - The “reign” of God; or the dispensation under the Messiah. See the notes at Mat 3:2.
With observation - With scrupulous and attentive looking for it, or with such an appearance as to “attract” observation - that is, with pomp, majesty, splendor. He did not deny that, according to their views, the time was drawing near; but he denied that his kingdom would come in the “manner” in which they expected. The Messiah would “not” come with pomp like an earthly prince; perhaps not in such a manner as to be “discerned” by the eyes of sagacious and artful people, who were expecting him in a way agreeable to their own feelings. The kingdom of God is “within” people, and it makes its way, not by pomp and noise, but by silence, decency, and order, 1Co 14:40.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 31, 32, 34, 37 When the kingdom of God should come? or when…
When the kingdom of God should come? or when is it to come? when will the Messias come? The Pharisees might say this in a mocking and an insulting manner, to signify that he could not be their true Messias. --- The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; that it, so as to be observed; not with great marks of temporal power, as you imagine. (Witham) --- The Pharisees expected a Messias powerful according to this world, a conqueror, a monarch, a revenger of the injuries of Israel; one who would restore them to liberty, and bless them with temporal goods and prosperity. In Jesus, they saw nothing, which corresponded to these magnificent hopes; and therefore asked him, by way of insult and reproach, when this kingdom of God would come, which he so often talked of and announced to his disciples. He answers them, that the manifestation of the Messias, and the establishment of his kingdom, shall not be effected in a conspicuous, splendid manner. It shall be brought about insensibly, and the accomplishment of the designs of the omnipotence of our Lord shall appear a casualty, and the effect of secondary causes. You shall not see the Messias coming at the head of armies, to spread terror and desolation. His arrival shall not be announced by ambassadors, &c. every thing in the establishment of my kingdom shall be the reverse of temporal power. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v20 2. Discourses of Jesus concerning the Kingdom of God…
2. Discourses of Jesus concerning the Kingdom of God (Luk_17:20-37)
20And when he was demanded of [inquired of by] the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not withobservation [i. e., so that it can be gazed at]: 21Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you [rather, in the midst of you].22And he said unto the disciples, The [om., The] days will come, when ye shall desireto see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. 23And they shall sayto you, See here; or,6 see there: go not after them, nor follow them. 24For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other partunder heaven; so shall also7 the Son of man be in his day. 25But first must he suffermany things, and be rejected of [by] this generation. 26And as it was in the days ofNoe [Noah], so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe [Noah]entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 28Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted,they builded; 29But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstonefrom heaven, and destroyed them all. 30Even thus shall it be in the day when theSon of man is revealed. 31In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff [goods] in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in32the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife. 33Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserveit. 34I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,35and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be36taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, andthe other left.8 37And they answered and said [say] unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever [Where] the body is, thither will [also9] the eagles be gathered together.
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EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Luk_17:20. Inquired of by the Pharisees.—The ground, occasion, and purpose of this inquiry can only be conjecturally determined. To understand it as put by sympathizing inquirers desirous of salvation, is forbidden by the partially rebuking and partially earnestly warning answer of our Lord. Apparently these Pharisees were not unacquainted with the growing hatred of the Jewish magnates against Jesus, and had in secret their sport at the fact that the kingdom of God, of which John and Jesus had already so long testified, still remained invisible, and that our Lord, after long labor in Galilee, had acquired no greater following, as had just before appeared. But as often good comes out of evil, so have we here also to thank a concealed enmity for an instruction of the Saviour which assails an error of His adversaries at its root, and possesses abiding worth for all future ages.
With observation, μετὰ παρατηρήσεως, literally, with or under observation, so that it can be recognized and observed by outward tokens, and that one could exclaim with assurance, Lo here, lo there! We are not primarily to understand this of external pomp and brilliancy (μετὰ πολλῆς φαντασίας, Grotius), but in general everything external that can be seen with the eyes and grasped with the hand. By this answer, the Pharisees are at the same time instructed that it is a fruitless trouble to inquire after a definitely fixed point of time, when it shall suddenly come. Of this unnoticed coming of the kingdom of God, the Saviour could not well give any more striking proof than this, that the kingdom of heaven had already in its incipiency appeared among them, without their having even yet in their earthly-mindedness observed it.
Luk_17:21. In the midst of you, ἐντὸς ὑμῶν.—From the future to which they were looking, the Saviour directs their eyes back upon to-day. Inasmuch as the King of the kingdom of God was already living and working in the midst of them, this kingdom had already come potentially into their nearest neighborhood. The explanation, in animis vestris (Chrysostom, Luther, Olshausen, Heubner, Hilgenfeld, and others, and also the deceased Amsterdam Professor A. des Amorie van der Hoeven), is indeed capable of being philologically defended, and finds also some weak analogies in individual Pauline expressions (1Co_4:20; Rom_14:17; Col_1:13), but is not favored by the connection. For the translation, “in the midst of you,” there are the following grounds: 1. That in this way the antithesis between the external coming and the being already actually present is kept more sharply defined; 2. that the kingdom of God had not been truly set up in the hearts of these Pharisees; 3. that in Joh_1:26; Joh_12:35; Luk_7:16; Luk_11:20, the same thought which is expressed in our translation is expressed in another way, while, on the other hand, for the apparently profound but really not very intelligible statement, that the kingdom of God is found in the man, no other proofs are to be found in our Lord’s own words. It would be better, without doubt, to connect with one another the two significations of ἐντός (Stier, Lange), although there is nothing contained in the connection that decidedly requires us to interpret ἐντός otherwise than as the simple antithesis of ἔξω, intra vos. Not with entire injustice, apparently, Meyer calls the idea of the kingdom of God as an ethical condition in the soul, modern, not historico-biblical.
Luk_17:22. And He said unto the disciples.—The Pharisees have been sufficiently disposed of with the above answer, which Luke has alone preserved to us. But the Saviour does not on this occasion give up the subject which they had brought into discussion, but continues, perhaps in their presence, to instruct His disciples still further about the approaching coming of the kingdom of God. In the eschatological discourse, Luk_17:22-37, which now lies before us, the same phenomenon is repeated which we have already several times met with. Here also Luke communicates sayings which Matthew has presented in an entirely different connection, and again the inquiry cannot be avoided, which of the two has maintained the most exact chronological sequence. If we compare the first and the third Gospels with one another, it appears that Luk_17:23-24, and Mat_24:23-27; moreover Luk_17:26-27, and Mat_24:37-39, as well as Luk_17:35-37, and Mat_24:40-41, coincide almost verbally. Now, it is true the possibility cannot be doubted that our Lord uttered several of these sayings on several occasions, but, on the other hand, it can hardly be denied that many of the words here given by Luke appear in Matthew in a much more happy and natural connection; that it is much more probable that our Saviour, towards the end of His life, spoke to His intimate disciples alone concerning these secrets of the future, and not some weeks before to a circle of hearers so mixed as that in the midst of which Luke here places us; and that finally it is almost inconceivable that the long eschatological discourse, Matthew 24, should have consisted in a great measure only of reminiscences of a previous instruction, Luke 17. From all these grounds we believe that Luk_17:22-37 stands in about the same relation to Matthew 24 as Luk_6:17-49 and Luk_12:22 seq., to Mat_5:7. In opposition to Schleiermacher and Olshausen, who concede to Luke the preference, we think, with Ebrard, Lange, and others, that we see in the redaction of the third gospel in this place heterogeneous elements, that is, such as, although in themselves undoubtedly genuine, have yet been here inserted only because of the opportunity, and outside of their original historic connection; but we prefer to assume that the Saviour on this occasion did communicate a certain eschatological instruction, without, however, already, as afterwards, speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem, but that individual striking expressions from a later discourse have been by Luke woven proleptically into this one. How much has been transferred from one discourse to the other, it is probable will never admit of any other than an approximate determination.
Days will come.—The psychological connection of this first word to the disciples, and of the last to the Pharisees, strikes the eye at once. Scarcely has the Saviour uttered the assurance that the kingdom of God already exists in the midst of them, when He thinks also of the prerogative of His disciples, who had been already received into the same, but at the same time—and how could it at such a time be otherwise?—on the pain of impending separation. It is as if He feared that His friends, from the assurance that the kingdom of God had already really come, would now also draw the conclusion that the King would forever abide in the midst of them. As He is far from blowing up again even the weakest spark of an earthly hope which He had previously controverted with so much emphasis, He now makes haste to prepare them for grievous times. Under the pressure of manifold tribulations, they were for the moment to wish in vain to see even one of the victorious blessed days of the revelation of the Messiah. The Saviour is thinking of one of those days of happiness such as only the αἰὼν μέλλων could and should bring. He does not mean that they would long for one of the days which they were now experiencing in converse with the yet humiliated Christ, but that they would sigh after the revelation of the Glorified One, who should bring an end to all their wretchedness and satisfaction to their longing. We must not, therefore, explain with Bengel, “cupiditatem illam postea sedavit Paracletus,” but rather, “hanc cupiditatem tantummodo sedare potest Parusia.” Impelled by this natural but impatient longing, they might easily incur the danger of allowing themselves to be misled by false Messiahs, against which the Saviour warns them in the following verse.
Luk_17:23. Go not after them.—Comp. Mat_24:23-27, and Lange, ad loc. It is without ground that Schleiermacher here disputes that we are to understand false Messiahs. Let the reader call to mind also the Goetæ, who shortly before the destruction of the Jewish state led so many thousands by the promise of miracles into the wilderness and into destruction. See Josephus, Ant. Jdg_20:8; Jdg_20:6. Comp. De Bell. Jdg_2:13; Jdg_2:4; Act_5:36-37; Act_21:38, and Homily 76 of Chrysostom.
Luk_17:24. The lightning that lighteneth.—The tertium comparationis between the Parusia and the swiftness of the lightning which shows itself on the dark sky, is not its unexpected appearance, but its indubitable visibleness; even as one, when the lightning flashes from one region of heaven to the other (ἐκ τῆς, sc. χώρας), does not need to inquire whither and where the flash shows itself. If the day of the Son of Man is once present, this will no more be a matter of doubt than it is a matter of uncertainty whether ἡ ἀστραπὴ ἡ ἀστράπτουσα has darted through the air or not. Ἡμέρα signifies here the παρουσία, which the days designated in Luk_17:22, ἡμέραι, do not precede, but follow.
Luk_17:25. First … suffer many things.—The prediction of suffering and dying which often returns in this last period is here, too, not wanting. “In Luk_17:25 He gives the great deciding announcement against all false παρατήρησις, that the Messiah previously, in a first manifestation, must suffer and be rejected. See on Mat_16:21; Mat_17:12.” Stier. One must, therefore, not by any means, as the Pharisees do, expect the promised Parusia too early, since this must in any case be preceded by a mournful event. Our Lord cannot with sufficient earnestness impress it on the minds of His disciples that His way goes down into the depth, while they are secretly dreaming of high places of honor.
Luk_17:26. In the days of Noah.—Comp. on Mat_24:37-39. Although the coming of our Lord will be the perfect redemption of His disciples out of all tribulations (comp. Luk_17:22), it is here represented especially as a judgment upon the godless and unbelieving world, and this judgment is typified in the fate of the contemporaries of Noah. The Asyndeton between the different verbs heightens the living and graphic force of the portrayal of their careless life in the midst of the most powerful voices of awakening. We may, perhaps, from the fact that the terrible side of the event is made especially conspicuous, while the delivery of Noah is not mentioned, conclude with some probability that the Saviour addressed these words originally to a wider circle than that of His believing disciples.
Luk_17:28. In the days of Lot.—The second example, which Luke alone relates, is especially remarkable, not only on account of the peculiar coincidence in character between the here-mentioned time and the antediluvian period, but also on account of the striking application which in Luk_17:32 is made of the history of Lot’s wife. Here also there is no other conception of the destruction of Sodom implied than that in Genesis 19. and elsewhere.
