The Kingdom is at Hand

Well, when Jesus Christ came to earth the first time, and when he began his ministry, he made some comments early on that probably got the attention of the people, the Jews of that day.

Not only got their attention, but probably excited them somewhat, because he said things that they had heard no one say before, and he said it in a different manner than they ever heard anyone say before. And it made them realize that perhaps, just perhaps, something was happening that they'd been waiting for for a long time. So, to begin today, let's turn back to Mark 1.

Mark 1, as you're turning there, we'll see words that Jesus Christ said, the very first words recorded for him in the book of Mark. But leading up to this, we see Jesus Christ, we see his life, we see that he is baptized. He was perfect. He had no sins to wash away, but to set the example for us, he was baptized. The Holy Spirit came upon him.

You remember, he went through the great temptation, the temptation far beyond anything you and I have ever been through. He successfully overcame certain. Remember, he did it with the Word of God.

Every word that he spoke against Satan was with the Word of God as that armed him. And then in verse 14, it tells us in Mark 1, John was put in prison, and Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. The kingdom of God is at hand. The actual translation is, the kingdom of God is near. And that's the message that he took out. Before him, John the Baptist was saying that as well. So the people of Judah during that time knew something was up. Here's a different message than they've been hearing. They hadn't heard it from the priests in the temple. They hadn't heard it from the other elders that they knew. But here's John the Baptist saying, repent. The kingdom of God is near and believe the gospel. They went out and got baptized. Then Jesus Christ comes along. After John the Baptist pointed him out and said, this is the Lamb of God. This is the one who you're waiting for. And he too is saying, the kingdom of God is near. And so he began his ministry that lasted three and a half years, and he did things that had not been seen in Judah before, had not been seen or recognized. And his fame grew far and wide, as you know, because he did things that were simply impossible for man to do.

So go back to Matthew 9. Matthew 9.

And we count some of his history. Matthew 9 and verse 27.

I'm going to go down to verse 35, but I think it's always good to look at the context of what we're reading here to see what the context is as we come to the verse that we'll be going to. In verse 27 it says, Jesus departed from there, or when he did, two blind men followed him, crying out and saying, Son of David, have mercy on us. And when he had come into the house, the blind men came to him. And Jesus said to them, Do you believe? Do you believe that I'm able to do this? And they said, Yes, Lord. So he touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith, let it be to you. And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, See that no one knows it. He wasn't doing it to have his name put all over the place. But he knew his fame and these words, his actions were going to be known among the people. But when they departed, they spread the news about him and all that country. You know, as you and I would be, if we had a disease, if we were blind, if we were lame, if we were healed, yes, you would want to talk about what happened to you and who, who had made that happen, this man Jesus. As they went out, behold, they brought to him a man, mute and demon possessed. And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. In the multitudes, marvel, saying, It was never seen like this in Israel. We've never seen anything like this before. This is totally different than the things we've experienced. We've talked about healing before. We've seen things happen, but we've never had people blind from birth that have had sight. We've never seen the mute and demon possessed that were, that, that they were healed and the demon was cast out. Well, the Pharisees, as they are watching these things, they're watching their kingdom, the kingdom they had set up with them in power. They're getting a little antsy about this man, Jesus Christ, who is out there working these works and saying things like, The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel. And they're seeing these works, and so they try to discredit him. The Pharisees said, He cast out demons by the ruler of the demons. Don't pay any attention to him. He's not of God. Pay attention to us. What they did was discredit. So Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

Preaching the gospel, talking about the kingdom of God, saying things like, The kingdom of God is near. The kingdom of God is at hand. And then accompanying it with all these signs and works that he's doing, healing people, every manner of illness, every manner of disease, every manner of malady that someone would have, he healed them all. And then he would say, The kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God is near. They had not ever seen anything like that in Israel. It had never been like that before. No one had said those words before. And no one could command those words and support those words with the action and the faith that he displayed.

One chapter over in Matthew 10, just a few verses down from where we are, Jesus Christ sends out disciples. And notice what he tells them in Matthew 10. We'll pick it up in verse 8, verse 5, I'm sorry. He's 12. He's 12 that he's sending out. He commands them, saying, Don't go into the way of the Gentiles. Don't enter a city of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

It is near. It is there. It is among you. Verse 8, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Don't charge for your services. Go out and heal the people. Go out and help them. Go out and teach them. Go out there and minister to them. You don't worry about money. Don't you dare take any money for your services. You've given this freely. You've been given this freely. You freely give it to them and serve the people that God sent them to. In Luke 10, you don't need to turn there. You see that He sends 70 out with the same message that He sent these 12 out. Go out and preach. The kingdom of God is at hand.

