The Second Coming
Luke 17:20-37
Somehow in our chronological walk through the gospels, I missed an event that happened shortly after Jesus left the region of Galilee, on His way down to Jerusalem, which would end up being the trip to Jerusalem in which He would be crucified. Luke 17 records some events that aren’t in chronological order. Most of these events and teaching in the beginning of the chapter we have covered already, but I somehow skipped over verses 11-19. What I’d like to do, is look at these verses quickly, and then jump back into our timeline where Jesus is still heading towards Jerusalem, from where we left off last week in chapter 16, where He’s further south, closer to Jerusalem, near the border of Judea and what is now the country of Jordan. Let’s read the account, verses 11-19.
Now this isn’t a parable, but a real life event that happened. All 10 lepers believed in Jesus, all 10 admitted He was their master, all 10 obeyed His command to present themselves before the priests, and all 10 were healed of their skin disease. But only 1 returned to give thanks and give glory to God. And this obviously bothered Jesus- where were the other 9? In verse 19 Jesus says to the one “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.” Some have made the case that this statement indicated that this one who returned was the only one who not only received physical healing, but spiritual healing as well. The others perhaps had enough faith to be healed physically, but this is the only one who returned to Jesus, bowing before Him in thanks and in faith, giving glory to God, and thus received spiritual healing as well. Here we have another “Kingdom heart” indicator presented by Luke, that we were talking about last week. Kingdom hearts- hearts that are surrendered to Jesus, hearts that have been changed by His love and forgiveness- those Kingdom hearts are filled with gratitude.
We talked about this recently at our Wednesday night prayer meeting, how it seems often that the world is not so much divided according to the “haves” and the “have nots,” but often it seems to divide between the “thankful” and the “unthankful.” My family has seen it play out several times recently that those who have thankful hearts- though perhaps they had little- seem only to gain more and rise up. But those who are unthankful, ungrateful- even what little they have is taken away from them. This morning, may we sing to our Lord with energy and joy out of thanks for His goodness and everlasting love.
The Second Coming Luke 17:20-37
Jesus talked so much about the Kingdom, it’s understandable the excitement and curiosity concerning when and how its full installment will take place. If you’ve ever been curious about the end times, listen closely to this morning’s passage, as we walk through it verse by verse. Let’s take a look at the first two verses, verses 20 and 21.
We recently watched the new version of Disney’s Aladdin. One of the most elaborate scenes is when the poor thief Aladdin is being paraded in and re-introduced to the city as Prince Ali. It’s a massive, colorful, slow procession of pomp and splendor. There’s trumpeters trumpeting, dancers dancing, elephants/ostriches/monkeys parading, singers singing, acrobats acrobating- it’s this massively complex choreographed scene intended to highlight the greatness of Prince Ali. This is the kind of display one would expect from a great and wealthy king. But Jesus, the greatest King of all time says… His Kingdom installment is not going to be like that. You won’t see His Kingdom coming in, parading in from a far. No, it’s humble beginnings were already taking place there in the midst of His followers. The Greek word for “in your midst” is “entos,” which is the word Jesus used in Matthew 23:26 when He says to “first clean the inside (entos) of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.” In this verse he is speaking to the Pharisees of their need to clean their hearts spiritually, and not to worry so much about appearing to be spiritually clean on the outside. If we apply this usage of “entos,” then the idea presented back here in Luke is that the Kingdom of God wasn’t just already happening in the midst of His followers, but also that it was happening “within, or inside” one’s heart and soul. Although we have some Kingdom heart indicators, often the Kingdom’s impact is unseen, hidden away in one’s heart. Admittance into His Kingdom happens in the depths of one’s heart, not in outward physical gathering of people around their earthly King.
Let’s look at the next two verses, 22 and 23. This is a sobering moment for the disciples. Although they were already part of the humble beginnings of the Kingdom, for a time they would live physically separated from their King Jesus. You and I are living in this same way, we are physically separated from Jesus. And we aren’t to be fooled by anyone who says “Jesus is over here, come see Him” because they way in which He returns to reign in His Kingdom will be like lightning, Verse 24… Instead of a slow, Prince Ali processional return, Jesus’ presence will be reunited with us ridiculously quick. While the timing for His return might seem slow, once it is time- it will happen in a flash- as quick as lightning! And it won’t be a secret, He will return in a manner visible to all, high up in the sky where lightning comes from.
