Luke 17:25

In Luke chapter 17 Jesus had just indicated to the disciples that He would return one day to manifest His kingdom in a way that was not currently being manifested. But before He did come back some other things were going to happen. What are the things that are going to happen, and what are the circumstances that are going to exist before Jesus returns? The answer to some of these things is found in the rest of Luke chapter 17. In Luke 17:25-27 Jesus said, “But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.”

If we go back to when Jesus said these things, we know that He had not yet died for the sins of the world. Therefore, Jesus said to the disciples that the next thing they would see would be the fact that He would “suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.” We will be eternally grateful that Jesus was willing to suffer many things. If He had not suffered them, we would have no hope in taking part in His great Kingdom.

After the crucifixion and the death of Jesus on the cross, we have entered into a time period in which we wait for the return of Christ. Jesus said that we can clearly understand what the characteristics of this time period will be like. They will be like the days of Noah. In the days of Noah people were warned that a judgment was coming. They were warned that they needed to repent of their sins. Most of them did not repent. Instead of repenting and turning towards God, they went about the normal affairs of life. There is nothing wrong with eating and drinking and marrying, if such things are done with thanksgiving towards God. But if such things are done while forgetting God and ignoring the judgment to come, then even the normal activities of life are simply selfish and sinful.

Jesus said that the same basic problem existed at the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus said in Luke 17:28-31, “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Often when we speak of Sodom and Gommorah, we speak about the great sexual immorality of those cites as an example of how far they had departed from God. But Jesus did not speak of their sexual immorality. He simply spoke of the fact that just like in the days of Noah, the people of Sodom went about their daily activities without giving heed to the warnings of a judgment to come and without repenting of their sins.

Jesus said that in the time period from His death on the cross until His return to the earth, the same circumstances would be seen as were seen during the time of Noah and during the time of Lot in the city of Sodom. People will forget God. People will ignore the warnings of the judgment to come. The vast majority of people will become so involved in the normal activities of life, that they will leave God out. They will enjoy and value the pleasures of life on earth more than the knowledge of God. They will not be prepared for the end when it comes. They will live life foolishly: as if it will last forever. One of the great realities of life is that it is temporary and very short, and for some people life will end suddenly and unexpectedly.

When Jesus returns, life will end suddenly for all. Jesus will come with judgment and with justice. Jesus said in Luke 17:31-32, “In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife.” One of the most dramatic events in the future of the world will be the return of Jesus Christ. The return of Christ will be very sudden and it will be without warning. No one knows when Christ will return. The first phase of His return is what we call the rapture, when every believer is uplifted and taken off the earth to meet the Lord in the air, as it says in First Thessalonians chapter 4. He might return today or any day at any time, or He might wait many more years. Jesus is emphasizing the fact that people on the earth might be involved in any activity when He returns to manifest Himself and His Kingdom.

Jesus also said that to be ready for the Kingdom of God, when the opportunity comes, you must immediately respond to it. You must have the attitude that you are going to reach out for the new and forget the old. Once again Jesus teaches us that God wants people who are dedicated. God wants people who have made a definite choice to turn away from one thing and to turn to another. If you are not ready to make such a choice, you are not ready for the kingdom of God. One person who was not ready and who exists as an example of loving the world more than the kingdom of God was Lot’s wife. She turned back to look at Sodom and Gomorrah undoubtedly because she still desired those places more than the place to which God would have led them. If you want to serve God in this world, and if you want to be with God in the next, don’t look back and don’t turn back. In order to become a part of God’s kingdom, you must enter into it with singleness of purpose and with a complete determination to let go of the world. God does not call people to hold on to a love for the world. He calls us to a complete and total dedication to His Kingdom.

In Luke 17:33 Jesus said, “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.” This statement made by Jesus is one of the great spiritual paradoxes of life. When a person considers giving their life to Christ, sometimes it appears as though they are going to lose by so doing. In reality they gain, both in this life and in the next. If you reject the great eternal God Who made you, you certainly will be the loser because of it. Strange how the will of man confuses the mind and the spirit of man. Hold on to your life, and you will lose your life. You will lose your spiritual life and you will lose all that you could have been in the Kingdom of God.

