And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them. For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.” And answering they said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.” (17:22–37)

All true Christians who understand Scripture, love the Lord Jesus Christ, and are concerned about His glory desire His return. They desire to see Him set aside His long humiliation and return in majesty and glory to reign. Like the Thessalonians, they eagerly “wait for [God’s] Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus” (1 Thess. 1:10) and are “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:13). Paul referred to Christians as those “who have loved [Christ’s] appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). At the close of the book of Revelation, the apostle John responded to Christ’s promise, “Yes, I am coming quickly” by saying, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).

It is a characteristic of the spiritually mature that they long for the second coming not for personal gain, but for the glory of Christ. They desire to see Jesus vindicated and exalted (cf. John 17:24), instead of reviled and dishonored. On the other hand, those who care little about Christ’s honor and God’s glory, who view Jesus as the means to their own personal fulfillment, have little interest in the second coming. Contemporary evangelism encourages that self-centered perspective. It makes the salvation of sinners the goal and relegates God to being merely the means to accomplishing that goal. But that is the opposite of what Scripture teaches. The glory of God is the goal of redemption, and the salvation of sinners is a means of accomplishing that goal.

Scoffers have always denied that Jesus Christ will return literally and bodily to establish and reign over His earthly kingdom. “Know this first of all,” Peter wrote, “that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation’” (2 Peter 3:3–4). If the universe is a closed, naturalistic system of cause and effect, then divine intervention—including the return of Christ—is ruled out a priori. In modern times that view became known as uniformitarianism, and was popularized in geology by Charles Lyell, a contemporary of Charles Darwin. Uniformitarianism denies God’s interventions in the world’s history, in particular His creation of the universe in six days and the worldwide flood of Noah’s day.

Uniformity as a natural principle is beneficial, and expresses God’s sustained, predictable, consistent design for His creation. If the natural laws and processes built into the universe at its creation did not normally function in a systematic and stable manner, there would be chaos. Thus, the Bible teaches the truth that the universe and our world function as the uniform operation of natural causes in an open system, but in which the Creator can (and does) supernaturally intervene. To advocate uniformitarianism as an inviolable law so rigid that it denies the possibility of God acting in history is to believe a foolish and damning lie.

The Bible teaches the reality of Christ’s second coming just as certainly as it does that of His first coming. But just as the Old Testament prophets could not fully understand all that was involved in Christ’s first coming before it happened (1 Peter 1:10–11), so also His second coming is shrouded in mystery. The basic outline of the events surrounding the second coming is clear. The rapture of the church will be followed by the seven-year tribulation, at the end of which Christ will return in judgment and establish His thousand-year earthly kingdom. After a final rebellion led by Satan is crushed, the current heaven and earth will be destroyed, the Great White Throne judgment will take place, and a new heaven and new earth will be created for all the righteous, which will last forever. Because no prophetic sign is necessary before the Rapture, the next event on the prophetic horizon, every generation of Christians lives in the anticipation of Christ’s imminent coming for His church (1 John 3:1–3).

The return of the Lord Jesus Christ is essential for the following reasons.

First, the promise of God demands the second coming. Of the more than three hundred prophecies in the Old Testament related to the coming of Christ, only about a third of them were fulfilled at His first coming. That leaves about two thirds—more than two hundred—prophecies yet to be fulfilled at His return.

Second, the teaching of Jesus Christ demands the second coming. The Lord repeatedly spoke of His return (v. 30; 12:40; 18:8; 21:27; Matt. 16:27–28; 24:27, 30, 37, 39, 44; 25:31; 26:64; Rev. 3:11), and His trustworthiness demands that those predictions be fulfilled.

Third, the revelation by the Holy Spirit demands the second coming. He is the one who inspired the Bible and every prophecy of the second coming it contains. His trustworthiness mandates their fulfillment.

Fourth, God’s plan for the church demands the second coming. In John 14:3 Jesus promised, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” Paul described that same event, the rapture of the church, in 1 Thessalonians 4:14–17:

Having been taken to heaven in the rapture, the church will return with Christ at His second coming (Rev. 19:14). The fulfillment of those passages necessitates Christ’s return.

