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Day 7: Luke 17-John 2

Tim Jacob, Entrepreneur + Levite at UPPERROOM

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

One time, when I was trying to reach out to a friend, I remember texting him a couple of times over the course of a week to try to get a hold of him. I was perplexed and wondered if he was ignoring me or if something might have gone wrong. When I saw him in person the next weekend, I asked him about it, and simply found out he had gotten a new phone number since the last time we spoke. All of my efforts, thinking, and worrying were completely misplaced. I just didn’t know how simple it was to reach him until I encountered him face to face.

As we read through this portion of the final chapters of Luke, I am struck by how God places a spotlight on the Kingdom, yet just as the Pharisees did not behold it, we also can fail to. We think we are looking in the right places and with the right attitude, but until we meet and know the Man of Christ Jesus the King, we are often reaching out to the wrong phone number.

In these chapters of Luke, we see that it was not a kingdom as some around Jesus had supposed. It shattered the notions of man. It wasn’t a kingdom built to answer the desires of man’s flesh. It wasn’t a kingdom preoccupied with geopolitical power. It wasn’t a kingdom of flash and spectacle.

The Kingdom was to be established within the hearts of its people.

The Kingdom was found in a Man.

The Kingdom was and is at hand.

Jesus highlights this before the Pharisees. As He states the Kingdom of God is in their midst, or in some translations, “within you”, Jesus shares the three-fold presence of the Kingdom to them. He interestingly answers a question of “When” with an answer of “Where”, correcting the scope of their questioning. It is physically near, and not just near, but in the most intimate, it is within. It is established, not through earthly power, but it reigns within the heart, in subduing the nature of the flesh and conquering the dominion of sin and death from within. It does not glory in opulence and theatrics, yet in the lives of a people bearing and beholding the glorious image of its King. At the same time, as it is within, the Kingdom was also physically present before the Pharisees, in the embodiment of its King standing in plain sight, in the form of a Man, in their midst which they failed to recognize. In another fashion, the “When” question they had was already answered - it was already at hand as God in the form of man had now come to fulfill and seal the promise of the Kingdom on the Cross, and foretell of the physical yet supernatural Kingdom to come.

As we read through these concluding chapters of Luke, we see multiple natures of this Kingdom to reflect upon, and perhaps challenge our notions of how we may desire the Kingdom to work for our benefit.

● A Kingdom of Justice (Luke 18:8)

● A Kingdom of Humility (Luke 18:14)

● A Kingdom of Childlike Faith (Luke 18:17)

● A Kingdom of Selfless Giving (Luke 18:29)

● A Kingdom of Healing and Wholeness (Luke 18:43)

● A Kingdom for the Lost (Luke 19:10)

● A Kingdom of Stewardship (Luke 19:17)

● A Kingdom of Glory (Luke 19:38)

● A Kingdom of Life (Luke 20:38)

As we consider this man of faith, I would encourage you to approach the Lord with expectancy, eagerness, and total abandon. As we look for the Kingdom of God, He reveals it in a way we least expect. How incredible it is that we have a God, the King of Glory, who is willing to draw near, live within us, and welcome us into His heavenly courts. As He came low for us to do so, how much more are we compelled to come low and look to Him.