How the Kingdom Will Come (Luke 17:20-37)

from the earliest times as we read in the Gnostic writings of the library of nag Hammadi of the writings of Anthony and Origen Luke 17 has been used as a proof text saying that Jesus came and fundamentally changed the Jewish apocalyptic narrative there was present in Judaism at the time and so I think it behooves us to look at Luke 17 and see what is really going on did was Jesus trying to change the hope that was commonly held in Judaism at the time or was he reaffirmed it I think Jesus was saying the latter so in verse 20 the Pharisees come to Jesus and they say when will the kingdom of God come and Jesus answers the kingdom of God is not coming and ways to be observed or other translations say with signs to be observed nor will they say look here it is or there for behold the kingdom of God is in the midst of you then he says to his disciples the days are coming when you'll 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 there or look here the parallel of this is Matthew 24 which adds look here in the inner courts or look there in the wilderness and I think this is key to understanding what Jesus is saying do not go out or follow them for as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other so will the Son of Man be in his day and then he goes on to describe the day of the Son of Man the day of the Lord that'll be like the days of Noah eating and drinking and then suddenly judgment comes in like the days of lot fire coming from heaven and so you have three issues and Luke 17 to deal with first is the kingdom that Jesus and the Pharisees are talking about the same kingdom do they view it as what is common in first century Judaism as the as the Jewish messianic kingdom that's assured in by the day of the Lord in which the Messiah comes raises the dead judges the living in the dead makes a new heavens and new earth and rewards the righteous with eternal life in the kingdom of God the Jewish messianic kingdom or is it something fundamentally different in which Jesus is introducing a different vision of the kingdom of God first so secondly in light of that is verse twenty B and verse 21 saying the same thing as verses 22 through 37 or is it saying something different what's the relationship between those two things and then third why does Jesus change the verb for come between verses 20 and 20 B or 20 a and 20 B and verse 21 from Erica my to Amy so these are the three issues to look at now in most modern commentaries and throughout church history the idea is that the Pharisees had kind of this overly apocalyptic nationalistic ethnocentric Jewish hope that gets characterized like this and Jesus is criticizing that overly future-oriented hope saying you're focusing too much on the future and the coming of the Jewish messianic kingdom when actually that Jewish kingdom is being spiritually realized now and it's in the midst of you I don't believe this is at all what Jesus is saying but rather I think Luke 17 overall is a polemic against Jewish zealots very active in first century Judaism and so Jewish zealots Riis the idea that in in kind of in the way of the Maccabees as the type zealotry grew up with the idea that the righteous would gather together by the strength of the flesh in the inner room scheming out in the wilderness they would rise up they would cast off the Romans and they would help God uh sure in the day of the Lord and the Jewish messianic kingdom and so I think this is what Jesus is criticizing the Pharisees not that they have an overly apocalyptic hope but that there hope is not apocalyptic enough that it's watered down by the zealots that they have sympathy with the zealots and they're looking for signs for how the kingdom is going to come signs of Jewish insurgency and Jewish zealots and Jesus says the kingdom is not coming by the strength of the flesh slowly from within Israel rather it's coming apocalyptically from heaven from God like lightning from the east to the west like in the days of Noah like in the days of lot and so I think this is the overall push of what Jesus is saying there for Jesus and the Pharisees are talking about the same Kingdom Jesus is criticizing how they see that Kingdom being ushered in they see it by the strength of the flesh in a zealot type way Jesus says it's coming apocalyptically from God alone and they need to trust in God alone and pray to him okay and so because of this Jesus's response in 20 B and 21 I think is saying the same thing as verses 22 through 37 it's an apocalyptic response this is how the kingdom is coming so this brings us to our third point why does Jesus change the verb from air kamae to Amy in verse 21 the Pharisees asked when will the kingdom come ere kamae Jesus says the kingdom is not coming air kamae with signs to be observed but rather the kingdom is Amy in the midst of you so first thing to note is that the verb Amy to be can be translated to come and often is when it's in relation to origin so any a common search of any lexicon like the bee dag will show that when it's used with Amy is used with origin it communicates movement to come for example like when the Pharisees asked Jesus about his authority over the temple and he says what about the baptism of John where from where was it or from where did it come from heaven or from man or like with Jesus and Nathanael in Daniel says Nazareth can anything good be from Nazareth or can anything good come from Nazareth and this isn't the exact point of Luke 17 where is the origin of the kingdom from where does it come or from where is it and Jesus says it is not from the strength of man it's not its origin isn't from the strength of man the zealots the origin is from God in heaven therefore you won't say here it is in the inner courts or there it is out in the wilderness rather the kingdom of God is comes into your midst and that lines up perfectly with verses 22 and following in which the the kingdom of God comes apocalyptically into Israel's myths not from out of it okay so I think also a me also is used Jesus chooses that verb because of its association with God because God is the great I am Amy and the Septuagint and so the point is that on the last day the Jewish messianic Kingdom is it's apocalyptic suddenly all encompassing the Messianic Kingdom is because it's from God and it comes from God from heaven suddenly rather than from man from within Israel and so in light of all this I think the overall point is rather than a redefinition or realization or re-imagination reinterpretation whatever of the Jewish apocalyptic hope Luke 17 is a radical reaffirmation and a confirmation of the Jewish apocalyptic hope and that it is contra Jewish zealot how much more contra all the gentiles le-tree in the church militant and Constantinian ISM throughout the ages Luke 17 is a needed passage and a correction for the church to put its hope in God alone to bring salvation on the day of the Lord

Channel: John Harrigan

Views: 2,372

Rating: 4.8490567 out of 5

Keywords: Kingdom of God, Jewish apocalypticism, day of the lord, return of jesus, Luke 17, zealotry

Id: -Je9nd1DKiQ

Length: 8min 44sec (524 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 22 2018