Heal everyone. Heal the people. Cast out demons. Stay in the places that receive you. And He says at the end of that sequence of verses in Luke 10, we're just talking about that. If they reject you, they've rejected me. If they reject you, they've rejected me.

When we go on in Matthew 12, and we see Jesus Christ casting out demons in verse 28, and as He speaks to the Pharisees there, who again are trying to make it sound like He's not of God. He's not who you think He is. He's of Satan, and that's why He's able to cast these demons out. In verse 28, He says, if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, which He was showing Satan wasn't going to cast out work against himself, if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you, Pharisees. What are you worried about? If I can do this, if these demons are being cast out, and I'm doing it by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom is here. It would have been music, if you will, to the Jews of that day. They'd been waiting for a Messiah. They'd been waiting for Him to come. They knew the Scriptures of the Old Testament. They knew the prophecies that Christ would come again, and they believed the kingdom would be restored to them at that time. Here they were living under Roman rule. Even though it was a relatively peaceful time in Roman rule, they were able to practice their religion the way they want, but they still were under the dominion of Rome.

They knew the prophecies. They knew what went on. They knew about four world-ruling kingdoms. They knew about Babylon, the Medes and Persians, the Greeks, and here they were under Roman rule, that fourth kingdom prophesied in Daniel 2. And as this man came about doing these works that had never before been seen in Israel, saying words that had never been said before in Israel, they were thinking back to those things and thinking, this is He. The kingdom must be at hand.

How could it be any other way? They would have been excited that they would have been waiting for this to happen. This is what their entire history was about. The Pharisees, on the other hand, the leaders of the church, had quite a different take on it. They didn't want the kingdom of God there. They had a pretty nice setup. Everyone looked to them. Everyone bowed to them. Everyone thought they were the preeminence of everything that went on in Israel. So to have this threat of the kingdom was like, well, you know, we don't want a Messiah to come. We don't want this man to take over our dominion. We don't want to give up our offices to this Jesus Christ who is doing these things. They had a lot of self-interest at heart and a lot of not God's Spirit at heart, but another Spirit working in them that was going to work against Jesus Christ and discredit, try to discredit everything that He did, even discrediting the Holy Spirit. And as you go through Matthew 12, you see where on verse 31, Jesus Christ said, many things will be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

So we have the situation in Judea there of people who believed or were beginning to believe that this was Jesus Christ. Let's go back to the Old Testament and look at some of the verses that they would have known very well, that as they watched what was going on in Israel, as they watched everyone who was brought to Him healed, as they watched demons being cast out, as they watched people who were blind and deaf from birth being given back their senses or not given back, just given their senses for the first time, something was different. All the signs were there. In chapter 9 of Isaiah, verse 6, I'm sure they would have thought of this, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Surely this man who's doing all these things that we haven't seen before in Israel, he could be this child that it talks about in Isaiah 9.

Go back to Isaiah 2, and remember they didn't have the benefit that you and I do. They had no idea that Jesus Christ was going to return to come to the earth once, go back to heaven, and then return to the earth a second time. They didn't see that or understand that at all, so when the Messiah would come, it would just be natural for them to think he's going to take the kingdom back at that time.

And there they were in Jerusalem under Roman rule. Here's Jesus doing all these works, and he's in Jerusalem and in Judah. So Isaiah 2 would have been alive to them, and here's a prophecy being fulfilled. It shall come to pass, verse 2, in the latter days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains. It shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it. These Romans, one day they're going to bow to Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God. One day it'll be Israel that is on top, and the other nations will be looking at it.

Many people will come and say, come, let's go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways. We will walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, right where we are, right where we should be, right where he is prophesied to come. He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people.

They'll beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation won't lift up sword against nation, and they won't learn war anymore. Beautiful, beautiful versus beautiful vision that they had. Here was this man, and they could see these coming alive. The time of rule, the time of this age, if you will, that they were in is over. This man must be the king, or could be the king that we're waiting for. Isaiah 29. He was saying the right words.

