The Nature Of The Kingdom

The Nature of the Kingdom

Luke 17:20–37 NKJV

Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them. For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

“In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.”

And they answered and said to Him, “Where, Lord?”

So He said to them, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”

What comes into your mind when someone talks about a Kingdom? The first deduction is that there is a kingdom that there must also be a king (or queen) who rules over it. We don’t have many kings today, and many of today’s monarchs like Charles III of Great Britain serve mostly ceremonial roles. But we do use similar words like “dictator” and “dictatorship” to indicate the absolute rule of some person over a particular land or dominion. We also use the terms “empire” and “hegemony.” Such entities might claim to be democracies, but everyone knows that this is mostly fraudulent. So even if we don’t formally have kings and kingdoms or something which is called an empire, we know quite well the trappings of monarchy. There is a rules based order which is imposed upon the vassals whereas the rulers are above the law.

Things weren’t any different in the days of Jesus. Jesus lived in Palestine which was ruled by one of the Herods who was, in turn, a vassal client of Rome. Rome was an Empire ruled over by an Emperor, and the emperors of the Roman Empire imagined themselves to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Rome was in the opinion of many to be the “Eternal City.” So, Jesus of Nazareth in the flesh was subject to being ruled over along with His fellow Jews and many other subject people.

We would get the idea that many in Israel resented being ruled over by Gentile rulers, but not all. Being subject to the Romans could offer many benefits as well. The Sadducees profited mightily over their co-operation with Rome. So did the Herodians. They would have seen the claims of any rival king, even one coming up from a Son of David as being a threat. But these were a minority of the Jews who were trampled under by both the religious establishment of Israel as well as Caesar. The Pharisees were mostly of the small merchant class and were basically middle-class. These might want for better conditions but were content to have influence over the common people. They promised much and delivered little to the poor of the land who lived from day to day in poverty.

The conditions of that day led to a political movement in Israel called the “Zealots.” These were those who advocated revolution against the establishment. They were always looking for a charismatic leader to gain a following to lead the people in “stasis” or revolution. They looked to Scripture and believed that such a leader who would do exactly this was prophesied there. This person was described the term “Messiach” or “Messiah.” Barabbas was apparently one of these as he was arrested by Rome for the crime of “stasis” in which at least one person was murdered. There was Judas the Galilean and others who are mentioned as well. The fact that Jesus was a son of David and talked about the Kingdom of God stirred up much interest among these Zealots and to some degree the Pharisees as well.