On several occasions, I have been asked if I would do a series of teaching on the Book of Revelations. My answer has been that Revelations is probably the last book I would consider teaching on, because it is so confusing. It is powerful – the imagery is awesome, and it is every much as much a part of the infallible, inspired Word of God as is every other book of the Bible. In addition, we know that all of God’s Word is profitable to study, but I just feel overwhelmed when I imagine trying to teach a series on Revelations.To be honest, there are three books of the Bible I tend to read differently from the others. For these three books, what I like to do is read the whole book at a single sitting. After I finish, I like to just sit back and reflect in general terms on what I have read. For these books I am much more comfortable just trying to get the big picture than I am about mining the book for meaning, line by line. If you are curious what these three books are, they are Job, the Song of Solomon, and Revelations. Now there is nothing wrong with reading books of the Bible in this fashion – in fact, I would say we should read the Bible in as many different ways as we can – use different translations, read large passages sometimes, sometimes read just a single verse, and so on. When we read the Bible, our goal should be to allow God to use it to transform our lives, and because of this, the last thing we want to do is fall into a rut.
Now if you have a system for reading the Bible and you always do it the same way, and it works for you, that’s fine too. God has made people different and different things work for different people. But I bet if this describes you, you also mow your lawn the same way every time you mow, right? I never mow the same way twice.
All this is just to say that when I prayerfully, with Fred’s input, chose the Book of Luke to be our focus this year, I somehow forgot that the verses we are going over today were in there. I specifically resisted the idea of using the Book of Matthew, because I remembered the Revelations-like verses in there. But guess what? Luke talks about these things too, and this is the subject of today’s passage! So despite my lack of comfort in the subject, today we will explore some unfulfilled prophecy about Christ.
Before we do this, though, I thought we could talk about some terms people use when they talk about prophecy. It was many years before I learned what these words meant. Some of them have some very big sounding, intimidating names, and so I thought we could go over them so you have them for future reference. I am also going to give you a bunch of Bible verses so that you can dig much more deeply for yourselves if you want to learn more about unfulfilled prophecy.
The first term is eschatology. Eschatology is simply the study of the end times. It comes from the Greek word eschaton, which means the “end,” and an “ology” is something that is studied, so eschatology is a study of the end.
The next term is parousia, which is a Greek word that means “arrival,” or “coming.” It refers to the second coming of Christ. Matthew 24:3, 27, 37, 39; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 15:23; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 4:15; 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 8; 2 Peter 1:16; 3:4, 12; 1 John 2:28; James 5:7-8.
The next term is rapture, which comes from the Latin word raptus, which means “to snatch away.” The rapture describes the gathering together and taking away of God’s people in the air to be with Christ. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; Matthew 13:31; Mark 13:27; 2 Thessalonians 2:1.
Our next term is antichrist, which is a word we use to describe someone Scripture says will appear in the last days and set himself up to be worshiped as God. Matthew 24:5, 23-24, 26; Mark 13:6, 21-22; Luke 21:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12; 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7.
Tribulation is our next term. This describes a stressful and difficult period of time in which God’s people are severely persecuted. This time leads up to the appearance of the antichrist. Matthew 24:21, 29; Mark 13:24; Revelation 7:14.
The millenium describes a thousand-year period of time in which Christ reigns supremely on earth. It is described in Revelations 20:4.
Now much of the confusion about prophecy centers around the order in which the parousia, the rapture, the tribulation, and the millennium take place. The following terms describe various orderings of these events.
Pre-millenial: Christ will return to earth before the millennium.
Post-millenial: Christ will return after the millennium.
Amillenial: The millennium is actually a description of the church age; we are in the millennium right now, and Christ is reigning through His body, the church.
Pre-trib: The rapture and Christ’s coming take place prior to the tribulation, so believers will not experience the tribulation.
Mid-trib: The rapture and Christ’s coming take place during the tribulation.
Post-trib: The rapture and Christ’s coming take place after the tribulation.
I could give you even more terms, such as dispensationalism, for example, but I need to stop somewhere. I hope that this discussion has been helpful in that at least you know what some of these words mean when you hear them thrown around. Again, I was clueless about these terms for quite a few years after I became a Christian. And if you want to explore further, I highly encourage you to look up the passages associated with these events. If you missed them, they are here all together on this slide.
Let’s go on to our passage!
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." – Luke 17:20-21
Isn’t it interesting that just as we get so caught up into trying to figure out the “when” of all these events we just talked about, the Pharisees also wanted to know when. It is important to understand that the Jews, under Roman rule, had been crying out for deliverance and many believed that God would soon do something similar to what He had done when the Israelites were suppressed under Pharaoh – that He would send another Moses to deliver them. There were groups that believed that now was the time to take back Israel by force – the Zealots were one group that believed this. There were a number of false Messiahs at this time who indeed tried to lead revolts, but just got themselves killed.