Fifth, the future of Israel demands the second coming. Zechariah’s prophecy records God’s promise of Israel’s salvation:

It is after Israel’s repentance and salvation that the second coming and the establishment of the promised kingdom takes place (14:4–9). Thus, Israel’s hope is inextricably linked to the Lord’s return.

Sixth, the corruption of the world demands the second coming. The present sin-cursed, Satan-dominated world cannot be the final chapter of redemptive history. Therefore,

Seventh, the exaltation of Jesus Christ demands the second coming. The last view of Him that the world sees cannot be of Him hanging on a cross between two thieves. He will return in glory when

Eighth, the destruction of Satan (Gen. 3:15) demands the second coming. When the Lord Jesus Christ returns, Satan will be bound and sentenced to the abyss (the bottomless pit) for a thousand years (Rev. 20:1–3), and ultimately sentenced to the lake of fire (v. 10).

Finally, as noted above, the hope of the church demands the second coming (1 Thess. 1:10; Titus 2:13).

As discussed in the previous chapter of this volume, the Jewish people failed to understand that there are two aspects of the kingdom: the visible earthly kingdom, and the invisible spiritual kingdom. The promised earthly kingdom that they were eagerly anticipating at Christ’s first coming will be established at His second coming. But only those who are part of the spiritual kingdom will enter the earthly kingdom.

Having discussed the present spiritual kingdom in verses 20–21, the Lord in this section turned to the future earthly kingdom. Unlike the spiritual kingdom, the coming of the earthly kingdom will be manifest to all, being inaugurated by the literal return of the Lord Jesus Christ. In this passage, Jesus detailed seven features of His coming. It will be desired by believers, visible globally, delayed by rejection, unexpected in its timing, revealing in its nature, divisive in its effect, and permanent in its fatality.

JESUS’ COMING WILL BE DESIRED BY BELIEVERS

And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. (17:22)

As was usually the case, the crowd listening to Jesus consisted of both the hostile Pharisees and His disciples. Having addressed the Pharisees in the preceding section (verses 20–21), the Lord now instructed His true disciples, those who are in the kingdom, about His return.

Son of Man is a messianic term connected with the coming of Messiah to establish His kingdom. In Daniel 7:13–14 Daniel

The title Son of Man, which emphasizes His humanity, was the Lord’s favorite designation of Himself, appearing eighty-four times in the Gospels. Long translates a form of the verb epithumeō, which signifies a strong, driving, consuming passion, whether for evil (e.g., Matt. 5:28) or as in this case, for the greatest good (cf. Matt. 13:17).

The singular “day” (vv. 24, 30) refers to the epoch of Christ’s return, while the plural days, as it does in v. 26, refers to the sequence of events within that epoch (cf. Amos 8:11, 13). The time will come when believers will passionately yearn for the Lord to return, like the tribulation martyrs who cried out, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev. 6:10). Like the apostle John they will say, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20). What will prompt those exclamations will not merely be their desire for relief, but that Christ would be glorified. Like David, who said, “Zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me” (Ps. 69:9), believers will not be able to bear seeing Christ dishonored.

But despite their desperate longing for the Son of Man’s return, it will be delayed and they will not see it. It will come in God’s perfect timing and until then believers must “be patient … until the coming of the Lord” and “strengthen [their] hearts” (James 5:7–8).

JESUS’ COMING WILL BE VISIBLE GLOBALLY

They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them. For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. (17:23–24)

The first coming of the Son of God was quiet and private. He was born in obscurity when His parents visited the small village of Bethlehem in Judea and lived His first thirty years in an obscure town in Galilee. Apart from His parents and the shepherds, none were aware of His birth. His return, on the other hand, the whole world will see.

Ever eager to corrupt the truth, satanic false teachers will try to deceive believers by enticing them to look there or look here for Christ. They will claim that He has returned in secret and revealed Himself only to insiders. But such people will be false christs; charlatans and deceivers of whom the Lord warned, “See to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not go after them” (Luke 21:8). His return will be obvious to all, just as lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky. Like a flash of lightning, His appearance will be sudden, unmistakable, and visible. There also will be dramatic changes in the heavenly bodies:

Jesus will appear in blazing glory, like a conquering general, mounted on a white horse and accompanied by the armies of heaven (Rev. 19:11–14). As a result, “every eye will see Him” (Rev. 1:7). This is a spectacle that no one will miss.

