Jan 25
5
Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 45:14–25
“Thus says the LORD: ‘The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you and be yours; they shall follow you; they shall come over in chains and bow down to you. They will plead with you, saying: ‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other, no god besides him.’ Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior. All of them are put to shame and confounded; the makers of idols go in confusion together. But Israel is saved by the LORD with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity. For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): ‘I am the LORD, and there is no other. I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I the LORD speak the truth; I declare what is right. Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’ Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him. In the LORD all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory.’” (Isaiah 45:14–25)
New Testament Reading: Luke 17:20-37
“Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.’ And he said to the disciples, ‘The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.’ And they said to him, ‘Where, Lord?’ He said to them, ‘Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.’” (Luke 17:20–37)
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Please excuse any typos and misspellings within this manuscript. It has been published online for the benefit of the saints of Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church but without the benefit of proofreading.
Introduction
Last Sunday was the final Sunday of the year 2024. I think it was fitting that we arrived at Luke 17:11-19 last Sunday. That text is about gratitude or thankfulness. It was good to be exhorted by that passage of Holy Scripture to be grateful to God and Christ for the cleansing of our sins and the salvation that Christ has worked for us. The Christian life is to be characterized by gratitude and thankfulness. And the one who is united to Christ by faith has every good reason to be thankful. Not only has God blessed us with good things to enjoy in this life, but in Christ, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). Indeed, “According to [God the Father’s] great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for [us], who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this [we] rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, [we] have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Chris” (1 Peter 1:3–7). The story about the Samaritan man who was cleansed by Jesus of his leprosy returning to Jesus to fall on his face to give him thanks and to give God praise (see Luke 17:16) is a marvelous picture of the Christian life. Sinners who have been cleansed by Christ and saved from their miserable condition ought to fall at Jesus’ feet to give him thanks and praise. This we should do daily in prayer. And this we should do Lord’s Day by Lord’s Day as we assemble in Jesus’ name to worship the Triune God and the Christ he has sent.
But dear friends, I trust you know that the Christian life involves far more than private prayer and corporate worship. It is in private prayer and corporate worship that our gratitude is expressed in a most pronounced way. However, Christians are not called to remain bowed at the feet of Jesus in private prayer forever. And neither is corporate worship to be unending. No, Christians must rise up from private prayer and go on their way. Corporate worship must have a beginning and an end. And do not forget that the Lord’s Day is but one in seven. The Lord’s Day Sabbath is a holy day. It is a day to rest from common work and recreation and to devote oneself to the pubic and private worship of God. But six common days flow out of the one holy day. Brothers and sisters, Christ is to be thanked and God is to be praised on the common days too! Christ is to be honored as King on Monday through Saturday as much as he is honored as King on Sunday. Our activities and our focus are different, but our purpose does not change. We are to live for the glory, honor, and praise of God and Christ each and every day of our existence. Notice that the previous passage concluded with Jesus commanding the leper he healed who had returned to him to give him thanks and praise to rise and to go his way assuring him that his faith had made him well (Luke 17:19). Clearly, Christ expected this man to go on walking by faith and to continue to express his gratitude for the grace of God shown to him by living a life in obedience to Christ as King.
On the last Sunday of 2024, I encouraged you to live a life of gratitude and thankfulness before God and Christ. Here on this first Sunday of 2025, I wish to exhort you to express your gratitude and thankfulness to God and Christ, not only in private prayer or in corporate worship but in every moment of every day. More than this, I wish to exhort you to express your gratitude to God and Christ, not in word only, but in thought, word, and deed. Stated differently, our gratitude to Christ is not merely to be expressed by falling at the feet of Jesus for a moment, but also in our rising and going on our way. Indeed, those who are truly aware of their natural guilt and the marvelous grace shown to them in Christ Jesus will express their gratitude by honoring Christ as King, not occasionally but always and not in word only but in thought, word, and deed.
It is interesting that Luke, after telling the story of the Samaritan leper who was cleansed by Christ falling on his face at the feet of Jesus to give him thanks and to give God praise, inserts a story regarding the coming of the kingdom of God. The leper who cleansed bowed at Jesus’ feet to honor him as King, and now Luke directs our attention to the arrival of God’s Kingdom.
