Luke 17:1-37
Both Jesus and John the Baptist had been preaching the kingdom of God. The Lord also had sent out the twelve apostles "to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick." Luke 9:1. Later He sent out seventy others, who were also to heal the sick and preach, "The kingdom of God has come near to you." Luke 10:9.
It's no wonder then in Luke 17:20 that the Lord was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come. The Pharisees had their faults, but they believed that the Messiah would come and set up His kingdom. They didn't believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God.
Jesus answered their question. He said to them, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation." It was not a kingdom that they would be able to see. The kingdom of God would be neither here nor there. One sentence in Jesus' reply has been mistranslated. "The kingdom of God is within you" is better translated, "The kingdom of God is in your midst." Clearly, God's kingdom was not within the Pharisees who raised the question. The kingdom was in their midst in that the King was standing among them.
Beginning in verse 22 the Lord addressed a different audience...His disciples. First He told them what He had told the Pharisees, but added, "For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day." The kingdom would come suddenly and they wouldn't miss it.
Also before the coming of the kingdom it was necessary that Jesus "suffer many things and be rejected...."
We understand now that Jesus, who died, rose again, ascended to heaven, and will come again.
He equated the coming of the kingdom with the coming of the Son of Man. "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man." Luke 17:26. "Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot.... Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed." Luke 17:28, 30.
What was it like in those days? In the days of Lot "they ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage...." In the days of Lot "they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built." What's wrong with these things? Nothing, except they did them without God. Judgment fell on those generations. In the days of Noah "the flood came and destroyed them all." In the days of Lot "it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all."
The King is coming. Consider the following verses in 2 Thessalonians 1:8, 9. We read that He will return "in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." The kingdom of God is nearer than when we first believed.
Lord, we know that You returned to heaven to prepare a place for us. We also await the day when You will receive us unto Yourself. That will be glory for us. In the meantime, may we be found faithful to You. In Jesus' name. Amen!