JESUS’ COMING WILL BE DELAYED BY REJECTION

But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. (17:25)

Before the Lord Jesus Christ could return in glory He had to first suffer many things, both from the nation, and from God. Without His sacrificial, substitutionary death to redeem His people, there could be no internal or external kingdom. The Lord constantly taught that He would suffer both by suffering death under God’s wrath as a substitute for sinners while also being rejected by this unbelieving, perverted (Luke 9:41), wicked (Luke 11:29), murderous (Luke 11:50–51) generation (Luke 9:22, 44; 12:50; 13:33; 18:31–33; 24:26–27; cf. Acts 17:2–3).

Jesus will not return to reign until Israel’s rejection ends. After indicting the people of Israel for rejecting their Messiah (Acts 3:12–15), Peter exhorted them,

It is only after they repent and return to God and have their sins forgiven that the kingdom (the “times of refreshing” and the “period of restoration of all things” [Acts 3:19–21]) will come, just as “God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time” in the Old Testament prophecies of the kingdom.

God had promised Abraham that He would bless Israel and through them the world (Gen. 12:1–3). Even though they rejected and killed their Messiah (Acts 2:23), God’s irrevocable, unconditional covenant with them remained in force. They were still “the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with [their] fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed,’” because for them “first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless [them] by turning every one of [them] from [their] wicked ways” (Acts 3:25–26). The opportunity for salvation was still there.

When the future salvation of Israel depicted in Zechariah 12:10–13:1 (cf. Jer. 31:31–34; Ezek. 36:24–27) and Romans 11:25–27 takes place and the believing remnant is redeemed, Christ will return and set up His kingdom (Zech. 14:4–9).

JESUS’ COMING WILL BE UNEXPECTED IN ITS TIMING

And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. (17:26–30)

Jesus offered two historical parallels to what life will be like in the days of the Son of Man. As noted above, days refers to the sequence of events involved in Christ’s return to judge the wicked and set up His kingdom. During the time of tribulation (Matt. 24:21, 29; Rev. 7:14) immediately preceding His return, life will be much like it was immediately before two significant Old Testament judgments.

The days of Noah and the days of Lot were marked first of all by indifference. People were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage … they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, and they were building right up to the moment that judgment fell; until the day that Noah entered the ark and the day that Lot went out from Sodom.

The days of Noah and Lot were also two of the most wretched, vile, evil periods in human history. Wickedness was rampant. In Noah’s day “the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and … every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). It was a time of widespread demonic activity, as demon-possessed men ravaged women (v. 2). Sodom in Lot’s day was also marked by sexual perversion, so much so that the city’s name came to refer to homosexual sin. So vile were its inhabitants that they attempted to rape the two angels sent to rescue Lot and his family from Sodom’s imminent judgment (Gen. 19:4–11).

The days of the tribulation under divine judgment leading up to the Lord’s return will also be a time of unprecedented wickedness. Satan’s puppet, the Antichrist, will rule the world. Some of the most wicked, vile, and perverted demons, who had been incarcerated in the abyss (the bottomless pit), will be released to run amuck over the earth (Rev. 9:1–11). Most significantly the Holy Spirit, who heretofore had restrained evil, will no longer do so, allowing wickedness to reach its maximum level (2 Thess. 2:6–7).

As will be the case on the day that the Son of Man is revealed, devastating judgment came suddenly and inescapably in the days of Noah and Lot. After Noah and his family entered the ark,

As a result,

After Lot, his wife, and his daughters were taken out of Sodom by the angels (Gen. 19:16), “the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground” (vv. 24–25).

In another parallel between the days of Noah and Lot and the return of Christ, both Noah and his family and Lot and his family were taken away to safety before judgment fell. That pictures the rapture of the church before the tribulation and God’s preservation from His wrath of those converted during the tribulation. Significantly, because the event is for the church, none of the passages describing the rapture (John 14:1–3; 1 Cor. 15:51–52; 1 Thess. 4:13–18) mention judgment.

