The kingdom of God is one of the central themes in Scripture, essential for the Christian faith and life. Consider that Mark’s gospel account opens with the announcement that “the kingdom of God is at hand” (1:15). Indeed, this is Jesus’s own statement of why he came, as recorded in Luke 4:43: “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” The book of Acts ends with Paul in Rome “proclaiming the kingdom of God” (28:31).
Ultimately, the kingdom of God is the new creation. The new creation is God’s temple-kingdom, where his rule is unquestioned and all is as it should be. It is the place where his people live as priests and kings, worshiping God and reigning with him—God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule. To enter into the kingdom of God is the great hope of every Christian (1 Pet 1:3–5; 2 Pet 1:11; 3:13).
Yet with all the attention Christians give the doctrine of the kingdom, we would do well to continue growing in our understanding. Do we really understand it? On the contrary, it has been perennially challenged. The Pharisees misunderstood it, the disciples had trouble with it, and to this day professing believers strongly debate how best to think about the kingdom of God. What the kingdom is in its end state ought to be clear, as evidenced by the Scripture references from Peter (and many more besides). But there are some things that are harder to understand, says Peter, and “the ignorant and unstable twist [these things] to their own destruction” (2 Pet 3:16). So have a care! Rather, you ought to focus on growing “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (v. 18). This also ought to be applied to the way the church considers and speaks about the day of the Lord, the coming of the kingdom, and the end times.
How do we get there when we are considering a subject that has often tripped people up? It is only as we pay close attention to the full counsel of the Word of God that we will be able to resist the common temptation in looking for the kingdom, clarify our expectation of the coming of the kingdom, and cultivate our longing for the kingdom. Over the course of two articles, we will use Luke 17:20–37 as our focus passage to consider these three things.
Temptation: What Are We Tempted to Do Now?
An Ironic Question
As Jesus journeys to Jerusalem to accomplish the sacrificial work that will inaugurate his new covenant kingdom, he instructs both his disciples and the Pharisees as to the reality, nature, and experience of the kingdom. Luke 17:20 finds him on the receiving end of a question from the Pharisees: “When will the kingdom of God come?” This is a revealing question; it reveals a particular dullness or foolishness on the part of the Pharisees. Their question implies the kingdom has not yet come, but Jesus has been proclaiming and demonstrating the present reality of the kingdom, as he is about to make even more clear in his response to their question.
Here we see great irony, for Luke repeatedly describes the Pharisees as observing Jesus with careful analysis. Take Luke 6:7, for example, where we are told the Pharisees were watching him closely, or kept watching him. Luke 14:1 describes a similar scenario, with the suggestion that they are carefully scrutinizing Jesus. So it is that they are watching carefully for “signs to be observed” (Luke 17:20, translation mine). They do not want to miss the coming of the kingdom, which is described in verse 30 as “the day when the Son of Man is revealed” (see also vv. 22, 24, 26). The connection is apparent since the Son of Man is the King, and so the kingdom comes as the King is established on his throne. What a day of vindication and glory that will be, so they watch closely for signs of its coming. Yet for all their watching, they cannot and will not perceive it. Why not?
Signs to Be Observed
Before answering that question, another question ought to be asked. What sort of signs are they looking for?
The language of verses 24–30 leads one to assume there will be some signs, and they will be spectacular, cosmic events in the heavens. Consider the phenomena of lightning flashing, flooding, and fire and sulfur raining down from heaven. This is unsurprising to the reader of Scripture for two reasons. First, it describes real events that had occurred in the past that are enumerated for the reader in verses 26–29: the days of Noah and the days of Lot. Second, it is consistent with the way the prophets speak of historical days of judgment, as well as the day of judgment that will mark the end of this creation as we know it. Both regarding the various days of judgment and the final day of judgment, Scripture speaks in cosmic terms, using language evocative of the undoing of creation.
A relevant example comes from a well-known prophetic text, Joel 2:28–32. There the Lord promises, “And it shall come to pass in the last days” (as quoted in Acts 2:17).
