When I was in my teens and twenties,
eschatology—or the study of the end times—was extremely popular in the churches
I attended. In fact, I wish I had a dollar for all the sermons I’ve heard about
the millennium or the seven-year tribulation period, or the rapture or about
being left behind.
And I was just as caught up in all of
it as anyone else. I read many of the end-times books by the popular writers
back then, like Tim LaHaye, Hal Lindsey, Dwight Pentecost, John Walvoord and
others. One particularly interesting book was titled “I predict” by
Salem Kirban, which reportedly sold a quarter of a million copies. The author
made it clear that he was not a psychic or prophet. He said he was only making
predictions based on his understanding of the Bible. Among many other things,
he predicted that by 1977 cars would be banned from major cities and busses
would run on nuclear power. By 1979 food rationing would begin in the U.S. and
by 1981 the government would control all food outlets. There would be a head
transplant in 1980. By 1982 special breathing masks would be commonly seen on
the streets of American cities due to air pollution. Sometime before 1990 the Temple
would be rebuilt in Israel.
Another interesting book was “88 reasons why the rapture will
be in 1988.”
Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye, and Jack van
Impe were not quite so sensationalist, but they made careers out of looking at
current events and trying to show how they supposedly fulfilled Bible
prophecies. For example, the 10 nation European Union was supposed to be the
10-nation world confederacy of Revelation 17. I don’t know if they talk about
that much anymore, now that the European Union has 28 member countries.
As a result, most
churches today have little or no interest at all in end-times events. I
wonder if another reason for the lack of interest is the endless and often
bitter squabbling between sincere Christians over details about timelines of
future events. Unfortunately, I think most churches today have overreacted,
throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Just off the top of my head, I can
think of at least 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament that mention Bible
prophecy—
so if we’re going to preach through the Bible, we can’t avoid
Bible prophecy just because of the abuse it has received in the past.
Prophecy is the topic of our passage
this morning in Luke 17. Jesus will distinguish between the kingdom of God in
its present form—and he will tell us what things will be like before that future
kingdom arrives—and before he returns. Let’s start by reading verses 20 and 21:
Once,
on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would
come, Jesus replied, “The coming of
the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor
will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of
God is in your midst.”
LET’S PRAY
Old Testament prophets had predicted that
God would one day set up his kingdom on earth. It would be a kingdom of peace
and righteousness—
and that is what most Jews in Jesus’ time longed for.
For hundreds of years, they had been oppressed by foreign governments like
Babylon, Persia, Greece, and then Rome—as well as from their own Jewish rulers—and
they longed for the promised Messiah—a King of all kings—to liberate them from that
oppression. In verse 20, the Pharisees wanted to know when Jesus thought this
kingdom would come. I suspect all Jews wanted to know that.
Although the Kingdom would one day be
visible—like lightening which flashes and lights up the sky, as Jesus says in
verse 24; the initial manifestation of the kingdom in the Pharisees’ day was
not something that could be observed, or that someone would be able to say,
Hey, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is.’ Instead, Jesus said, the kingdom of God is in your midst.
Some translations say, “The kingdom of God is within you.” While that is grammatically possible, you have to
remember that Jesus is talking to Pharisees. He certainly did not say the
Kingdom of God was within the Pharisees—those whom he called whitewashed tombs
and sons of hell in Matthew 24!
No, the NIV translates this correctly.
When Jesus says the kingdom of God is in your midst what he’s saying is, “You want to see
the kingdom of God? You’re looking at him!” Jesus is the king of that
kingdom and all who swear allegiance to him in faith are part of that kingdom
as well. But that aspect of the kingdom is not something that is outwardly visible
with geographical boundaries or a castle or a throne room or soldiers.
I think Jesus answers the Pharisees this
way because if they don’t turn their hearts over to Jesus in faithful
allegiance to him, they will never see the visible aspect of the Kingdom of God
which Jesus will establish when he comes back like
the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the
other.
Jesus, however, then explains this more
visible aspect to his disciples. Starting in verse 22: 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.
In this context, “to long to see one of the days of the Son of Man” means longing to see Jesus again. Jesus
is saying that the time will come when he will no longer be with them
physically on earth—and they will long to see him. But in the meantime, in verse 23, Jesus warns his
disciples saying, People will tell you,
‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ And Jesus says, Do
not go running off after them.
In Matthew’s version of this story Jesus warns
his disciples not to believe the false Messiahs and false prophets who will
come after him. Jesus’ prophecy came true. Just to give a couple of many
examples, first, in the second century AD a man known as Simon bar Kokhba came
claiming to be a messiah. He minted coins with his image on them, raised an
army and even started a war with the Romans. The Romans eventually crushed him and
his movement like bugs.