As you know, Jesus claimed to be the Lord’s Messiah who was promised from ancient times. Those who knew the Scriptures expected that when the Messiah arrived he would bring with him God’s Kingdom, that is, the everlasting kingdom that God promised to David in the covenant he made with him, saying in 2 Samuel 7:12-13, “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” It is no surprise, therefore, that with all of this talk about Jesus being the Messiah (the son of David), there was also a lot of talk about the arrival of God’s kingdom, for the two things go together (the Messiah would bring with him the God’s eternal kingdom). This story about the cleansed leper falling at Jesus’ feet to honor him as King provides a wonderful opportunity to consider the arrival of God’s eternal kingdom, and that is where Luke takes us in his gospel.
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When Will The Kingdom Of God Come?
In Luke 17:20 we are told that some Pharisees asked Jesus “when the kingdom of God would come.” Notice, this is a question about timing. When will the kingdom of God come? That is the question. The answer that Jesus provides is very interesting. He does not simply say now, nor does he simply say later. His answer indicates that the Kingdom of God was already present in the days of his earthly ministry and that it was also, in some respects, still to come. The Scriptures are consistent on this theme. When Christ was born into the world and when he began his earthly ministry the kingdom of God, which is also called the kingdom of heaven, was said to be at hand (see Luke 1:33, 4:43; Matthew 3:2, 4:7). At the same time, the Scriptures indicate that the kingdom of God is not yet here in fullness (see Matthew 26:29). Theologians will sometimes use the phrase, “already but not yet” to describe this situation. The kingdom of God is already here but not yet in fullness. If you have been listening to my preaching and teaching for any amount of time you have probably heard me say that the kingdom of God has been inaugurated (begun) but we await its consummation (completion). This is what Christ describes in the text that is open before us today.
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The Kingdom Of God Arrived With Christ The King
Look with me at verses 20-21. “Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you’” (Luke 17:20–21).
So, what was the answer Jesus gave to the question, when will the kingdom of God come? In brief, he said, it is here now! It is right in front of your faces! It is in the midst of you!
This would have been very puzzling to the Pharisees, many of whom were expecting the kingdom of God to look like kingdoms of this world, for they did not see anything like an earthly kingdom in their midst. What do the kingdoms of this world look like? They are led by dignified kings who rule with military power, who have great wealth, who dwell in palaces, with servants all around. The Pharisees did not see anything like this when they looked out upon Jesus and his disciples. And so, before he could answer their question about the timing of the arrival of the kingdom of God, he first had to teach them about its nature. He spoke to them, saying, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’” In other words, Christ warned the Pharisees not to expect the kingdom of God to look like the kingdoms of this world when it comes. If they expected the kingdom of God to be ushered in by a Messiah who would conquer and rule with the sword, who would overthrow Rome militarily, and take up residence in a great palace within the walled city of Jerusalem, etc.. then they would surely miss the arrival of the kingdom of God and its King.
“The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed”, Christ said. It is a kingdom of a different kind. Or to borrow language from the gospel of John, it is a kingdom “not of this world.” It is in John 18:36 that we hear Christ say, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world” (John 18:36).
What then did Christ mean when he spoke to the Pharisees, saying, “For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you”?
One, by these words he clearly answered their question about the timing of the arrival of the kingdom of God. The Pharisees asked, when will the kingdom of God come? Jesus answered, it is already here!
Two, by these words Christ claimed to be the King of God’s everlasting kingdom. His disciples considered him to be the Messiah, the son promised to Abraham (see Genesis 12:1-3; 17:6; 18:18; Galatians 3:14), and the son promised King David (see 2 Samuel 7:12-13). When Christ said, “For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you”, he was claiming to be the King of God’s kingdom who was promised long ago. When will the kingdom of God come? It’s as if Christ said, you’re looking at the King! And with the King comes the kingdom!
Three, when Christ spoke to the Pharisees, saying, “For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you”, he meant that his disciples, who were standing all around him, were the citizens of God’s everlasting kingdom. Who are the citizens of God’s eternal kingdom? They are those who have faith in Christ and honor him as King!