When I first learned about these groups many years ago, it shook my faith a little. I began to wonder, “What if Jesus Himself was just a false Messiah, who failed like all the others?” I have three answers to this. First, I believe Satan purposely orchestrated these false Messiahs just for this reason, so that people would wonder. My second answer is that Jesus never tried to lead a revolt – this was never His message, nor did He take steps in this direction. My third answer is this very passage – we shall see what Jesus says about this, for this is really what these Pharisees were asking. “Hey, Jesus – are you claiming to be a Messiah? Are you just another false Messiah? Or is there a chance you are really the One? Are you going to start a revolt? When?”
I should explain that this also may have been another trick question by the Pharisees. The ones that wanted to see Him killed – that we have read about in past chapters of Luke – would certainly have loved to see Jesus say something like “I am the Messiah, and by the end of next year, I will overthrow the Romans.” If they could report something like this to the Romans, they would certainly arrest Him, and that would have been the end of Him, or so they thought.
What is Jesus’ answer? Well, He doesn’t answer the “when” part. He explains how and what.
The phrases “careful observation,” “here it is,” “there it is” – what is Jesus talking about? He is talking about clear, visible evidence of steps leading to the end of Roman occupation – the formation of armies, the crowning of a leader of the armies, military victories, and so on. Jesus is saying, “if that’s what you are looking for, you aren’t going to see it, because that’s not how it’s going to happen.”
So what does He say? “The kingdom of God is within/among you.” The Greek word translated “within” is difficult to define precisely, but I believe this passage makes the most sense and is most closely corroborated with other scripture if we take it to mean “among.” What did He mean by that? Well, He meant that “you’re looking at Him!” Entrance into the kingdom doesn’t come by military victory but through the very Person of Jesus Christ. Now there is in fact a military victory, but it isn’t over the Romans, it is over Satan. As Zephaniah 3:17 predicts, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a warrior who saves.”
Then He said to His disciples, "The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Men will tell you, 'There he is!' or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them. For the Son of Man in His day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. – Luke 17:22-25
So the answer to the question of “when” is now and not yet. The previous verses implied it was now (I am among you) but these verses clearly say it is not yet. Matthew 24:24 says a bit more about this running off after people who claim to be the Christ – it says that they will perform great signs and miracles. Even so, Jesus says, don’t go running off after them.
But when Jesus returns, He will be like the lightning – how? He will be visible to all. Rev. 1:7 says:
Look, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him. – Rev. 1:7a
And what else is true about lightning? It is sudden, unexpected, dramatic, and unmistakable. Just as lightning produces the terrible sound of thunder, a sound that comes after the main event, the world will echo with the thunderous effect of Jesus’ return. The second part of Rev. 1:7 says that all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of Him.
Jesus goes on to say that this won’t just happen now, though. First, He had to suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And of course we know this to mean His enduring the cross, and so this part of the prophecy is already fulfilled.
"Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. – Luke 17:26-29
The days of Noah. The days of Lot. These do not paint pretty pictures! The day that Lord returns will bring sudden judgment to the world. Jesus compares this coming day with the day Noah entered the ark. Let’s read a bit about those times:
This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark… – Gen. 6:9-14
And God went on to describe how to make the ark, provision it, and who would enter – animals two of a kind, and Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives. Noah did all he was told, and in Genesis 7 he was given a “seven day warning” – that in seven days, the flood would happen. Noah and his family and the animals and provision were all in the ark, and God shut the door. And then we get to the “day of Noah”:
Every living thing that moved on the earth perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. – Gen. 7:21-23
It’s a sobering scene, to say the least. It is actually an incomprehensible scene. It is hard enough to imagine the devastation caused by one hurricane. But a global devastation – entire civilizations wiped out – it is impossible to really imagine.
And the day of Lot: in Genesis 19, we read that two angels, or messengers, arrived at Sodom. After averting great wickedness directed towards them by the townspeople, they warned Lot of what was about to come:
The two men said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it." – Gen. 19:12-13
The passage goes on to say that Lot warned the men who were pledged to marry his daughters to flee, but they thought he was joking. The angels then warned Lot to flee right away, to flee to the mountains. Lot begged them to just let him and his daughters go to a nearby small town called Zoar instead, and they agreed.
