“The Case for Christ: - K/God: Final Day in Jesus’ Mind”

Tonight, let us consider what Jesus’ mind was concerning the ultimate divine manifestation of the end-time.

This is a subject that has disturbed men then and it continued to do so even to this present time.

Down through the years, there have been many inquiries and speculations made about it.

All of us have probably heard many, many concepts and thoughts throughout our Christian lives.

I remember my preacher friend, when we last met in one of our trips to Germany many years ago, saying to us: ‘As the way things are shaping up, most of us think Christ will return in four years.’

Well - probably four times a number of fours have passed since that time. 

But - the fact of the matter is that many, many - down through the centuries - have troubled the church in announcing similar end-time dates!

Paul, in his day, had already encountered the problem. He found it necessary to write to the Thessalonians about it.

Then, later on, there were those who questioned the accuracy of Jesus’ promise to return: ‘...where is the promise of His coming?’, they asked. (2 Pet 3:3-4)

In fact, back in Jesus’ day, some of the Pharisees were disgruntled with His teaching about the character of the kingdom.

To these men, the time of the coming of God’s kingdom in the looked-for Messiah was very important.

They were looking for the kingdom about which Daniel had prophesied when he said: ‘And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed...’. (Dan 2:44) 

This was what was uppermost in the minds of these Pharisees when they confronted Jesus. 

So they asked the question of: ‘When?’ the kingdom of God was coming. (Lu 17:20-21)

Jesus graciously went on to explain something about the nature of His kingdom to them in His answer.

To their question, He said: ‘The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say ‘Here it is’ or There it is’, because the kingdom of God is in you.’

The NIV translates the phrase of ‘in you’ more correctly, by saying: ‘...the kingdom of God is among you’. 

That is, as already set up in its beginnings: ‘My kingdom has already begun in the midst of your nation.’

And, He told them: ‘It does not come with observation.’

There are those who think that the thought of the kingdom coming ‘without observation’ may have one of three meanings, all three of which have merit.

First, it may mean that it cannot be foreseen with specific, detailed signs where it can be definitely said: ‘Ah, here it is!’

Or, second, it may mean that it is not a condition that can be identified and gained by saying: ‘step one is this, step two is this...’ and so on.

Or, third, its coming ‘without observation’ may mean that it does not come with, or through, complying with certain rites and ceremonies as passage ways into it.

It is generally believed that the second meaning, which is more in accordance with the meaning of the word ‘observation’, fits the context the best, although we cannot exclude the other meanings altogether.  

That is to say, ‘The kingdom does not come as something outwardly imposing and at once revealing, as something sharply defined, with a visible territorial or an ecclesiastical limit to it.

But - actually - its beginning is already here.’

Then He turned to His disciples to explain to them how God would signal its coming. (vs 22-36)

As in Noah’s day and as in Lot’s day, God’s activity is going to be in it.

His interruption of human affairs is definitely going to be part of the end-time event in His divine ordering of history.

It promises to be a time when the completion of history, indeed of the kingdom already begun upon earth, comes to a climax by the revelation of the Son of Man.

Thus - Jesus revealed those two facts: it has already begun on earth in an unobservable way.

And - its completion will be by a decisive act of God that will fully reveal the Son of Man. 

Then, on another occasion, when Jesus was alone with some of His disciples, He answered the same question of ‘When?’ in an entirely different way. 

Turn to Mark 13 - Mark, chapter 13. 

The disciples implored Him to ‘tell us when shall these things be?’, asking Him to specifically tell them the time and the season of His return. (v 4)

To answer them, first, He warned them about many, many things that would happen.

He warned them about the certain fall of Jerusalem that took place close to forty years later and all the problems and difficulties they would meet when that would happen.

He warned them of the many deceivers and false teachers who would try to divert their attention from the truth of His second coming, who ‘will show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.’ (Mk 13:22)

He warned them of wars and of rumors of wars, of kingdoms rising against kingdoms, of earthquakes, famines, and trouble. (v 8)

He warned them of days of persecutions and tribulations, of ‘affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.’ (v 19)

He detailed some of the happenings: read through this passage to see these things for yourself.

And, when you do, you will notice something very striking: you will notice that He did not offer a date nor a time to the final day of the consummation of the age.

And why did He not divulge this information?

Look at verse 32, for it gives the very simple reason: He said that He did not know it Himself. 

He did not have that information to give them!

‘But of that day or hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.’    
 
The answer He gave of only His Father knowing the date and time served as a challenge to them, as it ought also to be to us. 

If He gave His life in the service of the kingdom of God, uncertain of its day of final consummation, and plainly told His disciples why He could not give them a date, then, how can we do less than follow His example in this same matter?

Of course there were signs that they would see but their attention must be directed to the one focus of life: His present kingdom. 
 
Their duty, as is every believer’s, was to live in the righteousness of His kingdom, to grow in the righteousness of His kingdom, to work in His kingdom in that righteousness that influences others to Him, and to embrace and enjoy its privileges as He brings each privilege about. 

How did He say that to them in this instance?

Look at vs 33-34: ‘Watch and pray...For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.’

