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Commentaries
English
Luke
  
STATEMENTS ABOUT
THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD,
AND THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
(Luke 17:20-37)
20Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation;21nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."


The first design of Christianity is neither the cross, nor the conversion of individuals, nor their entrance into heaven, but the proclamation of the kingdom of God in glory. The Jews at the time of Jesus watched the coming of this kingdom with longing and disturbance, knowing that the coming king of God would change the world, raise the dead, remove all the kingdoms of the world, and set up honor, truth, and glory on earth (Daniel 7:27). The natural man, in his spiritual blindness, often expects future improvement of situations, and not renewal of hearts. But the kingdom of God, on the contrary, comes and changes the hearts first. Then it appears in public.
Christ answered the Pharisees’ question about the beginning of the kingdom of heaven on earth, in two ways: This kingdom does not come uncovered and apparent with horses, with chariots, with armies, and with deadly weapons, but invisibly and spiritually as a divine power. You cannot perceive the kingdom of God through the touch or sight, but you can learn its greatness through faith alone, abiding in the Holy Spirit, the motive in this kingdom.
When Jesus had explained the essence of the kingdom of God, he also answered the serious question about the time of the beginning of God’s dominion on earth, saying: "The kingdom is presently among you". By this word, he referred to himself, for Christ is the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. In him all the powers, wisdom, and glory of God are found. The love and patience of God are the essence of his kingdom. His Father has given to him all authority in heaven and on earth after he had reconciled the sinners with the Holy One.
This reconciliation is the bridge on which the Holy Spirit crosses into the hearts of the disciples, and fills all the faithful. Where the Spirit of God dwells, God himself is found. And where God abides in man, the kingdom reveals itself clearly in the man. In this manner, the kingdom of the Lord today is hidden in all true churches, and in all individual believers. Are you a newborn member of the kingdom of Christ? Or are you standing outside his expanses in the darkness? If you were a qualified member of the kingdom of your heavenly Father, what are you doing practically to spread and establish the kingdom of love in your surroundings?