Much later, in the seventh century AD
another false prophet came claiming to be God’s last and greatest prophet—claiming
to be even greater than Jesus himself. Today he has roughly a billion
followers. I’m talking, of course, about Muhammad.
Jesus warned not to go after these false
prophets and false messiahs because when he does come back it will be dramatic
and unmistakable, like the lightning, which
flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other as it says in verse 24.
In verse 25: Jesus warns his disciples that before
this dramatic, visible manifestation of the kingdom, Jesus must first…suffer many things and be rejected by his generation. I’m sure the disciples didn’t understand
this at all. A suffering and rejected messiah? That just didn’t make sense to
them. They wouldn’t get it until after Jesus’ resurrection.
Jesus then tells his disciples what it
will be like before he comes back again. Starting in Verse 26:
26 “Just
as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son
of Man. 27 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.
28 “It
was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying
and selling, planting and building. 29 But
the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed
them all.
The days of Noah and the days of Lot have
at least two things in common. First, they were particularly evil. Speaking of
the time of Noah, Genesis 6:5 says, “The
LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth,
and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all
the time.” The same was true of Sodom
and Gomorrah.
Another characteristic is that in both
times people were just going about their life: buying, selling, planting,
building, and marrying—when sudden catastrophic destruction hit them!
Jesus says, in verse 30, “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. In other words, that’s how it will be
when Jesus comes back—it will be an extraordinarily evil time and yet people
will just be going about their business as if nothing unusual was happening.
If I had to guess, I would guess it would
be a time when, for example, countries were seemingly always on the verge of
war. Murder rates in cities like Chicago and Baltimore would be rampant. In
fact, even mass murders in public places and sometimes even in churches would
become more and more common. Drug trafficking and drug addiction would be out
of control. Human trafficking and sexual slavery would be widespread.
Pornography addiction would be so pervasive that even church people would be
addicted. A baby who was wanted would
be called a baby, but if she was unwanted, she would be called “tissue” and be
killed—sometimes even after she had been born. And women would brag about it! People would expect taxpayers to pay for sex change operations; and doctors
may even give children operations to change their gender. Women would
even wear vagina hats and vagina costumes at political rallies to promote their
sexual agendas. Meanwhile there would be parades in which many
people walked around half-naked or in sado-masochistic outfits celebrating
their “pride.” And all this would be promoted by the news media! And those
who question the wisdom of all this would be condemned as bigots and
increasingly persecuted.
And yet every day, people would all go
about their daily lives as if it were all so normal—presumably just like it was
in the days of Lot or the days of Noah. And then suddenly catastrophic
destruction hits.
Some of you may be thinking, “Yeah,
but there have been many times in history when people have become terribly
corrupt and perverse—and yet the end didn’t come.” You’re absolutely right.
And we don’t know if the perversion of
our culture is just before the end either. I think that is God’s intention.
Jesus’ wants his people to be prepared no matter when he comes back.
In verse 31 Jesus says, On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside,
should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for
anything. Most of you know that many of
the houses in Judea and Galilee in those day had flat roofs. Since there was no
air conditioning, people often sat on the roofs of their houses in the cool of
the evening. The only way into the house was to go down an external ladder or stairway
and then come into the house from the outside. Jesus says, there is no time to
run back into the house.
The fascinating thing about
this, is that this saying is used in Matthew 24, and Mark 13 referring to the
destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. In Luke 17, however, Jesus uses that same
saying, but with a little different twist. Luke 17 is not talking about the
destruction of Jerusalem. Luke 17 is talking about when Jesus comes back. In
Luke 17 when Jesus says, On
that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down
to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything he is not talking literally, like he was
with the fall of Jerusalem. We know that because when Jesus comes back like
lightening and takes his people to be with him, that happens instantly, in the
twinkling of an eye, Paul says. There
will be no time to even come off the roof, much less go back into the house to
get your stuff. And where would you flee? When Jesus comes back there will be
no place to flee to!
No, in Luke 17, I think Jesus is using this
saying metaphorically. It is like Jesus is saying, when you see your world
become like the days of Lot or Noah, you better be ready to meet Jesus—there
will be no time to get right with God when he comes back; and the fate of those
who are left behind will be truly horrible.
In
verses, verses 32 and 33
Jesus himself tells us what his point is: Remember
Lot’s wife! Jesus’ says. Lot and his
family were warned about the destruction of Sodom and yet Lot’s wife was
apparently so tied to her life in Sodom she turned back—and was destroyed.