The question of the Pharisees was, when will the kingdom of God come? If I were to paraphrase Jesus’ answer I would say this: The kingdom of God is here. It’s right in front of you and in the midst of you. You’d see it if you knew what to look for! You can’t see it because you expect it to look like the kingdoms of this world. But God’s kingdom – the kingdom of the Messiah – is not of this world. It is heavenly and spiritual. It is without palaces and borders. It does not advance by military might. Instead, it has arrived in a humble and lowly estate, and hardly anyone notices. It advances through the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ and by the working of the Spirit. Citizenship in this kingdom does not come by way of birth but new birth. It is all who place their faith in Christ the King and confess him to be Lord who are made partakers of this kingdom that will have no end.
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The Kingdom Of God Will Be Consummated When Christ Returns
When will the kingdom of God come? It arrived at the time of Christ’s first coming. But what Christ said next indicated that his kingdom would not immediately be consummated and that times of great difficulty would soon arise.
Look with me at verse 22. There we read, “And he said to the disciples…” Notice that this teaching was directed towards his disciples and not the Pharisees. “And he said to the disciples, ‘The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it’” (Luke 17:22).
As you probably know, the title “Son of Man” is a title for the Messiah. It comes from Daniel 7. Jesus would often refer to himself as the “Son of Man” indicating that he was the fulfillment of the prophecies of Daniel 7. And when Christ spoke to his disciples saying, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man”, he meant that in the future his disciples would long to be in his presence bodily and on earth. For the disciples who walked with Jesus in the days of his earthly ministry, this meant that they would look back upon the days of his earthly ministry with fondness and that they would long for his bodily return. For the disciples of Christ, like you and me, who did not witness his life, death, and resurrection, this means that we will long for his bodily return. Again I say, to “desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man” is to desire to be in the presence of Christ bodily and on earth. When Christ says, you will desire to see these days “and you will not see it” he hints at the days of tribulation that would soon come upon his disciples.
As you may know, the early Christians were viciously persecuted by the Jews after Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the Father’s right hand. And as you may know, the Jewish nation was judged by God in the year 70 AD when the Romans besieged Jerusalem and leveled the temple in Jerusalem leaving only the foundation stones. The Christians living in Jerusalem also suffered greatly in those days. And as you may know, Christ warned that the entire time between his first coming and his second coming would be marked by trials and tribulations, famines and earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars (see Matthew 24:6; Mark 13:7). In addition to this, we are warned “that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:1–5).
It is no wonder that Christ spoke to his disciples saying, ‘The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it’” (Luke 17:22). Indeed, ever since the ascension of Jesus into heaven, Christians have been crying out saying, “Maranatha”, which means, “Our Lord, come!”
In verses 23 and 24, Christ warns his disciples lest they be fooled by false teachers who claim that Christ has returned when, in fact, he has not. There we read, “And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day” (Luke 17:23–24). It’s as if Christ says, pay no attention to those who claim that I have returned for you will not need anyone to tell you. You’ll know. It will be obvious to all.
So then, the first and second coming of Christ and the inauguration and consummation of Christ’s kingdom could not be more different in their appearance.
When Christ first came to inaugurate his kingdom, the kingdom of God did not come in ways that could be observed. Christ the King and his kingdom were barely perceivable. The kings and kingdoms of this earth hardly took notice. But when Christ returns to consummate the kingdom of God, everyone will notice. He will not again enter into this world as a babe born to impoverished parents. He will not grow up in obscurity. He will not suffer at the hands of sinners or lay down his life to make atonement for sin. No, when Christ returns he will come “not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:28) and to judge the living and dead (see 2 Timothy 4:1; 1 Peter 4:5). He will not return in weakness or obscurity but in power and glory. As Revelation 1:7 says, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen” (Revelation 1:7).
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In Between The Inauguration And Consummation Of Christ’s Kingdom
Christ Must Suffer Many Things
I trust you can see that two answers were given by Christ to the question, when will the kingdom of God come? On the one hand, Christ taught that the kingdom of God was present at his first coming. Jesus is the King of God’s eternal kingdom. And with the King comes the kingdom. On the other hand, the kingdom of Christ will not be consummated until he returns. The question then becomes, what will life in this inaugurated kingdom of Christ be like until he returns to judge and save those who are eagerly waiting for him? The answer is found in verse 25: “But first [Christ] must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation” (Luke 17:25).
