Luke 17:20-37: “Questioned
About When God's Kingdom Will Come, Jesus Tells His Disciples About His Second
Coming”
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at verses 1-19 of chapter 17. In this
section of scriptures we saw that:
1.1.1. Jesus taught His disciples four different lessons:
1.1.1.1. A warning about causing anyone to stumble in their faith.
1.1.1.2. A teaching that we are to rebuke those whom we discover to be in sin,
yet forgive them if they come to repentance.
1.1.1.3. A lesson on the effectiveness of the smallest amount of faith, the
faith of a mustard seed.
1.1.1.4. A teaching that God’s people are always to consider themselves as God’s
slaves and unworthy of any of His blessings or goodness.
1.1.2. Jesus healed ten lepers however only one turned back to thank Him.
1.2.
In our study today, we are
going to look at verses 20-37 of chapter 17.
1.2.1. In these verses, we will see that this is the first of two instances in
which someone asked Jesus when the
1.2.2. We will see in these verses that though Jesus gives an abbreviated
response that none the less there are many important truths that are taught
here by Jesus which have to do with the end times and God’s purposes for Jesus.
1.2.3. Jesus will compare the consummation of God’s Kingdom with the time
before the flood during Noah’s day which caused the annihilation of all mankind
except those who were on the Ark with Noah, and the days before the destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah by God during Lot’s day.
1.2.4. In this teaching of Jesus, Jesus is speaking about the days before His
Second Advent, which will occur at the end of this present age, after the
events of the 7 year tribulation of the book of Revelation. The destruction that occurred in
1.2.5. Billy Graham
has said, “There is an inscription in the dome of our Capitol in
2. VS 17:20-21 - “20
Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the
2.1.
The source of this question
about the timing of the coming of God’s kingdom is some Pharisees. Though we have seen the growing hatred of the
Pharisees for Jesus and that they were now plotting how to kill Him, the motive
for this question is not given and it is possibly unimportant for us to know
this detail.
2.2.
Jesus’ answer that the
2.3.
The first advent of Christ
came with signs for but a few upon the earth, including Mary, Joseph,
Zacharias, Elizabeth, some shepherds, some wise men from Mesopotania. The rest of the world was unaware of what
great things were occurring upon the earth in fulfillment of God’s plan to
establish His kingdom upon the earth. Thus,
Jesus was correct in stating that God’s kingdom would not arrive with signs to
be observed. The Second Advent of Christ
will be a different story when it arrives, there will be many signs to be
observed at that time (see Luke 21;
Matt. 24; Mark 13).
2.4.
A book called Concise Theology that I found in my Bible software has the following quote concerning Christ’s Second
Advent, “The New Testament repeatedly announces that Jesus Christ will one
day be back. This will be his “royal visit,” his “appearing” and “coming”
(Greek: parousia). Christ will return to this world in glory. The
Savior’s second advent will be personal and physical (Matt. 24:44; Acts 1:11;
Col. 3:4; 2 Tim. 4:8; Heb. 9:28), visible and triumphant (Mark 8:38; 2 Thess.
1:10; Rev. 1:7). Jesus comes to end history, to raise the dead and judge the
world (John 5:28-29), to impart to God’s children their final glory (Rom.
8:17-18; Col. 3:4), and to usher in a reconstructed universe (Rom. 8:19-21; 2
Pet. 3:10-13). His execution of this agenda will be the last phase and final
triumph of his mediatorial kingdom. Once these things are done, the applying of
redemption against Satanic opposition, which was the specific work of the
kingdom, will be over. When Paul says that Christ then “hands over the kingdom”
and becomes subject to the Father (1 Cor. 15:24-28), he is not implying any
diminution in Christ’s subsequent honor, but is signifying the completion of
the plan for bringing the elect to heaven that the risen Son was enthroned to
carry through. The elect in glory, purified and perfected, will forever honor
the Lamb as the one who was able to open the book of God’s plan for the
accomplishing and applying of redemption in history, and make what was planned
happen (Rev. 5).”
2.5.
The Kingdom of God arrived
when Jesus was conceived of the virgin Mary and then born in Bethlehem, and
thus the translation we are using here for the phrase ‘the
kingdom of God is in your midst’ brings out
what I believe Jesus is trying to communicate about His kingdom. Jesus is here therefore His kingdom is
here. Some translations have confused the
interpretation of this phrase by rendering the phrase ‘the
2.5.1. “…Christ in you, the hope of glory,” (Col. 1:27).
2.5.2. 1 John 5:12,
“12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son
of God does not have the life.”
2.6.
The doctrine of the rapture of the church is not in
focus in this teaching by Jesus. The doctrine
of the rapture is taught in 1 Thess. 4:14-18, “14 For if we
believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those
who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the
word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the
Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord
Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel
and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then
we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore
comfort one another with these words.”
The rapture of the church will occur prior to the 7 year Tribulation,
and the seven year Tribulation will be followed by the Second Coming of Christ.
3. VS 17:22 - “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.” - Jesus told His disciples that
there will come a time when they ‘will long to see one of the days of the Son
of Man’
3.1.
