“THE INVISIBLE KINGDOM HAS COME”
LUKE 17:20-21

I. Introduction
The last time Americans lived in a kingdom, or at least under the rule of a king, it didn’t go real well. On July 4, 1776, we declared our independence from King George III of England and ended up fighting a war to free ourselves from his rule. The war ended in 1781 when the last 8000 British troops under General Charles Cornwallis laid down their arms and sur-rendered to General George Washington on a small field outside of Yorktown, Virginia.

The American Revolution resulted in the founding of this country. In 1787 the Constitution of the United States was adopted. It went into effect in 1789 and the first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights, were ratified on December 15, 1791. From that day forward our Constitu-tion became the basis of the laws under which we live today.

At least that was the plan. But today we find ourselves living in a nation that is, at least in some ways, beginning to look a lot like a kingdom all over again. Only God Himself knows what the final outcome and ultimate disposition of America will be, but there is one thing of which you may be sure. Human kings and earthly kingdoms don’t last.

There are at least two reasons for that. One is that human kings die. Another is that, sooner or later, people overthrow human kings. To be fair, not all monarchs are overthrown. Some, like the British royal family, are not overthrown; they just become mere figureheads, or even icons. They no longer wield any real power or authority. But there’s one King who will never die, one King who will never be overthrown. His kingdom will last for eternity. He is the King of kings.

But human beings, in our natural condition, don’t want kings to rule over us, at least not for-ever. Human beings, in our natural condition, don’t want to knuckle under to authority. Yet that is precisely what Scripture tells us to expect from God, the ultimate and eternal King.

Brock has already read Psalm 24 in its entirety, but listen again to the last three verses.
*Psalm 24:8-10
8 Who is the King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in!
10 Who is the King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory.

Listen to just some of the other ways the Bible informs us of these magnificent truths.
*Psalm 45:6
6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scep-ter of Your kingdom.
*Psalm 47:1-2
1 O clap your hands, all peoples; shout to God with the voice of joy.
2 For the LORD Most High is to be feared, a great King over all the earth.

Our God is supreme and sovereign. His rule is absolute and eternal. He alone possesses unrestrained free will. At the end of the doctrinal section of Romans – after the Apostle Paul has laid out the condition of a human race that is hopelessly lost in sin, and after he has presented the gospel, defined it, and made it clear that God has offered us salvation freely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ – after all of that Paul offers up praise to the sovereign God who accomplished Paul’s salvation, as well as yours and mine. This is pure praise!
*Romans 11:33-36
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
34 For who has known the mind of the LORD, or who became His counselor?
35 Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again?
36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

How does fallen man respond to such praise? He rejects it and rebels because he knows that, if all of that is true, then he, fallen man, must humble himself, admit that he is lost in his sin, repent, and plead for mercy. In short, he must submit himself to the King of kings. This he will not do. It can only happen when a sovereign God breaks through and opens his heart to receive the King. Only then does he begin to understand and come to grips with the reality of the King. Only then can he answer the rhetorical questions put forth by Isaiah.
*Isaiah 40:12-14
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills in a pair of scales?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or as His counselor (who) has in-formed Him?
14 With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge, and informed Him of the way of understanding?

Then later, no longer asking rhetorical questions, but making definitive statements, Isaiah drives home the reality of an eternal and supreme God and King. In this passage God speaks through the prophet in the first person.
*Isaiah 46:8-10
8 “Remember this, and be assured; recall it to mind, you transgressors.
9 “Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accom-plish all My good pleasure.’”

In our verse-by-verse study of Luke’s gospel we have come to the middle of Luke 17. The rest of chapter deals with this King and His kingdom. But in order for us to avoid confusion, understand the word “kingdom,” and define it. The Bible uses the word in a variety of con-texts, but we’re only going to speak of a few of them.

First, there is the universal kingdom. The universal kingdom consists of everything that exists in the universe, that is to say, it is the entire material or physical creation. God reigns over all of it. I think if there’s one thing we need to understand about the physical creation it is that it was originally created in perfection. Time and again, as God was in the process of creating all that there is, He called it “good.” (at least 6x in Gen. 1)

The creation itself was good. It did not fall into corruption. It was pushed. It was pushed when God’s highest creatures chose to rebel against Him. As a result of that rebellion, the entire creation became corrupt. The effects of that corruption are seen everywhere today. It is because of Satan’s sin and the sin of Adam and Eve that the universal kingdom staggers under the weight of God’s righteous curse upon it.

It will remain so until the end of Christ’s Millennial Kingdom on this earth when this entire creation, and all the effects of sin with it, will be destroyed by fire. Then God will recreate a perfect and eternal heaven and earth over which He will reign forever.
*2 Peter 3:11-13
11 Since all these things (this current universal kingdom) are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with in-tense heat!
13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

The Bible has much to say about the universal kingdom, but this aspect of God’s kingdom, the created, material, and physical universe is not the subject of Luke 17:20-21. In this pas-sage we’ll hear Jesus speak about His non-material and spiritual kingdom. This kingdom is invisible to the human eye, but it is just as real as the physical kingdom. This invisible king-dom of God is here and now. It is among us as we speak. Its subjects are all of those whom God has chosen to save and redeem. But it cannot be seen with the human eye. Thus it is called an “invisible” kingdom so as to contrast it with the one which is yet to come.