In Luke 17:34-37 Jesus said, “I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wherever the body is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” In this passage Jesus is emphasizing the fact that not everyone shall enter the kingdom of God. “Two men shall be in a field together: the one shall be taken, and the other left.” Make sure that you have repented of your sins if you want to be one of those who are taken into the kingdom of God. Of course, Jesus is also teaching about the rapture: the suddenness of it. We call it the any-moment return of Christ. The rapture is imminent. The actual Second Coming of Christ to the earth to reign from the throne of David in Jerusalem will not happen until after the 7-year Great Tribulation, but the rapture of believers can happen at any moment. There are no prophetic events that need to happen before the rapture takes place. It can happen at any time.

We also notice from this teaching of Jesus the sudden manner in which people will be separated from each other. This teaching of Jesus fits very closely to what we understand the rapture to be like. When Jesus returns to the earth, those who are saved will be taken miraculously off the earth. Those who are lost will be left on the earth to suffer the judgments that will come to the inhabitants thereof. The Bible says in First Thessalonians 4:16-18, ”For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

When the rapture takes place, where will we be taken? We will be taken to wherever Jesus is. That’s what Jesus meant when He said in Luke 17:37, “Wherever the body is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” It’s enough to know that we will be with Jesus. Somehow miraculously He will gather us to Himself. He will keep His promise to never leave us nor forsake us. We do not have to go up to a mountaintop to await His return. We wait for Him, but we wait for Him as we go about our daily affairs. When the time comes, those who believe in Him will be gathered into His presence. It will happen just like Jesus said, “Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”

But until it does happen, we have a life to live on this earth. And concerning this life Jesus reminded us of a very important principle in Luke 18:1-8 where the Bible says, “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of my adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?”

In the last part of Luke chapter 17 Jesus had told us some things about what would happen in the time period leading up to His return and some of the details about what will happen when He finally does return. At the start of Luke chapter 18 Jesus speaks about a subject that emphasizes what we need to be doing now before He returns. He spoke about prayer. Luke 18:1 says, “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” The day will come when we will stand before Jesus face to face and we will speak to Him as a man speaks with His friend. But until that day we speak to Him in prayer. What is prayer but speaking to God. If you know how to speak then you know how to pray. You can even pray by what you think, because God hears your thoughts as well as your words.

Jesus emphasized the importance of prayer. He said that we “ought always to pray.” If you do not pray, then your life certainly is not what a human life should be. Prayer should be a normal part of every human’s life. “Pray without ceasing.” “In all things with prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God.” We know that Jesus prayed throughout His life. He prayed before He was tempted. He prayed before He chose the twelve apostles. He prayed before He was crucified. He prayed before He ate. He taught all of us how to pray when He delivered to us all some of the greatest words ever spoken in this earth and He said to pray after this example, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.”

Jesus told us “to pray and not to faint.” In other words don’t give up on your life of prayer. Human beings tend to give up on their prayer to God. Don’t let that happen to you. By way of contrast, Jesus taught us this parable of the unjust judge so that we would be reminded of the fact that God does hear our prayers and that God does things in response to our prayers. God answers prayer. There are things in this world that happen only because people have prayed to God about them. There are other things that do not happen only because people did not pray when they could have. If an unjust judge who respected no one finally gave in to the request of a widow who asked Him time and again for help, how much more will God answer our prayers and give us what we ask? God is just and God cares about us. If an unjust judge answers requests, how much more will the great, eternal, loving God answer us?

Of course in order to pray one must have faith. One must have confidence in God in order to talk to God. One “must believe that God is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” In spite of the great example in the life of Jesus and His prayers, and in spite of the reality that prayer changes things, many people just do not pray like they ought to. Sometimes we foolishly think that we can handle life’s challenges without God, but sometimes we just do not have the faith that we ought to have. If we truly have faith that God can do anything, we will pray more.

Jesus tied the lack of faith among humans to His return to the earth when He said in Luke 18:8, “When the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?” Evidently from this statement from Jesus there is a good possibility that when He returns there will be no faith anywhere to be found on the earth. What a horrible thing that would be and what a shame to the humans who are in that generation! If we say that Christ might come back today, then we are also saying that there very well may be no faith left on the earth as of today. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”

You can increase your faith by reading the Word of God. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” As you are reminded of God’s promises, your faith will be built up knowing that God keeps His promises. One of the promises is that God answers prayer. That’s why Jesus said, “Men ought always to pray and not to faint.”

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