And He ended that admonition with ‘And what I say unto you, I say unto all, ‘Watch’. (v 37)

‘Watch and pray!’ What a charge He gave them!

‘Watch’: that is, consistently take heed of your own spiritual condition, take heed about those things that can cause stumbling, be always in readiness with prayer and watching.

Why were they to watch?

Lu 21:36: ‘Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.’

So, what can be observed in both cases of Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees and His answer to His disciples?

In the first instance, He told the Pharisees to turn their attention, not to the coming of the consummated kingdom, but to the kingdom of the heart.

This is implied when He said to them: ‘...the kingdom is among you.’

In other words, ‘Start looking at the kingdom that is right in your presence and you will see the iniquity of your heart that needs to be changed for its entrance.’

In the second instance of Jesus’ answer to His disciples, He let them know that the question of ‘When?’ should not be the main issue for them to be considering either.

Their attention must be on the present kingdom and what was required of them as its stewards in it now.

In both cases, Jesus stressed that, although the final consummation of the kingdom is inevitable, it is the ‘now’ that must be addressed. 

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Yes - it is the ‘now’ that requires men’s attention!

And - here is where the question sometimes arises, as it did in Peter’s day. (2 Pet 3:3-4)

It is natural for people to say: ‘Since all this happened nearly two thousand years ago, and nothing seems to be happening now, why should we go on expecting it to happen?

When it comes right down to the nitty-gritty of things, the only ‘kingdom’ we really can ‘trust’ in is, not in what Jesus said about it, but in the personal kingdom we painfully and gradually build for ourselves from day to day in the best way we know how to do it!’

It is true: sometimes, things can be discouraging and we are so tempted to look at it in this way!

But - the answer to this argument is twofold. 

First, Jesus is not a liar, for His Word is true, yea and amen! He is ‘Truth’, ‘full of grace and truth.’

The value of Jesus as the Son of Man does not rest upon a belief that He had a detailed knowledge of future events.

Jesus developed just as any of us do. He ‘advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man’, it states in Lu 2:52.

He asked questions for He needed to know certain facts.

He tried, with zeal and sincerity, to bring to repentance such towns as Bethsaida and Jerusalem, but to no avail.

‘How oft would I have gathered thy children together...’, He lamented over the people of Jerusalem. (Mt 23:37)

On that last night in Gethsemane, He prayed in terms that made it clear that He did not know the specific, detailed path God had planned for Him to take down to the finish line. 

If there was a possibility for it to happen, He much rather would have the ‘cup of suffering and death’ pass from Him.

And, so, also, He did not know the specific hour and date of His second return. 

But had He known it, His life would have been just the acting of a part in a play and His zeal to win people to the kingdom would have been insincere. 

No - He settled all the issues of life that He faced with obedience to and faith in His Father’s will, and He settled  all the issues of life while under the rule of God the Father.

This is why what He did, how He lived His life, had such great, great moral value to it - the very essence of Truth itself.

His uniqueness is to be found in His spiritual insight, not in any ability as a soothsayer, a fortuneteller.

It was in His own character and in His insight into the realm of spiritual values that Jesus revealed so perfectly the character of God and His purposes for life to us.

He could teach that the rule of God over men’s lives was possible here and now, for it was, by it, that He discerned the beginnings of God’s kingdom.

And He could discern that its full consummation would come in the future.

And this leads to the second phase of the answer to that 
argument of the expectations of His coming.

The kingdom of God, in so far as it is already present upon earth, always moves against greed, ignorance, cruelty, and all of the other ills of this age.

Looking back over the span of time, one can see progress, a gain here, a victory there, but it seems so slow at times.

But we are all familiar with the abounding sin that is taking place each day of each year, so I do not need to remind you of that. It is all around us.

As I said earlier, if it were not for the grace of God, we sometimes could collapse in despair of hope and begin to wonder if things will ever change!

But in such times of discouragement, it is Jesus’ teaching that the kingdom will come in all of its goodness and its beauty that rings a continuing challenge within our hearts to ‘hold fast’ to Him.

We cannot fight in our own strength alone. We all certainly have learned that by now through our own personal experiences we all have faced.

It was through them that we learned that there is no possibility of failure in the strength of Christ Jesus our Lord.

Thus, God has prepared His people for the approaching days we face and for the total breakdown of the existing state of things.

But, ‘Fear not, little flock: it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’ (Lu 12:32) 

Through God’s power and through the victory of Jesus Christ, the leaven will yet leaven the whole lump!

Ultimately, God’s rule will be universally established, for He is King and He will establish His sovereignty.

All safety and all blessedness will be found to lie in being able to stand before the Son of Man in the glory of His personal appearing at the final day.

‘The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that cause stumbling and all them that do iniquity...Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.’ (Mt 13:41,43)

That is the assurance of the faith we have in Jesus Christ.

Once again, we keep urging one another to ‘hold fast to Him’.
 
Do not be afraid - do not be reluctant - to yield every part of yourself to Him each day you live this week!

And He will reign in your heart until the final day of His appearing!

Amen. So be it!

Let us pray.