Luke 17:20-37 - The Coming Kingdom
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
Good morning, Church. Some of you just looked at your handout for today and got a little overwhelmed! I somewhat apologize for catching you off-guard with the wealth of information that you have been given.
We are going to be covering some deep doctrines of the faith in today’s message. Frankly, we should all ponder and meditate on the sermon that is preached each Sunday. No one is able to digest 30-35 minutes of material in one sitting. Much will be lost and forgotten if one does not review it throughout the week. That is why we post the sermon along with the manuscript of the sermon online each week for you to review.
However, today’s message will require even more meditation and study than usual in order to take it in. I pray that you review this message and the handout throughout the coming week so that you can get a better grasp on these important doctrines that Jesus has for us to learn.
Today, Jesus is going to be speaking about the kingdom of God again, but He is going to give an even deeper dive into it.
If you recall, a few weeks ago I taught on this. For those who were present, this will be review so bear with me. Yet for completeness, we should answer the following question again:
What exactly is the kingdom of God?
This phrase occurs some 32 times in the Gospel of Luke alone! It can also be called the kingdom of heaven in Matthew.
The kingdom of God is the sovereign rule and reign of God over the universe. Although God has always been sovereign over His creation, the kingdom of God came with the first coming of Christ and ushered in the Gospel and church era. A couple of important aspects of the kingdom of God deserve some explanation:
The kingdom of God is internal. God welcomes true followers of Christ into the kingdom through salvation. Those who follow Christ are a part of the kingdom of God while those who refuse to repent and follow are not.
The kingdom of God will be external. The kingdom of God has been inaugurated but not fully consummated. God is sovereign and always has been, yet Christ is not physically ruling on earth yet. This physical reign will be consummated in the following ways:
Christ will return after the Tribulation and destroy those opposed to Him (Revelation 19:11-21).
Christ will then literally rule on the earth for 1000 years (The Millennial Reign - Revelation 20:1-6).
Christ will then throw the devil (who had been imprisoned for the 1000 year reign) into the Lake of fire - namely hell (Revelation 20:7-10).
Christ will give the final great white throne judgement of all unbelievers thereby casting them into eternal hell (Revelation 20:11-21).
Finally, Christ will rule and reign over the new heaven and new earth for all eternity in a place with no more tears or pain (Revelation 21-22).
Today’s message will be hitting on both components of the kingdom of God. We will discuss the internal kingdom of God that began with Christ’s first coming as well as the external kingdom of God that will be consummated with His second coming. I hope that this provides a good foundation for our Scripture today. With all of that said, let’s pray and jump into the Scripture.
Prayer
Today we will see two reasons that we must be ready in regard to the kingdom of God. The first is…
I. You Must Be Ready Because the Kingdom Has Come (20-21)
I. You Must Be Ready Because the Kingdom Has Come (20-21)
Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
It is interesting that the Pharisees approach Jesus about the kingdom of God. This is one of the few times they appear to be asking a legitimate question. They are asking when it is going to come.
This shows the sad state of these religious leaders. They had witnessed many of the miracles of Christ. They had heard His teaching time and time again. Yet, they missed that He was the promised Messiah. They missed the fact that the kingdom of God was already among them. As Jesus so pointedly states at the end of verse 21 - the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. It has arrived.
Before bashing these religious leaders, we see that even His own disciples missed the big picture many times. Listen to Philip’s terribly misguided question in John 14:8:
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
And hear Jesus’s response to him:
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Even Philip, one of the twelve disciples, missed the fact that Jesus was the true Messiah here.
We must be ready because the kingdom of God has already come. It has been inaugurated as we mentioned before. Christ is King. He has just not taken His divinely appointed authority on earth yet. That will come in the future as we will discuss in a moment. However, we can learn an important lesson from the Pharisee’s question in verse 20.
We need to be sure that all of our expectations are Biblical in nature.
Sometimes we come at situations with a worldview that is not Biblical, and we miss what God is already doing. The Pharisees had in their minds what the kingdom of God would look like, and they completely missed Christ. We, likewise, must lay down our own pre-understandings and preconceived ideas as we approach the Scriptures and study.
May we remain humble as we approach the Scriptures and teachable to what Christ has for us. May we not be blinded by our prejudices, experiences, or un-Biblical teachings as we study His Word.
Moving to the heart of the passage we get to our second point which is…
Scripture References: John 14:8-9
II. You Must Be Ready Because the Kingdom Will Come (22-37)
II. You Must Be Ready Because the Kingdom Will Come (22-37)
A. … So Don’t Be Fooled (22-25)
A. … So Don’t Be Fooled (22-25)
And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.
Now He turns to the disciples to explain the kingdom of God further. Here Jesus clearly tells the disciples that He will not be with them much longer. He is also telling them that they are not going to witness His second coming. They will witness His death and burial and resurrection. They will also be blessed to witness His Ascension as seen in Acts 1:9-11.
