On two separate occasions, Jesus is asked about the coming of the Kingdom of God, and in both cases, Jesus gives an answer that surprises the people who want to know. You can find this story in Luke 17:20-25.
First. In vv 20-21, it is the Pharisees who ask Jesus when the kingdom of God would come. Jesus gives them an answer they didn’t expect, saying “the Kingdom of God is in your midst.” Basically, Jesus is saying, “Surprise!! you’re looking at him.” Of course, the Pharisees don’t react to that, because of their narrow-minded bias for an answer to what they think is the problem that the Messiah will solve. They think that the problem is the Romans; and all they want is for the Romans to be driven out, and Israel returned to the Jews.
So, perhaps, even if Jesus said to them “I AM the Messiah”, they think that Jesus isn’t being serious, but just being dismissive and a fool. In their mind, they expect that the Messiah would be a strong military leader, like another King David, who will raise an army and drive out the Romans. They just don’t see that in Jesus.
In vv. 22-25, Jesus explains to His disciples how they can recognize the fulfillment of God’s kingdom at Jesus’ second coming. And when that happens, there can be no doubt that He has arrived. It will be as obvious as flashing lightning across the sky that all can see and hear.
But He gives them a surprising response, namely that, before that happens, He will soon personally suffer many things and be rejected.
And Jesus also says to them that in the meantime, between the time He leaves, and when He returns, there will be many many people who will point to this, or to that person as THE Messiah. And He warns them not to believe these false Christs at all, because when He does return, there will be absolutely no doubt. He will return in a form of glory that is surprisingly out of this world.
Indeed, our God is a God of surprises, isn’t He? Just like the Pharisees, sometimes, our problem no matter how serious it is, may not be the problem that God wants to solve. The Pharisees and the Sadducees, were too focused on their political situation and a Messiah to handle that. If there was anything they were praying to God for, it was to solve this problem. Redemption from sin which is what Jesus came for was not important to them. After all, they had all their ritualistic solutions to atonement of sin, and holy purification. Right?
What about you? Do you now have a problem that you’re fervently praying to God to resolve? And maybe it seems that God is long delayed in solving this problem, and you are unable to see God acting in many other aspects of your life because you see that His actions will come only in the form of your specific problem concern?
I don’t mean to dismiss whatever problem that you’re facing now, and I join you in praying that God will give you relief here. But please don’t dismiss God, and His directions for you, when God seems not to act according to your prayer. Because the truth is, God loves you, and has already put into place the solution to THE problem that HE sees is the one that is most important for your overall wellbeing and peace. All that God expects from you is to believe in Him, to keep praying but to trust in Him, and to rejoice and be at peace in the truth of His love for you. Rejoice! The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Now, how about the second kind of surprise? If you recall, the disciples of Jesus were happy and delighted to see the miracles of healing, of casting out demons, and raising of the dead even, and thinking to themselves, “This is it!! Jesus is indeed the Messiah! We have seen it with our own eyes!” Only to be totally confused and in despair when they run away in fear after Jesus is captured, tortured and crucified to death. Now, that was a surprise, wasn’t it? The fantastic solution that wasn’t the real and final solution.
Could this perhaps also be happening in our lives? Of course, we’re happy when we experience and see God working in our lives in good things. We enjoy the feeling and the consolation of His presence during our quiet times of reflection. We even delight in discerning His will for us, when we open Scripture and are surprised to find verses there that speak directly about our concerns, and we feel guided. We experience an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and even many manifestations of His gifts, and we feel that we’re in heaven. Praise God for that indeed. But don’t be surprised to discover that life in the Spirit can sometimes be like the rise and fall of the tides. Sometimes we’re in good spirits, other times, we go through long, dry spells. And we yearn for those consolations and feelings, right?
Worse – and I hope this doesn’t happen to you – we can be attracted to different interpretations of the gospel, to different modern philosophies that are spoken even by Christian or Catholic leaders, and each of them pointing to a new concept, a new philosophy, a new belief system that ignores the fundamental truths found in the Bible. And mind you, today’s modern philosophies consider the Scripture as old, and no longer relevant in today’s modern times, and so they will re-interpret what sin and wrongdoing is in the context of today’s more complex and more scientific understanding of the human heart and mind. And they will sell you an easy-do-it-yourself version of peace and joy, that doesn’t need to conform to Christ’s instructions of repentance and faith.
Jesus says “Don’t go running after them, even if everyone seems convinced that this makes sense.” “Be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves.” Until Jesus comes again there will be this battle for hearts and minds; and remember that even Satan can quote scripture.
And this is what Jesus is telling His disciples in today’s passage. No one and nothing can claim to be the Messiah, and eliminate all of life’s mysteries. Jesus alone will return and clear everything, and restore everything in an instant. And when Jesus returns in our own lifetime, there will be absolutely no doubt that it is He Himself who is returning, because His return will not be in the form of a philosophy amidst current philosophies. His return will not be in human form – or in artificial intelligence form. When Jesus returns, there will be no doubt that it is He, because He will come literally in blazing glory. No ifs, no buts, no discernment of spirits, no evangelization, nothing. Heaven will descend with Him and in a twinkling of an eye, as the last trumpet sounds, you and I will rise victorious in Christ.
Again, to summarize, God is full of surprises isn’t He? The problems we worry about, and the solutions that seem to come our way, are but a glimpse of what God has in store for us. Yes, we may see a sprinkling of surprisingly good things that come our way. And thank God for that. But you ain’t seen nothing yet. The truth is, while we enjoy those surprisingly good things today, we also experience surprisingly awful things; and there’s not a day when we have one or the other or both. That’s life, isn’t it? But for us believers, it is not going to be a surprise to know that, one day, Jesus will be victorious over all of these when He comes again in glory.
So, in all things, let us believe and trust in God who knows everything about the real problems that face us, who is control of everything that is going on and is even now acting on His great plan to deal with all of these problems once and for all, for our good and for His great glory. And when we do believe and trust, then we can rejoice always despite life’s ups and downs, and we can experience the peace in Christ beyond all understanding.
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