Verse 25… In order for this lightning quick installment of His Kingly rule to happen, first He would have to suffer- undergoing death by crucifixion, and rejection by the people of His time.
Verses 26-27… Now this is where the Kingdom installment description turns a little dark and heavy. Jesus had just said: “My Kingdom comes in your hearts.” And “When my Kingdom takes over it will be lightning fast and obvious.” Now He says: “When my Kingdom takes over, it will feel like the time when Noah and his family were building a boat and everyone else was laughing at them and partying hard right up until the point when water gushed from the earth and the sky and quickly killed everyone.” Jesus says when His Kingdom comes, it will be a day of great judgement and destruction for this present world.
Maybe Jesus didn’t really mean all that gloom and doom, let’s look at the next few verses. (28-29) Yikes. Ok, just in case there was any doubt, we see now that Jesus is definitely reinforcing the gloom and doom of His coming Kingdom. He says “When my Kingdom takes over, it will feel like the time when the evil, sexually confused city of Sodom was carrying on as normal, and angels grabbed Lot and his family by the hand, quickly pulling them out of the city, and everyone else was killed by fire raining down from Heaven.” And Jesus is definitely using these 2 illustrations to describe what it will be like on the day He returns to usher in His eternal Kingdom, verse 30…
Some commentators have tried to pass off the gloom and doom mentioned as pertaining to when Rome tightened their hand of control on Israel and choked out the nation through the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in the year 70 A.D. Now I believe this event of 70 A.D. was prophesied in connection with other end time prophecies, but here I don’t believe there is much connection. The mention of the “day that the Son of Man is revealed” in verse 30, limits what Jesus is talking about to strictly the time when He will return and He will publicly reveal to the whole world His rightful title as eternal King. Tell us more about that day, verse 31 and 32…
Ok, so on this day of destruction and lightning fast Jesus arrival, don’t go inside to pack your bags and don’t turn back to go home if you’re out in the country- what is He talking about? Part of the clue to understanding this is contained in verse 32, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Ok, let’s remember Lot’s wife. I mentioned angels grabbing the hands of Lot and his family, leading them out of the city, and then fire rained down from Heaven. The whole story is that the angels first told Lot and his family to leave, but Lot hesitated. Because he hesitated, out of compassion, the angels then grabbed their hands and rushed them out. But once they were out of the city, before the fire came, they were told “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.” (Gen. 19:17) Lot didn’t like the idea of going to the mountains, so he foolishly requested if they could be allowed to escape to another closer town called Zoar. The angel said ok, and once he safely arrived in Zoar, the fiery destruction began. But the passage says that Lot’s wife looked back at Sodom from where they fled, and became a pillar of salt.
The passage seems to indicate that her heart was still in the wicked city of Sodom. She turned back, perhaps even taking steps to return- her existence being entangled more so with the world of destruction she left, rather than the world of salvation she was arriving to. This I believe, is what Jesus is warning us of. Decide now that you will be more excited about the new world of salvation, than this world of destruction that we will be leaving. Live your life so that when Jesus returns and this world is being destroyed, you won’t have a torn heart that attempts to save that which is being destroyed, you won’t turn back thinking that there are some belongings you can take with you to the Kingdom, you won’t turn back from the field to mourn the loss of your house. Live your life so that when Jesus returns and this world is being destroyed, all you can think about is seeing your King face to face, and the new restored body you will be given, and the eternal mansion He has prepared for you. Live in such a way that you cultivate your desire more so for His kingdom than your desire for this passing world. Look to Him and to what is to come, and don’t look back. Verse 33…
The day of destruction is coming, are you going to live for holding onto the things that are passing that will all be destroyed? If so- all those things will be lost anyway, and you will lose your life as well in the process. Rather consider all the things that make up your life as lost and destroyed already, and You will live. Verses 34-36…
These verses have often been misunderstood to be referring to believers being taken from this world in a rapture event, called up to their eternal dwelling place while the rest of the world experiences a tribulation period. The disciples too were a little confused about what Jesus was saying, they responded to Him in verse 37 “Where, Lord?” In other words, where will the one taken in bed be taken to, where will the woman at the grinding wheel be taken, where will the one man after being removed from the field- where will he be taken to? Listen closely to Jesus’ reply “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.” The only bodies I know of that vultures, eagles, crows- birds of prey- gather round, are dead bodies. Road kill, dead animals. Sounds to me like the answer is, the bodies being taken, are taken to their deaths, to a place of death where they will be fed to vultures. I don’t want to be a part of that rapture. Just to make sure I’m not reading into this, how does Jesus say it in the book of Matthew, chapter 24 verse 28- “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” That’s even more clear, instead of the word “body,” we have here the word “corpse.” How does this compare to what the book of Revelation says? Revelation 19, starting in verse 11, describes the return of King Jesus. Let’s read it. (Rev. 19:11-18)
Here we have the same imagery, birds coming to feast on bodies. What our passage in Luke 17 seems to be indicating is that there is a rapture, a taking of lives, first of the wicked- not the righteous. Matthew 13 would seem to indicate the same conclusion. There Jesus tells the parable of the wheat and the tares. He compares the Kingdom to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but an enemy secretly came and sowed worthless weeds that resemble wheat alongside the seeds of the real wheat. Only after the two begun sprouting did the workers realize what had happened. They asked the owner if they should try to separate the two, but he replied no, they might damage the wheat attempting to do that. He told them rather to wait until the harvest and they would be more easily separated at that time. Listen to Jesus’ words as He explains the meaning, verse 41 of Matthew 13 and following: “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:40-43) Here again, Jesus talks about the end times, when the wicked will be gathered up for destruction, out from amongst the righteous.
