Luke 17:20-36
Lord’s Prayer: 2nd & 3rd Petition
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
“The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” It appears that everyone, even the Pharisees, thought the kingdom of God would be the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. They looked for a kingdom that was of this world, a patch of land with a government, laws, and a king. Jesus teaches them otherwise. The kingdom of God isn’t a kingdom that comes with observation—meaning it isn’t something seen with the eyes. It is a spiritual kingdom, “For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you,” says Christ. God will not reign over a patch of land with a government, laws, and a king. God reigns in men’s hearts, and men’s hearts can never be ruled by an external government, laws, and a king. A worldly kingdom can only rule over men’s bodies and property. The kingdom of God is within you. God reigns in the heart.
How does God’s kingdom come in our hearts? Luther says, “When the heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word, and lead godly lives, here in time and there in eternity.” God rules in our hearts by His Holy Spirit, who comes us through the external word—the word that is preached to us, the word that we read from the page of Scripture, the visible words of Baptism and the Sacrament—so that He might give us new hearts. The heart in which God reigns repents of its sins each day. The heart in which God reigns believes the gospel and receives the forgiveness of sins. The heart in which God reigns wants to live a godly life according to God’s word—in thankfulness to God, but also because it sees that live lived according to God’s word is the best life. The godly life isn’t one of outward fasting and outward disciplines—although those are good exercises—but as Paul says in Romans 14:17, “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Righteousness, because we are justified by faith, righteous in God’s sight, without spot and blemish before our God. Peace, because where sins are forgiven there is no wrath of God to fear. Joy, because where sins are forgiven and no longer remembered, the heart is lightened and rejoices in God’s graciousness. External works follow, to be sure. But they are the result of the fact that Gods kingdom is within us, that He rules over our heart, mind, and conscience, with the gospel.
We call this God’s Kingdom of Grace. Christ goes on to tell us how He will come again in glory. “For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.” When Christ returns, all who have belonged to His Kingdom of Grace will be brought into His Kingdom of Glory. This is Christ’s reign over all things visibly, not a millennial reign upon the earth, but His eternal reign over all things in which we will experienced eternal righteousness, joy, and peace. When we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” we are praying that God would give us His Holy Spirit now—here, in time, through His means of grace—and that we persevere in God’s kingdom until the end—our death or Christ’s return in glory, whichever comes first. This is God’s will for us, and, having our wills sanctified by the Holy Spirit, our will, too.
But there are forces that do not want you, or any Chrisitan, to persevere in faith until the end. There are wills other than God’s at work in this world. The devil, the world in which we live, and even our own sinful flesh wants to keep us from hallowing God’s name. God’s name is hallowed when His word is taught purely and correctly, and when we, as children of God, also lead holy lives according to it. So, the will of the devil, the world, and the very flesh in which we live, is that God’s word is distorted, and we live distorted lives according to His distorted word. Nor does the devil, the world, and our own flesh want God’s kingdom to come among us. They don’t want God to reign in our hearts. They want to reign in our hearts as an unholy trinity, so that we live the kind of lives they want us to live.
In 2 Timothy 3, St. Paul describes how the evil triumvirate of the devil, the world, and the sinful flesh desire men to live. They want men to be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power (2 Tim 3:2-5). The devil would tempt us to all these sins, and more, in the course of our lives. The world is no help to us. Its influence is pervasive. It glorifies everything the devil desires us to be. Our own flesh, created good but corrupted by the sin we inherit from our first parents, is eager to follow the devi’s promptings and the world’s prodding. An honest appraisal of our flesh will sound like St. Paul’s appraisal of his flesh in Romans 7:18, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells.”
This is why Christ then teaches us to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And just as God’s name is holy in itself; just as God’s kingdom comes even without our prayer, so God’s will is done even without prayers. We pray this so that God’s will may done among us also. How is God’s will done? Luther teaches us what God’s good and gracious will is and how it is done among us. “When God breaks and hinders every evil plan and will — like the will of the devil, the world and our flesh —that would keep us from hallowing God’s name and prevent His kingdom from coming; and when He strengthens and keeps us steadfast in His Word and faith until the end. This is His good and gracious will.” Too many Christians in our world think God’s will is a hidden plan God has for their lives, so that they have to constantly decipher God’s will based on signs and hunches. This is no better than ancient superstition which sought to divine the will of their gods by signs in creation. We certainly pray that God’s will would be done in our daily decisions and we ask for His guidance, but we make our decisions based on God’s word, and if it is about something neither commanded nor forbidden, we use our sanctified common sense and do what we think it best for ourselves, our closest neighbors, and God’s glory. When Jesus teaches us to pray, “Thy will be done,” He is teaching us to pray about God’s will that we hallow His name and that His kingdom comes among us, so that He reigns in our hearts by faith, and that we remain in this until the end.
“Until the end” is a dire phrase, but a necessary one, when we consider the power and guile our enemies possess. It is also a necessary phrase when we consider that we do not know when our end will be, whether the end of our life or Christ’s return. He will return to bring us into His kingdom of glory—everlasting blessedness—at a time when no one expects. He tells us simply that the days of the Son of Man will be like the days before the flood destroyed the world, or fire and brimstone destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. It will be days of eating and drinking, men marrying wives and women being given in marriage, buying, selling, planting, and building. It will be days in which there is little concern for God’s kingdom—His reign in men’s hearts—and concern only for the things of this life. In other words, it will be a time in which the devil, the world, and the sinful flesh lead many astray so that they follow their own will rather than God’s. Since our Lord Jesus could return any day, we pray each day that His will be done: That He would break and hinder those wills opposed to His—even within ourselves—and strengthen and keep us steadfast in His Word and faith until the end, whenever that may be.
And we pray this with confidence because, as Luther teaches us, “This is His good and gracious will.” The apostle John tells us, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 Jn 3:8), those that He works directly and those He works through the world and our flesh. Do not doubt that God wants to break and hinder the devil’s will for you, the world’s will for you, and your own sinful flesh’s will for you. Do not doubt that He wants to strengthen you by giving you His Holy Spirit, so that you believe His holy Word, and lead godly lives, here in time and there in eternity. “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Lk 11:13). Don’t doubt that He wants to keep you steadfast in His word and faith until the end. This is His good and gracious will. Amen.
May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds Christ Jesus. Amen.