Yet, they will not be present for His second coming. We are still awaiting His second coming even to this day!
Jesus gives a warning for us as we wait, however. There will be many false prophets and false messiahs. Christ warns us not to follow them. The second coming of Christ is not something that will come in secret. The entire earth will know when He returns. We are told here that as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in His day.
He then reminds His disciples that there can be no second coming without the cross - which brings us to verse 25…
But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
Before the kingdom of God would be able to be fully consummated, Christ would need to suffer first. Christ is speaking of His death on the cross. He would need to be crucified, die, and be buried. He would then need to be raised from the dead and ascend into heaven before the final consummation was to occur.
We now await the second coming of Christ. We look forward to the day where He will reign on earth in all of His power and glory.
As we wait, heed Christ’s warning. Believe not the false prophets and false teachers who say that Christ has already returned.
Do not be fooled by those who claim superstitions and teach man’s ideas devoid of Biblical clarity.
Beware of those who twist the Scriptures to make much of themselves for their own gain. Don’t be fooled.
Next we see another warning… You must be ready because the kingdom of God will come…
Scripture References: Acts 1:9-11
B. … So Don’t Be Wrongly Focused (26-33)
B. … So Don’t Be Wrongly Focused (26-33)
Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
I am sure that just about all of us recall Noah and the worldwide flood. I do think it is important for us to see that Jesus refers back to this worldwide event showing its literal historicity. He recalls this judgement that occured in Genesis 6-8 and speaks of it as a historic event. Despite what some liberal Bible scholars like to assert, Jesus teaches that a worldwide flood was a factual event in world history.
He reminds us that the flood came and destroyed them all - meaning everyone on the face of the earth minus Noah and his family consisting of 7 others (Genesis 7:13). Many today try to explain away this historic event, yet the Scriptures are clear and Jesus is clear and frankly even geology is clear - the worldwide flood was a historic event. I would encourage you to listen to our apologetics podcast which explains the flood in even more detail.
During Noah’s day, people ignored the preaching of Noah. They continued living life like they always had. They lived as if things would never change. They lived as if judgement would never come.
Before the flood, the sin of the world had become become great. In fact, Genesis 6:5 says:
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Every intention was evil - continually. The world had become exceedingly wicked - to the point that not one convert from Noah’s preaching was found. I sure am glad I am not a preacher in Noah’s day! To think this man preached some 100 years and had no convert! That is a rough ministry!
Jesus has one other example to give us before charging us to not be wrongly focused.
Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
Recalling another historical judgement, Jesus brings up the days of Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah from Genesis 19. Again, the people were living life like nothing was going to change. Interestingly, marriage is not mentioned in these verses like it was in Noah’s flood judgement. That is because the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah had become so sexually open and progressive that marriage was a thing of the past.
This sounds a bit concerning for us in America today doesn’t it? God loves marriage and hates sexual immorality. Yet, our culture is pursuing sexual activity outside of Biblical marriage at alarming rates.
Jesus says that because of the evil in that day, God destroyed them all in Sodom and Gomorrah. There were none left in those two cities.
After these two judgements are mentioned, Jesus says - so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In other words, God will destroy them all. He will destroy all who stand against Him when He comes at His second coming. Listen to the warning further in verses 31-33:
On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.
These verses are given as a warning and a reminder of the sudden and quick judgement that is to come at His second coming. Those who have sought the things of this earth will be quickly swept away in judgement. Jesus charges us to remember Lot’s wife.
If you recall, Lot’s wife refused to let go of her possessions. So focused on the things of this world, she disobeyed God and looked back at the destruction of her former city. Her judgement was that she turned into a pillar of salt.
Remember Lot’s wife, my friends. Remember the judgement on those who trust in the things of this world instead of Christ.
Don’t spend all of your time concerned about your goods, about your stuff and forget about the most important thing - following Jesus Christ. A familiar verse comes to mind when considering this…
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
Lot’s wife refused to let go of the world. She refused to trust in God and was judged for it.
Be not wrongly focused. Focus on the things of God - namely the things above and not the things of earth (Colossians 3:2).
Finishing His warning, we come to our final subpoint… You must be ready because the kingdom of God will come…
Scripture References: Genesis 6-8, Genesis 7:13, Genesis 6:5, Genesis 19, Mark 8:36, Colossians 3:2
C. … So Don’t Be Found Unprepared (34-37)
C. … So Don’t Be Found Unprepared (34-37)
I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
Before getting into these verses, some of you might have noticed that the KJV includes verse 36 which mentions two men in a field with one taken and one left behind. This has a parallel in Matthew 24:40. However, the earliest Greek manuscripts do not contain verse 36 in Luke’s Gospel, and thus verse 36 is not found in the ESV or most modern translations. The KJV gives an annotation regarding the fact that this verse is not in the earliest manuscripts as well. Whether you include it or not - it doesn’t change the interpretation or the truth therein.
