Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Luke 17:20-21)

Here we see that the Pharisees questioned Jesus about the coming of the kingdom of God. They expected a grand, visible display that matched their misinterpretation of Scripture. They had envisioned a temporal kingdom with political power, not realizing that the true kingdom was spiritual and already among them. And when Jesus said that the kingdom of God is in the midst of you, He wasn’t talking about in a some kind of mystical way or New Age way, but was saying it was indeed a spiritual matter, not a physical one.

Now, the approach that the Pharisees were taking all started with a misinterpretation of Scripture and basing their perspective on that wrong interpretation of Scripture that had been born out of their fleshly desire to see Rome’s rule over them be broken. And in the Greek, that word for “observed” when Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed”, is better translated as hostile examination. The Pharisees’ demand for a visible sign revealed that they weren’t actually searching for truth, but instead once again showing hostility toward Jesus and His message.

But remember back when Jesus first started His ministry, He came preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17). The Pharisees heard that message, but it was pride that led them to reject the call to repentance and ultimately, because they had convinced themselves that the kingdom of God was going to be a temporal one, they blinded themselves to see the reality that it was a spiritual kingdom. And worst yet, they failed to see that the kingdom of God was in their midst as Jesus, the King of kings Himself, was standing right in front of them.

Matthew Henry, a late 17th Century bible commentator, said this, “It is the folly of many curious enquirers concerning the times to come that they look for that before them which is already among them.”

Similarly, in our own Christian walk, we might miss what God intends to reveal because we’re entrenched in our own expectations or interpretations. This isn’t speaking of salvation, but in our walk with God. But if we do this, we might miss out on what God is trying to show us, simply because we’re so caught up and focused on our own interpretation or desire of how things “should” be. But if we are so busy creating our own vision or goal of what we desire something to be, then how can we expect to see what God has already planned and desires it to be?

The apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:14-15, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.” But here’s the kicker – we can’t effectively look at two goals at the same time and if we try, neither get accomplished. That’s truly a recipe for frustration because you won’t be able to be successful in your own desires nor God’s, and while being successful in your own desires isn’t truly fulfilling apart from being faithful in God, being ineffective in both flesh and spirit will undoubtedly be used by the enemy against you.

If we are going to truly look forward and press on toward that upward call of God, then we can’t busy ourselves with making goals based on our own fleshly desires, otherwise it only serves to distract and possibly derail us.

The lesson as current followers of Jesus that we can learn from the Pharisees interaction with Jesus in these verses is this: We must seek to align ourselves with and focus on God’s vision rather than our own, remembering that the true kingdom of God is not found in our personal ambitions, but in recognizing and following the King of kings who is already present with us.