Monday, January 20, 2020

Sermon on Luke 17:20-37


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