Luk_17:31. He which shall be upon the housetop.—The Saviour gives the counsel to immediate flight, with the abandonment, in case of need, of all that is possessed on earth. It is true, He has not in this connection, as in Mat_24:17, as yet spoken of the destruction of Jerusalem; but the admonition is in this place not on that account by any means incongruous, as De Wette precipitately asserts. Nor have we, with Meyer, to understand a flight for deliverance to the coming Messiah. This last explanation has visibly arisen from perplexity, and is only seemingly favored by the example of Lot’s wife. We may here, in general, understand a city taken by invading enemies, from which it is only possible to save one’s life, if he hurries away at the instant, without, at the danger of life, dragging anything with him. The same is the case with him who is fallen upon in the field, which is here conceived quite as generally as the city. The main thought is evidently this: that no temporal possession ought to engage the interest when eternal good must be won at any price. Comp. Mat_16:25. [I do not see how any one can regard Luk_17:31-37 as anything else than a fragment of our Saviour’s subsequent prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem. It fits perfectly into that, while it is impossible to see any immediate applicableness here. It is doubtless inserted here as an element of the eschatological discourse of our Lord, and so far connected with the preceding context.—C. C. S.]
Luk_17:32. Remember Lot’s wife.—It would be inferring too much from this remark of our Lord to wish to conclude from it that He assumes that Lot’s wife was, on account of her momentary transgression, given over to endless misery. Much more temperately has Luther judged concerning it: “For her disobedience’ sake, Lot’s wife must bear a temporal punishment, but her soul is saved. 1Co_5:5.” As to the rest, in what her trespass consisted is sufficiently well known from Gen_19:26. Through her unlawful looking back, she has become the type of that earthly-mindedness and self-seeking which wishes to preserve the lesser at any cost, and thereby loses the greater. It is worthy of note, that in the book of the Wisdom of Solomon, also, Luk_10:7, the same warning image is held up before us, so that this passage in the Gospel is one of the very few in which we may, perhaps, find an indirect allusion to one of the Apocryphal books. Respecting the exact manner of the death of Lot’s wife, and the legend concerning the pillar of salt, see the Commentaries on Genesis 19, especially the remarks of T. W. I. Schroeder, Das erste Buch Mosis ausgelegt, Berlin, 1844, p. 373.
Luk_17:33. Whosoever shall seek to save his life.—See on Luk_9:24, and comp. Mat_10:39; Joh_12:25.—Ζωογονήσει, preserve alive, as in Act_7:19, namely, in the last decisive moment at the Parusia. The Saviour’s discourse here goes yet deeper, inasmuch as He here speaks not merely, as before, Luk_17:26-30, of the danger which threatens those entirely careless, but also of that which threatens such disciples as, like Lot’s wife, had indeed made the first step towards escaping the future destruction, but, alas! afterwards remained standing midway in the way of salvation.
Luk_17:34. I tell you—Comp. on Mat_24:40 seq. The Saviour strengthens His admonition still more by allusion to the definitive terrible division, which will coincide with the great decision. At His coming, that is torn asunder which outwardly, as well as inwardly, appeared to be as closely as possible joined together. Two examples thereof Luke gives, while the third, Luk_17:36, appears to be transferred from Mat_24:40. See notes on the text. The first is taken from companionship at night; the other from companionship by day. Ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτί is not in the sense of tempore illo calamitoso (Grotius, Kuinoel), but is a simple designation of the time which one is wont to spend upon his bed, perhaps with the secondary thought of the uncertainty of the Parusia, which comes as a thief in the night, Mat_24:44. At the beginning of the second example, Luk_17:35, we might, on the other hand, supply: ταύτῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ. Unexpectedly does the Parusia come; whether by day or by night is all one; dissimilar, only outwardly united things are then forever severed. By the κλίνη μία we have not necessarily to understand conjugal companionship—at all events both pronouns are masculine—but every connection which is intimate enough to entitle to a common bed, as was the case in the following example with the common labor by day. On the other hand, there appear in the other example two women (μία, ἑτέρα), who, according to the Oriental custom, are grinding upon the hand-mill there in use, Exo_11:5, and are, therefore, occupied with one and the same appointed work. No matter now whether the Parusia come by day or by night, one of the two is taken away, the other left;—in which, of course, it is understood that our Lord is not thereby giving any fixed rule. Two may be on one bed and both taken; two, on the other hand, may be laboring in one field and both be left; but it may be that even the most intimate companionship will be interrupted by the Parusia. The one is taken, comp. Joh_12:26; Joh_14:3, the other surrendered, without respect of persons, to the certain catastrophe.
Luk_17:36. Where, Lord?—Not an expression of terror (quomodo, Kuinoel), but a definite inquiry after the locality in which all this should take place; even as the Pharisees, Luk_17:20, had inquired definitely after the time of the revelation of the kingdom of God. Although now the Saviour, in this connection, according to Luke, has not been speaking particularly of the destruction of Jerusalem, it seems, however, as if the disciples had a presentiment that the predicted scenes of terror might, perhaps, come to pass even in their neighborhood, in the Holy Land, and wished now that the Saviour would compose their fears about this. He, however, gives them neither an evasive nor an entirely definite answer; but only recites a proverb, respecting which, comp. on Mat_24:28.—Τὸ σῶμα, in Matt. τὸ πτῶμα, to be understood especially of the animal body, which as soon as it lies lifeless becomes the welcome spoil of birds of prey. If one does not incline to see here any allusion to the Roman eagles which swept down upon the unhappy Jerusalem, as upon their prey, we can then, in general, paraphrase this answer thus (Stier): “Everything in its time and order, according to what belongs to it! Ask not with importunate curiosity after Where, How, or When, but behold: Where the corruption of death is, there must the eagles come! When it has become night, then will the lightning bring an awful light! Only do you take care to be found as the living and as children of the light!” In no case have we occasion, with De Wette, to complain that the enigmatical proverb has, by the redaction of Luke, lost in perspicuity.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The answer of our Lord to the question of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God shall come, is of the utmost moment for controverting all grossly sensuous chiliastic expectations and notions which in the course of the ages have ever and anon come up in the bosom of the Christian church. The longing of the Pharisees to be able to state: Lo here, lo there, has remained alive in the hearts of thousands who bear the Saviour’s name. It is the natural consequence of earthly-mindedness and pride, which even in the regenerate is indeed kept down, but not yet eradicated. From such eyes the secret power and the spiritual form of the kingdom of God is even today hidden. It is easier, moreover, to comprehend in their full force the parable of the Treasure and that of the Pearl, than that of the Mustard-Seed and that of the Leaven. Very often, also, there is found, even in Christians, the craving for heathen display of signs, which at bottom bears witness, not to a strong, but to nothing else than a weak, faith. Over against this coarser or more refined Chiliasm, there stands a more or less one-sided Spiritualism, which, perhaps, has found acceptance in yet more extended circles. Not seldom has the saying, that the kingdom of God comes οὐ μετὰ παρατηρήσεως, been misused and exaggerated, in the sense that this kingdom will never on earth display itself in a glorious form worthy of itself. No; the kingdom of God comes not with observation, but when it has once come, we shall nevertheless be well able to say: Lo here ! For here, too, holds good Oetinger’s word: “Corporeality is the end of God’s ways.” Chiliasm, however, for the most part, in view of the body, overlooks the spirit; Spiritualism, in view of the spirit, the body; both forget that man in this sphere also may not arbitrarily sunder what according to God’s ordinance is meant to be forever most intimately united. To grossly sensual Chiliasts we are to hold up the utterance: “The kingdom of God is already in the midst of us,” while one-sided Spiritualists must be reminded of the Saviour’s declaration to His disciples: “For as the lightning, &c.—so shall also the Son of man be in His day.” The kingdom of God comes with gentle, scarcely noticeable step, but not to remain invisible.
2. A threefold coming of the kingdom of God is to be distinguished: First, the Saviour appeared in humility, in an humble servant’s form; after that He comes in the Spirit invisible, but with heightened power; finally, in majesty and glory in the clouds of heaven. The first phase endured thirty-three years, the second has endured already more than eighteen centuries, and the last makes of the present economy a decisive end. The first period was concluded by the Passion and Death of our Lord; the second will not end without a sorrowful Passion of His dearly-purchased church; the last reveals the perfect glory which shall come in the place of suffering and striving, for the Head as for the members.
3. It is a great error and gives occasion to many misunderstandings, when that which our Lord here says of the kingdom of God is applied without any limitation to the Christian church. So long as the kingdom of God is not fully come, it becomes no one to say decisively and exclusively: “Lo here! or, lo there!” By this, however, it is by no means intended that there are no definite signs by which the true Church of the Saviour can be known as such, and distinguished from false, apostate churches. Word and sacraments remain the tokens of the true outwardly visible Church, to which every believer must attach himself; and therefore the Evangelical Church of our days is to strive not less against a one-sided Clericalism than against a sickly Darbism, which does not allow the church constitution established by the Saviour and His apostles to assert its rights.
4. The Donatistic striving which has revealed itself in the course of the centuries in all manner of forms among believers, is here condemned by our Lord in its inmost essence. Men are bent upon making even now an external distinction upon one bed, upon one field, at one mill, between believers and unbelievers; the Saviour, on the other hand, will not have the external union of that which is dissimilar, if it already exists, destroyed by force until He Himself appear with His fan in His hand. Separatism is an anticipation of the great day of decision.
5. There is a heaven-wide distinction between the eschatological expectations which the friends of modern liberalism cherish, and those which are called forth by this teaching of our Lord. It is commonly supposed that in the proportion in which the principles of humanitarianism, culture, free thought, and the like, are more and more widely diffused, the world will become ever increasingly wiser, better, and happier. The Saviour here opens to us a very different view of the times immediately before the end. Of culture and false semblance of external secular enlightenment, there will then undoubtedly be as little lack as in the days of Noah and Lot. But instead now of the great mass becoming continually better and more earnest, we have to expect, on the other hand, according to the Saviour’s words, a time of carelessness, hardening, and carnal security, just like that which preceded the destruction of the ancient world and the ruin of Sodom. These are the perilous times in the last days, of which Paul also speaks, 2Ti_3:1; and all which in the Apocalypse is prophesied of the great apostasy of the last period of the world, is only a wider expansion of the theme here given.
6. The Saviour emphatically teaches us how the human race remains at all times ever alike in the midst of continually growing judgments of God. The contemporaries of Noah and of Lot, the Antichrist who shall arise before the last Parusia, are men of one sort. On these grounds the here-mentioned earlier judgments may also be regarded as types and symbols of the yet following ones, and of the last of all. Because in the neighborhood of Noah and of Lot carelessness had reached the highest grade, these generations are especially fitted to be the type of the last generation which shall see the coming of the Lord. No wonder, therefore, that in the epistles of Peter and Jude the history of the flood and of the destruction of Sodom have attributed to them so great a significance and so high a value. See 1Pe_3:19-21; 2Pe_2:5-9; Judges 7.
7. There exists a sublime parallelism in the way in which the Saviour, Luk_17:26-29, has described the days of Noah and Lot. This uniformity and this rhythm of the words acquires, however, a higher significance if we find therein an exact expression of the wonderful agreement which exists between men and things in earlier and later times. The careless worldly life reveals itself from century to century, every time in the same stereotyped phases and forms. But just as unexpected as were the flood and fiery rain, will also the last coming of the Lord be—a day which begins like other days, and finds the one on his bed, another in the field, and a third at the mill; but it will not end like other days.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The permitted and the unpermitted longing after the revelation of the kingdom of God.—Agreement and difference between the inquiry of the Pharisees, Luk_17:20, and that of the disciples, Act_1:6.—The tokens of the coming of the kingdom of God are: 1. Not so palpable; 2. not so dubious; 3. not s [illigible words found] restricted, as human short-sightedness imagines: a. not with observation; b. it is in the midst of you: c. and one shall not say it is (exclusively) here or there.—The still and hidden coming of the kingdom of God in hearts and in the world: 1. The Pharisees forget it; 2. it is explicable from the nature of the kingdom of God; 3. it is confirmed by history; 4. it is assured for the future.—The kingdom of God is in the midst of you: 1. What an inestimable matter of thanksgiving; 2. what a heavy accountability.—The kingdom of God in the midst of us avails us not, so long as it is not come into our heart.—The presages of the last coming of the Lord: 1. Painful longing (Luk_17:22); 2. dangerous misleading (Luk_17:23-25); 3. growing carelessness (Luk_17:26-30).—When the Saviour is missed with sorrow and expected with longing desire, He no longer makes long delay.—Even the best disciple of the Saviour is exposed to the danger of being misled by false seeming.—The vox populi in the kingdom of God by no means the vox Dei.—The lightning flash which illumines the dark heavens, the image of the appearance of the Son of Man, who makes an end of the dark night of the world.—The Divine necessity of the suffering which precedes the glorifying of the Saviour.—The history of the past a prophecy of the yet hidden future.—What is it that has come to pass? Even that that shall come to pass hereafter, Ecc_1:9.—The days of Noah an image of the days of the Son of Man. In both we see: 1. A decisive judgment pronounced; 2. a long delay occurring; 3. a careless unconcern maintained; 4. a righteous retribution descending; 5. a sure refuge open.—The unaltered character of careless indifference: 1. In the days of Lot; 2. at the destruction of Jerusalem; 3. at the last coming of our Lord.—Careless unconcern in view of threatening judgment: 1. An ancient evil; 2. a dangerous evil;3. a curable evil.—The day of the Son of Man a day of terror and glory.—The warranted and the deplorable impulse of self-preservation.—Lot’s wife a monument of warning for earthly-minded disciples of the Lord; we see her: 1. Graciously spared; 2. at the beginning delivered; 3. presumptuously disobedient; 4. wretchedly perishing.—Whoever will arrive in Zoar must no longer look back towards Sodom.—No earthly gain can make good harm to the soul.—The unexpected separation of that which was externally united, on its: 1. Terrible; 2. beneficent; 3. powerfully awakening and comforting, side.—True fellowship is that which outlives the last day.—The coming of the Lord the end of: 1. Slothful rest; 2. slavish labor; 3. constrained companionship.—Where the carcass is, thither do the eagles gather: a proverb confirmed in the history: 1. Of the heathen; 2. of the Jewish; 3. of the Christian, world.
