In my regular reading of Scripture yesterday, I was struck by this text (KJV):
- Luke 17:20 ¶ And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
The word, ‘observation’ particularly struck me, so, of course, I got out my Greek New Testament to see what was going on. Friberg defines the Greek word translated ‘observation’ in this way: ‘the use of observable data to interpret events; observing, looking closely, watching.’
Jesus’ point to his opponents, who wanted to know of the coming of the kingdom, is that they cannot naturally deduce its coming. In fact, they had already missed it in a very important sense – it was already ‘in their midst’ (KJV ‘within you’), because the King was in their midst.
It is as if they are saying, ‘Show me proof of the kingdom! Show me proof of your relation to the kingdom!’ And Jesus responds, ‘There is no proof for you.’ While in fact, the true proof was standing in their midst. But he was no bare, scientific, test tube type of proof. You need spiritual eyes to see the king and his kingdom:
- John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
We live in an age where many are saying that if it cannot be experimented upon, if we cannot observe it, if we cannot prove it by the scientific method, then it cannot be called true (though it would seem less and less are taking this position, thankfully). Aside from the fact that you cannot prove the scientific method by the scientific method, we should take note that Jesus points us to the necessity of spiritual sight, without which we will never see the kingdom of God. This doesn’t come through scientific observation – it comes through spiritual eyes joined with God-given faith.
- 2 Corinthians 5:7 – For we walk by faith, not by sight.
