#108 Luke 17:20-25 The Kingdom of God Is in Your Midst

On January 29, 2023 by Amy Burgin

Amy:
Episode #108 Luke 17:20-25

Welcome

Amy:
Welcome to The Christgazing Podcast. We are so glad you are here! I’m Amy Burgin.

Joy:
I’m Joy Burgin.

Amy:
Christgazing, kind of like stargazing, is the act of looking steadily and intently at Jesus. This podcast makes room for just that. Amid a world of many words, we slow down here and make space for the God-breathed Words, the best words, the ones that rightly comfort, correct, and lead us. Each week we read a portion of scripture several times and create stillness after each reading so we might also be still and know God more.

We are in a series that takes us through the book of Luke

Pour Out Your Heart to God

Amy:
Before we read today, take time to share your heart with God. We do this each week; we pour out our hearts to God, exposing the deception, division, diversion, and discouragement inside us. We make room for God to exchange these with truth, unity, focus, and encouragement. So give God your thoughts, your hurts, fears, questions, and concerns in this next minute.

[Pause and pour out your heart to God]

What Does This Passage Say About God?

Joy:
I’m going to read today’s passage two times. As I read, consider the question, What does this say about God?

Luke 17:20-25 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

22 Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23 People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them. 24 For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

Again?

Take a minute to be still and consider the question:

What does this say about God?

[Pause and know]

What Does This Passage Say About People?

Joy: As I reread the passage, consider a different question, What does this say about people?

Take the next few moments to answer the question, What does this tell us about people?

[Pause and know]

Lord, What Would You Have Me Know Or Do Today?

Joy: As I read for the last time, ask God, “Lord, what would you have me know or do today in response to this passage?” If it helps, put yourself in the narrative.

Take the next minute to ask God, Lord, what would you have me know or do today in response to this passage?

[Pause and listen]

Blessing

Joy:
Christgazer, the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. And may you turn your face toward Jesus today and know him more.

One Response

Amy:
When the Pharisees ask when the Kingdom of God will come, Jesus tells them it’s already here, in their midst. It has already come covertly. The King of the Kingdom of God walks among them, talks to them, dines with them. His disciples have already submitted their lives to his kingship and thus joined his kingdom – now walking the earth as ambassadors.

But then Jesus turns to his disciples and speaks to them about a second coming, a second coming that won’t be so secret. No, no one will need to point it out to another because it will come like lightning which lights up the whole sky from one end to the other and everyone will see it.

But before he comes in this glory, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

I am reminded of Luke 9:27-36 from episode 56 when Jesus took Peter, John, and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. There’s that word again, lightning. Jesus in his glory, gleaming, dazzling, radiant, shining like a star.

Do you remember that shortly before and after he gave this glimpse of his glory on the mountaintop, he told his disciples, they would see him suffer and rejected.

The same one we saw suffer on the cross is the same one described in Hebrews 1:3, “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

Closing

Amy:
You can find a transcript of this episode and all our episodes at amyburgin.com. We will be back again next week to go Christgazing together. Until then, don’t forget, when you put your trust in Christ, you are one in whom he dwells and delights, a dearly loved child of God. You are royalty in his strong and unshakeable kingdom. Though trouble abounds, Christ prevails, and so do you.