Jesus' teaching about the arrival of the kingdom arose out of a question from the Pharisees. It was a reasonable question since both John the Baptist and Jesus had preached for some time that the kingdom was at hand. Probably they asked it to discredit Jesus who now spoke of the kingdom as postponed (cf. 11:53-54; 13:34-35). Most of the Jews expected a Messiah, according to their messianic ideas, to appear very soon and free them from their Roman yoke.
"The form of the Pharisees' question shows that they are thinking of the Kingdom as something still future. They believe that it will come; and they ask when?'"389
Jesus probably meant that signs that the Pharisees asked Jesus to perform would not precede the messianic kingdom (11:29). Another view is that Jesus meant no signs that people can observe will precede the kingdom.390However, He told the disciples that the sign of the coming of the Son of Man would precede it (Matt. 24:3, 27). A third view is that Jesus meant that the coming of the kingdom would not be an observable process.391Still as the Old Testament predicted the coming of Messiah to reign, it certainly would be observable. A fourth view is that Jesus meant that the kingdom would not come because the Jews observed certain rites such as the Passover.392They could not precipitate it. Many of the Jews in Jesus' day apparently believed that Messiah would come at a Passover celebration.393The Greek word parateresis, translated "signs to be observed"(NASB) or "careful observation"(NIV), literally means "watching, spying, or observation."Nevertheless there is nothing in the context that connects with the idea of observing Jewish rites.
There would be no dramatic change in Jesus' day to announce that the kingdom had arrived either. The kingdom was already among Jesus' hearers in the person of the King (11:20), but because the nation had rejected Jesus His hearers would not see the kingdom. God had postponed it (13:34-35).
". . . a kingdom can hardly be here' or there', [sic] and so the reference must be to the ruler himself."394
The NIV translation "within you"(Gr. entos hymon) is unfortunate because it implies a spiritual reign within people. The Old Testament teaching concerning the messianic kingdom was uniformly an earthly reign that included universal submission to God's authority. Nowhere else does the Old or New Testament speak of the kingdom as something internal.395Moreover even if the kingdom was internal, it would hardly have been within the unbelieving Pharisees whom Jesus was addressing. It was in their midst or among them in that the Messiah was standing right in their presence. If they had believed on Him, the kingdom would have begun shortly, immediately after Jesus death, burial, resurrection, ascension, the Tribulation (cf. Dan. 9:24-27), and His return. It was within their reach.396