The signs of the kingdom that God would set up are with him. Isaiah 29 verse 18, In that day, in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book. Now people are getting healed of lifelong deafness. In that day, the deaf shall hear the words of the book. The eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The humble will increase. Their joy in the Lord and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

Look at these things that the Bible says. This is what will happen when the kingdom of God comes. Look what this man is doing, who is saying the kingdom of God is near. The kingdom of God is at hand.

Isaiah 35. The chapter you likely hear every year when you go to the Feast of Tabernacles, speaking of the time yet ahead of us when Jesus Christ does return and establish his kingdom on earth. In verse 3 of Isaiah 35, strengthen the weak hands. Make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, be strong. Don't fear. Behold, your God will come with vengeance. With the recompense of God, he will come and save you. These are words that the Jews who knew their Bible so much better than you and I do, they would know these words and they would be waiting for this time. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb sing. And then it talks about the physical aspects of God's restoration of the kingdom as well. So as they looked around and saw what Jesus Christ was doing, when they saw the words that he was saying, then they watched to put the whole picture together, who would blame them for not saying, ah, the kingdom of God is near.

He's here to restore the kingdom to Israel. That's what he is here for. And so later you find on, you see them having a procession and welcoming Jesus Christ into Jerusalem that day.

They would also have known Daniel. Go forward to Daniel 2.44 and they would have had expectations of how this man would be. He was saying the right words. He was doing things that no other person, that no other person had ever done in Israel. We've never seen anything like this in Israel.

Daniel 2.44. This is the chapter that describes Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the statue. Daniel comes and under inspiration of God, he repeats or he explains to Nebuchadnezzar what all of it means. And in verse 44, he comes, at the end of that fourth ruling kingdom, remember they were in their Roman rule. They didn't know that Rome was going to last from that time all the way to the return of Jesus Christ thousands of years later. They were under Roman rule in the fourth kingdom of what that statue represented. In verse 44, it says, in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. And as much as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this.

The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure. I look around and I size up everything going on today. I'm now just waiting for the God of heaven to take this Roman kingdom by force and establish his kingdom forever and ever and ever. If we lived during that time, we would know it. We would think of these same verses and all the others that we could turn to, and you would look at Jesus Christ and say, He is the Messiah we're waiting for. Nothing has ever been seen like this.

Before in Israel, He was fulfilling these scriptures. But as He began His ministry, while they were waiting for Him and time went on, He didn't do what they expected Him to do when they expected Him to do it. He was doing all these things. He was a kind and gentle leader. Thousands came to listen to Him. He healed all who were sick.

But He didn't have the dynamic intent that they could see of wiping out that Roman rule and taking the kingdom by force like they would have read in Daniel 2. And so if we go back to Matthew and look at chapter 11, we've been in chapter 10 and 12, we see as time went on that some might have been wondering, well, what are you waiting for? You've done these things. Why don't you just take the kingdom? Why don't you just take the kingdom back? Chapter 11 of Matthew, verse 1. It came to pass when Jesus finished commanding His 12 disciples that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. And we know what He was preaching.

And when John the Baptist had heard in prison about the works of Christ, remember, he's been in prison now for a while because when His ministry ended, He was put in prison. Jesus Christ began preaching, repent, to believe the gospel. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. When John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, He sent two of His disciples and said, are you the coming one, or do we look for another?

You know, maybe John was thinking, well, I'm in prison. This would be a good time for you to open the prison's doors and set the prisoners free, like it says in Isaiah 61. And like maybe by that time, as was recorded in Luke 4, he said those words, this would be a good time for you to take the kingdom and end this Roman rule and set us all free. But I don't see you doing that. In fact, we don't see that at all. We see everything else, but we don't see you taking control of the power that we expected you to do. You're not doing it the way we thought it would be. So John comes and says, well, are you the one we're looking for, or should we look for another? And notice what Jesus answers him. Jesus answered and said to them, Go and tell John the things which you hear and see. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

Isn't that what the kingdom of heaven is about? Didn't you read that in the Bible? You know what that is. It's not man's doing. It's the kingdom of heaven. It's God doing it. Look, when I say the kingdom of heaven is near, it's accompanied by all the signs and everything that you read in the old covenant and the Old Testament would happen. Well, that makes sense. That's what they had seen.