By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus He overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. – Gen. 19:23-28
Again, a terribly sobering scene – nothing but dense smoke, the smoke of death. And what is Jesus’ point? Let’s look back at what He says:
"Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. – Luke 17:26-29
Jesus is saying that the Day of the Son of Man will be equally sudden, equally unexpected, and equally devastating. As devastating as Ike was yesterday, this will not compare to what will come.
"It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot's wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left." – Luke 17:30-35
Is this describing the rapture? I believe so. Now I want to give you two conjectures based on this passage.
The first conjecture is that at the rapture, people will not be involuntarily grabbed and forced into the air. Instead they will be asked. Recall how God came to Noah and told him what to do. And even more to the point, think about the angels who came for Lot and his family. At one point they were even physically taken by the hand, but they still had a choice – they could have refused.
With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished." When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. – Gen. 19:15-16
Again, go back and look at Luke 17:30-35. [Show it.] Why else would Jesus say not to go down to get goods, or go back from the fields, unless they could choose to do it? It seems to me that just as God forces nobody to become a believer, neither will He force people to ascend in the air to meet Jesus. And just as Lot’s wife ultimately refused to go along, perhaps on the day of the Son of Man similar things will happen.
At the same time, we have verses like Matt. 24:31 and Mark 13:27, which say
And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. – Matt. 24:31
And He will send His angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. – Mark 13:27
These verses seem to say that all God’s elect, whoever exactly those are, will in fact be gathered up to Jesus. How do we reconcile this with the other passage?
This leads to my second conjecture: That true believers will not refuse the angels’ hands. Can both conjectures be true together? Yes, if the angels ask some to come who are not true believers. Does this make any sense at all to you? Perhaps now you see why I do not wish to teach on Revelations!
"Where, Lord?" they asked. He replied, "Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather." – Luke 17:37
The KJV translates “vultures” as “eagles,” but in the Greek this is the same word, and vultures seem to fit better with a dead body. What does this mean? The interpretation that makes the most sense to me is simply this: you’ll know. You’ll know where. Just as if you want to know where a dead body is, you look for the circling vultures, just as if you want to know when the real Jesus returns, it will be as visible and obvious as lightning, you’ll know.
How do we apply today’s passage? Three things come to mind for me.
The first is the lesson of patience. Why does Jesus talk about the false Christs? Why does He talk about how Jesus’ real return will be obvious and easily seen? Why does He say that you’ll know where when the time is right? Because He wants us to patiently wait for the real thing.
I know that it is fascinating to look at current events and try to see if we are right at the cusp of the day of the Lord. And I admit it is fun to try to piece it together. There is nothing wrong with doing this. Even this week, as they have tested the Large Hadron Collider in Europe, I have wondered if this could somehow be related to the eschaton, the end. But in this passage the Lord warns us that things will happen where we become sure that “this is it” when in fact it is too soon. Patience! When this really is it, at that sudden moment that we won’t expect, at that moment we will know. Through history many groups have become convinced that “this is it,” sold their belongings and moved into the desert or caves, or somewhere, and they were all wrong. 100% of them were wrong. It is truly rare to find anything in life where people are 100% wrong. So we need patience.
The second lesson that strikes me is that of mission. Picture what the world is going to be like at the end. Picture the whole world like Sodom and Gomorrah, nothing but black smoke. Now picture your unsaved family members, your unsaved friends, even unsaved strangers, people who never knew the gospel. Knowing what is coming, knowing what we know, can we really just do nothing? Can we not even pray? I think of Abraham when told what was coming in Sodom and Gomorrah – He talked with God, begged Him to spare people. Can we do anything less for those unbelievers God has put into our lives? As I have said before, all our stuff, our jobs, it is all so we can be missionaries – all of us – to a lost and hurting world, the world right here. Knowing what the future holds, how can we not be on mission with God?
The final lesson I see is that of readiness, of making your salvation sure. Do you really trust Jesus with your life? Or have you just heard the gospel story for so long that you assume that you are saved? I think the following is a great “thought experiment.” Suppose that last night at 3 in the morning you were shaken awake and you saw a man, or you thought it was a man, but yet it wasn’t a man – there was something about him that was a little terrifying, a solemnity, a something, you were not sure what, but then he held out his hand to you and said “Come. Leave it all behind. Leave behind your house, your money, your career, your TV, your internet, your unsaved family members, your secret sins and pleasures, your hurts, your bitterness, your unforgiveness – leave it all and come with me, now. There is no time to waste. Take my hand and I will bring you to Jesus.” Would you do it, even though it was terrifying? It’s easy to be a little flippant about this and say, “You bet! What are we waiting for?” But I want you to seriously imagine this scene. Would anything hold you back? Would you hesitate? Let’s pray.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. – 2 Peter 3:10-13
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