And when he was demanded by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said,
The kingdom of God comes not with outward observation:
Read Chapter 17
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Asked by the disciples when the kingdom of God would come, the Lord said, “The kingdom of God is within you,” through the truth of grace and not through the slavery of guilt. Let those that would be free be servants in the Lord. As we share in service, we also share in the kingdom. He said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” He would not say when it would come. He said there would be a day of judgment, so that he instilled in all terror of the judgment to come, and he did not add the guarantee of its postponement.
And when He was demanded of the Pharisees. The Kingdom of Israel, which had now indeed fallen, but which was to be raised up again by the Messiah.
The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. "Cometh," that Isaiah , will come. It is a Hebraism, in which the present is put for the future. Observe that Christ said, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." This Pharisee, therefore, either from a desire of knowledge, or to mock Jesus, said, "Thou Jesus preachest Thy kingdom in heaven, but when will it come? When shall we see Thee reigning in it? When shall we see Israel, who is now subjugated by the Romans , breathe again through Thy means and recover her liberty and live happily under Thee as her kin?" "They asked Him when He would reign," says Euthymius, "as to deride Him, who appeared as one of low estate." But Christ answered mildly and briefly at first as in this verse, but afterwards at more length (verse22to the end of the chapter). He spoke of the glory of His kingdom in th...
These miserable men ask in mockery, “When will the kingdom of God come?” This is like saying, “Before this kingdom of which you speak comes, cross and death will seize you.” What does Christ reply? He again displays his longsuffering and incomparable love to humanity. Reviled, he does not revile again. Suffering, he does not threaten. He does not harshly scold them, but because of their wickedness, he does not stoop to give them an answer to their question. He says only what is for the benefit of all people: that the kingdom of God does not come by watching. “Behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” He says, “Do not ask about the times in which the season of the kingdom of heaven will again arise and come. Rather, be eager that you may be found worthy of it. It is within you. That is, it depends on your own wills and is in your own power, whether or not you receive it. Everyone that has attained to justification by means of faith in Christ and decorated by every virtue is counted wor...
Now it is only for the benefit of each individual that He says that which follows, For behold the kingdom of God is within you; that is, it rests with you and your own hearts to receive it. For every man who is justified by faith and the grace of God, and adorned with virtues, may obtain the kingdom of heaven.
When the kingdom of God should come? or when is it to come? when will the Messias come? The Pharisees might say this in a mocking and an insulting manner, to signify that he could not be their true Messias.
The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; that it, so as to be observed; not with great marks of temporal power, as you imagine. (Witham)
The Pharisees expected a Messias powerful according to this world, a conqueror, a monarch, a revenger of the injuries of Israel; one who would restore them to liberty, and bless them with temporal goods and prosperity. In Jesus, they saw nothing, which corresponded to these magnificent hopes; and therefore asked him, by way of insult and reproach, when this kingdom of God would come, which he so often talked of and announced to his disciples. He answers them, that the manifestation of the Messias, and the establishment of his kingdom, shall not be effected in a conspicuous, splendid manner. It shall be brought about insensibly, and the acc...
Or, perhaps, the kingdom of God being within us, means that joy that is implanted in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. For that is, as it were, the image and pledge of the everlasting joy with which in the world to come the souls of the Saints rejoice.
“The kingdom of the heavens is within you.” You should not hope to find it in a place. It does not come in observation, according to the word of Christ.
If the devil has been driven out and sin no longer reigns, then the kingdom of God is established in us. As it is written in the Gospel, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation, nor will they say, ‘Lo here,’ or ‘Lo, there.’ Truly I say to you that the kingdom of God is within you.” The only thing that can be “within us” is knowledge or ignorance of the truth and the affection for righteousness or sin by which we prepare our hearts to be a kingdom of Christ or the devil. St. Paul described the nature of this kingdom in this way: “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” If the kingdom of God is within us and is righteousness, peace and joy, then someone that remains in these is surely within the kingdom of God. Someone that remains in unrighteousness, conflict and the melancholy that kills the life of the spirit is already a citizen of the devil’s kingdom, of hell and of death. These are the signs whether it is God...
"The kingdom of God "He says, "cometh not with observation; neither do they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."