This is how he begins, with reference to the “days.” Then he speaks of men and women, old and young, prophesying in the power of the Spirit. He goes on to say: “I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord” (Acts 2:19–20 NKJV).
So there will be signs at some point, and the Pharisees are looking for them. They are looking for signs to be observed in the heavens so that they may say, “‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’” (Luke 17:21).
There are other types of signs as well, foremost of which are signs of political progress. Although this may not seem to come as directly from the text as the cosmic signs in the heavens, it is relevant because we know that this is what the Jews really wanted from the Messiah. When they think of the coming of the kingdom, they are thinking of a king who will liberate them from the Roman occupation, who will restore the glory days of Solomon. If Jesus were to do something politically or militarily impressive, they would be able to say, “Look, here it is!” or “There!”
It is precisely due to their pursuit of cosmic and political signs that they are unable to perceive the signs already present. For what does Jesus say in response to their question about when the kingdom of God will come? “Behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:21). “For all your careful scrutiny, you are showing an inability to perceive the signs that have already been present. The kingdom is among you.”
This is what Jesus has been saying all along. At the beginning of his public ministry, he describes his purpose, saying, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God” (Luke 4:43). Good news! The kingdom is at hand! The year of the Lord’s favor has come! And then he instructs the seventy-two disciples to do the same: “Heal the sick [in each town] and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you’” (Luke 10:9).
Notice in that case that the proclamation is accompanied by miracles of healing. The miracles function as another sort of sign, and so it is not as if there are no signs whatsoever. When Jesus says that the kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, however, he is not referring to miracles. A specific word is used (παρατηρήσεως) that is distinct from the word for miracle (there are various words, but in terms of “sign” language, σημεῖον would be expected). “Signs to be observed” point us to something spectacular in the heavens—a “sign of the coming apocalypse,” one might say. By contrast, miracles are not so much about what is to come in the future but what is here in the present. Indeed, this is the function of miracles. They are signs to accompany and affirm the message of the kingdom, to demonstrate the present reality of the kingdom. Miracles never stand alone; the message is the point. And in this case particularly, the messenger is the point: Jesus, the King of the kingdom.
Jesus, the Greatest Sign
Jesus is the greatest sign. He is the reality to which all the other signs point. He is the one greater than Adam, Noah, Moses, David, Solomon, and Jonah. In particular, he is greater than Moses, who stands out from among the prophets because he is the mediator of the old covenant (the law). Jesus, by contrast, is the mediator of the new covenant (the gospel). This means that with the coming of Jesus, Israel and the whole world are in a transitional time—from the time of the old to the time of the new. This is stated in Luke 16:16: “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it [or, it is forcefully advancing among everyone].”
This verse reminds us that John was the last of the old covenant prophets; he looked forward to the coming of the messianic kingdom. Jesus, on the other hand, is the first and chief prophet of the new covenant; he is the Messiah establishing his kingdom. And so the kingdom is present already now because King Jesus is present, and the kingdom is “forcefully advancing” through him, the Messiah. This by no means is an encouragement to use force in converting noncitizens of the kingdom into citizens; it is forceful in the sense that it is powerful. The call of the gospel as it is proclaimed is urgent, and the Spirit who works faith-filled responses is dynamic and effective. Kingdom advancement takes place as people are urged to repent of their sins, as they come to faith in Christ, and as they become followers of Jesus. Each time a person is converted, Satan loses and Jesus wins. Each time, the battle line advances, for God gains more territory and the kingdom expands as the King gains citizens for his kingdom.
A Critical Mistake Both Then and Now
We come back, therefore, to the irony of the Pharisees and their question. Here is the King announcing the kingdom message with kingdom power—and they are missing it. It is there for all to see because he is there for all to see; the King is in their midst. But the message of the kingdom has not penetrated their hearts; it is not within them. And so because the eyes of their hearts are closed, their physical eyes are searching for spectacular signs in vain; they will not see the true signs, despite all their close observations. They are closed off to the reality of the kingdom because they have closed themselves off from the King of the kingdom. They do not see him for who he is, and so they cannot see it for what it is.
