The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-04
[MEz [M Ezg6ROKEXN M|lENBERSNACLE HArATs ATs-BIBEE- -sTUDY.oN~ KINGDOM TO BE IN
 VISIBLE
Luke 17:2O-37-June

Luke 17:20-37-June
 "The Kingdom of God is in your midst.'' Verse 21.
 The Pharisees heard of the claim that Jesus was the g-promised King, who would set up His Messianic kingdom and they derided Him. They considered Him a deceiver and His followers dupes Our lesson tells how they attempted to expose what they supposed was a deception. Therefore they asked Him in public, When will Gods king dom come? Jesus answered that God S. kingdom would not come with observation; that when the kingdom of God should be established, people would not see whether it was here or there; for the kingdom of God would be Gods power exerted everywhere in their midst
 Our translation is faulty, though evi- rently not Intentionally so, when it reads, For, behold. the kingdom of God is with in you" The translators, had they mo- ticed carefully, would have guarded against saying that the kingdom of God wa swithin those Pharisees whom Jesus had designated hypocrites whited se-
 
 that the text would better be translated, ''The kingdom of God is in your midst" A kingdom is always represented by its king. Jesus, as the King, was present in their midst, but they did not recognize Him. Similarly throughout the gospel age, the church of Christ has been undis- cerned by the world. "The world know eth us not, even as it knew. Him not But Christ and the church in the flesh have been the embryonic kingdom class | preparing for investiture of authority in Gods due time, which we believe is near This kingdom Is to be a spiritual one, and hence it's rulers will be as invisible as are the angels and the Heavenly Father. Jesus declared, YYet little while, and the world seeth Me no more. D What was true of the Head will be true of every members of the elect body of | Christ the church. Changed in a mo- | ment, in the twinkling of an eye" the | world will see them no more; for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" and flesh and blood cannot see 1 that which is spiritual.
 Days of the Son of Man. Turning to His disciples Jesus said, 'The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man. and ye shall not see it.' This was as- founding news to the faithful. Yet they were accustomed t ohearing from the Master things which they could not un- derstand. They wondered how Jesus could be the great King and yet they not see His days.
 Jess continued, saying, "They shall say until you, See here or, See there! Go not ftar ha,r, fol1A lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven and shineth unto an- other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of Man be in his day.
 This statement is better understood when we translate the Greek word bright shining instead of lightning for our Lord evidently referred to the sun, which rises in the east and sets in the west. The day of Christ Is a thousand-year day the millennium, and our Lords statement was one of the dark sayings of Jesus re- specting which He promised that in due time the Holy Spirit would grant them enlightenment. This portion is now be- coming clear to those of spiritual discern ment.
 Then, to indicate that these things be- longed to distant time, Jesus explained that first He must suffer many things and he rejected of that nation. Coming back to the signs of His presence He declared, As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man.
 Here we have something definite, con crete. At the time when the Kingdom will be due for establishment. the sign will not be in the outward condition of the world; for everything will go along quietly and orderly just as before the deluge, and in the days of Lot before the destruction of Sodom. Then mankind ate, drank. married, built. planted, as usual. These things are not signs of wickedness. but are mentioned to show us that there will be no outward sign to indicate to the world Christ's second presence.
 The Deluge and Sodom's Destruction
 Why introduce these two pictures-the deluge and the destruction of Sodom-tu conjunction, while talking of the estab- lishment of Messiah's kingdom, which is to bless the world? The answer is that the Bible everywhere foretells that Mes siah's Kingdom is to be established upon the wreck of our present institutions. and 1t Is this wreck that Jesus illustrated. Hia own presence is to be unknown to the wrold until the trouble Is rpecipitated. Emphasizing the suddenness of the ca-