"The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed." ~ Jesus

You can find that statement in context in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. It is the second half of verse 20, concerning the timing of the coming of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is responding to a question.

If you read from a modern translation, it sounds like Jesus was giving the answer to a legitimate question being posed by the Pharisees. The translators used words like:
     Being asked by the Pharisees...
     Now having been questioned by the Pharisees...
     And when he was asked by the Pharisees...
The King James translation, however, used the verb demand:  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees...

By researching the original with Strongs Lexicon, we find: G1905 -  to accost one with an enquiry, put a question to, enquiry of, ask, interrogate; to address one with a request or demand.

It can be translated as a simple inquiry, but retains the connotation that the question is being asked on purpose, not as a pleasantry of casual conversation. I get the impression that a few Pharisees were genuinely curious, some wanted to approach this discussion like the sport of good debate, and some were struggling to maintain a professional decorum because their insides were scoffing. After all, a kingdom that can't be detected by visible signs is not a corporeal kingdom.  Jesus expands on this a bit: He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or, 'There it is!' For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst." (verse 20b, 21)

And then immediately Jesus turns to his disciples and adds another layer of information: 

22 And He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 "They will say to you, 'Look there! Look here!' Do not go away, and do not run after them.…

This is an intriguing passage. Jesus is speaking to two different audiences about two different dimensions in two different time frames.
• There are the Pharisees, well-trained scholars in the carnal world, and the disciples who had standard training in business and the trades and additional spiritual training from Jesus.
• There is a physical, visible kingdom and a spiritual dimension kingdom "of God" which cannot be observed with physical signs.
• There is the time now "in your midst," and, as distinguished for the disciples,  a coming time of "the days of the Son of Man."

It is not the purpose of this blog to dig deeply into what all that means. For now, it is enough to see that there is a lot of stuff both now and in one's future that cannot be observed or reasoned out in the natural. Jesus made a special point of telling his disciples that though they will wish they could see his visible presence, God's plan does not work like that. Some things will not be seen and they should not go looking.  On one level, Jesus was speaking prophetically to his disciples about the time when they would be without his physical presences and leadership, but on a general level, and a level that applies to KatieLyn today, Jesus was saying that the kingdom of God did not come with signs that are observed and reasoned out in the natural mind.  

 "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed." ~ Jesus 

God is looking for people who love Him and whom He can trust. God is looking for people who will do what he says, when He says, they way He says, with whom He says, when they can't see it and may not have a clue why He said it. He is looking for blind trust that is demonstrated by obedience.    In other words, He is looking for faith.

The Lesson
When asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus skipped the "when" part at first, later saying that the Kingdom of Godwas already in their midst. He had to first instruct them that it is a spiritual kingdom; it is within a person. The day before the runaway bride ran off into the the middle of the night, she spent the day looking at worldly things and she called home for support from a conflicted parent who didn't really want to hear from God because she was afraid of losing her daughter. They both failed the test of faith.