Where do we get the opposite idea from, that believers- the righteous are raptured up out from amongst the wicked? The passage is in 1 Thessalonians. Some of the early church, those in the Greek town of Thessalonica, believed somehow that those among them who had died, would miss out on Jesus coming back and His Kingdom establishment. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul is writing to those who were confused over the end times. He’s addressing his words to these believers who were scared that fellow believers who recently died would miss out on being taken to His Kingdom. Look at what He says in verse 13 and following… (1 Thess. 4:13-18)
In this passage, Paul isn’t giving a chronological play by play of all the events surrounding the end times. He doesn’t mention the judgement, the tribulation, the destruction that Jesus describes- why? His point isn’t to list all the details. His point is to encourage these terrified believers, to encourage them by reassuring them that the believers who had died would not miss out on God’s Kingdom. Paul doesn’t mention the wicked getting snatched up first, because he’s not warning the wicked, that’s an unimportant detail in his goal of comforting the righteous. His point is, bottom line- yes, eventually the dead will be raised, and those still alive at the time with them, to take their eternal homes in God’s Kingdom. Nowhere does this passage insinuate that this rapture will happen before the wrath of God is poured out on earth and upon the wicked gathered for the vultures to consume. Nowhere does this passage insinuate that there is a rapture of God’s people first, then a tribulation time, and then the second coming of Christ and establishment of His Kingdom. Paul is rather painting with broad strokes, we should be basing our assumptions of the end times on other more detailed, longer, descriptive narratives about the end times.
Now I don’t want to debate, or act like I have it all figured out concerning the end time events. Even the greatest scholars who have devoted their whole lives to studying end time prophecies in scripture have much to learn. There will definitely be a rapture of God’s people- those who follow Jesus will definitely be carried away into His amazing Kingdom- the only question is when will that rapture occur in relationship to the promised coming time of tribulation? Will the rapture occur before really bad, hard times come to earth (pre-tribulation) or will it happen after really bad, hard times come to earth? (Post-tribulation) This is really a minor, side issue that is unworthy of brothers and sisters fighting over. But as we read through the gospel books, I can’t help but notice Jesus warning the believers to persevere, to endure until the end, to remember Lot’s wife when the destruction comes, to not be shaken when one beside them is taken. I want to make the point that we would be foolish not to heed His warnings. We would be foolish to discount what He is saying, by assuming we as believers are going to avoid the hardships coming to this world. While a pre-tribulation rapture sure does sound appealing, it doesn’t seem like that is what Jesus is preparing His followers for.
I say all this not to scare anyone, but to encourage you to be prepared. No matter what happens in this life, good or bad, pre-tribulation or post-tribulation rapture, impeachment or no impeachment, Christian censorship and persecution or religious liberty and freedom- no matter what may come, may we each live with the audacity to live for the Kingdom world. I don’t want you to be disappointed or dissolutioned with the idea that following Jesus is going to be easy. It’s not always easy now, and I believe it’s only going to get more difficult. I want to encourage you to focus on King Jesus and His Kingdom, to never second guess that focus, to long for His Kingdom while the world parties on, and to never turn back no matter what happens. Remain strong, bold, and as the author of Hebrews says “encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”