Luke 17.20 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, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
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. 23 People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them. 24 For the Son of Man in his day[d] will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
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.
30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 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. 32 Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”
37 “Where, Lord?” they asked.
He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”
This passage has been the one fly in the ointment for my understanding of an integrated understanding of the Olivet Discourse. I don't even know if it was part of the Olivet Discourse, or a reiteration of the same. However, I believe it can be integrated directly into the synoptic versions of the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, without inconsistency.
My own view of this Discourse is that although Jesus was asked about his 2nd Coming, and about his Kingdom, the emphasis was largely on that generation, and on the Jewish People. It was still the OT era, and Israel alone were God's Chosen People. And so, acting as a prophet like Jeremiah, Jesus predicted the fall of Jerusalem, due to the fallen spiritual condition of the Jewish People. This would take place sooner, rather than later, just as Jeremiah had also predicted in his own time about the Babylonian Judgment.
The Olivet Discourse is in itself a reiteration of Daniel's prophecy of the 70th Week, in which Messiah would be cut off for the sins of the people, Jerusalem would fall, and it would come about through an Abomination of Desolation. Obviously, I feel the AoD was the Roman Army that, when it initially came, portended the imminent fall of Jerusalem, and a great exile, of great tribulation, to come. This Great Tribulation of the Jewish People would last throughout the present age until the Kingdom finally comes. In the meantime, Jesus' disciples would suffer the world in this fallen condition, just as the prophets suffered in their own time. It was a call for endurance to the saints.
But Luke 17 above throws in a quandary those who would make the Olivet Discourse a futuristic prophecy, rather than a present one. Jesus indicated that a future Kingdom was not the important thing to grasp at that time, but rather, understanding what can't be seen. People thought that by keeping the Law externally they would be safe from God's judgments. But in reality, Jesus said he was in their midst, and they were not recognizing him.
This was the important thing, to recognize spiritual realities in their midst that called them to true righteousness, rather than to legal observances without true faith. Legal observances had become a coverup for immoral and unjust practices. In the end, the Jews kept their religious observance and crucified the Son of God!
Finally, Jesus depicted how the Jewish People, and eventually other nations, would respond negatively to the Kingdom of God. Christ would be rejected, and the world would persist in their lawlessness, covering up their ungodly ways with acts that only appear good.
Jesus compared how the Jews were failing to receive him in his time with how it will be throughout this age until the Kingdom comes. There would be judgments from God against those who are inwardly false and outwardly pretend to be righteous. In reality, it would be like Sodom and Gomorrah, and like the Flood of Noah--nations would come under judgment, with only a few choosing to live in true righteousness.
Jesus specifically applied this to his own generation, showing that they also would go through a kind of Flood of Noah, and experience destruction like Sodom and Gomorrah. When the Romans came, masses of Jews were put to death, and relatively few survived. The Christians paid heed to Jesus and escaped to Pella.
It helped me to understand that Jesus was not saying this destruction of Jerusalem would happen at the 2nd Coming. Rather, Jesus was characterizing the *entire age* as subject to divine judgment, with few escaping in those times. The 70 AD judgment of Jerusalem was simply an early example of this.
Luke 17.30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 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. 32 Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”
This took place in 70 AD. But it is the condition of the world in every generation, when society collapses into lawlessness. The Kingdom of God is not seen, even when Christianity is in their midst. It was the same in the day Jesus was among the Jews as it will be at the end of the age when he comes again to judge the whole world. The world will have failed to see the Kingdom of God in their midst, just as Israel had failed to see their Messiah in their own midst! And judgment would come unexpectedly.
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. 23 People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them. 24 For the Son of Man in his day[d] will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
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.
30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 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. 32 Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”
37 “Where, Lord?” they asked.
He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”
This passage has been the one fly in the ointment for my understanding of an integrated understanding of the Olivet Discourse. I don't even know if it was part of the Olivet Discourse, or a reiteration of the same. However, I believe it can be integrated directly into the synoptic versions of the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, without inconsistency.
My own view of this Discourse is that although Jesus was asked about his 2nd Coming, and about his Kingdom, the emphasis was largely on that generation, and on the Jewish People. It was still the OT era, and Israel alone were God's Chosen People. And so, acting as a prophet like Jeremiah, Jesus predicted the fall of Jerusalem, due to the fallen spiritual condition of the Jewish People. This would take place sooner, rather than later, just as Jeremiah had also predicted in his own time about the Babylonian Judgment.
The Olivet Discourse is in itself a reiteration of Daniel's prophecy of the 70th Week, in which Messiah would be cut off for the sins of the people, Jerusalem would fall, and it would come about through an Abomination of Desolation. Obviously, I feel the AoD was the Roman Army that, when it initially came, portended the imminent fall of Jerusalem, and a great exile, of great tribulation, to come. This Great Tribulation of the Jewish People would last throughout the present age until the Kingdom finally comes. In the meantime, Jesus' disciples would suffer the world in this fallen condition, just as the prophets suffered in their own time. It was a call for endurance to the saints.
But Luke 17 above throws in a quandary those who would make the Olivet Discourse a futuristic prophecy, rather than a present one. Jesus indicated that a future Kingdom was not the important thing to grasp at that time, but rather, understanding what can't be seen. People thought that by keeping the Law externally they would be safe from God's judgments. But in reality, Jesus said he was in their midst, and they were not recognizing him.
This was the important thing, to recognize spiritual realities in their midst that called them to true righteousness, rather than to legal observances without true faith. Legal observances had become a coverup for immoral and unjust practices. In the end, the Jews kept their religious observance and crucified the Son of God!
Finally, Jesus depicted how the Jewish People, and eventually other nations, would respond negatively to the Kingdom of God. Christ would be rejected, and the world would persist in their lawlessness, covering up their ungodly ways with acts that only appear good.
Jesus compared how the Jews were failing to receive him in his time with how it will be throughout this age until the Kingdom comes. There would be judgments from God against those who are inwardly false and outwardly pretend to be righteous. In reality, it would be like Sodom and Gomorrah, and like the Flood of Noah--nations would come under judgment, with only a few choosing to live in true righteousness.
Jesus specifically applied this to his own generation, showing that they also would go through a kind of Flood of Noah, and experience destruction like Sodom and Gomorrah. When the Romans came, masses of Jews were put to death, and relatively few survived. The Christians paid heed to Jesus and escaped to Pella.
It helped me to understand that Jesus was not saying this destruction of Jerusalem would happen at the 2nd Coming. Rather, Jesus was characterizing the *entire age* as subject to divine judgment, with few escaping in those times. The 70 AD judgment of Jerusalem was simply an early example of this.
Luke 17.30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 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. 32 Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”
This took place in 70 AD. But it is the condition of the world in every generation, when society collapses into lawlessness. The Kingdom of God is not seen, even when Christianity is in their midst. It was the same in the day Jesus was among the Jews as it will be at the end of the age when he comes again to judge the whole world. The world will have failed to see the Kingdom of God in their midst, just as Israel had failed to see their Messiah in their own midst! And judgment would come unexpectedly.
