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“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, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” 

Luke‬ ‭17:20‭-‬21‬ ‭NIV‬

I have been continually impressed by the countercultural and otherworldly nature of the kingdom of God. In response to the question by the Pharisees, Jesus plainly said that the coming of the kingdom of God is nothing we can observe, but it is in our midst.

As I think about his response, I am reminded that the Holy Spirit is like that as well. The Spirit is like the wind: we can’t see it, but we can see the effects of the wind.

The wind, of course, is a bit less of a mystery than the Holy Spirit or the kingdom of God. We can measure the wind, and we can (somewhat) predict the direction and velocity of the wind. (However, imprecise our predictions may be!)

The wind is a natural phenomenon driven by natural forces (no matter how difficult it may be to predict those forces). Natural forces are different than the forces of personal agency. The Holy Spirit (and the kingdom of God) are forces driven by agency – God’s agency. The Holy Spirit is a Person, and the kingdom of God is, presumably, advanced by God in the “form” of the Holy Spirit (and by the agency of believers as well).

We don’t confuse the wind with other effects in nature, though we might be apt to confuse the effects of the kingdom of God with other effects, such as political, cultural, and other worldview effects.

I suspect that volumes could be written on this!

What are the effects of the kingdom of God? We can’t see the kingdom coming, but I assume we can the see effects of the kingdom of God coming just like we can see the effects of the wind (or the Holy Spirit). It seems that we have some confusion about these things, just as the Pharisees were confused in the 1st Century. However, we do have some guidance from Jesus to help us.

First of all, Jesus said,

“My kingdom is not of this world.  If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest…. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

John 18:36

In responding to Pontius Pilate’s question, whether Jesus was king of the Jews, Jesus told Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world; and, if his kingdom was of this world, his followers would fight to prevent his arrest. The fact that they didn’t fight with the authorities over the arrest of Jesus is the example Jesus gave to show how his kingdom is not of this world. Their lack of fighting is, therefore, indicative of the fact that his kingdom is not of this world.

Let that sink in….

This is consistent with my understanding of the entire ministry of Jesus, from beginning to end: he showed no concern for the Roman occupation or “politics” of his day. The only thing he ever said about it was to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. He didn’t even seek to infiltrate and influence the Sanhedrin, the ruling religious body of the Jews.

He came for a different purpose. Jesus came to die for us. He came to give himself willingly as a sacrifice for our sins. He did what justice demanded so that we might receive grace and mercy. He conquered sin and death for us. These are the reasons he came – to save the world. (John 3:16)

Jesus told Peter to put away the sword when the authorities arrested him. More generally, Jesus told his followers to pick up their crosses and follow him. Jesus told his disciples to follow him and to do as he did. Jesus is our example to follow.

As I think of these things, I am trying to wrap my head around the fact that many Christians are so patriotic, and so supportive of Donald Trump, and so supportive of the physical nation of Israel. The focus on the physical nation of Israel, and Zionism, and nationalism runs directly counter to all the themes I see in the Bible, the words of Jesus, and the way Jesus demonstrated that we should follow him.

Jesus prominently talked about the kingdom of God, and he exhorted people in no uncertain terms to seek first, above all things, the kingdom of God. The words he spoke to Pontius Pilate, therefore, are for us, and we should take them seriously.

“My kingdom is not of this world!”

This isn’t what Pilate – or the Jews – expected. The Jews expected a messiah who would come like a warrior, overthrow Roman rule, and establish the Davidic kingdom then and there. The Jewish leaders and Pilate viewed Jesus as a threat to their earthly influence and rule, but he wasn’t! That wasn’t what Jesus came to do.

Similarly, that kind of struggle for earthly influence and power isn’t what I understand we are supposed to do. We are called to follow Jesus and do what Jesus did – seeking and saving the lost “as long as it is called today”.

Paul carefully describes our present circumstances in Romans 8. The section heading in the NIV for Romans 8:18-30 is Present Suffering and Future Glory. Nothing has changed. We are waiting for Christ to come (again) on the clouds (Matthew 24:30; 1 Thess. 4:17; and Revelation 1:7) But, that hasn’t happened yet.

In the meantime, the kingdom of God is still coming, and it is still in our midst.

Jesus talked a lot about the kingdom of God. Jesus said the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed (Matt. 13:31-32), like leaven in bread (Matt. 13:33), like a treasure buried in a field, (Matt. 13:44), and like a pearl of great price (Matt. 13:45-46). When the Pharisees pressed him about the kingdom of God, though, Jesus said the kingdom of God is not something that we can even observe.

The kingdom of God isn’t of this world, and we can’t see it. Analogies like mustard seeds, leaven, buried treasures and pearls of great price are inadequate to describe fully the kingdom of God to human beings who currently live in earthly bodies in this world.

Words are inadequate to describe realities we do not experience. Human words are inadequate to describe reality that transcends us in our finite, dimensionally limited and perishable bodies that we now inhabit.

We are currently perishable seeds, Paul says, and these perishable seeds (flesh and blood) cannot inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 15:42-54) We must be “clothed with the imperishable” to “see” the kingdom of God, and that doesn’t happen in this life.

Paul’s words dovetail with what Jesus told us when he said that a seed must fall into the ground and die; otherwise, it remains just a seed. (John 12:24-26) Death in these earthly bodies is our entre into the kingdom of God.

But the kingdom of God is also here and now in our midst, though it isn’t something we can see or observe. It doesn’t come with fanfare or political pomp and circumstance. It is like a tiny mustard seed or the leaven that makes bread rise. We don’t notice leaven unless we know what went into the bread. When we know the value of leaven, we only know it is absent when the bread doesn’t rise.

Perhaps, this is why Jesus said that his followers would be salt and light in this world. Salt and light are unobtrusive. Hardly noticeable.

We don’t pay much attention to light unless it is absent. Light doesn’t call attention to itself. Light illuminates other things. Salt brings out the good flavors in other things.

But words fall short in describing the reality of the kingdom of God because it is truly unseen, and we cannot observe it. It is like wind (spirit and truth).

The writer of Hebrews described faith as the substance of things unseen. We take it on faith that Jesus was God incarnate because of the things he said, the miracles he performed, the unearthly love and self sacrifice he showed, even giving up his own life to death on a Roman cross, and rising from a dead.

We trust the substance of things unseen because of the things that we have seen. We have to be careful, though, lest we think we can have it all figured out, that we can have it all buttoned up, and charted out, and locked down.

The truth is that we only ever see in part, and we only know in part in this life. (1 Cor. 13:9) Only “then”, after we part from this life, will we see face to face and know fully as we are fully known. (1 Cor. 13:12)

We need to leave room for mystery. We need to take God’s word as sacrosanct, and we need to trust it. We need to rely on it like we rely on bread and water, but we dare not think that we ever fully understand it.

God’s word is a lamp unto our feet. It illuminates our way forward, but we need to be careful that we stop relying upon that illumination and start relying upon our own understanding of the lamp or of the way it shows.

I write these things in light of the fighting in the Middle East. I write these things In light of the presidential election that is gearing up with Donald Trump in the lead and Christians continuing to champion him. I write these things in light of the robust support for the nation of Israel by Christians.

I am struggling with the disconnect between those things and the words of Jesus and Paul about the kingdom of God. I fear that many Christians are fighting for earthly kingdoms and neglecting the kingdom of God that is not of this world.