PaulThomson said:
When will we
see the kingdom of God?
Luke 21:31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
So, we will never "see" the kingdom?
So, what is the context of the verse you are citing? Are you trying to prove that no one will see the kingdom because it is spiritual and therefore invisible?
Luke 17:20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered them,
"The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed. 21 Nor will they say, "
Look, here it is!" or "Look, there it is!" for behold, the kingdom of God is in the your midst.
And he said to his disciples,
"The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, "Look there!" or "Look here!" Do not go out or follow them. 24For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the the Son of Man be in His day. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise just as it was in the days of Lot - they were eating and drinking and buying and selling, planting and building. 29But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all - 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.... etc.
How does this shine light on Jesus saying to Nicodemus, "Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God"?
Does it say that unless one is born again he cannot believe? No, it does not.
Seeing the kingdom is seeing the King in the glory of His kingdom. Jesus told another audience,
Matt. 16:27 "For the Son of Man is to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay every man for what he has done.
28 Truly, I say to you,
there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom."
17:1 And after six days
Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. 2
And He was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as light. 3 And behold, there appeared to the Moses and Elijah talking with Him.
So here we see the King manifesting the Father's glory along with two angels/messengers. This fits Jesus' description in Matt. 16:27.
In the Luke 17 passage, from which you cited v. 21, the Son of Man is appearing in His Father's glory. in v. 24
To those who are not born again, Jesus coming in His kingdom will be a blinding light. They won't see the Man. But those who have been born again, will see the Man clothed in glory.
To the unbelievers, the kingdom is not coming with signs they will be able to
recognise as precursors beforehand. The veiled kingdom of God, in the form of the common-looking King, was already in their midst, but the unbelieving Pharisees could not recognise the signs of its veiled presence among them.
Very few people see the Son coming in His kingdom before the Lord's return. But those who are born again will see it at His coming. We do not see the kingdom of heaven when we believe the gospel. It is among us invisibly, in a veiled form, but we see evidence of its invisible presence. However, at His coming it will be visible as a King and glory for those who have been born again. And at His coming it will come unexpectedly as a thief and be blinding light. They will not see the King as man clothed in glory.
This analysis debunks the idea that the judgment of Jerusalem in AD 70 was Jesus coming in glory, the kingdom coming.
It also debunks the idea that being born again immediately enables us to see the kingdom of God.
It also debunks the idea seeing the kingdom is having faith. Having faith is not seeing, because we walk by faith, not by sight.