We’ll look at that next time (in vv. 22-37) when Jesus will address the yet future “visible” kingdom. Revelation 1:7 says that when He comes, “…every eye will see Him…”
But what is so important for us to see and be clear on is that God exercises absolute rule and authority over both the universal (or physical) kingdom and the spiritual kingdom as well. Listen to John MacArthur as he addresses both kingdoms in his commentary on Luke 17.
“He is sovereign over who enters it and how they enter, exercises absolute right, power, and privilege, and does exactly what He wills by the means of His Word.”

And there is one other thing that we need to have straight in our thinking before we look into the rest of Luke 17. Jesus did not come to this world to establish His kingship over the uni-versal creation. He did that in eternity past. Paul makes that clear in his letter to the church at Ephesus.
*Ephesians 1:18-23
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheri-tance in the saints,
19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might
20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.
22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

So again, Jesus did not come to establish His universal kingdom. Rather, He came to pro-vide access, to open the doors, to His spiritual kingdom.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

II. Text
This is just one of the concepts that Jesus’ detractors, led by the Jewish religious leaders, failed to understand and completely missed. They were looking for a human king, a warrior who could drive out the Romans, and re-establish Israel’s former power as a force to be reckoned with. They were convinced that’s what their promised Messiah would do. So when Jesus came, claiming to be their Messiah, they didn’t see their King of kings and Lord of lords; they only saw what they believed to be a meek and mild rabbi who looked nothing like a conquering hero. And that led to the confrontation in this morning’s text.
*Luke 17:20-21 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
20 Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, (Jesus) answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed;
21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
In this very short passage the Pharisees are confronting Jesus yet again. While the text itself does not seem to imply any overt anger or hostility, given their history and the fact that at least some of them are already engaged in plotting the Lord’s murder, it’s probably safe to assume they are not being friendly. Certainly they are skeptical.

Consider the fact that the religious leaders of Israel have studied the OT. They know about and they believe the Abrahamic Covenant found in Genesis 12 and 15. It tells them God will make them a great nation, all the families of the earth will be blessed by them, and they will be occupy much of the land we know today as the Middle East.

They know about and they believe the Davidic Covenant found in 2 Samuel 7. It tells them their Messiah will be descended from King David and His kingdom, His throne, and His rule will be eternal.

They know about and they believe the New Covenant found in Jeremiah 31. It tells them…
Jeremiah 31:31, 33
31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD,” when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…
33 “…this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

This last one they knew and they believed, but they did not understand. They did not under-stand that there was to be an invisible spiritual kingdom that would precede the visible mess-ianic kingdom. They did not understand that their Messiah would come twice; the first time to announce the kingdom, preach a gospel of repentance, and open the doors to heaven. Consider just two of the things Jesus said at the beginning of His ministry…
Matthew 4:17 (referring to the spiritual kingdom)
17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

So when Jesus spoke of a kingdom, the Jews didn’t understand because they thought it was the physical kingdom.
John 3:17 (referring only to His First Coming)
17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world (both Jews and Gentiles) should be saved through Him.”

When Jesus spoke of not being here to judge the world, the Jews didn’t understand that either because they thought God was going to judge unbelieving Gentiles. The Jews of Jesus’ day didn’t understand that God would keep His covenants with Israel at the Second Coming, not the first. Today we know that what Israel was looking for will take place when Jesus comes again. The Abrahamic, the Davidic, and the New Covenants will be fulfilled. The nations of the world will be blessed. Israel will finally occupy the land God gave her.
Her Messiah will take His seat on David’s throne in Jerusalem. Sin will be judged. Satan will be bound. And the joys of the Millennial Kingdom will be poured out on this earth for 1000 years. But all of that is for the Second Coming.

This past week I came upon some very interesting information from the book – “A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ” – written by Emil Shürer in 1896. It gives us real insight into what Israel was expecting from their Messiah. He listed nine things.
1. The coming of the Messiah would be preceded by a time of tribulation.
2. In the midst of the turmoil a prophet like Elijah would herald Messiah’s coming.
3. Messiah would establish His glorious kingdom and vindicate His people.
4. The nations of the world would ally themselves together to fight Messiah.
5. Messiah would destroy all those opposing nations.
6. Jerusalem would be restored and made new and glorious.
7. Jews who had been scattered all over the world would return to Israel.
8. Israel would become the center of the world and the nations would be ruled by Messiah.
9. Messiah would establish His kingdom. Peace, righteousness, and glory would follow.

Is that amazing or what? Remember that it was written in 1896! That’s essentially the story of the future as revealed in the Book of Revelation. So let me say it again. The Jews were, for the most part, expecting the right things. But they didn’t expect that Messiah would come in two stages, as it were. They were looking for a physical kingdom, not a spiritual one. And in their religious arrogance they were not looking for a Savior who would be a sacrifice for their sin, because they didn’t think they needed one.