In this verse, Jesus refers
to the fact that one day He is going to leave His disciples and that at that
time they will eagerly yearn for His return.
All of those who know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior today do
in fact long and yearn for Him to return for them and establish His kingdom
upon the earth, thus, for instance, the phrase “Maranatha” (“Come
quickly Lord”) is found in the New Testament (1 Cor. 16:22).
3.2.
In the phrase, ‘the days
of the Son of Man,’ Jesus is not saying here
that His disciples will yearn for the days of Jesus’ earthly life, rather the
emphasis is that of longing for the future eternal kingdom of the risen and glorified
Savior that the disciples will long for.
4. VS 17:23-24 - “23
“They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do
not run after them. 24 “For just like the lightning, when it
flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so
will the Son of Man be in His day.” - Jesus tells His disciples that when He
returns that it will be unmistakable therefore they should never be led astray
by those saying, ‘Look there! Look
Here!’
4.1.
In verse 23, when Jesus
tells His disciples not to go away or run after people saying to look here or
there, He may be referring to the false Christ’s that He tells us in Matt.
24:4-5 will be around in the days leading up to His Second Advent, “4 And Jesus
answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. 5 “For
many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.” In this Olivett Discourse in
Matt. 24, the first sign that Jesus points to in regard to the coming of God’s
Kingdom is the emerging of many false Christ’s.
4.1.1. I believe that the many false Christ’s that we have in our world today,
men claiming to be God or Jesus Christ, is a fulfillment of these words and an
indication that we are very close to Jesus’ Second Coming. Maitreya, for instance, is a man today who
believes that He is Jesus Christ.
4.2.
In verse 24, Jesus speaks of
the suddenness of His appearing at His Second Advent. Lightning travels across the sky at the speed
of light and Jesus tells us that when He finally appears for His Second Advent
that He will appear suddenly just like a flash of lightning across in the sky.
4.3.
Spurgeon in his preaching has said the following about
Christ’s Second Advent, “What a comfort it is to us to think that our name
is on one of the stones of that glorious breastplate! He is glorious, too, in
his second advent. We expect him soon to come. It is earth’s highest hope, the
church’s most fervent prayer. Come quickly, Lord Jesus! To see thee we would
fain give up the sight of everything beneath the stars. To see the King in his
beauty come riding through the streets! To behold him with the rainbow wreath
and robes of storm! Ay, but to have one glimpse of that great white throne,
though it were but a distance! But to hear him say one word was a kind of
everlasting heaven; but for once to have seen him, but for once to have heard
him! It might make men content to bear a thousand trials, but for once with
heart, and eye, and soul, to drink a full draught of the glory of Christ.
Brethren, our soul fires as we proceed, and we long to praise and sing.
On another occasion Spurgeon preached, “…Our
Lord’s first coming in our flesh hath given us eternal salvation; His coming to
us by His Spirit hath wrought in us a living faith, and His second coming by-and-by
is the grand object of our hope. That day and hour no man knoweth, for the
Father keepeth it in his own power; but the consummation of all our hopes is
wrapped up in it, and therefore do we cry, “Come quickly; even so, Lord
Jesus, come quickly. Amen.” So, you see, brethren, it is the presence
of God with us in Christ which is the ground of all our hope.”
5. VS 17:25 - “25 “But
first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.” - Jesus tells His disciples
that before the ushering in of God’s Kingdom that He must first suffer many
things and be rejected by that generation
5.1.
This is now the sixth time
in the book of Luke that Jesus has referred to His impending death and being
taken away from His disciples.
5.2.
By Jesus using the phrase ‘this
generation’ this reveals that in the mind of God it was not just the Jews
that brought about the crucifixion of Jesus upon Calvary’s Cross, but rather a
whole generation of people who were influenced by wickedness such that Jesus
ended up being crucified. In reality, we
have to also lay accountability upon the wicked spirits in high places in this
world who influenced the men who brought about Jesus’ crucifixion.
6. VS 17:26-27 - “26
“And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the
days of the Son of Man: 27 they were eating, they were drinking,
they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah
entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.” - Jesus compares the people in
the day when He returns as being like the generation of people who perished
during the flood of Noah’s day
6.1.
Jesus now gives two examples
from the Old Testament when God brought about catastrophic judgment upon the
people on the earth, the Great Flood in Noah’s Day, and the destruction of the
city of Sodom and Gomorrah by God.
6.2.
Note here in Jesus referring
to these two events that He truly believed that these events were not a myth or
fabrication, nor an allegory, but rather that they occurred in just the way in
which the Old Testament tells us that they occurred. Noah was a real man, a real flood occurred
which destroyed mankind, and this flood came after Noah and his family ‘entered
the ark.’
6.3.
Also notice, that the
destruction that occurred with the flood and the destruction of
6.4.
So, Jesus tells us that just
as happened in Noah’s day that when He appears for the second time that people
will be going on about their lives, ‘eating,’ ‘drinking,’ and ‘marrying,’
and the emphasis here is the fact that the people will be living their lives
for themselves and their own desires and plans with little or no thought of
God. Then, when the catastrophic
judgment from God comes upon them they will not be expecting it.