Clearly, this refers to the suffering Christ would soon endure on the cross and the rejection he would experience by the generation of his day. So the order is this. First, the Son of Man came into the world in a humble and lowly estate to suffer and die at the hands of sinners to make atonement for sin, to accomplish salvation, and to inaugurate God’s eternal kingdom. Only after this would Christ return in power and glory to save those who wait for him, to judge those who remain in their sin, and to bring the kingdom he inaugurated at his first coming to completion.
Now I ask you, dear brothers and sisters. Where in this progression do you and I now live? We live in between the first and second comings of Christ. We live in the inaugurated kingdom of Christ while we await its consummation. We live in the last days. And in these last days the body of Christ, that is to say, the church is to expect suffering and rejection at the hands of every generation as the kingdom of Christ steadily advances in the world.
What Christ says in verses 26 through 37 confirms this interpretation, but I have decided to leave those verses for next Sunday so that we might consider them carefully.
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Conclusion
I’d like to conclude this sermon by offering some suggestions for application based upon the words of Christ, “the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
The first point of application is about mindset. Are you mindful that the inaugurated kingdom of God is in the midst of us? Stated differently, as you think about the Christian faith in general and your personal faith in Christ in particular, do you think of it in the context of God’s kingdom? If the answer is no, then it is time to change your thinking. Christ came to establish an eternal kingdom. Christ is the King of that kingdom. Those who are united to him by faith are its citizens. They are those who have Christ as Lord and King! This kingdom has laws. This kingdom has ethics. This kingdom has a culture. This kingdom has an aim or objective – the salvation and sanctification of God’s elect from every tongue, tribe, and nation, the glory of Christ the King, and the glory of the Triune God. When Christ spoke to the Pharisees, saying, “the kingdom of God is in the midst of you”, he answered their question about the timing of its arrival – it is here now, Christ said! But Christ also instructed his disciples to think of the work he was doing in kingdom terms and to see the kingdom that was in their midst. Worldly men cannot see the kingdom because they are spiritually blind. But by God’s grace, through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit and by the preaching of the word, we can see God’s kingdom (see John 3:3). With eyes of faith, we see Christ as King. With eyes of faith, we see that it is those who turn from their sins to place their faith in Christ who are its citizens. With eyes of faith, we see that this kingdom of Christ is inaugurated now and will one day be consummated, when Christ the King returns to judge and to make all things new.
Secondly, once we learn to think about Christ and our faith in him in kingdom terms and grow in our ability to see Christ’s kingdom as a present reality that awaits future consummation, we must learn to live together according to the laws of this kingdom as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Where does this eternal kingdom of God, which is invisible now, show itself in the world? It is manifest in local churches. When you look out upon a local church like this one, do you see the kingdom of God? Not in its fullness! There are many other citizens in Christ’s kingdom than these. And where is Christ the King? He is hidden from our sight as he sits enthroned at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. But the kingdom of Christ is made visible here in the local church and in every local church that assembles on the Lord’s Day in Jesus’ name throughout the world. Though we do not see him in the flesh, Christ is the King of his kingdom. He is Lord and King of his churches. He orders his churches and he governs his churches by his word and Sprirt. We have been thinking a lot about the order and government of Christ’s church with the help of chapter 26 of our confession in the second portion of our liturgy, and so I will not say more. The point I am here making is that we must be concerned to obey Christ the King and the laws of his kingdom corporately. If we wish to honor Christ the Kind and further his Kindom, we must be concerned to see his churches properly ordered and governed according to his word.
Thirdly, we must not only see Christ and honor him as our corporate King, but as our personal King too. What is the confession we make at the beginning of the Christian life except, Christ is Lord or King? Brothers and sisters, if Christ is our Lord and King, he is to be honored as such all the days of our lives. He is to be honored as King on the holy day – the Lord’s Day – and on the common days too. He is to be honored as King at home, at work, at school, in the community, and in the church. He is to be honored as King in our thoughts, words, and deeds. We are to honor him as King not because we fear him, but out of gratitude for what he has done for us and the great salvation he has accomplished on our behalf. What a great King we have in Christ Jesus. As King he has convinces us, subdues us, draws, upholds, and delivers us, and we trust that he will also preserve us to bring us safely into his heavenly kingdom. May Christ be thanked, and may God be praised.