This reveals a challenge that goes beyond the Jewish leaders in Jesus’s time on earth. Many people today are fascinated with the end times but look in the wrong places as well. Some look to the cosmic signs in the heavens for astrological insight, studying the stars for guidance and importing supernatural significance to natural phenomena as they occur. More commonly, many look for signs of political progress that indicate kingdom advancement. It is not unusual to hear a person trying to read the events of world governments as they rise and fall, interpreting them in light of the coming of Christ. Some will make direct connections between details in the book of Revelation to world events happening today. Others will promote a triumphalist view of the Christianization of nations today, citing that the coming of Christ is contingent on this coming to fruition first.
Inevitably, proponents of these views will be disappointed and dissatisfied because the kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed. We cannot predict the future based on the stars and the planets or the rate of climate change on the earth. The Son of Man is coming at an hour that we will not expect. Neither will a modern-day political movement be the trigger for his coming. The nature of a political movement is that it starts in one place and then spreads to another, and to another, and so on; you can trace its path. The kingdom of God, however, is a different kind of movement, and it is crucial for the health of the church today and our witness to the world that we make this abundantly clear. Progress in the kingdom of God does not come with signs to be observed, such that we will be able to say to others, “Look, here it is!” or “There!” As I have been saying, however, this is not to say that the kingdom is without any signs whatsoever. Jesus’s original audience was given miraculous signs, indicating that the kingdom had come, for the King had come. So it remains today. What, then, are these signs?
Kingdom Encouragement
The most severe challenge we face in looking rightly for the kingdom comes from the realm of our experience and, consequently, our perception of the extent of kingdom progress. John the Baptist displayed this for us when he asked Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Luke 17:19). The question betrays a level of doubt, and the doubt occurred because what John was outwardly experiencing did not look and feel very triumphant.
There is a good response, and Jesus gives it. To the disciples of John who asked the question on John’s behalf, Jesus said, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them” (v. 22).
In other words, “Look at what I am doing! I am fulfilling the prophets. I am giving you a glimpse of the restorative power of the kingdom of God, which will come to full realization in the new creation.”
Now he says the same things to believers through his Word: “Look at what I have done and am doing! I have died on the cross for you, taking on the curse of death and defeating it. I have risen from death to life. I have ascended into the heavens and taken the seat of authority. I am interceding for you before the Father. I am present with you by my Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is the new creation. So if you are in me and I am in you, then you are part of the new creation.”
This is how the kingdom of God is in the midst of you as a believer: through the miraculous working of the Spirit of Christ, who regenerated you when you were dead in your sin and is renewing you into the image of Christ on the basis of his miraculous work in his earthly ministry, whereby he redeemed you.
Those who fail to embrace the King will not see this, and so they will keep searching for different signs; they will look for the kingdom in all the wrong places. But those who embrace the King have his blessings now. On account of the King, their passport has been approved and their citizenship is secured. This is the twofold blessing of the forgiveness of sins and new life in Christ. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). “In Christ we are set free from the tyranny of the devil” (Heidelberg Catechism 1). Followers of Jesus, then, are not bound to be conformed to worldliness but are able to be transformed by godliness. This is the powerful working of the Spirit that signifies the present reality of Christ’s kingdom.
Next time we will look at what we should expect to happen in the end, and what should we cultivate in our lives while we wait.
©Jason Vander Horst. All Rights Reserved.
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Jason Vander Horst
Jason grew up in southern BC, Canada, just over the border from Washington State. After teaching high school for four years, he responded to God’s calling and enrolled at Westminster Seminary California. After three thrilling years of training there, he graduated and was ordained and installed as the pastor of Surrey Covenant Reformed Church in Surrey, BC, Canada. After serving there for 6 years (2018-2024), he accepted the call to be the pastor at Bellingham United Reformed Church in northwest Washington. He is married to Ardis and they have three beautiful boys.
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