Daily Devotional for Thursday, April 9

The Kingdom of God

“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,” Luke 17:20.

In our current times, academic structures, and culture so much dependence has been placed on what men call science. Science can be very good, but it is limited by what men can observe and often tainted by personal agendas and money. Science can tell us that something is certain and then tell us the opposite is true in just a few days or weeks. It misses many things because it is limited to human observation.

The Pharisees struggled with understanding the spiritual nature of the kingdom of God because they wanted so much to take power away from their oppressors and make way for a new, physical kingdom. They wanted to see a material, political kingdom taking shape. I am sure the Sanhedrin even had a shadow government ready to go for when the Messiah came. One day Jesus will set up a physical kingdom on earth and His coming will be seen as lightning that flashes across the sky. For now, the kingdom of God cannot be observed as a physical system or structure.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). Beware of putting too much faith and hope in what reimagined educational, judicial and governmental structures of this world could do for you.

Jonathon D. Smith