So, in Luke 17:20, I think the Pharisees’ question is, at the very least, sarcastic and cynical.
*Luke 17:20a
20a Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming…

In human terms and through human eyes, there was nothing in the carpenter from Nazareth and the fishermen from Galilee that inspired any confidence in the religious leaders. Their attitude was: “These guys are going to defeat Rome and establish God’s kingdom? You’ve got to be kidding. Oh sure, we’ve seen some apparent miracles, but we know they’re just tricks, or things being done by the power of the devil.”

So the Pharisees demanded to see more and bigger miracles. “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You (Matthew 12:38b).” “What then do You do for a sign, that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform (John 6:30b)?” But Jesus’ response was, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe (John 4:48).” And when the Lord refused to do “tricks” for them, they just slandered and mocked Him that much more.

In answer to the question posed to Him in the first part of v. 20, Jesus tells them they just don’t get it.
*Luke 17:20b-21a
20b He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed;
21a nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’

What Jesus was saying is this: The spiritual kingdom of God cannot be seen with human eyes because the spiritual kingdom of God is invisible. He is telling these unbelievers that they will never see the spiritual aspect of God’s kingdom because, as unbelievers, they are not only spiritually blind to it, but they are spiritually dead as well.

Do you remember Jesus’ meeting with the Pharisee Nicodemus? Do you remember the very first thing Jesus said to him?
John 3:3
3 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Think about this for a moment: If you refuse to recognize the King, why would you expect to see His kingdom? It will remain invisible to you. But here is the salient point. The spirit-ual kingdom of God will not always be invisible. At the Second Coming it will be visible to all, believer and unbeliever alike.
Revelation 1:7
7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him…

King Jesus’ return to this earth will reveal His glory for all to see. It will be a time of bles-sing and unspeakable joy for all who know and love Him. But it will be a time judgment and unimaginable terror for all who do not know Him. “When will that be?” That’s what the Pharisees wanted to know. They wanted to know when the visible kingdom of God would come to earth. But Jesus, in His humanity, didn’t know when that would take place.
Mark 13:32
32 “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

The Pharisees asked the wrong question, but Jesus gave them the right answer. He said…
*Luke 17:21b
21b For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

Jesus told them that they didn’t need to be looking for a visible kingdom that was yet future. And He didn’t say the kingdom will come. Rather, Jesus was telling them that they should be seeking out the invisible kingdom that was already there. He was saying that the invisible kingdom HAS come, and He IS the King.

There has been much confusion over the last words in v. 21 and we should address that.
The KJV (as well as many others) translate the Greek word “ĕntŏs” as “within” or “inside.” Therefore, it’s not uncommon to find Bibles that conclude v. 21 with the words, “…the kingdom of God within you,” or simply “in you.” But wait a minute. Jesus is talking to unbelieving Pharisees, isn’t He? How can the kingdom of God be within them? The fact is that it isn’t! Given the context, it is better to translate ĕntŏs as it is in the NAS and the ESV. Those translations say, “…the kingdom of God is in your midst,” or “…the kingdom of God is among you.”

Steven Cole is an excellent Bible teacher who pastors a large church in Flagstaff, AZ. I found his commentary on Luke 17:21 helpful and I think you will too. He says…
“The translation ‘…within you’ is possible grammatically, but it is impossible contextually. Jesus never would have told the skeptical and hypocritical Pharisees that the kingdom of God was within them. Besides, Jesus often talks about a person entering the kingdom, but He does not talk about the kingdom entering a person.”

They key to our understanding is in the word “you” or “your.” In Luke 17:21 Jesus used it in the broadest sense. “You” is all of Israel, not merely the few Pharisees with whom He was speaking. He was telling them that God’s kingdom had already come to Israel in the spiritual sense. He was telling them that He was the King of kings and He was standing not only in the midst of the Pharisees He was talking to, but He had come to Israel and was standing in the midst of the whole nation, in the midst of God’s chosen people.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

III. Conclusion
What can you take from all of this? There is a great lesson for all those who put their hope in what they can see in this material world. When we look to our own good works or our own churches, or other religious organizations, or when we look to programs or anything other than Christ for either our self-worth or our salvation, we are looking in the wrong place. The Christian’s hope is in the King of kings and Lord of lords.

If you’re a Christian, then the kingdom of God is within you in the Person of the Holy Spirit. It is in that sense that the spiritual kingdom, the kingdom that is invisible to human eyes, has already come, and you have been born again.

If you’re not a Christian, then I urge you to humble yourself before God, admit your sin, repent (change your mind about the Person of Jesus Christ), ask Him to forgive you, and trust Christ alone to save your eternal soul. He will because He said He will.

Next week we’ll finish Luke 17. Jesus will turn from the Pharisees and speak directly to His disciples. He will tell them what to expect in the last days before the visible kingdom comes in power and great glory. Until then – meditate on these things, and ask God to show you if you are putting your trust, your faith, or your hopes for the future in anything other than Christ Himself. ~ Pray ~