Don't the two following passages in the scriptures rule out that the kingdom of God came on the day of Pentecost? Luke 17:20-21: "Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, 'The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, "Here it is," or "There it is," because the kingdom of God is within you.'" When we did the "kingdom" study, isn't this exactly what we did? Didn't we say (usually figuratively, but perhaps sometimes even literally), "Here it is" or "There it is" while tying together all of the facts to prove the overall case pointing that the kingdom of God came at Pentecost? In essence, didn't we even imply that by being "detectives" in order to find out about the kingdom of God, that we were going to "carefully observe" the events of the history of the Bible in order to answer the famous six questions (one being the very one that the Pharisees asked Jesus)? The second passage is Luke 11:20. "But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you." Isn't Jesus saying that if he drove out demons by the finger of God (which in fact he was doing at the particular time), that the kingdom of God has come to you and isn't this well before the day of Pentecost? -- Chad Garber
Reading my other answers to "kingdom" questions, you know where I stand on this issue. The kingdom "comes" many times and in many ways throughout biblical history. I teach that it did come at Pentecost, but this is hardly the only time it has come.
It has been over 25 years since I shared a "kingdom study" with anyone. But I do agree with your critique of our human tendencies to play detective. (I am unclear what the famous six questions are. Guess they aren't famous to me!) And you are right to expose the fleshly tendency to put God in a box. We want everything neatly packaged. But in real life--and in the scriptures the Lord has graciously given us--it ain't necessarily so!
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