6.4.1. These verses are a warning to all people not to get carried away in the
world and the things of the world and forget about the importance of serving
and obeying the Lord, fulfilling His plan in your life. Many Christian people in our day never or
rarely come to church because of the fact that they have simply gotten caught
up in the world and the things of the world and that they have allowed other
things in their lives have precedence and priority over God. Today, though they may not recognize it, they
love the world more than they love God.
6.5.
This teaching by Jesus also
dispels the false notion that some have had that before Jesus’ Second Coming
that every person on the earth shall come to have saving faith in Christ. This is the belief of those who call
themselves “Postmillennialist’s.”
7. VS 17:28-30 – “28 “It was the same as happened in
the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they
were selling, they were planting, they were building; 29 but on the
day that Lot went out from
7.1.
Judgment came from God in
7.2.
Jesus tells His disciples
that on the day when He returns that things in this world will be going along
just as they were in the days of
7.3.
Again, we see that Jesus
believed a literal interpretation of the destruction of
8. VS 17:31 - “31 “On
that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must
not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not
turn back.” - Jesus tells His disciples that on the day
when His appearing is immanent that they should immediately flee the impending
disaster and not return to their houses
8.1.
This verse has some
complexity because of the fact that we have to determine who it is that Jesus
is referring to. Is this a warning given
to the Jews, the people of the city of
8.2.
The houses in the middle
east tend to have flat roofs and people spend much time upon their
rooftops. Rooftops have an outer
staircase by which people can access the house without having to enter the
house. The warning here is that when a
person sees that the Lord is immediately to return that he is wise to flee as
soon as possible without going back into his house to retrieve his possessions.
9. VS 17:32-33 - “32
“Remember
9.1.
In the story of the
destruction of Sodom found in Genesis chapter 19, we read that when the angels
were driving Lot and his wife from the city of Sodom so that the Lord could
destroy it they were commanded not to look back towards the city, however Lot’s
wife so longed for the things of this world that she rebelled against the
angels’ command and looked back towards the city of Sodom, at which time she
turned into a pillar of salt.
9.2.
10.
VS 17:34-37 - “34 “I tell you, on
that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will
be left. 35 “There will be two women grinding at the same place; one
will be taken and the other will be left. 36 [“Two men will be in
the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.”] 37 And
answering they said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “Where the body
is, there also the vultures will be gathered.”” - Jesus teaches His disciples
that His Second Advent will bring about the separation of God’s people from
those who are not God’s people
10.1.
Here we see that above all
else that the occurrence of Jesus’ Second Coming will bring about final and
eternal separation between people, all based upon whether or not a person is
one of God’s people or not. Just as
Jesus’ teaching about the rich man and Lazarus who had died and were in Hades
illustrated, the things that we do and believe in this life will determine
where we will spend eternity and whether or not we shall be in comfort and joy,
or in torments and awaiting final judgment at the Great White Throne of
Revelation chapter 20. After we have
died it is too late to change our eternal destination.
10.2.
Jesus tells us that there
will be two in one bed, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the same place,
one will be taken and the other left. To
men will be working in the field, one will be taken and one will be left.
10.3.
The rapture of the church
which will occur prior to the 7 year Tribulation is not being referenced
here. There will be people who will come
to know the Lord during the 7 year Tribulation and thus when Jesus appears at
the end of that tribulation period, the ones who have become God’s people will
be taken by the angels and united with the rest of God’s people while the rest
will be left to the judgments that will occur.
These tribulation saints are I believe the ones who will be taken on
this day. Jesus taught about this
gathering together of the tribulation saints by the angels in Matt. 24:31, “31 “And He
will send forth His angels with a great
trumpet and they will gather
together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the
other.”
10.4.
Verse 37 is a bit of a
mystery to me and has been variously interpreted. The body has been considered by some to be
11.
CONCLUSIONS:
11.1.
As we consider the hope that
we Christians have of the Lord’s soon return for us, His people, how this hope ought
to give us stability and joy in the midst of the many difficulties that we
experience in each of our days. Many
churches do not teach about the return of Christ however this truth from the
scriptures ought to be regularly taught because of how we need this truth and
the hope that it brings in our lives.
11.2.
Spurgeon once preached about how that knowing that the
Lord is one day going to return to the earth and consummate His kingdom has the
effect of bringing about moral purity in a person’s life, “Already I have
given to you, in this description of our position, the very best argument for a
holy life. If it be so, my brethren, ye are not of the world even as Jesus is
not of the world. If this be so, that before you blazes the supernatural
splendor of the second advent, and behind you burns the everlasting light of
the Redeemer’s first appearing, what manner of people ought ye to be! If,
indeed, you be but journeying through this present world, suffer not your
hearts to be defiled with its sins; learn not the manner of speech of these
aliens through whose country you are passing. Is it not written, “The
people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations?”
“Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, touch not the unclean
thing,” for the Lord hath said, “I will be a Father unto you,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters.””