What else would he say in verse 6? And blessed is he who is not offended because of me.

Blessed is he who is not offended because of me. What was he saying in that verse?

Well, he wasn't the king that they expected him to be. He wasn't developing armies and gathering armies together. He wasn't mounting an assault on the Pharisees. He wasn't mounting an assault on the Romans. He just kept doing the things that he was doing. He would preach. He would teach.

He would heal. He would say, believe the gospel. Repent. The kingdom of heaven is near. It's at hand. But he didn't do the rest. And so some began to doubt. Well, you're not doing what we expected you to do. We don't know what you mean the kingdom of heaven is near. I like the way Barnes notes explain that verse. It's what they said. He says, they didn't understand that the Messiah would be rejected. That there would be a church or in Christian age that would last for millennia during which God would call people from all nations and tongues. That the gospel would be preached around the world and not just in Judea. And the Messiah would die, live again, and ascend into heaven, and then return. They didn't know any of that. They didn't know the complete plan of God.

What they knew was what the Old Covenant said or what the Old Testament says and thought, he should be ready to take the kingdom. We've seen it. We believe. We've seen what you've done.

Now take the kingdom. They didn't understand and they began to doubt. So Jesus Christ said, well, don't be offended because of me. Believe what you know. Watch the signs.

Know the kingdom of heaven is near. And just because it's not working the way you thought it would, don't lose faith. Don't lose faith at all. Instead, have more faith in God.

Wait. Watch and pray, Jesus would say. Just like He told the apostles as He was ascending into heaven in Acts 1, wait for me. And they went and they prayed. In Luke 21, verse 36, He tells His disciples, watch and pray. Wait for me. Just because it's not the way you think it should be doesn't mean that it isn't the way God intended it to be. We don't know everything of what His plan is. And the people of Judea, well, would either learn that later as they came into the church, or when they're resurrected, they'll understand what the plan of God was.

So He goes on and He talks to them. You know, they leave. The disciples of John leave and He starts talking to the multitudes. He lauds John the Baptist as a great prophet, no one born of women that is a greater prophet than Him. And down in verse 13, verse 12 of Matthew 11, He says this to the multitudes that are there. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

Until from the days of John the Baptist until now. Well, that would have been three and a half, four years earlier. John the Baptist was the the forerunner of Jesus Christ. So for six months before Jesus Christ began His ministry, would have been, you know, not three and a half years at this point in Matthew 11.

From the time of John the Baptist till now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets in the law prophesied until John. What does that verse mean? From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. He is giving them a clue. If we spoke Greek or whatever language is being spoke as he spoke, we would understand what he's saying.

The translation is a little tough here in verse 12 to understand what it means. If you go back to Young's literal translation, here's what it says. It says this. If I can find out my notes here. Well, let me give you the... no, here's Young's literal. And from the values of John the Baptist till now, the reign of heaven does suffer violence, and violent men do take it by force.

What he's saying is there are people who don't want the kingdom of God. There are people who are opposed to the kingdom of God. Hard for many of those people of Judea to understand that. There would be people opposed to the kingdom of God. They don't want the Messiah to return. They don't want the Messiah to take control. They don't want that to happen. Even the NIV, among most of the newer translations, translates it in this manner. From the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, Christ said, the kingdom of heaven has been suffering from violence, and violent people are attacking it.

They don't want it. Well, he was letting the people that hear know, you know, if you've had this question, are you the coming one, or do we wait for another? He says, all the signs are there. I'm telling you, the kingdom of heaven is near.

Later in Luke 17, he'll say the kingdom of heaven is within you. More appropriately, we know should be translated among you, meaning it's in your midst. I'm here. The kingdom of heaven is near. The plan of God has advanced to the point where Jesus Christ was there. He will be the king of heaven. He was there at that time to fulfill his mission at that time that he's going to be, which means the kingdom was near to them, and he was among them as he went about his works and preached to the multitudes that were there.

But he's telling them here in verse 12, there are people who don't want the kingdom of heaven. Violent men, violent men, will attack it. The kingdom of heaven will suffer from violence. And indeed, that began to happen. The Pharisees made absolutely, didn't try to hide it at all, that they were anti-Jesus Christ. They were anti everything he was doing. Not once did they stop and think, well, maybe he is the Messiah.