Starke:—Canstein:—Whoever conceives Christ’s kingdom as fleshly and earthly, will never learn to know it, much less attain thereto.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—Whoever seeks the kingdom of God without himself, loses it within himself.—Hedinger:.—Christ’s comfort, presence, and light often hide themselves in temptation.—Quesnel:—Let us not follow that which men tell us, but that which Jesus Christ first told us in the Scriptures and confirmed by miracles.—What takes place little by little through faith will take place in one instant when Jesus Christ shall show Himself visibly to all men to judge the world. Now is the day of man, then will it be the day of God.—Canstein:—The securer the world, the nearer Jesus Christ with His kingdom, 1Th_5:3.—Brentius:—It is an evil plague that men, when God’s judgments break in, become the worse the longer they threaten; this should of right bring us to consideration.—Like sins occasion like punishments, God in His nature unchangeable.—The end of a thing is better than the beginning; yet let us seek to persevere in the way that we have begun even to the end, that we may not tempt God, Rev_3:5.—When people are diverse, so is also the end of the world diverse.—When proverbs have a good Biblical sense, and express a matter briefly, we may very profitably and becomingly avail ourselves of them.
Heubner:—The fleshly man esteems all according to the outward pomp and glitter.—It is suspicious for a preacher to create a furore, which is often only a fire of straw.—The salvation of the church comes not through intervention of the power of the state, but from within.—Knapp:—Live thyself continually deeper and more intimately into the kingdom of God.—Chr. Palmer:—How differently our Lord answers the question, When does the kingdom of God appear? in the case of different questioners: a. to those who as yet knew nothing thereof He says, It is already here; b. those who already bear it in their hearts He points to the future, for which they should watch, wait, and hold themselves ready.—Whereby we may try ourselves as to whether our hope in the coming of the kingdom of God is not a delusive one.—Neander:—The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.
Footnotes:
[6]Luk_17:23.—Rec.: ἰδοὺ ὧδε ἢ ἰδοὺ εκει. The ἤ before the second ἰδού. although Lachmann defends it, appears to be borrowed from Mat_24:23, and is properly rejected by Tischendorf, [Meyer, Tregelles, Alford.]
[7]Luk_17:24.—Καί, although dubious, as it is wanting in many manuscripts, is found, however, in B., D., [om., Cod. Sin.,] and has been on this ground, as it appears, properly retained by Tischendorf and at least bracketed by Lachmann. [Tischendorf in his 7th ed. omits it, as do Meyer, Tregelles, Alford.—C. C. S.]
[8]Luk_17:36.—In all probability an interpolation from Mat_24:40, and therefore rejected by almost all later critics, with the exception of Scholz. De Wette hesitates. [Om., A., B., Cod. Sin., 14 other uncials, and much the larger part of the cursives.—C. C. S.]
[9]Luk_17:37.—Καί is rightly received by Tischendorf into the text, on the authority of B., [Cod. Sin.,] L., [U., Λ.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 31, 32, 33, 34, 37 COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND OF THE…
COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND OF THE SON OF MAN. (Luke 17:20-37)
when, &c.--To meet the erroneous views not only of the Pharisees, but of the disciples themselves, our Lord addresses both, announcing the coming of the kingdom under different aspects.
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It cometh not with observation--with watching or lying in wait, as for something outwardly imposing and at once revealing itself.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 35, 37 § 97. WHEN THE KINGDOM OF GOD? JESUS ANSWERS…
§ 97. WHEN THE KINGDOM OF GOD? JESUS ANSWERS TO BOTH PHARISEES AND APOSTLES, Luk_17:20-27.
We have here to the end of this chapter a remarkable series of passages, bearing a somewhat mysterious relation to the great Second Advent discourse delivered on Mount Olivet. Mat_25:26.
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We may divide it into two sections, delivered obviously at different times and to different parties. The section 20, 21, is expressly said to be delivered to the Pharisees. The section 22-37 is also said to be addressed to the disciples. The kingdoms discussed are also different. With the Pharisees, he discusses an internal kingdom of grace: with the disciples he discusses his external kingdom at the judgment advent.
The coming of the internal kingdom explained to the Pharisees, Luk_17:20-21.
20. He was demanded of the Pharisees—John the Baptist had opened his preaching with the proclamation of the kingdom of God at hand; Christ had done the same, and his apostles had followed their example. These Pharisees then desire Jesus to tell them when this kingdom shall arrive. Its phenomena should, before a great while, begin to show themselves.
Not with observation—That is, of the firmamental phenomena. The eclipse of the moon would come to them by observation or watching. The new moon of the Passover was watched for by the Jews with much exactness. So the Jews expected that the Messiah’s kingdom would show its sign in the skies, and then the face of the world be changed and renewed. The dead would be raised; and a Messiah, all glorious and heroic, would lead the armies of Israel to the destruction of the foes of God. Hence, as prophecy seemed to point to that day as its era, doubtless there was much observation of the signs of the sky.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 20-37. The ‘When?’ and ‘Where?’ of the Kingdom of…
20-37. The ‘When?’ and ‘Where?’ of the Kingdom of God.
16. And when he was demanded of the Pharisees] Literally, “But being further questioned by the Pharisees.”
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should come] Literally, “is coming.” They seem to have asked with impatient irony, ‘When is all this preparation and preaching to end, and the New Kingdom to begin?’
with observation] i.e. by narrow, curious watching. See Luk_14:1. He implies that their entire point of view is mistaken; they were peering about for great external signs, and overlooking the slow and spiritual processes which were at work before their eyes.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 37 (20) When he was demanded of the Pharisees.—The question…
(20) When he was demanded of the Pharisees.—The question may have been asked in a different tone, by different classes of those who bore the common name of Pharisee. There were some who were really looking for the coming of the Messianic kingdom; there were some who altogether rejected the claim of Jesus of Nazareth to be the Christ. In the lips of the one set, the question implied a taunt; in those of the other, something like impatience. The terms of the answer contain that which met both cases.
Cometh not with observation.—The English noun exactly answers to the meaning of the Greek, as meaning careful and anxious watching. There was, perhaps, a special force in the word, as referring to the two forms of “watching” of which our Lord had been the object. Some of the Pharisees had “observed” Him once and again with a purpose more or less hostile. (Comp. Luk_6:7; Luk_14:1; Mar_3:2; where the Greek verb is that from which the noun here used is derived.) Others were looking for some sign from heaven, to show that He was the promised Head of the Kingdom. They are told that when it comes it will not be in conjunction with any such “observation” of outward things; it would burst upon them suddenly. In the meantime they must look for the signs of its presence in quite another region. The marginal reading, “outward shew”—that which is subject to observation—though giving an adequate meaning, is rather a paraphrase than a translation.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30, 31, 33, 34, 36, 37 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when…
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come. The following discourse of the Lord in reply to the Pharisee"s question, "When cometh the kingdom? was delivered, clearly, in the closing days of the ministry, probably just before the Passover Feast, and in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. The query was certainly not put in a friendly spirit. The questioners had evidently caught the drift of much of our Lord"s late teaching, and had seen how plainly he was alluding to himself as Messiah. This seems to have been the starting-point of their bitter, impatient inquiry. We must remember that the great rabbinic schools in which these Pharisees had received their training connected the coming of Messiah with a grand revival of Jewish power. If in reality this Galilaean Rabbi, with his strange powers, his new doctrines, his scathing words of reproach which he was ever presuming to address to the leaders in Israel, if in reality he were Messiah, when was that golden age, which the long looked-for Hope of Israel was to introduce, to commence? But the words, we can well conceive, were spoken with the bitterest irony. With what scorn those proud, rich men from Jerusalem looked on the friendless Teacher of Galilee, we know. We seem to hear the muttering which accompanied the question: "Thou our King Messiah!" The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. This answer of our Lord"s may be paraphrased: "The kingdom of God cometh not in conjunction with such observation and watching for external glorious things as now exist among you here. Lo, it will burst upon you suddenly, unawares." The English word observation" answers to the signification of the Greek as meaning a singularly anxious watching.
Vers. 20-37. The kingdom and the day of the Son of man.
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This passage is not to be isolated as if it were a definition complete in itself of Christ"s view of the kingdom of God. Some, doing this, have found in it a justification of the teaching that God"s kingdom has no external character, that the coming of the Lord is only a revelation of truth in and to the heart of man. This is to do violence to the language of Jesus. In what he says afterwards to his own, in the solemn discourse reported two chapters hence, he refers to the coming of the Son of man as a fulfilment which would have its outward signs and effects, and for which his people are to wait. On the occasion before us he sets his Word in the sharpest possible antagonism to the carnal and unworthy notions which prevailed among the Pharisees who had demanded a statement from him as to how the kingdom should come. E.g. the Pharisees conceived of this kingdom as a victorious world-power. "Not so," is the assertion (ver. 20); "God"s kingdom does not come with observation, does not lend itself to such outwardness as your vision contemplates." The Pharisees separated the citizenship in the Divine kingdom from character. The right to partake of its glories was a political right. It measured the extravagance of their social caste. It was not a chastening and purifying expectation. It was a dream of conquest and outward abundance which kept their minds on the stretch, which made them dupes of those who claimed to be Messiahs or forerunners of Messiahs. "The kingdom of God," says Jesus, "is not heralded by loud professions, by cries of, "Lo here! or, lo there!" Unobserved, often unthought of, are its marches and movements, its surprises and its conquests" (ver. 21). As the concluding touch of the answer, Jesus warns against a restless asking "when the kingdom shall come," as if it were a prospect wholly future. He reminds us (ver. 21) that the kingdom is here and now, that it is verily and indeed among us. And the caution is as timely for us to-day as it was for the Pharisee then. For we are all apt to associate God"s kingdom with some distant prospect or some condition removed from the world in which we live. And the doctrine of the Lord"s advent is too often mixed up with schemes of prophecy, with calculations of catastrophes and the like, which men profess to expound or to forecast, crying, "Lo here! or, lo there!" Not, therefore, without meaning for more than the old Hebrew separatists is the counsel, "Look into the region of character for the reality of the kingdom. Where the King is, there is the court. If God has possessed your souls, his kingdom is among, is in you." Observe the solemn discourse to the disciples suggested by the demand which he has met. The words which follow from ver. 22 may be regarded either as an epitome of longer addresses, or as an address in itself complete. Look on it as an instruction preliminary, and preparatory, to the fuller opening up of the time of the end. The shadows are getting longer and longer; Jerusalem is not far ahead; the night is at hand in which, under the form of his first appearing, the Son of man cannot work. The look forward in the verses before us is to
(1) a day of distress;
(2) a day calling for patient faith;
(3) a day of retribution and judgment.
