The Coming Kingdom

Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or, 'There it is!' For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst (inside)." And He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, 'Look there! Look here!' Do not go away, and do not run after them. For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise, the one who is in the field must not turn back.                             Luke 17:20-31

At the time of Jesus’s first coming, the Jews lived in an excited atmosphere of expectancy. They longed for another Moses who would deliver them from their bondage. Some had hoped that John the Baptist would be the deliverer, and then they focused their attention on Jesus. The fact that He was going to Jerusalem excited them all the more. Would He establish the promised kingdom?

At His first coming, Jesus introduced a spiritual kingdom: For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst (inside). He then gave His disciples several facts about the coming kingdom. First, He said that a time would come when the disciples would long to see Him return, but they would not see it. Second, He said that when the kingdom would come, everyone would know it; it would be a visible kingdom. His appearing will be like lightning. Third, Jesus told the disciples He must suffer before the kingdom comes. He was referring to His first coming and His coming passion.

Coming Judgment

Jesus then compared the coming of the kingdom to the coming of the Flood in Noah's day and to the coming of judgment on Sodom. By bringing up these two events, Jesus was emphasizing the judgment associated with the coming kingdom. When He establishes His kingdom, people will be judged to see if they will be allowed to enter it. Jesus was not speaking about the Rapture but about the judgment before entering the kingdom. Like the people of Noah’s day, many would not be prepared or ready for the Flood. In the same way, people will not be ready for His second coming. Similarly, the materialistic, indifferent people of Sodom were not prepared for God's judgment. They lived without regard for God and His kingdom. Therefore, they were destroyed. Jesus reminded His followers that people should not be attached to their material things at the time of the coming of the kingdom, for they, like Lot's wife, will be judged accordingly. People who are working or relaxing on their roofs should not try to save things from their houses. Nor should those working in the fields go to their houses to save their possessions. Any delay could be fatal. Thus, whoever tries to keep his life by going back for his goods will lose it.

Then Peter said to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?" And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration [palinggenesia – restoration, rebirth] when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.                         Matthew 19:27-30

In the previous verses, Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all he had and follow Him. This was exactly what the disciples had done. We have left everything and followed You! What then will there be for us? Whereas the young ruler did not leave his possessions, Peter and the other disciples had. Peter reasoned that God would bless them, for they were not trusting in their wealth. The Lord explained there would be a restoration of all things. Though the nation was then rejecting His offer of the kingdom, the kingdom would come, with its extensive remaking of things spiritual, and geographical and physical. Christ will then sit on His glorious throne in His kingdom.

Judging Twelve Tribes

The disciples will have a special place in the kingdom, sitting on thrones and judging the twelve tribes of Israel. In fact, all who leave their homes and relatives for the Lord's sake will receive physical blessings that will more than compensate for their losses. Isaiah 1:26 prophesies this event: “Then I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning; after that you will be called the city of righteousness, a faithful city.” Those restored judges, the twelve apostles, will judge the twelve tribes and restore the City of Righteousness, a faithful city. While it might appear that they are giving up everything now and are the last, they will be given everything eternally and will be first. Conversely, those, like the rich young ruler, who appear to have everything now will discover one day they have lost everything.

Parable of the Landowner

The following verses in Matthew begin in Matthew 20:1 with another parable about the kingdom of heaven: "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.” The landowner pays each laborer the same, although they worked a different number of hours. Jesus concluded the parable with the following: Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?' So, the last shall be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen" (Matthew 20:14-16). This parable ends with a similar statement as the Matthew 19 passage: But many who are first will be last; and the last, first (Matthew 19:30). Was Jesus trying to further clarify his message from Matthew 19:27-30 by adding this parable to enlarge the message?

In this parable in Matthew 20, Jesus teaches that the matter of rewards is under the sovereign control of God, the landowner in the parable. God is the One before whom all accounts will be settled. Many who have prominent places will someday find themselves demoted. And many who often find themselves at the end of the line will find themselves promoted to the head of the line: The last will be first, and the first will be last.

“Sitting upon twelve thrones” promises the apostles an authoritative participation in Christ’s coming reign, judging restored Israel within a renewed creation. As the center of Christ’s reign during the Millennial Kingdom, Jerusalem, a city of great controversy throughout the ages, is being restored to its rightful and intended place as the city of righteousness and a faithful city. Jesus is making a distinction between the twelve who suffered for their faithfulness to Him to establish the church at His first coming and the saved Jew who has finally acknowledged Jesus as Messiah. Those who were first (the Jews) have become the last, while the last (the church) is first.

Be Ready

"Therefore, be on the alert [gregoreuo – pay close attention], for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason, you also must be ready [hetoimos – ready for anything]; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. "Who then is the faithful and sensible [phronismos – a prudent mindset] slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.                               Matthew 24:42-47

The Lord encouraged His disciples to stay alert because they could not know on what day the Lord would come for the church in the Rapture. For the unsaved Jew, the limits of the Tribulation period are known to God, but the people living then will only know the limits of the time. Therefore, watchfulness is important. If a person knows the approximate time a thief may come to break into his house, he takes precautions and prepares accordingly. Likewise, believers in the Tribulation, who will be looking forward to the coming of the Lord of glory, should be on the alert. They will know generally, from the signs of the end, when He will return, but they will not know the exact time. Added to this is the fact that the days will be "shortened for the elect's sake" (Matthew 24:22). This may mean fewer days of tribulation, or it may mean fewer hours so that the people on earth suffer a bit less.

The coming of the Lord will be a test of servants. As the master in Jesus's story entrusted all his possessions to his servant, so God has entrusted the care of all things in this earth to His servants. The servants' responses indicate their inward condition. The Lord wants to find His servants, like the first steward, faithfully carrying out His will. Such a servant will be rewarded for his faithful service when the Lord returns. Being alert is tied to faithfulness to the Lord's will and not allowing oneself to become attached to earthly possessions.

Anticipation

In His first coming, Jesus introduced the spiritual kingdom of heaven, administered by the Holy Spirit, while His second coming establishes His physical kingdom on the earth. Jesus was preparing both the Jew and the Christian for those events. He not only gave many signs of the end times, but He also delineated the condition each heart must have to be ready and able to anticipate that glorious event: the Rapture of the church and His second coming. These include not allowing oneself to be attached to the physical world and all its trappings.

It is evident from the conditions of the current world that we are in the end times and Jesus’s return is near. What does this mean to the believer? It is to find meaning and purpose in living in the spiritual kingdom now so as to be ready. It means getting involved in the Lord’s work as a kingdom seeker. Twila Paris wrote a great song entitled “Faithful Men” that captures the essence of these sentiments:

Come and join the reapers

All the kingdom seekers

Laying down your life to find it in the end

 

Come and share the harvest

Help to light the darkness

For the Lord is calling faithful men