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This week we conclude our study of Luke chapter 17. Please read verses 20-25 every day this week and, if possible, use a different translation each day, asking God to open your eyes to fresh revelation from His Word.
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Luke 17:20 (The Message)
‘Jesus, grilled by the Pharisees on when the kingdom of God would come, answered, “The kingdom of God doesn’t come by counting the days on the calendar.’
To ease us into another week of devotions, I thought I’d give a short study today on the subject of the ‘Kingdom of God’. However, let me first draw your attention quickly to something else by way of introduction.
In our verse today, some translation use ‘When He was asked’ or ‘Having been asked’. In the Message translation we read ‘Jesus, grilled by the Pharisees’. This is a much better translation that in our modern terminology gives a better insight into what was actually happening. The word in the original Greek means ‘To accost, to demand or to interrogate’. The phrase ‘give Jesus a grilling’ is very close to what the Pharisees were trying to do.
Can you imagine that? These men are speaking with the Son of God and they have the audacity to demand something from Him. What grace, love and compassion is on show here. Even to those who least deserve it. Have you ever been spoken to badly by someone? Perhaps you too have felt as if you’re being interrogated as the questions are being thrown at you. Let Jesus’ example be your guide and allow grace to be in operation.
Moving on to the subject of ‘The Kingdom of God’. This also has been the subject of much confusion over the years and I too have been struggling with many scriptures about this topic. In order to fully understand and to properly apply the scriptures, we must bear in mind that the word translated here as ‘Kingdom’, in the original language can mean two things. It sometimes means ‘kingdom’ and sometimes it means ‘kingship’. The first meaning is more about a physical territory that is ruled by a king. The second translation is concerned with the rule, reign and sovereignty of the king himself.
The Pharisees wanted to know when they would be able to ‘see’ the physical Kingdom of God. We know from various studies during these devotions that God is pleased when we live by faith. We are to ‘walk by faith and not by sight’. So very often, Satan’s plan is to get us to see with our physical eyes and not with the spiritual eye of faith that God is calling us to use. Way back in the Garden of Eden, Satan offered Eve ‘fruit’ that was pleasing to the eye. His plans are no different today.
Jesus countered the Pharisee’s demands by stating that we need to stop looking for things in the natural and to spiritually raise our gaze to what God is doing. He wants us to focus on the rule of God in our lives. His desire is for us to concentrate on totally surrendering our lives to His reign. We’ll be looking at this in more detail tomorrow but today, may our prayer be like the song by Brenton Brown – “Lord, reign in me”.
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