I A DAY OF DISTRESS. When (ver. 22) the mind would cast a regretful retrospect on the time when the Lord was with them their Sun and Shield. Ah I would that he, the Bridegroom of our souls, "Our Shepherd, Husband, Friend, Our Prophet, Priest, and King, were going before us as in the days of old! But no; the shadow on the dial of time cannot be put back. The Church must face perplexities and follow its path through them. It hears voices crying, "Lo here! and lo there!" and the voices are so delusive that even the elect are often bewildered. The Master"s word is, "Onwards!" He bids us look up where Stephen beheld him standing, bending forward in sympathy and help. In the struggle, through the din, although it seems as if he were not, he is with his Church until the end of the age.
II A DAY CALLING FOR PATIENT FAITH. There are incertitudes and excitements which sometimes almost suspend the action of faith. There are complications in the Church and the world which induce a feverishness of tone. What the Lord enjoins (ver. 25) is a calm, although wakeful, vigilance. He reminds his followers that the way to the crown is by the cross, that the offence of the cross must be exhausted, and then the end shall come. Thus, whilst the sentence is (vers. 26-30), "The coming may be at any moment, it will be, as was prefigured in the days of Noah and Lot, when men are least expecting it," the balancing thought is added, that a testimony must be given to all the nations. And the right kind of waiting is that which seeks to fill up what remains of his sufferings, so that, when he shall appear, his people may be found "not sleeping in sin, but diligent in his service, and rejoicing in his praises." It is in this connection that the reference is made (ver. 29) to the tradition concerning the wife of righteous Lot. "She looked back, and became a pillar of salt." The world-clinging heart was stiffened into a very column of worldliness. Remember, there are to be no regrets, no glances behind. A heart single, and free for the Lord, is the condition of the disciple who shall escape all these things that shall come to pass, and stand before the Son of man. "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it" (ver. 33).
III A DAY OF JUDGMENT. The revelation of Christ is a judgment in the fuller meaning of the word, a making manifest, a bringing to light of the hidden bents of mind and separation of the true from the false. Whenever Christ is presented, the judgment is set and the books are opened. The end is simply the full apocalypse of the judgment which is now proceeding. The lightning (ver. 24) "that lighteneth out of the one part of heaven, shining to the other," is the manifestation of the electricity with which the atmosphere is charged. What of this day of judgment? It is (vers. 27, 28) the condemnation of the world as to its worldliness in both its more sensual and its more cultured aspects the sensuality typified in the days of Noah; the culture, with coarseness, typified in the wealthy citizen of Sodom. It is (vers. 34, 35) the disjunction of the closest of life"s fellowships the two in the bed, the two at the mill, the two in the field. The issues that, unobserved by many, are being adjusted and completed will be set forth in their reality. What men would not believe men will be brought to know. "The Lord cometh; he cometh to judge the earth." "Where?" ask these simple men, affrighted Lord?" and the enigmatical response (ver. 37) is given. Wherever there is corruption, wrong, death, there is the scene of the judgment of God. Jerusalem was the carcase more immediately in view, and the eagle, sign of the Roman empire, that was raised over its battlements was the sign of other eagles that were already gathering. But may we not ask whether the Jerusalem that is in bondage, the Christendom that is, is not ripening for judgment? "Receiving the kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.
Vers. 20, 21. Radical mistakes respecting the kingdom of God.
Pharisaism took its hostile attitude toward Christianity because it entirely failed to understand it. It made two radical mistakes which completely misled it.
I THE MISTAKES WHICH PHARISAISM MADE.
1. As to the character of the coming kingdom. It thought it was to be outward, earthly, political, temporal; it was looking and longing for the time when another David, another Judas Maccabaeus, should come, should liberate the Holy Land from the grasp of the pagan power, and make Jerusalem the metropolis, the centre and glory of the earth.
2. As to the evidences and signs of its coming. It looked for a grand display of power, for overwhelming evidences that would strike every eye and startle and convince every mind that One was at hand who should assume the sovereignty awaiting him. And so it came to pass that when Jesus was born at Bethlehem, a Babe cradled in a manger; when he grew up to be a Carpenter at Nazareth; when he gathered no army, and struck no blow for national deliverance; when there was no ostentation about his method; when he lived to bless and teach individual men and women, and wrought his work quietly and unpretendingly; Pharisaism decided that he was not the Coming One, and that his reign was not to prove the kingdom of God. Pharisaism entirely mistook God"s purpose, and fatally misinterpreted his procedure.
II THE MISTAKES INTO WHICH WE ARE LIABLE TO FALL. Not, of course, the same but similar, and equally disastrous.
1. When we look for blessedness in out ward circumstances instead of in inward peace. We say, "If I could but win that prize, gain that post, secure that friendship, earn that income, how bright would be my lot, how glad my heart, how radiant my life I" But we are wrong. Gladness of heart and excellency of life are not to be found in sunny circumstances, but in a pure heart, a heart that is at rest, a heart at home with God. "Out of the heart are the issues of life;" the fountain of lasting joy rises from our own breast; the kingdom of God is within us.
2. When we look for blessedness in the time that is beyond. "Man never is, but always to be blessed." There is even an unchristian longing for the heavenly future. When" to abide in the flesh" is more needful for those for whose welfare we are largely responsible, then the "kingdom of God" for us is not in the distance; it is in the present sphere of duty; it is in present peace, present joy, present service, in the blessedness which Christ gives to his servants "Before they reach the heavenly fields, Or walk the golden streets," in those "heavenly places" of holy service and happy fellowship in which he "has made them to sit". (Eph_2:6)
3. When we wait for heavenly influences to fall upon us instead of availing ourselves of those we have. Not only is there no need for any soul to wait for some remarkable and overwhelming influences before entering the kingdom, not only is it wholly unnecessary, but it is positively wrong to do so. It is in those quiet influences which are now working within your heart that God comes to you. He will never be nearer to a human soul than when his Spirit fills it with a holy longing, and makes it eager to know what it must do to enter into life. Wait not for anything that is coming: act on the promptings that are within you, and your feet shall then surely stand within the kingdom of God. C.
Vers. 20-37. The advent of the kingdom and the King.
Jesus was on journey to Jerusalem when the ingratitude of the nine lepers, just noticed, took place, and this gave rise to speculation as to the near approach of his kingdom. His enemies, the Pharisees, put the sarcastic question when the kingdom of God should come, as much as to say, "We have heard of it long; we should like to see it." This leads our Lord to unfold the nature of his kingdom"s advent and of his own.
I HIS KINGDOM COMES IN THE HEARTS OF MEN. (Vers. 20, 21) The characteristic of worldly kingdoms has always been ostentation. They try to impress the senses by noisy advents, brag, advertisement, the blare of bugle and roll of drum. And some think that there is nothing worth talking about which can come in any milder way. The Jews expected a kingdom of God to supersede the Roman, and that its advent would be seen in the defeat and expulsion of the conquerors of Canaan. But, no; the kingdom was coming in men"s hearts; it was there it had its sphere and home.
1. How superficial is the sovereignty which is not founded in the heart I This is the world"s experience daily. The outward sovereignty is a name and based on fear.
2. How noble is the sovereignty which is based upon peoples hearts! It is here Jesus reigns. We love him. We would die for him. Thus his kingdom progresses wherever a heart is touched by Christ"s love. His triumph is over the selfishness of mankind. He conquers them by self-sacrificing love. ()
II THE KING HIMSELF IS TO COME AS SUDDENLY AS THE LIGHTNING-FLASH. (Vers. 22-24) He is not to give warning of his approach. There will be no need to go here or there under the impression that he has come quietly and privately, to prepare for his public manifestation; but suddenly like the lightning-flash, and publicly like its heaven-enlightening beam, is he to come for judgment. Hence the awful suddenness of his advent is distinctly implied. He will give no premonitory warnings, but overwhelmingly sudden and awful will be his approach. No wonder in such circumstances that many shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, one of those seasons of quiet philanthropy such as the Saviour was now leading among men. The Pharisees were mistaking altogether the significance of his present mission.
III THE RESULTS OF THE PRESENT MISAPPREHENSIONS. (Vers. 25-30)
1. The first sad result will be the rejection and martyrdom of Jesus (ver. 25). Misapprehending the significance of his meek and lowly philanthropic life, his generation united in rejecting him, and secured his crucifixion on the tree. They would not have the King when actually among them in flesh and blood.
2. Men will act like the antediluvians and Sodomites up to the very time of our Lord"s advent. A sense of carnal security characterized these sinners. They thought in Noah"s day that no harm would overtake them. There was no sign of the Deluge except Noah"s precautions against it, and they would not act upon such signs. In Sodom it was the same. The inhabitants thought no change would come over their selfish, sensual dream. But the Deluge came, and the fire and brimstone descended, notwithstanding. So will it be with the advent of Christ it will come as a sudden, unexpected judgment upon many. And this carnal security is a present danger with many. They fancy they are safe, that nothing will interfere with their security; but the Saviour makes his advent suddenly, and they are overwhelmed.
IV THE REALITIES OF THE ADVENT. (Vers. 31-37) Now, the truth is clearly brought out that some shall be saved and others lost at the advent.
1. Let us look at the lost. They are brought under our notice here in several ways. Thus Lots wife is taken as a type of the lost. Now, we know that she was lost through looking longingly back to her worldly things. God, by his angels, had set the family"s faces towards the mountains and himself. Were they prepared to take him and his favour as their portion, and give up all their property in Sodom? If they looked longingly behind them, it would show that the world was still more to them than God. The poor wife could not resist the temptation, and so she was changed into a pillar of salt. She is, then, the type of those who are almost saved, but worldliness gets the better of them, and they are lost. Again, the lost ones are represented as food for eagles (ver. 37) This brings out the corruption characterizing them. They have become moral carrion which only the eagles can consume. There is, doubtless, a reference to the Roman invasion under Titus, and to the destruction of corrupt Jerusalem. The Roman armies were God"s scavengers to destroy a corrupt people. This was one way in which Christ made an advent to judgment. Lastly, we have the lost described as those who are continually seeking to save themselves (ver. 33). Those whose one aim in life is self-preservation, the saving of themselves at every turn, who think of self as the supreme concern, are only losing themselves. The curious paradox is that those who save themselves at every turn lose themselves; while those who do not count their lives dear, but Christ"s concern as supreme, find themselves safe at last. Let us see to it, therefore, that we are neither worldly minded, nor corrupt, nor given up to selfishness, else we are among the lost.
2. But let us look at the saved ones. These are those who have kept Christ before them as their Lord and Master, whose interests should be supreme (ver. 33). They value him more than life, and so he saves them. The nature of salvation is thus plainly unfolded. The saved ones are those with whom Christ is all in all. They prefer him to everything else. The instinct of self-preservation has in them given place to an instinct to preserve the honour and promote the kingdom of the Master. And those who have trusted him and honoured him so thoroughly shall find that he will not disappoint them. Let us wait for his appearing, then, and love it; and when it flashes across the world, we shall be allowed to escape the judgments that come upon the earth, and to stand before the Son of man. R.M.E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv20, 22, 26, 32, 33, 34, 37 The kingdom of God is within you
Luk_17:20-21
The kingdom of God is within you
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The kingdom of God
It is a kingdom of the mind, the will, the feeling, and the conduct.
My kingdom is not of this world, formed in a material fashion, resting on visible forces, but within, seated in the heart, the intellect, and feeling. Give over, then, straining your eyes investigating the heavens, the kingdom of God is among you; the words will bear this rendering, being almost identical in meaning with the words found in Johns Gospel (chap. 1., verse 26), translated thus--In the midst of you standeth One whom ye know not. The laws and principles of the kingdom were fully incorporated in Christ, they evolved out of His Person like light from the sun. He informs them that the kingdom is already present with them, that it bad actually commenced its operations, and that its spiritual vibrations were then felt. What, then, is this kingdom?
1. It is a kingdom of new convictions producing new conversions and outward reforms. It deals with these three forces of the human character--impulse, will, and habit. Once it gets a proper hold of these powers it makes the character an irresistible force. When religious impulse is grasped by the will and transformed into life, the character is such that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.
2. It is the kingdom of life, or a living kingdom here, rather than an earthly kingdom yonder. It is new life kindling new ideas and forming fresh habits. Sometimes it steals in upon the mind as silently as light. Look at the woman of Samaria, how natural, the new ideas were deposited into her mind, and with what marvellous rapidity they changed the current of her thoughts and the habits of her life.
