The Kingdom And The End. Series

The kingdom and the end. Lk 17:20-38 WBC 17/3/2 am

1) SIMPLE? v20

We’re looking at the KOG and the ‘end of the world’, here

Many think = simple! Can extrapolate a text… the texts… revn

- get chronology

- work out exactly what’s gonna happen, when

My experience is- this is NOT simple!

- think about it ! If the Son of God doesn’t even know the dates (Mt 13:22)- then how are we going to?

- It’s made more complex by

- A) Different texts giving different slants. They fill in the picture on a mystery… not a jigsaw. (Olivet discourses: Mt 24, Lk 21)

- B) Prophetic telescoping of events:

- Jesus death/resurrection

- Fall of Jerusalem (70AD)

- End of world

 all ‘telescoped’ together

- and this is correct. Right. It’s the way the prophetic works

- people see things with no ‘dates’

- besides, we are in one ‘date’/’era’: the ‘last days’

- days started with Jesus’ coming

- = asynchronous. Cf Dan 9: 70 7’s. Has chronology up to 69th 7- then the clock stops. We are in the last 7

- C) Apocalyptic language

- This kind of has a similar effect to the prophetic. Lumps everything together by using one kind of dramatic language. Hyperbole. ‘the earth shook’ kind of thing

Cf MT 24:29 "Immediately after the distress of those days `the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ (citing Isaiah)

- what’s it referring to? Lit 3 hrs of darkness while Jesus was on the cross… is it a metaphor for how people will feel (shaken & stirred)… or end of world being universally cataclysmic?

- Probably the darkness after Jesus’ death (as it comes hot on the heels of ‘where there is a carcass’)

- But it’s very hard to tell as it only has ONE kind of language (force 10 on the Richter scale)

- Cf “coming on the clouds of heaven”

- Often think of this as final coming… but in fact the term comes from Dan 7 and is used by Jesus to the high priest in Mt 26:64 about his resurrection. Receiving power and authority

- = also used of His second coming

- rightly used of BOTH. (prophetically, linguistically)

- all are echoes of the other

- (death/resurrection… 70AD… end of world)

- except these echoes don’t die away… they build up. They are ‘birth pains’.

So- this is not simple. As the message puts it beautifully “ the KOG does not come by counting the days on the calendar”

But there ARE some very clear things from this & all texts

2) STARTS NOW v21

first clear thing: it starts NOW. That doesn’t mean no future element

- but the Pharisees were into the future. Date setting. Chronology etc

But Jesus says “it’s here, NOW” “Don’t miss it”

- don’t miss the rule and reign of the King NOW. Here. Among you. Inside you. In your lives. Around you. Don’t miss the reign shown in my ministry

= possible to spend lots of time fretting about the future

- how will it end? My job? Providing etc. (must think about these things)

 but TODAY is where God is. Where He wants to meet you, provide for you. Do things. Use you.

- cf the Thessalonians were so wrapped up in eschatology they weren’t doing anything! Had gone OTT and stalled!

So- as we’ve learned from our series on the KOG

- it starts now. Steak on the plate while you wait. Heaven is continuation and culmination of this

- we’re awaiting the KOG’s fulfilment

3) SICK- (homesick) v22

don’t know how else to put this. What other ‘title’ to use

= me trying to describe v22… and describe our experience that

- God IS in HERE. With us. Jesus HAS changed us. But we’re

- Hungry for heaven

- Hungry… crying out… for more

- Homesick. Ie aware that – it’s not here in its fullness

- This is not our permanent home

- = sojourners

- = groaning to be released

RO 8:22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Homesick. Longing for the Lord and the kingdom to be consummated. Fulfilled