The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 93

Vere. 20-37 .-The 1.ingdom and the day of the Son of man. This passage is not to be isolated as if it were a definition complete in itself of Christ's view of tne kin,zdom of God. Some, doing this, have found in it a justification of the teaching that God'i1 kingdom has no external character, that the coming of the Lord is only a revelation of truth in and to the heart of man. This is to do violence to the language of Jesus. In what he says afterwards to liis own, in the solemn discourse reported two chapters hence, he refers to the coming of the Son of man as a fulfilment which would have its outward signs and effects, and for which his people are to wait. On the occasion before us be sets his Word in the sharpest possible antagonism to the carnal and unworthy notions which prevailed among the Pharisees who had demanded a statement from him as to how the king,lom should come. E.g. the Pharisees conceived of this kingdom as a victorious world-power. "Not so," is the assertion (ver. 20); "God's kingdom does not come with observation, does not lend itself to such outwardness as your vision contemplates." The Pharisees separated the citizenship in the Divine kingdom from character. The right to partake of its glories was a political right. It measured the extravagance of their social caste, It was not a chastening and purifying expectation. It was a dream of conquest and outward abundance which kept their minds on the stretch, which made them dupes of those who claimed to be Messiahs or forerunners of Messiahs. "'l'he kingdom of God," says Jesus," is not heralded by loud professions, by cries of, 'Lo here I or, lo there I' Unobserved, often unthought of, are its marches and movements, its surprises and its conquests" (ver. 21). As the concluding touch of the answer, Jesus warns against a restless asking "when the kingdom shall come," as if it were a prospect wholly future. He reminds us (ver. 21) that the kingdom is here and now, that it is verily and indeed among us. And the caution is as timely for us to-day as it was for the Pharisee then. For we are all apt to associate God's king- dom with some distant prospect or some condition removed from the world in which we live. And the doctrine of the Lord's advent is too often mixed up with schemes of prophecy, with calculations of catastrophes and the like, which men profess to expound or to forecast, crying," Lo here! or, lo there!" Not, therefore, without meaning for more than the old Hebrew separatists is the counsel, "Look into the region of charac- ter for the reality of the kingdom. Where the King is, there is the court. If God bas possessed your souls, his kingdom is among, is in you." Observe the solemn discourse to the disciples suggested by the demand which he has met. The words which follow from ver. 22 may be regarded either as an epitome of longer addresses, or as an address in itself complete, Look on it as an instruction preliminary, and preparatory, to the fuller opening up of the time of the end. The shadows are getting longer and longer ; Jerusalem is not far ahead; the night is at hand in which, under the form of his first appearing, the Son of man cannot work. The look forward in the verses before us is to (1) a. day of distress; (2) a day calling for patient faith; (3) a day of retribution and judgment. I. A DAY OF DlSTRESS. When (ver. 22) the mind would cast a regretful retrospect on the time when the Lord was with them-their Sun and Shield. Ah I would that he, the Bridegroom of our souls, " Our Shepherd, Husband, Friend, Our Prophet, Priest, and King," were going before us as in the days of old I But no ; the shadow on the dial of time cannot be put back. The Church must face perplexities and follow its path through them. It hears voices crying, "Lo here I and lo there ! " and the voices are so delusive that even the elect are often bewildered. The Master's word is, " Onwards! " He bids us look up where Stephen beheld him--ste.nding, bending forward in sympathy and help. In the struggle, through the din, although it seems as if he were not, he is with his Church until the end of the age. II. A DAY CALLING FOR PATIENT FAITH, There are incertitudes and excitements which sometime3 almost suspend the action of faith. There are complications in the Church o.nd the world which induce a feverishness of tone. What the Lord enjoins (ver. 25) is a calm, although wakeful, vigilance. Ile reminds his followers that the way to the crowu is by the cross, that the offence of the cross must be exhausted, and then the end shall come, Thus, whilst the sentence is (vers. 26-30), "The coming  96 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO 81'. LUKE. [err. xvn. 1-37.