3. It is a kingdom of new impressions concerning self, God, man, life, time, and eternity. No person ever equalled the founder of Christianity as an impression-maker, impressions of the highest and purest type were set in motion, as reconstructive agencies by Him; and they are still at work leavening society, and they are divinely destined to continue until the whole universe of God is entirely assimilated with the Divine nature, and thus cause righteousness and holiness to shine everlastingly throughout Gods dominion.
4. It is the kingdom of love--love revealed in the light of the Fatherhood of God, God being known as a Father, naturally creates a filial reverence in man, which at once becomes the mightiest force in reclaiming the lost. Like creates like is a recognized principle in ancient and modern philosophy, as well as in Christian theology. (J. P. Williams.)
The kingdom which cometh not with observation
These words of our Lord open to us an abiding law of His kingdom; an enduring rule of that dispensation under which we are.
1. It is a kingdom; most truly and really a kingdom. Nay, even in some sort a visible kingdom; and yet at the very same time it is--
2. A kingdom which cometh not by observation; unseen in its progress, seen in its conclusion; unheard in its onward march, felt in its results. Let us, then, follow out a little more into detail this strange combination of what might almost seem at first sight direct contradictions.
I. And first see HOW REMARKABLY THIS WAS THE CHARACTER OF ITS OPENING ON THIS EARTH. It was then manifestly a kingdom. The angels bore witness of it. Their bright squadrons were visible upon this earth hanging on the outskirts of Messiahs dominion. They proclaimed its coming: Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Glory to God in the highest; peace on earth, good-will towards men. Nay, the world felt it: Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. The instincts of the unbelieving monarch made him tremble before the King of Saints. It was a kingdom which was coming. Yet it came not with observation. The King of Israel was born obscurely. Angels appeared to herald Him; yet none save shepherds saw them. There was veil enough over each circumstance of His life to make the dull eye of the world miss the true meaning of characters it could not help seeing. And afterwards, in the life of Christ, it was the same. The world was stirred, troubled, uneasy, perplexed. It felt that it was in the presence of a strange power. An undefined, unknown, yet real presence was with it. But it knew Him not. It was as if some cloud was shed round Him through which the world could not pierce. The kingdom was even now amongst men, and yet its coming was unseen.
II. And so, AFTER THE DEATH AND ASCENSION OF CHRIST, THE KINGDOM WENT ON. Still it came, reaching to every part of the earth, but never with observation.
III. Once more; SEE HOW THIS IS STILL IN EACH HEART THE LAW OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT. There also none can ever trace its beginnings. Some, indeed, may remember when first they felt its life within them, when first they were duly conscious of its power--though this is far from universally the case where it is most truly planted--but even in these cases, this consciousness was not its true beginning; any more than the first faint upgrowth of the tender blade is the beginning of its life; any more than the first curling of the water is the breath of heaven which it shows: no; life must be, before it is able to look back into itself and perceive that it does live. Being must precede consciousness. And as it is at first given, so does it grow. It is the receiving a life, a being, a breath. It is the passing over us of Gods hand, the in-breathing of His Spirit. This is its secret history; and this men cannot reach. And yet it is a kingdom which is thus set up. Wheresoever it has its way, there it will be supreme. It makes the will a captive, and the affections its ministers, and the man its glad vassal. Though it cometh not with observation, yet it is indeed a kingdom. Now, from this it behoves us to gather two or three strictly practical conclusions--
1. This is a thought full of fear to all ungodly men. Depend upon it this kingdom is set up. It is in vain for you to say that you do not perceive it, that you see it not, nor feel it; this does not affect the truth. It is its law that it cometh not with observation; that from some it always is hidden. Your soul had--if you be not altogether reprobate, it still has, however faintly exercised--the organs and capacities for seeing it. But you are deadening them within yourself.
2. This is a quickening thought to all who, in spite of all the weakness of their faith, would yet fain be with our Lord. Is this kingdom round about us? Have we places in it? How like, then, are we to His disciples of old; trembling and crying out for fear as lie draws ninth to us! How like are we to those whose eyes were holden, who deemed Him a stranger in Jerusalem! How do we need His words of love; His breaking bread and blessing it; His making known Himself unto us; His opening our eyes! How should we pray as we have never prayed before, Thy kingdom come!
3. Here is a thought of comfort. How apt are we to be east down; to doubt our own sincerity, to doubt His working in us, to doubt the end of all these tears, and prayers, and watchings! Here, then, is comfort for our feeble hearts. Small as the work seems, unobserved as is its growth, it is a kingdom. It is His kingdom. It is His kingdom in us. Only believe in Him, and wait upon Him; only endure His time, and follow after Him, and to you too it shall be manifested. (Bishop Samuel Wilberforce.)
Gods kingdom without observation
1. The manner in which the gospel was first introduced was without external show and ostentation. Worldly kingdoms are usually erected and supported by the power of arms.
2. The external dispensation of Christs kingdom is without ostentation. His laws are plain and easy to be understood, and delivered in language level to common apprehension. The motives by which obedience is urged are pure and spiritual, taken not from this, but the future world. His institutions are few and simple, adapted to our condition, and suited to warm and engage the heart.
3. The virtues which the gospel principally inculcates are without observation, distant from worldly show, and independent of worldly applause.
4. As the temper of the gospel, so also the operation of the Divine Spirit in producing this temper, is without observation. It is not a tempest, an earthquake, or fire; but a small, still voice. It is a spirit of power, but yet a spirit of love, and of a sound mind. The fruits of it, like its nature, are kind and benevolent. They are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, and goodness.
5. The blessings of Gods kingdom are chiefly invisible, and without observation. The rewards which the gospel promises are not earthly and temporal, but heavenly and spiritual. They are not external power, wealth, and honour; but inward peace, hope, and joy here, and everlasting felicity hereafter.
We will now attend to the reflections and instructions which our subject offers to us--
1. If the kingdom of God is now among us, we are all without exception bound to acknowledge it, and submit to it.
2. We learn that it concerns every one, not only to submit to Gods kingdom, but to submit to it immediately.
3. We are here taught that we have no occasion to run from place to place in order to find the grace of God, for we may obtain it in any place where His Providence calls us. For the Spirit is not confined to certain places, its influences are not at human disposal, nor do its operations come with public observation. You are to receive the spirit in the hearing of faith. Its influence on the heart is not like an overbearing storm, but as the gentle rain on the tender herb, and the dew on the grass.
4. We learn from our subject that true religion is not ostentatious. It seeks not observation. The true Christian is exemplary, but not vain. He is careful to maintain good works, but affects not an unnecessary show of them.
5. It appears that they only are the true subjects of Gods kingdom who have experienced its power on their hearts.
6. As the kingdom of God comes not to the heart with observation, we are incompetent judges of the characters of others. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)
The secret workings of Divine grace
The workings of Gods grace are, for the most part, not only beyond, but contrary to our calculation. It is not said that the kingdom of God is not with observation, but the kingdom of God cometh not with observation. And the principle is this--that the greatest and plainest effects are produced by causes which are themselves unnoticeable. God is mounting up to His grand design; but we cannot see the steps of His ascent. If you pass from the history of the Church to any other province in Gods empire, you will find them all recognizing the same law. It seems to be the general rule of all that is sublime, that its motions shall be unseen. Who can discern the movements of the planets--whose evolutions we admire, whose courses guide our path? The day breaks and the day sets; but who can fix the boundaries of the night, the boundaries of the darkness? You may watch the departing of summer beauty--as the leaves are swept by the autumn wind--but can the eye trace its movements? Does not everything--in the sky and in the earth--proclaim it--as all nature follows its hidden march--that the kingdom of God cometh not with observation? Or, let any man amongst you, read but a very few of the leading passages of his own life, and let him observe what have been the great, deciding events of his history--determining, if I may so speak, the very destinies of his forces. Were they those he anticipated? Did his great joys and sorrows rise in the quarters from whence he expected them to rise? Did not the great circumstances of his life arise from events quite unexpected? And did not those things which he counted little, greatly rise and extend themselves--for evil or for good? And what does all this attest-in providence and in nature--but that the kingdom of God cometh not with observation? But we are now led to expect, by what we have read, and what we have seen, and what we have felt, in outward things, that we shall find the truth of the text, also, when we come to the experience of a mans soul; and that the kingdom of God cometh not with observation. A very pious mother is deeply anxious about the soul of her son. Her fond affections, her holy influences, her secret prayers-have all been bearing to that one point, of her childs conversion to God, for many years. But have that mothers prayers died, because those lips are hushed? Has God forgotten to be gracious, when man ceases to expect? Nay--in His own way, and in His own hour, the kingdom comes. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Quiet growth of the Church
In his other work, the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke beautifully illustrates these words of our Lord. The Book of the Acts gives us the history of the early Christian Church for about two-and-thirty years after the death of Christ. It may well surprise a thoughtful reader of this book to remark how little progress Christianity seems to have made at the end of that period, so far as the outward life of man was concerned. Nothing amounting to a great social change is here recorded. The Church had not put down heathen sacrifice, nor demolished a single idol temple. Scarcely yet did mens public and social life show any traces of it. The gospel had as yet no local habitation; in looking down upon the crowded dwellings of the great cities of the empire, you would not as yet have seen a spire. Nay, nearly three centuries elapsed after the period described in the Acts of the Apostles, before buildings gave any note of the great moral revolution which had taken place in the minds of men; before the Basilica was diverted from its original purpose as a court of justice to the great end of Christian worship, and in the semicircular recess, where the praetor and his assessors had sat to lay down the law of the empire, now the bishop and his attendant presbyters were installed around the holy table, to expound the higher law of the kingdom of heaven. But yet, though the visible impression made by Christianity upon human life and manners was thus slight during the period referred to, we may be quite sure that the gospel was then fermenting with peculiar power in the hearts and minds of men. If the kingdom of God did not come with observation, this was no proof at all that it was not within men--that it was not in the very centre of their inner life. If the powers that be, and the wise men after the flesh, at first thought it beneath their notice; if Trajan and Pliny regarded Christians merely in the light of an obstinate and eccentric set of fanatics; this was no proof that a great social revolution was not preparing in the lower strata of society, and eating away, like subterraneous volcanic fire, the crust upon which existing institutions stood. The mustard-seed had been cast into the earth, and it was swelling and bursting beneath the soil. The leaven had been thrown into human nature; and its influences, though noiseless and unseen, were subtlely and extensively diffusing themselves through the whole lump. Christs religion was to win its way noiselessly, like Himself. Because its blows against existing institutions were so indirect, because they were aimed so completely at the inward spirit of man, the great men and the wise men after the flesh completely overlooked them, and dreamt not how they were undermining the whole social fabric of heathenism. The scanty notices of Christianity by authors contemporary with its rise have been thoughtlessly made a ground of objection against it by sceptics. The believer will rather see in this fact a confirmation of the Lords profound word. The kingdom of God was not to come, and it did not come, with observation. (Dean Goulburn.)
Secrecy of Divine visitations
Such has ever been the manner of His visitations, in the destruction of His enemies as well as in the deliverance of His own people;--silent, sudden, unforeseen, as regards the world, though predicted in the face of all men, and in their measure comprehended and waited for by His true Church. See Luk_17:27-29; Ex Isa_37:36; Act_12:23; Isa_30:13; Luk_17:35 -
36. And it is impossible that it should be otherwise, in spite of warningsever so clear, considering how the world goes on in every age. Men, who are plunged in the pursuits of active life, are no judges of its course and tendency on the whole. They confuse great events with little, and measure the importance of objects, as in perspective, by the mere standard of nearness or remoteness. It is only at a distance that one can take in the outlines and features a whole country. It is but holy Daniel, solitary among princes, or Elijah the recluse of Mount Carmel, who can withstand Baal, or forecast the time of Gods providences among the nations. To the multitude all things continue to the end, as they were from the beginning of the creation. The business of state affairs, the movements of society, tile course of nature, proceed as ever, till the moment of Christs coming. The sun was risen upon the earth, bright as usual, on that very day of wrath in which Sodom was destroyed. Men cannot believe their own time is an especially wicked time; for, with Scripture unstudied and hearts untrained in holiness, they have no standard to compare it with. They take warning from no troubles or perplexities, which rather carry them away to search out the earthly causes of them, and the possible remedies. Pride infatuates many, and self-indulgence and luxury work their way unseen,--like some smouldering fire, which for a while leaves the outward form of things unaltered. At length the decayed mass cannot hold together, and breaks by its own weight, or on some slight and accidental external violence. (J. H.Newman, D. D.)