Some people struggle when they come to a situation like this. Some feel like their faith in the inerrancy of Scripture is shaken somewhat when confronted by a situation like this.
Yet, this should only help to strengthen your faith. There are no cover-ups for the scribal errors of the past. If something has been added or taken away, we have tons of manuscripts that can be compiled to accurately give us the original.
You can have faith in the accuracy and inerrancy of the Scriptures because we have well over 5,000 early Greek manuscripts. You can trust the reliability of the Bible because scholars have gone over these ancient documents with fine toothed combs to prove that what you read today is what was originally written by the Biblical authors. The mountain of Scriptural manuscripts stands tall over all other documents from the ancient world.
In fact, the NT Greek manuscripts - if stacked on top of one another into a single stack - would stand around as tall as the Empire State Building (which is 1454 feet). The average manuscript size is well over 400 pages long! Most of these are not small fragments but instead are long manuscripts (1)!
In fact, check this chart from carm.org (2).
The New Testament has almost 5,000 more manuscripts than second place - Homer’s Iliad.
You can trust the Bible as accurate and reliable and true. With that, let’s keep moving forward and study our final verses for today…
I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
Unfortunately these verses, along with the parallel from Matthew 24, have been misinterpreted by many to refer to the rapture of the church found in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-54.
Although the Scriptures are clear that the church will be raptured prior to the Tribulation, they are also clear that these verses do not refer to the rapture.
Because of this error by some pastors and theologians, there has been a misunderstanding of the situation at hand.
Matthew 24:15-28 clearly articulates the coming of the Antichrist before the one taken and the one left behind is mentioned (Matthew 24:40-41).
And Jesus’s answer to the disciple’s question also proves that those taken are taken to judgement.
Before digging further into these verses, we need to lay yet another foundation to understand this passage. We need to understand eschatology - meaning the study of the end-times.
If you were with us when we went through 1 Thessalonians, this will be review for you again.
At CrossPointe, we hold to a Pretribulation Premillennial View of Eschatology (meaning study of the end-times).
The chart which is included in your handout and is courtesy of Pastor Kenny Stidham, shows the overarching sequence of events from the beginning of time until the New Heaven and New Earth.
On this chart we see creation to the cross at the beginning. Moving forward, we now are in the church age or the time of the Gentiles. The rapture of the Church will come next which will start the beginning of the Tribulation and the beginning of the Day of the Lord. At the end of the Tribulation we see the return of Christ which is the actual second coming of Jesus. As you can see, these are two separate events - although some have confused them.
With all of that understood, we can walk through the verses now…
I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
We are introduced to a a couple of situations. There are two people in one bed and one is taken and the other is left. Then we see two women grinding mill together, and one is taken and the other is left. The disciples hear this and ask the obvious question - ‘Where, Lord?’
In other words, they are asking where are these people taken?
Jesus answers in a disturbing way. He says where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. In other words, these people have been taken to judgement.
After the rapture of the church, there will be a seven year Tribulation period. During this time period, life will go on as it always had - like it did before the flood and before the judgement of Sodom and Gomorrah. Despite the obvious sign of coming judgement - namely the Rapture - despite the preaching of the 144,000 Messianic Jews (Revelation 7:1-8, Revelation 14:1-5), and the two witnesses (Revelation 11:1-14) - and despite the judgements from God listed in the book Revelation - most people will refuse to heed the warning of the second coming of Christ in judgement. Although some will be blessed to be left and ushered into the Millennial Kingdom of Christ on earth, most will perish through judgement by Jesus Christ.
Listen to this harsh statement about the battle of Armageddon at the second coming of Christ…
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
And then we come to our parallel to Jesus’s answer in verse 37...
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”
All of those who oppose Jesus at the end of the Tribulation will be destroyed. Their dead bodies will be handed over to the vultures. This is such a gruesome picture, my friends. This is a difficult message to even preach.
How sad it is that so many will perish apart from Christ?
Scripture References: Matthew 24:40, Matthew 24, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, 1 Corinthians 15:50-54, Matthew 24:15-28, Matthew 24:40-41, Revelation 7:1-8, Revelation 14:1-15, Revelation 11:1-14, Revelation 19:11-18
Conclusion:
So as we close this morning…
What is our response to such a message from Jesus?
First, we should respond in faith and repentance.
We must be sure that we have truly repented of our sins, placed our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, and submitted to His Lordship over us.
We don’t do this out of fear alone. Despite the truth of God’s judgement as seen here, we also saw the love of God in Luke 17:25. Sandwiched right in the middle was the cross. Jesus has offered us a way out of judgement. He has given His life on the cross for our sins. His kindness and love should draw us to repentance.
And our second response needs to be evangelism.
We need to be sharing the Gospel with others. There is a coming judgement on those who refuse to repent of their sins and believe in Christ. Obey Christ by sharing the Gospel with others.
Tell them about the gravity of sin but also the grace of our Savior!
Let us go to the Lord in prayer…