Basic HTML Version
First.
ro whom
is Je us speaking?
Read it '
'·And when He was demanded of
th c Pharisccs. when the kingdom of
God should come. He answe red
th cm and said. the kin gdom of God
cometh no t with observa ti on: nei–
ther haU they say. Lo here! or. lo
th ere! for. behold. thc kingdom of
God is wi thin you" (Luke 17:20-2 1).
He was speaking to the uncen–
verted. carnal. hypocri tica l. lying
Pharisees. Notice. "He answe red
them,
and sa id." lt was th e Ph a risees
who asked Him the questi on. Were
th ey in the CHURCH? o. ncver! l f
onc thi nks thc Kin gdom is the
CHURCH - and the Kingdom was
' 'within" the Pharisees - was THE
CHURCH
within
thc Pharisees? Such
an assump ti on is rather ridi culous.
now. isn't it?
Oti ce agai n. rrecisely WHAT
JESUS SAlD. Rcmember the CHURCH
had not ye t been se t up. Jesus
die/
no/ say
" the Kingdom of God
sha/1
be
se t up in your hea rts." He said
none
of th e things people interpre t
inro
thi s verse. He said to th e Phari–
sces " the Kingdom of God
!S"
-
pre ent tense
is, NO W!
Whatever
He was saying the Ki ngdom of God
i . He made it present tense. not
future.
Luke
wrote
thc e words. origi–
nall y. in the
Greek
language. Thc
Greek words he wro te were tran -
lated into th e English words "wi thi n
yo u.'' Bu t. if you have a Bible wi th
thc margina l references, you will
noticc tha t thi s is al terna tely ren–
dered
"in rhe midst of you,"
or
"among you."
The
contexr
indica tes
tha t this indecd is the better trans–
la ti on. lf your Bible is a Motfatt
tra nsla tion. you wi ll notice tha t th e
tra nsla tion recogn ized that Jesus
was talking of His
reign
or
rule,
at
th e head of
government.
This is the Motfa tt tra nsla tion of
the same verse: "He answered them.
'The Reign of God is not coming as
you hope
to
catch sigh t of it : no one
will say. "Here il i "or "There il is,"
for lhe Reign of Goo
IS
NOW IN
YOUR
MIDST. '"
The Revised Standard transla tion
rende rs il " thc Kingdom of God is
in the midsl of you." All lhese lrans–
lations render it
present tense.
J esus was not talking abo ut a
church soon to be orga ni zed. He
42
The Kingdom of God
cannot be the church, for
the Kingdom of God is
something that flesh and
blood humans just cannot
enter into!
was not talking about sentiments in
lhe mind or hea rt. He was talking
about His REIGN, as lhe Messiah !
Thc Ph a risees were nol a king Him
about a church. They kn ew noth ing
of any ew Testament church soon
lo be started. They werc not asking
about a pre tty se nliment. Th ey
knew. from lhe prophecies of Dan–
iel, lsaiah. Jc remi ah a nd others. th a l
their Mess iah was lo come. They
overlooked completcly lhe proph–
ecies of His firsl appea ring as the
"Lamb of God. " to be slain for lhe
ins of humanity - bci ng born as a
babe. growing up. being rejecled
and despised by them, as recorded
in lsa ia h 53. They looketl on ly to the
prophecies of His
second
coming as
the a ll-conquering and ruli ng KING.
This lhe Pharisee anticipated as the
Kingdom of God.
World-Ruling Government
J es us scl lhem s tra ight. He ex–
plai ned lh at it would nol be a local
or limited Kin gdom for the Jews
only. lt wou ld not be merel y one of
many human and visible kingdoms
which men could point out or see.
and ay. "Thi i it.
here";
or " th at is
thc Kingdom. over
there."
Bul He,
Himself. was born to be !he KING of
th a l Kingdom. as He plainly told
Pil a lc (John 18:36-37). Thc Bible
uses lhe terms ''king" and "ki ng–
dom" interchangeably (see Daniel
7: 17- 18.23). The KING ofth e fu lure
Kingd om was . lh en a nd lh e re.
sta nding
in the midst of them.
And
in lhe language in which He poke
to them. lha t is preci ely what He
sa id - as rhe margina l rendering
and other transla tion state.
Jesus wen t on. in the followin g
ver es.
to
describe His second com–
ing,
when
the Kingdom of God shall
rul e ALL THE EARTH. In Luke 17:24
He refers to lightning ft as hing, just
as in Ma tthew 24:27. de cribing His
second coming lo RULE the whole
world. Ve rse 26 - as il wa in the
days of oa h, so shall it be when
Chrisl comes in power and glory as
wo rld Rule r. Ver e 30 - the day
wh en He i
revea/ed.
Pla inly. Jesus was nol saying lha t
lhe Kingdom of God was
within
those Chri st -hat in g. hypocrilical
Pharisees. or was He ayi ng lhat
the church would be lh e Kingdom.
Now conti nue with th e o ther
sc riplures, a nd it becomcs very
PLAIN!
Jcsus di stinctly said lha t lhose
Pharisees
would not be in
lhe King–
dom of God. To lhem, He said:
"There ha ll be weeping and gnash–
ing of teeth. when ye [you Pharisees]
shall see Abra ham, and Isaac. and
Jacob. and a ll lhe prophets.
in rhe
kingdom oJ God,
and you you rselves
th rust out. And lhey sha ll come
from the east, and from lhe west,
and from the north. and from lhe
so uth, and shall sil down
in rhe king–
dom oJGod"( Luk e
13:28-29) .
The Kingdom of God is some–
thing mcn shall ENTER - a l the res–
urrect ion of lhe just! Yet Abraham
is
not rhere yet
(see Hcb. ll :13, 39-
40).
Has Not Yet Appeared
But one may ask, did nol Jesus
Chrisl say the Kingdom of God was
"a t hand"? Yes. we quoted this, in
thc beginni ng of this art icle. from
Mark 1: 15. Thi s nalurally led some
LO
mista ke wha t He said, and wha t
He mea nt. and assume lhe King–
dom of God wa establ ished and set
up during Jesus' minislry. Thus
ome supposed it was the church .
But Jesus did nol say the King–
dom of God had been established.
lt
was now be ing
preached
(Luke
16: 16). He did not say il was already
he re. Jesus. Himsclf, corrccted lhis
fa lse nolion.
Je~us
"added anJ !:>pake
a parable ... because they lhough l
lha t the kingdom of God hould im–
mcdiatcly appea r" (Luke
19: 11).
Wll v did Jesus speak lhis para ble?
Because some, even lhen. mistak–
enly lhought the Kingdom
should
immediarely appear-
because some
thoughl it would be THECHURCH!
ow cont inue: "He said. there–
fo re. A cerlain nobleman went in to
a far country lo rece ive for himself a
kingdom, and lo retu rn" (verse 12) .
The
PLAIN TRUTH July 1976