Jesus continues, Whoever tries to keep
their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. Jesus gives this saying several times in
the Gospels. The idea is always that those who love their life or possessions
more than they love Jesus will lose their life or soul—it’s the same word in
Greek—they will lose it eternally.
You
say, wait a minute. We’re saved by faith! Can’t we have faith in Jesus and yet
love our possessions more than we love him? The answer is no. Biblical saving
faith is the idea of having a heart of loving devotion to Jesus above all else.
That doesn’t mean we’re perfect. It
doesn’t keep us from stumbling into sin—just remember how Peter denied Jesus
three times! But saving faith does mean we have a loving commitment to Jesus
Christ that is ultimately greater than our attachment to this world.
So
why the urgency? In verses 34-35
Jesus says, 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.”
The
idea is that you better be ready because Jesus is coming back at a time when
you will not expect him—and when that happens, you will not have time to go
back into the house to get your stuff or to get right with God. It will be too
late.
Interestingly enough, Paul picks up on
this teaching of Jesus about two people being together and one left behind, and
teaches it in First Thessalonians 4. Paul says, According
to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until
the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen
asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from
heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with
the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After
that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
The
Latin word for “caught up” in verse 17 is where we get our word “rapture” from. So when Jesus
says in verse 34 and 35
that two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the
other left, I am convinced that he is
talking about the rapture.
There are some godly Bible teachers,
however, who think the ones taken are taken in judgment—not in the rapture. But
that doesn’t fit the context. In verses 26 and 27, those in the days of Noah who were
left, were left behind for judgment—they were destroyed by the flood. In verses
28-29 those in the
days of Lot who were left in Sodom and Gomorrah, were left behind for judgment—they
were destroyed when fire and sulfur fell on the cities. So also in verses 34-35 the ones left
behind are left behind for judgment—probably the judgment of Armageddon, and I
think possibly even the judgment of the seven bowls in Revelation 16.
In verse 37 the disciples want to know where
all this judgment going to happen?” Jesus just says, “Where
there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.” He’s probably saying this will happen wherever
people are ripe for judgment—which will be everywhere.
I saw a rather
irreverent bumper sticker one time that said, “Jesus is coming—and boy is he
ticked!” If you believe the Bible, there is some truth to that. According
to the Bible, this mild and meek Jesus who came to serve and give his life a
ransom for many, will return in a robe dipped in blood, followed by the armies
of heaven and with a sharp sword to strike down the nations. Revelation 19
says, quote, “He treads the winepress of the fury of
the wrath of Almighty God.”
Luke 17 is about the
return of Jesus Christ. Just as in the days of Noah or Lot, when every
imagination of people’s hearts was evil—and yet they went about their normal
daily lives until catastrophic judgment fell, Jesus says the time is coming
when all of human race will face a similar fate. People will be going about
their daily business while society as a whole becomes progressively more and
more evil until catastrophic judgment suddenly falls.
The point of
Jesus’ end-times teaching was never about enabling us to come up with timelines
and predictions of how we think things are going to play out in the future. It
was about urging us to be ready. Quite honestly, we don’t know bad the
suffering might be before the rapture comes. In some countries it is already
about as terrible as it could get. The point of Jesus’ teaching was that he is
coming back—like light lightening that flashes from
one end of the sky to another—so we better be ready.
But what does it
mean to be ready? It means we get our priorities right. We make sure our ultimate
allegiance is to Jesus Christ—our King of kings and Lord of lords, and that we
are more dedicated and devoted to him than we are to this life or the things in
it. It means we are striving to be found faithful when he comes back by daily trying
to obey his teachings—not in order to be saved, but out of gratitude for the
salvation he has given us by his grace through faith.
It may be that
there is someone here this morning who is not ready at all—someone whose life
and identity is totally wrapped up in themselves, their careers or the things
of this world. To be ready for Jesus means to give your ultimate devotion and
allegiance over to Jesus Christ as the king and ruler of your life. The Bible
calls that “faith” or “believing in Jesus.”
If you want Jesus
to be the ruler of your life, just tell him: “Jesus, I don’t want anything
to come before you anymore. Forgive me of my sinful rebellion. You be my king.
You take over my life. Help me to live my life in a manner that would be
pleasing to you.” If you are serious about that, and have never been
baptized, you will get baptized. Baptism is the initial public expression
of one’s faith in Christ. As Billy Graham used to say, “Those Jesus called,
he called publicly.”
Jesus is coming. Are you ready?
LET’S PRAY