The coming of the kingdom to individuals
Truly, at a christening we may well reflect that the kingdom of God comes not with observation. And if in later years, as too generally is the ease, the precious grace thus given is lost and sinned away, and nothing but the stump or socket of the Divine gift remains without its informing, spiritual, vital power, then another change is assuredly necessary, which we call conversion. And what is conversion? Is it always a something that can be appraised and registered as having happened at this exact hour of the clock--as having been attended by such and such recognized symptoms--as announced to bystanders by these or those conventional or indispensable ejaculations--as achieved and carried out among certain invariable and easily described experiences? Most assuredly not. A conversion may have its vivid and memorable occasion, its striking, its visible incident. A light from heaven above the brightness of the sun may at midday during a country ride flash upon the soul of Saul of Tarsus; a verse of Scripture, suddenly illuminated with new and unsuspected and quite constraining meaning, may give a totally new direction to the will and the genius of an Augustine; but, in truth, the type of the process of conversion is just as various as the souls of men. The one thing that does not vary, since it is the very essence of that which takes place, is a change, a deep and vital change, in the direction of the will. Conversion is the substitution of Gods will as the recognized end and aim of life, for all other aims and ends whatever; and thus, human nature being what it is, conversion is as a rule a turning from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that a man may receive forgiveness of his sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified. And this great change itself, most assuredly, cometh not with observation. The after-effects, indeed, appear--the spirit of self-sacrifice, the unity of purpose which gives meaning, solemnity, force to life, the fruits of the Spirit--love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, in such measure as belongs to the requirements of the individual character. Certainly, when the kingdom of God has come into a soul the result may be traced easily enough, but the kingdom of God cometh in this case, too, at least, as a general rule, not with observation. (Canon Liddon.)
Religion is an inward principle, rind cabinet be forced
Men love excitement, and to be able to say, Lo, here is Christ! or, lo, there! and they will eagerly run after the preacher who can best minister to this love of excitement. But religion is an inward principle, a work of personal self-denial and effort. Vegetation as a general rule, is more advanced by the gentle dews and moderate showers than by torrents of rain or the bursting of water-spouts; so is the work of salvation, by the daily dews of Divine grace, more than by extraordinary revivals. Let us not disparage revivals, for some truly deserve the name; but let us be assured that the work of God is not confined to them, and we fear is not often in them at all--that churches may have some piety which have no great annual season of excitement--that the best state of things is, where no communion passes without the adding of faithful souls--that all healthy growth in nature and grace is gradual and from within--and that the kingdom of God cometh not with observation. (W. H. Lewis, D. D.)
The kingdom within
I. RELIGION IS AN INWARD AND SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE. It is, says our Saviour, within you. This is a representation which differs from the ordinary opinion of men. If it be within us, then--
1. It is not determined by geographical boundaries, by latitude or longitude.
2. It does not consist in an observance of ordinances. This is a representation which accords with what we find in the sacred pages. God forms His estimate of the characters of men, not by their actions, or their language, or their opinions, or by anything of a merely outward nature; but by the temper and frame of their hearts.
II. TRUE RELIGION SUBJECTS THE SOUL TO THE AUTHORITY AND REIGN OF GOD.
1. It is spoken of as a kingdom. Now a kingdom is not a scene of anarchy and rebellion; it is distinguished by order and due subordination.
2. But this is not all. Not only is there subordination, but all is under the immediate control of God.
(1) God is the author and preserver of that spiritual and Divine principle in which true religion consists.
(2) God has appointed all the means by which it is maintained.
3. Mere necessary submission is not enough. It implies a voluntary subjection of the heart to the authority of God. (Dr. Harris.)
The kingdom of God
I. The text is a WARNING AGAINST ILLUSORY VIEWS OF RELIGION. There is a form of evil in our own day against which we make a strong protest. There are men in our midst who say, Lo here; or, lo there. At last the truth has been discovered. Jacob is come to Bethel, and has dreamed a marvellous dream. We speak of men who sow seeds of discord through pretended light and holiness. They disturb the peace of the church, and lead the unwary astray.
II. The great truth which our text suggests is THE SPIRITUAL NATURE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, yea, the reign of God in mens hearts and lives. The Jews expected a startling demonstration of the supernatural to their material advantage; Christ effected a moral reformation, and laid the foundation for a spiritual commonwealth. We quote the opening sentences of Christus Consummator, a recent work of great beauty by Canon Westcott: Gain through apparent loss; victory through momentary defeat; the energy of a new life through pangs of travail--such has ever been the law of spiritual progress. This law has been fulfilled in every crisis of reformation; and it is illustrated for our learning in every page of the New Testament. Such, in a few words, is the basin of that empire of truth which the Son of God founded, and is now enlarging by His Word and Spirit.
III. In conclusion, observe how emphatic the Saviour is in directing the attention of His hearers to the fact, THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOT AN EXPECTATION, BUT A REALITY IN THE SOUL--the kingdom of God is within you. The seat of the government is in the heart. (The Weekly Pulpit.)
The inner heaven
It is evident that a kingdom necessarily implies a ruling power, and entire subordination to the governing principle. But many minds (might I not almost say most?) have not even this. There is no governing principle at all, unless it be to please self; and a kingless heart must be a weak and miserable thing! There is sure to be disorder, and confusion, and wretchedness--where there is anarchy; and a mans heart is of that character--so impulsive, so restless; so sensitive to influences of every kind; so capricious; so many coloured, that it actually requires a controlling rule which should be a sovereign over it. Nothing else will do. A multitude of rulers could not answer the purpose. They would only weaken and distract. There must be One, and that One supreme, and absolute, and alone. Now it is Christs promise that He will come into every heart who is willing to receive Him. He comes a King. Now see what follows. Christ was a Saviour before He was a King. He rose from His cross to His throne. He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name. He enters therefore the heart a Saviour-King. What, then, is the first thing which He brings? What is the first act of sovereignty--what the ground of His kingdom? Pardon, peace, and rest to the soul. It cannot be but that the first discovery, and on every fresh realization of such a fact as that, there must be great joy. Can it be true? O what a happiness! What perfect joy! He is mine and I am His, and nothing shall ever divide us. So peace makes joy; and joy and peace, uniting, make love. Oh! it is a strangely-beautiful kingdom where love--love in high authority--love in power--love in awe-issues its mandates; and love, love in expectation, love in perfect accord, love eager on the wing, gives constant echo to every will of His Sovereigns heart. But are there no laws in that kingdom of peace and love? The strictest. No man--such is the constitution of our nature--no man could be happy who is not ruled, and ruled with a very firm hand. We all like, we all require, and we all find it essential to our being to be under authority and restraint; and the more imperative the power, so it be just and good, the happier we are. These are the essentials, the very characteristics of the inner kingdom which is now in every believers soul; only, that which is here, is only the dim reflection of all which is so perfect there; still, it is the same heaven in both worlds. And a man that has once that inner heaven in his heart, how independent he is of all accidents, and of all external circumstances. Surely, when death comes, it will be a very little step to that kingdom indeed, and to his kindred above. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Where is the heavenly kingdom
If you ask me what my definition of the kingdom of heaven is, if you ask me where I place it, I will tell you. Show me a man who is just, who is honest, who is benevolent, who is charitable, who loves his God, who loves his fellow-men; show me such a man; yea, bring him here, stand him by my side, and I care not what be the colour of skin, nor what be his name, or the name of his nation, or what his social standing, or what his financial position, or what be the degree of his intellectual development; I wilt point my finger at that mans breast, and say: There, within this mans breast is the kingdom of heaven. If you ask me again to show you the kingdom of heaven, I will say: Bring me a woman that is pure, that is affectionate, that is loyal to her sense of duty, that is sympathetic and charitable of speech, that is patient, whose bosom is full of love for the Divine Being and for those of her race with whom she is brought in contact; yea, bring that woman here, stand her by my side; and I care not whether she be Caucasian or African, whether she be of this nation or of that, care nothing about her intellectual development; and I will tell you that the kingdom of heaven is within that womans soul. Aye, within such a man and such a woman is a kingdom boundless in extent, perpetual in its expression of power, majestic in its appearance, indefatigable in its energy, Divine in its quality--a kingdom of which there can be but one king, and that is God; a kingdom for the sovereignty of which there is but one being fitted--the Infinite Spirit. And this, as I understand it, is the glory of man and the glory of woman: that within them there is a realm of capacity, of faculty, of sense, of aspiration, of sentiment, of feeling, so fine, so pure, so noble, so majestic and holy, that its natural king is Infinite Love. It was to introduce Himself to this realm, to establish His throne and possess it in this kingdom, that Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man, alike conjoining in Himself the Divine and the human in harmonious conjunction, representing the sympathy of the lower and the majesty of the higher world, descended to this earth, and is today seeking through the operation of His Spirit, entrance to possession. It is over this kingdom within, He reigns, if He reign at all. It is within this kingdom that He energizes. It is out of this kingdom that His glory has to proceed. Not in that which is nominal and technical; not in that which is verbal and formal; not in that which is in accordance with custom and tradition, is the Saviour present. And they who look for Him in these things shall not find Him; bat they who search to discern Him in spirit and life, in holy expression of consecrated faculty in the energy of capacities dedicated to God, shall find Him, and they shall find that in these He is all in all. (W. M. Hay Aitken, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv20, 22, 25, 31, 33, 34, 37 20, 21. When the kingdom of God cometh. These…
20, 21. When the kingdom of God cometh. These Pharisees expected a visible, temporal kingdom. Cometh not with observation. As a visible, earthly monarchy, like that of David.
Is within you. A kingdom that has its throne in the heart, on which Christ, the King, sits. It has to be formed by yielding our hearts to Christ.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v20 Luk_17:20. Demanded of the Pharisees.—We can scarcely think that…
CRITICAL NOTES
Luk_17:20. Demanded of the Pharisees.—We can scarcely think that they had any good end in view in asking this question; it is probable they expected to get some answer which might be used against Jesus. Their idea of “the kingdom of God” was that it would be an outward manifestation of God’s sovereignty in the world, in which a splendid position of supremacy would be assigned to the Jewish nation. With observation.—I.e., in such a manner as to be observed with the outward eye.
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Luk_17:21. Within you.—Or “In the midst of you” (R.V. margin). The latter rendering is certainly to be preferred. The kingdom of God was certainly not in the hearts of the Pharisees, though it, as a visible society, was among them in the community of believers in Christ. All through the remainder of the chapter it is a visible coming of Jesus that is referred to. The rendering “within you” would yield a perfectly valid sense, but one not at all in harmony with the eschatological character of this discourse.
Luk_17:22. One of the days.—I.e., even a single day. Perhaps one of the days which He had passed with them on earth; but more probably, as regret for the past was superseded by hope for the future, one of the days which would follow His return.
Luk_17:23. See here.—False reports of His return. His return would be sudden, and not of a local character. Cf. Mat_24:23-27.
Luk_17:24. For as the lightning.—“The lightning, lighting both ends of heaven at once, seen of all beneath it, can only find its full similitude in His personal coming, whom every eye shall see (Rev_1:7)” (Alford).
Luk_17:25. But first.—The Son of man must be taken away before He can return (Luk_17:26-30). The security and carelessness of the world before the Flood, and of the inhabitants of Sodom before its destruction by fire, are referred to as illustrating the condition in which the world will be before the second coming of Christ.
Luk_17:31. Upon the house-top.—A place of cool and quiet resort. Not come down.—I.e., not re-enter his house, but escape away by the flight of steps outside. Not return back.—As in the case of Lot’s wife, who turned back in heart to Sodom.
Luk_17:33. Shall seek.—Perhaps rather, “Shall have sought”—i.e., in his preceding life, shall lose his life then. Preserve it.—Rather, “Make it alive,” or bring it forth to life. The figure is that of parturition—an emblem of the birth of soul and body to life and glory everlasting.
Luk_17:34. In that night.—Time of peace and security: the Son of man cometh “as a thief In the night.” The one shall be taken.—I.e., by the angels (cf. Mat_24:31): he who is left is rejected, for his unworthiness.
