The Kingdom of God Is in Your Midst (Luke 17:20-21)

In Luke 17:20-21 Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God is in your midst." Jesus said this because He was on the earth and people could see Him, hear Him, and touch Him. He had the kingdom with Him. To be near Jesus was to be near the kingdom. Table of contentsThe Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven Are the SameJesus's Purpose During His Earthly MinistryThe Changing Message of the Unchanging GospelThey Preached the Kingdom of God in the GospelsThey Preached the Coming Messiah in the Old TestamentThey Preached Christ Crucified in the ChurchJesus Spiritually Established the Kingdom of God at His First ComingWhy Look and Pray for the Kingdom of God When It Already Came?Jesus Will Physically Establish the Kingdom of God at His Second ComingNobody Is Born into the Kingdom of GodFootnotes https://youtu.be/W5PC5vvR-g8 In Luke 17:20-21 Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God is in your midst" because He was on the earth and to be near Him was to be near the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is one of the most important topics in Scripture. This is the Kingdom Jesus rules over. Every Kingdom has a king, and this is the Kingdom where Jesus is King: 2 Peter 1:11 There will be richly provided for you an entrance into THE ETERNAL KINGDOM OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. Jesus brought His Kingdom Him in His first coming when He came from heaven to earth. Every believer is part of this Kingdom, because it’s the Kingdom for people who have Jesus as their King. Matthew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” John the Baptist paved the way for the Messiah. He said the kingdom of God is "at hand" because He knew Jesus was bringing the kingdom of God with Him. The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven Are the Same Kingdom of Heaven is the same as the Kingdom of God. The title Kingdom of Heaven only occurs in Matthew’s Gospel because it’s the Jewish Gospel and the Jews were sensitive to the word “God” being used. To avoid offending his Jewish readers, Matthew says Kingdom of Heaven.82 John told people what to do to prepare for the kingdom: repent. We enter the Kingdom by repentance and faith in King Jesus. That was and still is how to enter the kingdom. Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The ESV and NKJV read "at hand," but they have footnotes that they could also read "has come near," which is how it reads in the NIV. "Has come near" is preferrable for two reasons: It is past tense: the kingdom HAS COME, which it had, because Jesus brought it with Him. The Kingdom was NEAR is also fitting because Jesus was on the earth and people could see Him, hear Him, and even touch Him. He had the kingdom with Him. To be near Jesus was to be near the kingdom. Jesus's Purpose During His Earthly Ministry The phrase Kingdom of God occurs 54 times in the gospels, and 32 of those times are in Luke. Luke is THEE Gospel that gives the most attention to the Kingdom of God. Luke 4:43 is the first time the phrase Kingdom of God occurs, and it’s very fitting: Luke 4:42 the people sought [Jesus] and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them 43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” People were trying to keep Jesus from leaving, but He told them he had to go so he could preach the kingdom. He went so far as to say this was his purpose. We see Him fulfill this purpose throughout His earthly ministry. A few examples: Luke 8:1 Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and BRINGING THE GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. And the twelve were with him, Jesus goes through the cities and villages preaching the kingdom of God, and then He commissions the twelve to do the same: Luke 9:1 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he SENT THEM OUT TO PROCLAIM THE KINGDOM OF GOD and to heal. The word proclaim contains kingdom imagery, because it describes a herald coming and making an announcement for the King. The Twelve Apostles would: announce that the King – or Messiah – had arrived tell people about the acts – the miracles and teachings – of the King escribe the King’s Kingdom tell people what the kingdom was like tell people how to enter the Kingdom Jesus, the King, attracted huge crowds, and He preached the kingdom to them: Luke 9:11 When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing. Jesus sent out the seventy and told them: Luke 10:9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ Jesus told the seventy if people rejected the Kingdom, they should move on but first let them know, “The kingdom of God was brought to you, but you blew it.” There are many other verses, but you get the idea that the Kingdom of God was being preached during Jesus’s earthly ministry. The Changing Message of the Unchanging Gospel For now, compare Luke 9:2 and 6: Luke 9:2 and he SENT THEM OUT TO PROCLAIM THE KINGDOM OF GOD and to heal. Luke 9:6 And they departed and went through the villages, PREACHING THE GOSPEL and healing everywhere. Luke 9:2 says they proclaimed the kingdom of God and Luke 9:6 says they preached the gospel because these are the same. They Preached the Kingdom of God in the Gospels We say Jesus died for our sins when preaching the gospel. If we heard a gospel presentation that didn’t mention Jesus’s death, we would probably say it’s not a gospel presentation. The nagging question is, “How did they preach the gospel before Jesus died?” This can even lead to terrible conclusions like, “Maybe there was no gospel before Jesus died.” But Luke 9:6 says they preached the gospel even though Jesus hadn’t died yet. The solution is that the revelation people had throughout history has been different at different times; therefore, the presentation – or preaching – of the Gospel has been different at different times. BUT the Gospel itself – or the way man is saved – has always been the same: by grace through faith. In Luke 9:6 it might look odd to say they preached the gospel because there is no mention of Jesus’ death, burial, or resurrection, but it hadn’t happened yet so thy couldn’t preach it. Instead, they preached what they could at the time, which was: God become a Man in the Person of Jesus Christ, came from heaven to earth, and brought His kingdom with Him. This was the primary message in the Gospels. Jesus began much of his teaching with, "The kingdom of God is like…" We might think it would make more sense if He said, “Salvation is like…” or “The gospel is like…” but becoming part of the Kingdom of God was being saved or believing the gospel. They Preached the Coming Messiah in the Old Testament Now I know the next question you’re asking… “Okay, then what did they preach in the Old Testament before the Messiah came with the kingdom of God?” Great question! They preached that the Messiah would come. And this brings us to the next part of lesson one… In the Old Testament people were saved by believing God would send a Messiah, like we are saved by believing God did send the Messiah. People looked forward in faith to the Messiah coming, like we look backward in faith believing the Messiah has come. Let me give you two verses that support this… Galatians 3:8 God…PREACHED THE GOSPEL…to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” This shows the gospel preached in the Old Testament. We are told it was preached to Abraham. This is the prophecy that the Messiah would be one of Abraham’s descendants. That’s how "all the nations [would] be blessed in, or through, Abraham. Abraham believed this prophecy that the Messiah would come, and was saved: Genesis 15:6 [Abraham] believed the Lord, and [the Lord] counted it to [Abraham] as righteousness. This is justification: Abraham believed and was justified, or declared righteous, by his faith. (NKJV) Hebrews 4:2 The gospel was preached to us as well as to [the Israelites in the wilderness]. The gospel was preached to the Israelites in the wilderness just like it was preached to us, church age believers. We aren’t told what exactly this Gospel presentation looked like, but there was some way for the Israelites to look forward in faith to Jesus so they could be saved. I think they saw Christ – or looked forward to Him in faith – through the amazing types and shadows of Christ they were exposed to in the wilderness: They saw Christ through the Bronze Serpent: John 3:14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” They saw Christ through the manna: John 6:32-33 “Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, My Father gives you the true bread from heaven (referring to Himself). For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 1 Corinthians 10:4 says Jesus was the rock in the wilderness that provided Israel with water, so they definitely saw Christ through the Rock. When Israel saw these types and shadows, they were seeing Christ, albeit in a veiled – or shadowy – way. They Preached Christ Crucified in the Church This is why there is such a dramatic change between the preaching in the Gospels and Acts. Preaching the Kingdom of God is the theme of the Gospels, so when the Book of Acts begins, we would expect to continue reading about the Kingdom of God being preached. But instead,...