Text: V.20. And when Jesus was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, " the Kingdom of God comes not with observation." neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo here ! For behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Rom 14:17). And He said unto the disciples, the days will come when you shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here; or See there; go not after them,nor follow them. For as the lightening lights up the one part under heaven, and shines unto the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of man be revealed in His day. (Matt. 24:27). but first He must suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. The resentful, peevish attitude of the Pharisees came to the front with in creasing frequency. Here Jesus was approached by them with a question which was intended to ridicule him. His continual reference to the coming of the kingdom of God, and when it would come. The Pharisees wanted to know the exact time. They wanted visible evidence. For their idea of the kingdom of Christ or of the Messiah, was that of the modern day millennialists, of a visible kingdom. a physical entity, brought into being by a political or social revolution and upheaval
But Jesus corrected their foolish ideas, telling them that the kingdom of God does not come with observation in a way everyone can see and measure it. It can not be observed by the eye. It is not a visible or physical body or realm. To attempt to fix its definite position, its limits, its boundaries in the world by the application of the senses, by sight is foolish. For the kingdom of God is within, the heart of the believers. He that accepts the mercy of the " King of grace." by faith only, which is in the heart and cannot be seen by human beings. Upon this spiritual invisible kingdom the thoughts and minds of believers should be set. Only they who are members of the "Kingdom of Grace" here will be up in the Kingdom of heaven.
The Disciples themselves were not at all clear in this matter, they were still battling with carnal ideas as to the kingdom of the Messiah, and therefore the Lord gives them a few signs of the deceiver methods. For it was the Lord's constant custom to support and comfort the minds of His disciples. He knew days would come when they would desire and wish for only one day of the revelation of the perfect glory of heaven, just when one day's experience of the bliss to be would give them new strength to bear the trials and persecutions of the world. But the final revelation will not come until the day fixed by the degree of God. Then their will be false prophets and false Christs who will point and say:Lo, here is Christ; Lo, there! (Matt 24,23). The believers must not permit themselves to be deceived by such talk, for it will be a temptation, a delusion and a snare. As for Christ, his final advent will partake of the nature of the lightening. In one moment He will shine, with all the glory of His splendor, from this quarter under heaven unto that; He will be visible to all the people of the earth. But before this glorious consummation, there will be a long time of waiting and watching for the believers, which will try their patience. First of all Jesus had to suffer in the great passion. to be rejected by this present generation. Christ had to bear His Cross first, and His Church, the members of his kingdom, will become partakers of this suffering, before the great day of glory dawns.
As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought they sold, they planted, they builded, but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone. from heaven, and destroyed them all. So shall be when the "Son of Man," is revealed. This is called the suddenness of Christ's advent. The days of Noah are an example.The warning had gone out through the mouth of this preacher of righteousness that the people should repent of their foolish ways. They gave so little heed to the warning that they continued in all manner of complete desires of the flesh up to the very hour of the cataclysm. they drank, they were married,
men and women, the entire generation, past all hope of redemption. And sudden frightfulness that has characterized the judgments of God in similar situations, came the day Noah entered the ark. Then came the flood and destroyed them all. And the days of lot, an utter, blind heedlessness of the people
In Sodom and Gomorrah inhabitants continued in the delights of the flesh as well as in all their lines of business, work, and endeavor; they ate, they drank, they bought , they sold, they planted, they build up to the very hour, of the catastrophe that overwhelmed the cities, when it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed them all. When the Son of Man will be revealed before their astonished, horrified eyes on that last day, he will find them unprepared for His coming, as deeply steeped in the foolishness of the Noachites and the Sodomites as any generation ever was.
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