Shouldn't we be welcoming the kingdom of God in? Shouldn't we be listening to him? Maybe we should be paying attention. It was absolutely not. All we want to do is stop his message, stop him, stop this talk about the kingdom of God, and you know what? Kill him. Sensor him completely so we never have to hear of this again. Don't let him even talk and let's not have any more of these miracles and the good that he's doing to the people around.

End this talk about the kingdom of God. We're the ones that people should be looking to. We are going to hold strong to the positions and the titles that we have. We don't want God's kingdom to come. We don't want the Messiah. What we have today is exactly what we want, and that's where it needs to be. That's what Jesus Christ was warning them would come.

And those who listened that day, as they watched what was going on, they must not have understood what he said, because a lot of the things that Jesus Christ said he'll tell us, you won't understand now, but you'll understand later. I'm sure the disciples later on thought back on some of these words and thought, you know what? That's what he was saying. That was what he's telling us. Exactly what he said is what happened. They completely wiped out, completely wiped him out and tried to do the ancient cancel culture on him. Let's forget he even existed. Let's wipe his name out. Let's penalize anyone who would even talk about Jesus Christ or bring his name up. Let's just get rid of him and forget he ever existed. That was what? Taking the kingdom of heaven by violence ended up being. And so time went on. You know, in Luke 16, Luke 16 and verse 16, Luke makes a comment that Jesus Christ had made showing that there was now there was we were at a different time than the time before he began his ministry. In verse 16, he says, Luke 16, the law and the prophets were until John. That was what was preached until then. They're still valid.

That's all the scriptures and the truth you had. Since that time, the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it. Since that time, the kingdom of God is preached.

The law and the prophets are still there. Jesus Christ made it clear. I didn't come to do away with the law and the prophets. Everything that's written there is true. But now we're going to talk about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is near. The kingdom of God is at hand. You are living in a unique time in history. The kingdom of God is in your midst. It's among you. Wake up.

He might have been telling those people, look at what's going on.

Understand the time that you live in, because the time is at hand. I had already referenced Luke 17, but let's look at Luke 17 anyway in verse 11 here.

Since we're here in Luke, read the context. I'm going to go down to verse 21. But in verse 11, it says, It happened as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Savaria and Galilee. Then as he entered a certain village, there met him ten men, who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. So when he saw them, he said, Go show yourselves to the priest. And so it was, as they went, they were cleansed. He gave him an order to do. They were headed that way. He healed them. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned. And with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan, not even a Jew. He was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, Weren't there ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? Ninety percent. Ninety percent of those who were healed of leprosy, impossible to heal it. There was no medicine. There was no ointment. There was nothing except God who could heal leprosy. And 90 percent never even came back to say, Thank you. Isn't that amazing? Just took it for granted. It got on with their lives. Whether they were among those in the crowds that day when they were yelling, Crucify him, Crucify him after he did that, it just makes you wonder what happened to these people? What happened to all the people that were healed of all the diseases and all these from birth deformities that they had that Jesus healed? Were they among their saying, Crucify him, Crucify him because he didn't live up to the expectations that he had that he be that they began to believe the Pharisees and what they said? What happened to those people? Gratitude we can never we can never underscore enough how important it is to have the gratitude toward God.

Anyway, he says, Aren't there any that would return to give God except this foreigner?

And he said to them, Arise, go your way, your faith has made you well.

Now, when he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come?

Notice what's in their mind. Okay, they're watching what's going on. Well, when will this kingdom that you keep saying is at hand, when will it come? A month from now, a year from now, decade from now? Can you give us a time? I don't know what was in their minds, but they're asking and they're asking, well, when? Maybe they were sizing up what their reaction to this needed to be or trying to get the information from them. And he answered and said, the kingdom of God doesn't come with observation, nor will they say, See here or see there. For indeed, the kingdom of God is, as it should be translated, among you or in your midst. You won't see it coming. You may not look around. You don't know, as Jesus Christ would tell his disciples later, no one knows the day or the hour except the God the Father. I can't give you Pharisees the day that the kingdom of God will come. But you better keep your eyes open. Better keep your ears open. You better know the Bible and you better be close to God because if you're not, you're going to be against it. You're going to want to nullify it. You're going to want to cancel it out of your existence because it means a big change in the way you're living now. And he answered in that way. Indeed, the kingdom of heaven is within you. It's in your midst. It's among where you are. Jesus Christ, all the things that he did, heal the sick, cast out demons, calm the sea, preach forgiveness, preach oneness, preach unity, preach loving God, preach doing the things the way God said, preach things like the way the Gentiles, their way is to lord it over you and have authority over you. But Christ said, I say to you, to those who want to be great, let them be your servant. Just as Jesus Christ came to not to be served, but to serve.