The judgments in the days of Noah and Lot were preceded by warnings. Noah was “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5) during the 120 years before the flood (Gen. 6:3; 1 Peter 3:20). Lot also was a righteous man, who was grieved by the unrighteousness that surrounded him (2 Peter 2:7–8) and undoubtedly confronted it. Though the day or hour cannot be known (Matt. 24:36), the rapture of the church, the devastating judgments, the preaching of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, the two witnesses, and an angel from heaven will give ample warning that Christ’s return is near and the ultimate judgment is about to fall.

But instead of repenting, unbelievers during the tribulation will continue to reject all the warning signs that judgment is near (Rev. 9:20–21). In fact, they will revile and curse God for causing them to suffer (Rev. 16:9, 11, 21). It seems incredible that in the midst of the devastation of the planet, people will remain indifferent, and attempt to carry on life as usual. But those who reject the truth of Scripture will not be persuaded by any signs and wonders, no matter how spectacular (Luke 16:31; John 12:37).

JESUS’ COMING WILL BE REVEALING IN NATURE

On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. (17:31–33)

The Lord’s return will disclose people’s hearts and reveal what they love. Jesus’ words in these verses stand as a warning against preferring the things of this world to Him. When the judgments that will culminate with the return of Christ (triggered by Antichrist’s desecration of the temple [Matt. 24:15–18]) begin, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. With judgment about to fall, there will be no need to save anything; nothing of the past needs to be taken into the glory of the kingdom. People who do turn back for their possessions demonstrate that their hearts are fixed on the things of this world (1 John 2:15–17); they will be guilty of failing to heed Jesus’ warning to remember Lot’s wife. After the angels led Lot, his wife, and his two daughters out of Sodom, one urgently warned them, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away” (Gen. 19:17). Ignoring that warning, Lot’s “wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” (v. 26). Unable to fully let go of the world, she was destroyed on the brink of safety. Like the weeds in the weedy soil, love of the world’s riches choked out her faith. She is a tragic illustration of those who come to the edge of salvation but turn back, and of the principle that whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it (cf. 9:23–25; Matt. 10:39; John 12:25).

JESUS’ COMING WILL BE DIVISIVE IN ITS EFFECT

I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.” (17:34–36)

Jesus Christ inevitably brings division, sometimes even within families. In Matthew 10:35–37 Jesus declared,

In this passage Jesus described the ultimate and permanent division that will take place when He returns. On that night there will be two in one bed and on the part of the globe where it is day, there will be two women (possibly a mother and daughter, two sisters, or two friends) grinding at the same place. (Verse 36, which records a third example, is not found in the earliest and most reliable Greek manuscripts of Luke. It was copied by a scribe from Matt. 24:40.) In each case, whether sleeping or awake, one will be taken and the other will be left. And that separation will occur over the whole world.

The question arises as to what it means to be taken and left. Some have related this to the rapture, but a comparison with Matthew 24:37–41 and its illustration of God taking people away in the flood makes it clear this is judgment. In both cases then, the one taken is destroyed in judgment, while the one left behind, obviously a true believer in Jesus Christ, escapes judgment to enter the kingdom. The Lord illustrated this same principle in the parable of the wheat and tares (Matt. 13:24–30) and the analogy of the sheep and goat judgment (Matt. 25:31–46).

JESUS’ COMING WILL BE PERMANENT IN ITS FATALITY

And answering they said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.” (17:37)

Unable to grasp the scope of the judgment Jesus described, the disciples said to Him, “Where, Lord?” Failing to comprehend that the Lord’s coming would trigger a worldwide judgment, they wanted to know the specific location of this event. The Lord’s enigmatic reply, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered,” was possibly a Jewish proverb. Vultures are scavengers, and will feed on the corpses of those killed in the judgments associated with the second coming. Wherever in the world the bodies of the unregenerate lie and the vultures gather will be where Christ has been in judgment.

Those who fail to heed the warnings of imminent judgment and reject the Son of Man will be caught in that judgment and will not enter the millennial or the eternal kingdom. Jude warns that the Lord will come “with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him” (Jude 14–15).

As is the case with all biblical truth, the sobering realities expressed in this passage demand self-examination and action. “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way,” Peter wrote, “what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?” (2 Peter 3:11). Only those who come to Christ before it is too late can eagerly watch “for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:13) instead of “shrink[ing] away from Him in shame at His coming” (1 John 2:28).