Luk_17:35. Two women.—Grinding at a mill, as is still common in the East.
Luk_17:36. Two men.—This verse is omitted in all the best MSS. and versions; omitted in R.V.; it is evidently derived from the parallel passage in St. Matthew.
Luk_17:37. Where, Lord?—This is a question put by the disciples. Where, i.e., should this manifestation take place? They have not taken in what Christ has said about His manifestation instantaneously to the whole world, and about the folly of listening to the cry “See here! see there!” (Luk_17:23). The answer is a re-affirmation of the universality of the Lord’s appearance and of God’s judgment. Eagles.—Rather, “vultures,” as eagles do not prey on carrion. “As the vultures are found wherever there is a carcase to prey upon, so the judgment of Christ will come wherever there are sinners to be judged—i.e., over the whole world” (Speaker’s Commentary).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Luk_17:20-37
The Coming of the Kingdom.—The whole of Jewish society were at this time in anxious expectation of the establishment on earth of the Messianic kingdom; and, as we learn from Act_1:6, the apostles themselves, even after the resurrection of Jesus, partook to a very large extent of the conceptions concerning that kingdom which were current at that time. On one occasion (Joh_6:15) the multitude were about to attempt to force Jesus to establish a kingdom of a kind they wished to see—an attempt which He defeated by withdrawing from their midst. Here He is asked to state definitely His opinion concerning the manifestation of Messianic power. In His reply we note that He first addresses Himself to the Pharisees who put the question, and then to His disciples; and that to the one class He speaks of the spirituality of the kingdom of God, and to the other of its outward manifestation.
I. The spirituality of the kingdom (Luk_17:20-21).—The question put to Christ revealed the carnal and erroneous conception of the Divine kingdom which filled the minds of the Pharisees. They thought of the coming of that kingdom as a sudden and outward change in human society, in which the nation to which they belonged would attain to the highest degree of earthly prosperity, and enjoy supremacy over all the other peoples of the earth. They knew that at the time when they put the question to Jesus the condition of matters after which they longed was still in the future, but they anticipated the coming of a time when they would be able to say, “Here it is! The kingdom of God is among us.” The reply of Jesus was that the kingdom had come, though they failed to recognise it. It was present in the person of Him as its Founder, and of those who had accepted Him as the Christ, and was a spiritual condition rather than an altered state of outward circumstances. They wished to see the kingdom, but they needed to have the spiritual sense by which to recognise it; as He said to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again He cannot see the kingdom of God.”
II. The outward manifestation of the kingdom (Luk_17:22-37).—To the Pharisees, who were blinded by religious prejudice, Jesus spoke of the spirituality of the kingdom, but to His own disciples, who were qualified by their faith in Him to receive further instruction in the truth, He spoke of the outward manifestation of His kingdom as associated with His return to earth. First of all—
1. He told of the time and manner of His return (Luk_17:22-25). He did not, indeed, give any indication of the precise time of His return, but He implied that it would not be soon. The patience of His disciples would be tried; they would long for His re-appearing, and think regretfully of the days when He dwelt on earth, and their eager expectation would predispose them to listen to false announcements of His return. Yet they would be left in no doubt of the fact when He actually did return. All dwelling on the earth would behold His glory and the brightness of His coming. Yet before He entered upon that glory, which all then would see, He must suffer shameful rejection.
2. The state of the world at the time of His return (Luk_17:26-30). It would be like the time before the great catastrophes of the Flood and the destruction of the Cities of the Plain. Men would be plunged in a carnal security. All the ordinary occupations of secular life would be in regular process; but religious faith and religious feeling would have disappeared from the hearts of the great majority of men. The return of the Saviour would overwhelm the secure, and involve them in ruin.
3. How safety is to be secured at the moment of His return (Luk_17:31-33). Those who have their hearts set upon Him, and not upon earthly things, will be prepared to join Him when He appears. Those who are suddenly surprised, as they either rest or labour, at the time of His appearing will need to leave everything behind them and to separate themselves in thought and desire from all their earthly possessions. The great lesson, therefore, is suggested to all of us that if we are to find safety at that supreme crisis, we must live in a spirit of detachment from things of earth—“be in the world and yet not of it.”
4. Human society sifted when Christ returns (Luk_17:34-37). In the present condition of the world no outward marks distinguish the true from the spurious disciples of Christ—those who will be ready to ascend to meet Him in the air when He returns (1Th_4:17) from those who will then be found unprepared. But His appearing will bring to light the true characters and dispositions of men. A separation will be made between the good and evil, and all ties will be dissolved but that between the Saviour and His true-hearted followers. Yet the Divine judgment upon the worldly and ungodly will not be altogether postponed until the return of Christ. Wheresoever society becomes thoroughly careless and corrupt, judgment overtakes it, as swiftly and as surely as the vultures fall upon a carcase.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk_17:20-37
Luk_17:20-21. “When the kingdom of God shall come.”—The worldly feelings and selfish ignorance of the Pharisees were displayed in the question they put to Jesus; they were fully confident of their place in the kingdom of God, and were merely anxious to be informed when that kingdom would appear. Jesus, in His reply
(1), annihilates their expectations of its glorious manifestation;
(2) withdraws the kingdom from the visible world as it exists in space; and
(3) transfers it to the inner spiritual world.
We may Learn from This Statement—
I. A lesson of charity.
II. We may find in it ground of encouragement.
III. It administers a necessary caution.
Luk_17:20. “Not with observation.”—In another place, indeed, we are told that both comings of the kingdom, the first and the last, are with observation, and may be known by the signs of the times; but it is here meant that it was not with such signs as the Pharisees intended, of which the bodily eye and ear could be witness, but with such indications as faith alone could perceive.—Williams.
Luk_17:21. “The kingdom of God is within you.”—The words do not simply mean that the kingdom of God is an internal spiritual matter, for Christ goes on to speak of it as an external phenomenon. Humanity must be prepared for the new external and Divine state of things by a spiritual work wrought in the depths of the heart; and it is this internal advent which Jesus thinks good to put first in relief before such interlocutors.—Godet.
Luk_17:22-25.
I. The dark hour that precedes the manifestation of the kingdom in its external form.
II. The dangers of deception and of self-delusion to which His disciples would be exposed.
III. The revelation of Divine things in their glory by the Son of Man.—Now He is despised and rejected of men, but the day is coming in which all will see and recognise His heavenly majesty.
Luk_17:22. “One of the days of the Son of Man.”—Either one of the past days of communion with Christ upon earth or one of the days of His future triumphant reign. Regret is only another form of desire. When the apostles or their successors shall have passed a long time upon the earth in the absence of their Lord, and have reached the end of their preaching and apologetic demonstrations, and around them scepticism, materialism, pantheism, and deism, gain ground more and more, there will spring up in their souls an ardent longing after that Lord who remains silent and concealed; they will desire some Divine manifestation, “a day” like the days of old, as a prelude of final deliverance, to sustain their hearts and to strengthen the faltering Church. Yet it shall not be given them; to the end it will be necessary to walk by faith and not by sight.—Godet.
Days Desired and Not Seen.—There was no fault in the disciples’ regretful desire for the “days of the Son of Man.” It would be bitter for them to feel that they could not return. But they could see Him no more in this life. He was gone from the earth. Can we apply the text, without blame, to any limited experience in our own lives.
I. To our Lord’s days.—How full of opportunities of spiritual improvement! In continental travel, who has not felt the want of a Sunday? But this was only a voluntary and brief suspension of privilege. Professional life in distant lands means to many the loss of public worship and of all outward aids to keeping the day holy. How often will one long, in these experiences, for the bygone experiences of English Sundays. Use them, then, diligently now. Do not spend them in trifling and idleness. The days will come when you will be sorry for all this. Lose not, then, for want of a little early diligence, advantages which, in their highest form, you can never afterwards get back.
II. In their worst sense the words of the text were never fulfilled to any of their first hearers but one.—Judas found them true; the rest found them fulfilled in a higher form. If they are ever to be fulfilled in us, it will be in their worst sense. We are all living in the “days of the Son of Man.” All of us have an offered Saviour. Live as if there were none. Trifle away these days of grace. Will we not live bitterly to regret such folly? Still, indeed, may such see “one of the days of the Son of Man,” and pass through an agony of penitence into peace. But let the neglect be continued into or beyond middle age, and the desire for one of these days not be awakened. How soon will the text be fulfilled in such a case? Sooner or later there will come a time—many times, if one be not sufficient—when everything in this world will be felt to be a blank, and nothing satisfying but that which is heavenly and eternal. “Too late!” will be the bitter, disappointing thought. “I must reap as I have sowed.” In the old age, the death-bed of the sinner, neglectful, unrepentant, in the judgment and eternity of the impenitent in the world beyond, see awfully fulfilled the solemn prediction of the text. Oh! anticipate and prevent such a dread experience. “Now” is “one of the days of the Son of Man.” Escape betimes from the misery of all miseries, the desire to see one of these days, and not to see it. Truth seen too late, opportunities lost, but well remembered! Who can fitly speak of the soul-agonies of a final rejection?—Vaughan.
Luk_17:23. “Go not after them.”—It is taken for granted that there will be a visible manifestation of the kingdom of Christ, and the disciples are warned against false announcements of its appearance. At first this idea seems contrary to the statement in Luk_17:21. Yet in that verse it is the spiritual kingdom, the advent of which cannot be observed or proclaimed; here it is a question of the visible kingdom.
Luk_17:24. “As the lightning.”—The coming of the Lord will be universal and instantaneous. He will be His own witness, and His appearing will be manifest to all.
Luk_17:25. “First must He suffer.”—The rupture already begun between Israel and its Messiah will be consummated, and the rejection of the Messiah by His people will have as its consequence the removal of His person, and the invisibility of His rule for a whole epoch of history—an epoch which, according to Luk_13:35, will only conclude with the conversion of Israel. And Jesus announces that this epoch, during which the world will see Him no longer, will end in an utterly materialistic state of matters, which will be terminated only by His coming (Luk_17:26-30).—Godet.
Luk_17:26-30. Historical Parallels.—The final manifestation of things Divine will bring salvation and blessing to the pious, and will overwhelm in destruction those who are in a state of carnal security. As it was with the unbelievers in the antediluvian world and with the guilty inhabitants of Sodom, so will it be with the ungodly “in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.”
1. The dawning of that day will be sudden and unexpected.
2. It will be hailed by some with joy, while to others it will be a day of destruction and terror.
Luk_17:26-29. “The days of Noah … of Lot.”—One thing is remarkable throughout the whole of this representation—that the contemporaries of Noah and Lot are not, by any means, described as wicked and vicious, but merely as absorbed in things of this world. That the vicious will go into perdition is easily understood; but the man who, without any glaring evil deeds, wastes his life upon external things, fancies himself secure, in this very negativeness, from the judgment of God—he little thinks that his whole being is sinful because it is worldly and alienated from God (Jas_4:4). The discourse of the Lord is directed against this carnal security, and not against vice, which is condemned by the Law.—Olshausen.
Luk_17:26. “As it was in the days of Noah.”—I.e., during the hundred and twenty years while the work was being prepared. While believers long with increasing fervour for the return of the Lord, the carnal security of the world about them becomes deeper and deeper.
Luk_17:27. “They did eat,” etc.—Rather, “they were eating; they were drinking.” This was their life.
Luk_17:28. “They bought, they sold,” etc.—The enumeration of the various occupations of the inhabitants of Sodom implies a more complex and advanced state of civilisation than was known by the antediluvians.
Luk_17:29. “It rained fire.”—The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is not attributed in Scripture to the agency of water (i.e., to the waters of the sea of Sodom) drowning them, but of fire (Gen_19:23-28). But the soil itself was also convulsed, and the waters of the Jordan, which before flowed through that region, were pent up in the Lacus Asphaltites or Dead Sea,—a striking emblem of the Lake of Fire.—Wordsworth.
Luk_17:30. “Even thus shall it be.”—What is here said of the end of the world is fulfilled and multiplied in little images in the life of each; in every case these are, by Divine appointment, preceding judgments which warn of the suddenness and surprise with which eternity overtakes each man. And for the same reason that from each the day of his death is hidden, in order that he may be always living in expectation of it, so it is also with the end of the world, that by every generation it may be expected. “Behold” (says Chrysostom), “we know the signs of old age, but we not the day of death; so we know not the end of the world, though we know the signs of its approaching.”—Williams.