All these words that he said were that were the antithesis of what they expected. All these platitudes, if you will, all these things that he would say that would keep them guessing.

Guessing. We like him. Thousands flocked to him.

But then there were thousands and multitudes who were chanting, crucify him, crucify him. We don't want what he has to offer anymore.

Let's go to Luke. Well, we are in Luke. Luke 21. I'm sorry. Let's stay in Luke 17. Luke 17.

Well, it's easy to see why the Jews of Jesus Christ's time, when they heard him say the kingdom of heaven is near, why they believed him.

Maybe if we think about it in their terms, if we didn't have God's Holy Spirit and we didn't have the hindsight of 2,000 years from that time that Jesus Christ lived, maybe we would have been among the same. You're disappointing me. Take the kingdom. Get out and conquer it. Get rid of Pilate. Get rid of Herod. Get rid of these Romans. Set up your kingdom. You're selling us it's near.

But he didn't do it. But all the signs of Jesus Christ's first coming and the kingdom of God were evident. The blind see. The deaf hear. Demons are cast out. The dead are raised.

The gospel of the kingdom of God is preached. All the signs were there that were there in the Old Testament that would mark or accompany the appearance of the Messiah on earth. But he did what they didn't expect. He died. He was resurrected. He ascended to heaven and for 2,000, almost 2,000 years, he's been in heaven. And there was a whole other age that was going to a transpire. Not just for Israel, Judah, and the other 11 or 12 tribes if you want to split Ephraim and Manasseh into two. But there would be a time that he would start his church. And that would be the body that he's working with. Everyone from any, God would call from any tribe, tongue, nation, background, could be part of that. They didn't count on that. They didn't know about that.

They didn't know there'd be this Christian age and there'd be these 2,000 years. They didn't know that the Spirit of God would be poured out on the people. And then eventually, well, they knew eventually the Spirit of God because as there in Joel, God will pour out his Spirit on all people. Jeremiah 31 said it, but they didn't know that would happen before Jesus Christ came and established his kingdom. They'd learned that if they lived and came on over into the Christian church, or they'll learn it when they are resurrected. But Jesus Christ in Luke 17, when the Pharisees asked, well, when will the kingdom of God come? And he goes, not by observation. You're not going to see it coming. There's the word suddenly and people falling asleep, lulling themselves to sleep and not paying attention to what's going on.

And it goes on in verse 22. 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. You'll wish I was here, but I won't be here with you. And they'll say to you, look here or look there. Don't go after them or follow them, he says. Well, that wasn't happening in the old days of his time, but now he's talking about signs that will accompany the second coming of Jesus Christ. Same things that he says, tells us in Matthew 24, when the disciples ask, well, what will be the signs that accompany your second coming? What will be the end of the age? What are those signs? Jesus Christ didn't say in Matthew 24, well, you'll see healings and you'll see demons cast out, you'll see the blind receiving sight, and you'll see the deaf getting their hearing back. Those things may happen, but those aren't the signs that he said that would accompany his second coming when he would be saying, the kingdom of heaven is near, repent, and believe the gospel.

The signs of his second coming are different, and he tells them here in Luke 17. They'll say, oh, Jesus Christ is over here. He says, don't believe it. Don't believe it when you hear that. Don't go running out to the desert and thinking, oh, Jesus Christ has come in the dark of night, and these people know where it is. For those lightning flashes out of one part under heaven, whereas 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. You'll know when I return. Everyone will see, everyone will see even those who pierced me, he says, meaning the Jews, the group that put him to death. But first, first, to those that are there that day, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. They're not going to accept me. They don't want me as their Messiah.

