Asbury Bible Commentary – T. The Kingdom, the Present, and the Future (17:20-37)
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T. The Kingdom, the Present, and the Future (17:20-37)

T. The Kingdom, the Present, and the Future (17:20-37)

To the Pharisees Jesus affirmed that the kingdom was already present (vv.20-21). Some translations say the kingdom is “within you,” others that it is “among you.” In any case, it is unlikely Jesus regarded the kingdom as present in his critics. As John Wesley (Notes, 269) comments, “It is present in the soul of every true believer.” The kingdom of God is not a particular domain or territory. It is, says Coke (1:622), “the new dispensation of religion, productive of the dominion of righteousness” in the minds of men and women.

Having spoken of the presence of the kingdom, Jesus turns his attention to the future (vv.22-37) and warns of the coming judgment. Some people think he is referring to a separate rapture when the faithful will be snatched to heaven several years before his final coming. But the most likely interpretation is that he speaks of that final advent itself.