Luk_17:31-36.
I. The preparation needed for the day of the Son of Man—
1. Freedom from all dependence on earthly things (Luk_17:31-32).
2. Self-denial (Luk_17:33).
II. Human society sifted (Luk_17:34-36). By those who are prepared for the coming of Christ being caught up to meet Him (cf. 1Th_4:17).
Luk_17:31-36. Entanglement in Earthly Affairs.—Jesus describes the disposition of soul which, in that supreme crisis, will be the condition of safety. The Lord passes with His heavenly train. The change in human society is effected in the twinkling of an eye. He takes to Himself all those inhabitants of the earth who, by their detachment from earthly possessions, are prepared in spirit to follow Him, and who mount up towards Him with free and joyous flight. The others, who are entangled in earthly affairs and possessions, remain behind. Their fate is like that of Lot’s wife, who perished with the goods from which she could not tear herself away.—Godet.
Luk_17:31. “On the house-top … in the field.”—The contemplative and the active life—that of those occupied in meditation and prayer, and that of those busy in the ordinary work of the world; let neither hesitate to follow the Lord when He appears, and to abandon all possessions, if they would avoid the fate of the wife of Lot.
Luk_17:32. “Remember Lot’s wife.”—
1. Her hopeful beginning in abandoning Sodom.
2. Her failure in the decisive hour of trial.
3. Her punishment.
The case of Lot’s wife warns us “to forget the things that are behind” (Php_3:13); her looking back implied regret at leaving the place where she had dwelt so long in comfort, and doubt as to whether there were good reasons for leaving the city.
Luk_17:33. “Whosoever shall seek,” etc.—St. Luke adds this that the desire of an earthly life may not prevent believers from passing rapidly through the midst of death to the salvation laid up for them in heaven. And Christ employs a strong expression to denote the frailty of the present life, when He says that souls are “preserved” (literally, “begotten into life”), when they are “lost.” His meaning is the same as if He had declared that men do not live in the world, because the beginning of that life which is real, and which is worthy of the name, is, to leave the world.—Calvin.
Luk_17:34. “Two men in one bed.”—Not our circumstances, but our hearts, will determine our future condition. Those prepared will be taken, whether they are asleep or at work, when the Lord comes. The reference may possibly be to husband and wife, as the word “men” is not in the original, and the translation “persons” would do equally well.
Luk_17:35. “Two women,” etc.—Those most closely related by earthly ties will, in the twinkling of an eye, be separated for ever.
Luk_17:37. “Wheresoever the body is.”—All history is a comment on these words. Wherever there is a Church or a people abandoned by the Spirit of Life, and so a carcase, tainting the atmosphere of God’s moral world, around it assemble the ministers and messengers of Divine justice—the eagles (or vultures, more strictly; because the true eagle does not feed on aught but what itself has slain)—the scavengers of God’s moral world, scenting out, by a mysterious instinct, the prey from afar, and charged to remove presently the offence out of the way.—Trench.
The Carrion and the Vultures:—“Where?” Tepid and idle curiosity is expressed. The Lord’s solemn warnings did not stir the disciples deeply. Our Lord refers to a universal future judgment. But the words are not exhausted in reference to that event. The same principles have often been embodied in lesser “comings of the Lord,” as will be displayed in world wide splendour and awfulness at the last.
I. These words are to us a revelation of a law which operates with unerring certainty through all the course of the world’s history.—E.g., the destruction of the Canaanites, the fall of Jerusalem, the French Revolution, the American War concerning slavery.
II. This law will have a far more tremendous accomplishment in the future.—Christ is Judge as well as Saviour. By Him the whole world is to be judged in righteousness.
III. This law need never touch us, nor need we know anything about it but by the hearing of the ear.—It is told us that we may escape it. “Repent” and you shall not become food for the vultures of Divine judgment. Take Christ as your Saviour, and in that dread hour you will be safe.—Maclaren.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28, 31, 33, 34, 37 Luk 17:20-21. “And being asked by the Pharisees when…
THE KINGDOM OF GOD UNOBSERVABLE
Luk 17:20-21. “And being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God is coming, He responded to them and said, The kingdom of God comes not wit observation; neither shall they say, Lo here or there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is among you.” Our Savior’s teaching is frequently enigmatical, elaborating and enforcing some isolated phase of truth, as in this case, when the whole multitude had imbibed the idea, always prevalent among the Jews, that the Messiah is to be their King. This impression, received by a few about the beginning of His ministry, and frequently increasing under the influence of His stupendous miracles until He is constrained to render Himself invisible and change His location in order to keep them from crowning Him King, has been constantly increasing through the three years of His ministry; especially since He came to Southern Palestine, nearly six months ago, has the popular fide been constantly rising; and since His open proclamation of His Christhood at Caesarea-Philippi, a short time before He left Galilee, His preaching has been more and more conducive to the open avowal of His Messiahship. The resurrection of Lazarus, about a week previous to this date, gave a tremendous impetus to the popular apprehension of His Christhood; and now, during these several days of His sojourn in Perea, the multitudes are following Him with great excitement, much trepidation, solicitude, and thrilling anticipation that He is about to proclaim Himself King and ascend the throne of Judea. At this critical epoch, when the multitudes are momentarily on the lookout for His assumption of the royal scepter, and bounding with eager enthusiasm to crown Him King, the Pharisees, watching Him with hawk-eyes every moment, propound this insidious question, as they had no good motives in the matter, “When is the kingdom of God coming?” To whom He responds, “The kingdom of God comes not with observation;” i.e., “When the kingdom of God comes, you will not see it.” Let us all profit by this correction given to the materialistic Pharisees. We go out and hold meetings, and, as Jesus says, if you do not see signs and wonders you will not believe. So it is with the present generation. If the people do not crowd the altar, and make great demonstrations, we think nothing is being done. This is our mistake. The thunder never kills anything. It is the silent lightning of the Holy Ghost that does all of the execution. Many an undemonstrative meeting has brought the kingdom to more souls than others where they joined the Church in platoons. The Holy Ghost is the Executive of the kingdom, working silently and unobserved in the deep interior of the heart, bringing the people to that repentance which evacuates the kingdom of Satan, and working in them the faith which cheers the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the Divine Government, established by the Holy Ghost in all truly humble, penitent, believing hearts. You can not see the Government of the United States. Yet it is everywhere, prevailing from ocean to ocean. But you can see the officers of the Government, and the work it is doing. While no one can observe the kingdom of God, because it is invisible and inaudible, like its Divine Executive, the Holy Ghost, yes you can see the officers of the kingdom and its work. Our Savior here lays a tremendous emphasis on the real spiritual essence of the kingdom, which is silently wrought in the human spirit and life by the invisible and inaudible Spirit of God. The E. V. translation of this passage, “The kingdom of God is within you,” upon a moment’s recognition, the reader will pronounce incorrect, as He was answering the insidious question propounded by those malicious, hypocritical, unbelieving Pharisees, with no good motive in view, but capriciously seeking to entangle Him, and if possible secure an accusation under which they could arraign Him, either before the Sanhedrin or the proconsul. The true reading of this passage is, “The kingdom of God is among you,” involving the conclusion: “Here are My apostles and disciples in your midst, mud scattered about over the country, who have the kingdom of God in their hearts, and here am I, their King, in the midst of you. Consequently the kingdom of God has already come, and is among you.”
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 26, 30, 37 Or, outward show.
observation
Or, outward show.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv20, 26, 31 Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Coming of…
Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Coming of Christ.
Of the coming of the kingdom:
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v. 20.And when He was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation;
v. 21. neither shall they say, Lo here! or, Lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
v. 22. And He said unto the disciples, The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of an, and ye shall not see it.
v. 23. And they shall say to you, See here; or, See there; go not after them, nor follow them.
v. 24. For as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven shineth unto the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of Man be in His day.
v. 25. But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
The resentful, peevish attitude of the Pharisees came to the front with increasing frequency. Here Jesus was approached by them with a question which was intended to make Him an object of ridicule. His continual reference to the coming of the Kingdom provoked the question. The Pharisees wanted to know when the kingdom of God would come. They wanted to know the time, they wanted visible evidence. For their idea of the kingdom of Christ or of the Messiah was that of the modern millennialists, of a visible kingdom, a physical entity, brought into being by a political or social revolution and upheaval. But Jesus corrected their foolish ideas, telling them that the kingdom of God does not come with observation, in a way or mode that everyone can see and measure it. It cannot be observed with the eye, it is not a vulgar, physical, visible body or realm. To attempt to fix its definite position, its limits, its boundaries in the world by the application of the senses, by sight, is foolish; for the kingdom of God is within, in the hearts of the believers. He that accepts the mercy of the King of grace is a member of the Kingdom of Grace, but by faith only, which is in the heart and cannot be seen by human beings. And all external signs of the presence of the Kingdom and its power in the hearts of the believers are not infallible, since these same signs may be feigned by such as are hypocrites. Upon this spiritual, invisible Kingdom the thoughts and minds of men Should be set. Only he that is a member of the Kingdom of Grace here will be a member of the Kingdom of Glory up yonder.
The disciples themselves were not at all clear in this matter, they were still battling with carnal ideas as to the kingdom of the Messiah, and therefore the Lord gives them a few signs of the deceiver’s methods. For it was the Lord’s Constant custom to support and comfort the minds of His disciples. Days will come when they would desire and wish for only one day of the revelation of the perfect glory of heaven, when just one day’s experience of the bliss to be would give them new strength to bear the trials and persecutions of the world. But the final revelation will not come until the day fixed by the decree of God. Then there will be false prophets and false Christs Who will point and say: Lo, here is Christ; lo, there! See Mat 24:23; Mar 13:21. The believers must not permit themselves to be deceived by such talk, for it will be a temptation. a delusion, and a snare. As for Christ, His final advent will partake of the nature of the lightning. In one moment He will shine, with all the glory of His splendor, from this quarter under heaven unto that; He will be visible to all people of the earth. But before this glorious consummation there will be a long time of waiting and watching for the believers, with a sore trial for their patience. First of all the great obligation rests upon the Lord to suffer in the great Passion, to be rejected by the present generation. Christ must bear His cross first, and His Church, the members of His kingdom, will be. come partakers of this suffering, before the great day of glory dawns.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv20, 22, 25, 28, 30, 32, 34, 37 General Information:
General Information:
We do not know where this event takes place; it simply happens one day when Jesus is talking with the Pharisees.
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Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come,
This is the beginning of a new event. Some translations start it with "One day" or "Once." It can be stated in active form. AT: "One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, 'When will the kingdom of God come?'" (See: Introduction of a New Event and Active or Passive and Direct and Indirect Quotations)
The kingdom of God does not come with careful observing
People thought that they would be able to see signs of the kingdom coming. The idea of signs can be stated clearly. AT: "The kingdom of God does not come with signs that people can observe" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
the kingdom of God is within you
The idea of the noun "kingdom" can be expressed with the verb "rules." AT: "God rules within you" (See: Abstract Nouns)
the kingdom of God is within you
Jesus was speaking to the religious leaders who were hostile to him. Possible meanings are 1) the word "you" refers to people in general. AT: "the kingdom of God is within people" or 2) the word translated "within" means "among." AT: "the kingdom of God is among you"
translationWords
Pharisee
kingdom of God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 32, 34, 37 17:20-37 This is the first of two discourses in…
17:20-37 This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).
17:20-21 When will the Kingdom of God come? The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdom (see Luke 21:27; Matt 24:30-31) but pointed out that the Kingdom of God was being revealed to them through his ministry, though they were missing it. • The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs: Jewish apocalyptic literature of Jesus’ day looked for visible signs in the heavens to signal the coming of the Messiah’s kingdom. Jesus elsewhere affirmed that such signs would appear (see Luke 17:24; 21:25; Acts 2:19-20), but the Pharisees were missing the manifestation of the Kingdom in Jesus’ immediate ministry (cp. Luke 7:22). • the Kingdom of God is already among you (or is within you, or is in your grasp): The Kingdom of God was already being revealed through Jesus’ words and actions. It is unlikely that Jesus would say, “The Kingdom of God is within you,” to those who were rejecting his message.
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