They're going to say, no, we don't want Jesus Christ as our Messiah. I'll be rejected. They don't want to hear what I have to say. They don't want me. And then he says, here's another sign, as it was in the days of Noah, it will be 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. It was just, hey, just like any other day, everything was going along just fine. All the warnings were there. The people around Noah knew this man is building an ark in the middle of nowhere, and he's been doing it for a hundred years. But they just went on with life and kind of just put it out of their mind and thought, no, it'll never happen. Kind of reminds you what Peter says in 2 Peter 3. Ah, things just go on as they always have. Things will go back to the way they were before, just kind of outlast this one, and things will go back to the way they were before. They didn't pay attention to that ark being built. In Noah preaching, this is what's happening because every life was good. They had plenty of things around them, even though they should have been growing closer to God and listening to what was being said. Verse 28, as it was in the days of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built.

Life was good! Thriving economy! Wonderful place to live! All the conveniences, all the comforts of that day. So much so that when Lot was brought out of Sodom, they had to drag him out. And his wife, as she was looking at what was going on, she looked back. You know, life was good back then. We had it all. Where are we headed? What are we doing? And we see what, or you know what her end was. 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.

Oh, when the kingdom of heaven is near, when the return of Jesus Christ is near, there will be these signs to look for. There will be these signs to pay attention to.

Not the same signs that would mark Jesus Christ's first coming. In Luke 21, in verse 28, Luke, talking about the Olivet prophecy that we often speak of in Matthew 24, he says, when these things begin to happen. You know when you see these things happening?

When you kind of look at what's going on in the world around you, and you hear things like, this has never happened before. I've never heard words being spoke like this before.

We never lived in an age where when people are calling evil good, it defies the imagination.

How can you call that good? And how can you call that evil? How can you do that?

When you live in an age where you find yourselves puzzled, hearing the things that you hear, they call evil good and good evil. When you hear things like censorship, when you hear things like, we'll just wipe that out. I don't want anyone to know what that opinion is. It may be political views now. It may be things concerning about whatever it is that someone doesn't want you to know, a select group of people that had decided what, in some cases, the masses should hear and know. When you hear things like that that you've never heard in your lives before, you might want to think about it. You might want to think, this is what the Bible says, look where this is going.

When you look around and you hear even in your newscasts the word lawlessness, and many people who are saying, just get rid of laws. Why do we need the laws? Just let everyone do what they need to do. We don't need any law enforcers. We don't need any of this stuff. When you hear lawlessness and these things begin to happen, you might take notice. You might take notice.

When you see the economy, when you see money begin to be controlled and the advent of whatever it will be that leads to Revelation 13, and you see where maybe not a government, but maybe corporations will determine whether you can buy or sell based on what you believe and what you choose to do, you might want to take notice. You've never heard that before. It's never happened in our lives times before. Christ says when these things begin to happen, when you see pestilence in a way that you've never seen before, when you see a pandemic that has worldwide implications, and you see the direction of nothing but control emanating out of it. Do this, do that, and you see the advent of a different type of government that doesn't champion at all freedom of speech. Unless you happen to agree with those who agree or who are saying things, you might want to pay attention. Jesus Christ is saying when you see these things happening, when you look at what the world is like before the return of Jesus Christ, and you begin to see those buds open up. You know, you watch a tree, the bud doesn't open up. It's not just there one day and all of a sudden the flower is there, the leaf is there. You see the buds, and over a period of time they open up. And what he's saying here is when these things begin to happen, look up, open your eyes, unstop your ears, look up and lift up your heads. Because your redemption is near, the kingdom of heaven is near. It's at hand.

And he spoke to them a parable. He says, look at the fig tree and all the trees when they are already budding. You see and know for yourselves that summer is near. So when you see these things happening, know the kingdom of God is near. Don't bury your head. Don't, don't try to have your own agenda of how the kingdom of God will come. Interrupt what God's plan is.

Many in the time of Christ were offended because he didn't do what they expected him to do.

They kind of had the truth, but it wasn't the way they expected. It wasn't the way they heard. It wasn't the way that they had mapped it out in their minds. Maybe, just maybe, when Jesus Christ returns and the world moves in that direction, it'll be different, a little different, than what we always assumed would happen. Jesus Christ is saying, don't, don't get lulled to sleep, and don't grow faint of heart. If it doesn't happen when you thought it would, don't give up faith. It may just come suddenly and happen before you expected. So Christ says, verse 36, watch, be ready. During that time, pray. Don't get lulled to sleep.

Don't get lulled to sleep as Christ gives that parable of the ten virgins. Stay awake.

Stay alert. See what is going on. As you these things begin to appear, remember Christ's words, the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel.