Luke 17:20-25

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We are taught, firstly, in this passage that the kingdom of God is utterly unlike the kingdoms of this world. The Lord Jesus tells the Pharisees that “it cometh not with observation.” He meant by this that its approach and presence were not to be marked by outward signs of dignity. Those who expected to observe anything of this kind would be disappointed. They would wait and watch for such a kingdom in vain, while the real kingdom would be in the midst of them without their knowing it. “Behold,” He says, “the kingdom of God is within you.”

The expression which our Lord here uses describes exactly the beginning of His spiritual kingdom. It began in a manger at Bethlehem, without the knowledge of the great, the rich, and the wise. It appeared suddenly in the temple at Jerusalem, and no one but Simeon and Anna recognized its King. It was received thirty years after by none but a few fishermen and publicans in Galilee. The rulers and Pharisees had no eyes to see it. The King came to His own, and His own received Him not. All this time the Jews professed to be waiting for the kingdom. But they were looking in the wrong direction. They were waiting for signs which they had no warrant for expecting. The kingdom of God was actually in the midst of them! Yet they could not see it!

The literal kingdom which Christ shall set up one day will begin in some respects very like His spiritual one. It will not be accompanied by the signs, and marks, and outward manifestations which many are expecting to see. It will not be ushered in by a period of universal peace and holiness. It will not be announced to the Church by such unmistakable warnings, that everybody will be ready for it, and prepared for its appearing. It shall come suddenly, unexpectedly, and without note of warning to the immense majority of mankind. The Simeons and Annas will be as few in the last day as they were at the beginning of the Gospel. The most shall awake one day, like men out of sleep, and find, to their surprise and dismay, that the kingdom of God is actually come.

We shall do well to lay these things to heart, and ponder them well. The vast majority of men are utterly deceived in their expectations with respect to the kingdom of God. They are waiting for signs which will never appear. They are looking for indications which they will never discover. They are dreaming of universal conversion in the day of election. They are fancying that missionaries, and ministers, and schools, will change the face of the world before the end comes. Let us beware of such mistakes. Let us not sleep as do others. The kingdom of God will be upon men much sooner than many expect. “It cometh not with observation.”

We are taught, secondly, in this passage, that the second coming of Jesus Christ will be a very sudden event. Our Lord describes this by a striking figure. He says, “As the lightning, that lighteneth out of one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven: so shall the Son of man be in his day.”

The second personal advent of Christ is the real fulfilment of these words. Of the precise day and hour of that advent we know nothing. But whenever it may take place, one thing at least is clear,–it will come on the Church and the world suddenly, instantaneously, and without previous notice. The whole tenor of Scripture points this way. It shall be “in such an hour as ye think not.”–It shall come “as a thief in the night.” (Matt. 24:44; 1 Thess. 5:2)

This suddenness of Christ’s second advent is a solemn thought. It ought to make us study a continual preparedness of mind. Our hearts’ desire and endeavour should be to be always ready to meet our Lord. Our life’s aim should be to do nothing, and say nothing, which could make us ashamed if Christ were suddenly to appear. “Blessed,” says the apostle John, “is he who watcheth, and keepeth his garments.” (Rev. 16:15) Those who denounce the doctrine of the second advent as speculative, fanciful, and unpractical, would do well to reconsider the subject. The doctrine was not so regarded in the days of the apostles. In their eyes patience, hope, diligence, moderation, personal holiness, were inseparably connected with an expectation of the Lord’s return. Happy is the Christian who has learned to think with them! To be ever looking for the Lord’s appearing is one of the best helps to a close walk with God.

We are taught, lastly, in this passage, that there are two personal comings of Christ revealed to us in Scripture. He was appointed to come the first time in weakness and humiliation, to suffer and to die. He was appointed to come the second time in power and great glory, to put down all enemies under His feet, and to reign.–At the first coming He was to be “made sin for us,” and to bear our sins upon the cross. At the second coming He was to appear without sin, for the complete salvation of His people. (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 9:28) Of both these comings our Lord speaks expressly in the verses before us. Of the first He speaks when He says that the Son of Man “must suffer, and be rejected.” Of the second He speaks when He says the Son of Man shall be as the lightning which lighteneth out of one part of heaven unto another.

To see these two comings of Christ distinctly is of great importance to a right understanding of Scripture. The disciples, and all the Jews of our Lord’s time, appear to have seen only one personal advent. They expected a Messiah who would come to reign, but not one who would come to suffer.–The majority of Christians, in like manner, appear to see only one personal advent. They believe that Christ came the first time to suffer. But they seem unable to understand that Christ is coming a second time to reign. Both parties have got hold of the truth, but neither, unhappily, has embraced the whole truth. Both are more or less in error, and the Christian’s error is only second in importance to that of the Jew.

He that strives to be a well-instructed and established Christian, must keep steadily before his mind both the advents of Jesus Christ. Clear views of the subject are a great help to the profitable reading of the Bible. Without them we shall constantly find statements in prophecy which we can neither reconcile with other statements, nor yet explain away. Jesus coming in person the first time to suffer, and Jesus coming in person the second time to reign, are two landmarks of which we should never lose sight. We stand between the two. Let us believe that both are real and true.