LUKE - CHAPTER 17
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2001 James Melough
17:1.
“Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will
come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!”
Offences here are things which
are evil, which cause another to stumble, or which entice into sin, and the
reason they are inevitable is due to the condition of the world, and also to
the fact that the believer still has the old nature within him.
Unquestionably these offenses come from many different sources, but the
reference appears to be to anything that would stumble a believer,
particularly a babe in Christ, or that would hinder a sinner from coming to
Christ. And while the warning is to saint and sinner alike, it is obviously
directed primarily to believers to guard against giving such offense. Our aim
should be to live as did Paul, his lifestyle being such that he could invite
others to emulate him, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” 1
Cor 11:1. The word woe used here is an interjection used to denounce the
offender.
17:2.
“It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he
cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”
Others have pointed out that
the millstone here is one turned by a donkey, i.e., it is larger than the
common millstone.
The seriousness of stumbling
another believer, i.e., of being such a bad role model that he is led to
follow our example and thus sin, may be measured by the fact that God
pronounces a woe upon the offender, and declares that it would be better for
him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied to his neck. This, in
fact, seems to speak of eternal perdition, which indicates that the offender
is a mere professor who has never been born again. This possibility
demonstrates the need of care on the part of elders when interviewing those
seeking fellowship in the local assembly.
“Little ones” while certainly
including children, seems here to refer primarily to young believers, i.e.,
babes in Christ. Older believers should never forget that they are role
models for their younger brethren and sisters, hence the need for great care
as to how we live, for they are very likely to emulate us. If there is a
connection between this and what is written in the preceding chapter
concerning the rich man, then the lesson is that we are not to live as he had
done, but rather, that we ought to live as those who are good stewards of what
God has entrusted to us, remembering that one day we must render an account of
our stewardship. It would be very difficult to justify the lifestyles of some
professed believers.
17:3.
“Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him;
and if he repent, forgive him.”
This clearly relates, not to
setting a bad example (the punishment for which, as noted above, is very
severe), but to an offense given by a believer to another saint, and the
divine order for dealing with it is for the offended brother or sister to
confront the offender and provide opportunity for reconciliation, the
aggrieved being willing to forgive the offender the instant he apologizes.
“Rebuke” here means to discuss or remonstrate with.
There are, however, other
Scriptures relating to the matter of dealing with offenses committed against
us by our brethren or sisters. Paul in Eph 4:31-32 commands, “Let all
bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away
from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” And
in Mt 18:15-17 we read, “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee,
go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee,
thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with
thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word
may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the
church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an
heathen man and a publican (i.e., an unbeliever).” This final resort is
generally understood to mean that the unrepentant offender is to be
excommunicated.
17:4.
“And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a
day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.”
The seven is obviously not
meant to be taken literally: it is simply that no matter how many times he
offends, he is to be forgiven if he declares himself repentant. An aid to
granting such repeated forgiveness lies in remembering how often the Lord
forgives our many repeated offences.
17:5.
“And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.”
17:6.
“And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say
unto this sycamine (black mulberry) tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and
be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.”
It almost seems as though the
Lord’s directive relative to the number of times an offending brother was to
be forgiven, seemed to the disciples a command impossible to obey, hence
their plea, “Increase our faith.”
Significantly it isn’t said
that the Lord granted their request, for His reply indicated that their need
was to use the faith they already had.
Having found no better comment
on the matter of forgiving, than that of William MacDonald in Believer’s
Bible Commentary, I quote him, “It is our own pride and self-importance
that prevent us from forgiving our brothers. That pride needs to be rooted up
and cast out. If faith the size of a mustard seed can root up a
mulberry tree and plant it in the sea, it can more easily give
us victory over the hardness and unbrokenness which keep us from forgiving a
brother indefinitely.”
Relative to having the faith
to command a tree to be uprooted and planted in the sea, it is necessary to
note that the Lord had that power, but He never used it, nor would any
believer who cared for God’s glory. The Lord performed only such miracles as
were necessary to authenticate His claims and bring blessing to others, but it
has to be recognized that miraculous manifestation is not for this present
age, and it is a mistake to be looking for such phenomena today.
True faith is not that which
delights in performing spectacular feats, but in being willing to accept God’s
will in everything, even when outward circumstances would seem to say that He
has forgotten us, or doesn’t care about our sorrow.
17:7.
“But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will not say
unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?”
17:8.
“And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird
thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt
eat and drink?”
The natural mind, if it sees
any spiritual analogy at all in this, will see the picture of a selfish God,
for clearly the master is a type of the Lord; but the spiritual man sees a
very different portrait. The Lord is the Creator; we, His creatures; but
above His claim as Creator, is that also as Redeemer: He has redeemed us at
the cost of His life’s blood poured out at Calvary for the remission of our
sins. As we are reminded in 1 Cor 6:19-20, “... ye are not your own, for ye
are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your
spirit, which are God’s,” and 7:23, “Ye are bought with a price....” We
belong to Him, and because He is our Creator and Redeemer, He must always come
first. This, however, is not to be construed as a selfish demand on His part,
but rather the test as to whether we will put Him first, for it is only as we
do that we reveal whether our wills are in harmony with His, for everything
contrary to His will is simply rebellion.
The servant here is a type of
the believer, and the two activities: plowing, and feeding cattle (sheep),
portray two spheres of service. Plowing speaks of service in the Gospel to
the unsaved, while feeding sheep speaks of ministry to other believers.
Eating speaks of satisfaction;
and drinking (wine), of pleasure or joy; and in the present context the master
represents the Lord, so that His being given food and drink, speaks of the
satisfaction and pleasure which is given Him by our obedience. But His being
“fed” before the servant eats, is the symbolic presentation of the truth
declared throughout Scripture: worship comes first. We come in on the first
day of the week to worship, and then go out to serve. The fact that the
servant eats after the master has been served, reminds us that the worship of
God and the nourishment of our own souls go together. A man’s worship is the
barometer of his spiritual health.
It is instructive to note that
the order here is that of the OT age. The plowing and cattle tending (work)
came first, and then the slave came in to feed the master (to worship, for
worship is simply giving to God). This order was appropriate for a people
attempting to be justified by works (law-keeping). In this present age of
grace the order is reversed: we come in on the first day of the week to
worship for a salvation which is ours through grace without works, and then go
out to serve.
As discussed above, the
master’s being fed by the slave who eats only after having served the master,
is a typological picture of our lives here on earth: there is to be that
reverential love which puts God first in all things, that love being impelled
by the knowledge of what He has done to redeem our souls from hell, and fit us
to dwell with Him in heaven eternally. It cost Him the awful agony and death
of Calvary. His interests are to have precedence over ours. And He Himself
will recompense what little service we do render Him here on earth, as it is
written, “Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find
watching: verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself, and make them to
sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them,” Lk 12:37.
17:9.
“Doth he thank that servant because he did things that were commanded him? I
trow not.”
The master is under no
obligation to thank the servant for doing what he was bought or hired to do.
There is a difference, however, between God and the believer. Though He has
created us, and then redeemed us, He doesn’t compel us to serve Him. Whether
we will, is a choice He leaves with us. In refusing to serve, however, we rob
ourselves, for at the Bema every service willingly rendered will be abundantly
recompensed with wages to be enjoyed eternally. We cannot expect Him to pay
us for service we didn’t render.
17:10.
“So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded
you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty
to do.”
To be allowed to serve God is
a very great honor, for it is to be remembered that He has no need of us. It
is grace on His part that bestows the privilege of serving Him, for He Who
created the universe with a word, has no need of help from the creature in
anything. True spiritual service is that which is prompted by a grateful
redeemed heart, and directed by the Holy Spirit.
17:11.
“And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the
midst of Samaria and Galilee.”
There is a closer link between
these three places than is always perceived. Jerusalem was the place where He
would die, and increasing Jewish rejection of Him and His message simply
indicated that the time when they would crown their sin of rejection with His
murder, was drawing near. A further sign was His going to Samaria, for before
this His ministry had been to the Jews only, but as they rejected Him and His
message, He in turn must reject them, and turn to the Gentiles. His going to
Samaria therefore, was the first step in His departure from Israel, for
religiously the Samaritans were halfway between the two. Galilee, however, is
associated with the faithful remnant, and following His death, it would be
that believing remnant which would carry the gospel, not only to the
Samaritans, but to the Gentiles also. We have the responsibility and
privilege of carrying the gospel to Jew and Gentile alike.
17:12.
“And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were
lepers, which stood afar off:”
Beyond the literal fact of
there being ten lepers is the spiritual truth declared in the number ten and
the leprosy. Ten is the number of God in government, and leprosy is the
symbol of sin, and in these ten lepers God is setting before us the spiritual
condition of all men. Adam’s rebellion against God’s government has brought
the whole human race into the terrible state portrayed by leprosy.
17:13.
“And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
Unlike the proud
self-righteous Jewish leaders who didn’t see how vile they were in God’s
sight, these ten lepers were aware of their physical condition at least, and
like everyone who would be cleansed, they cried out to the Lord for mercy.
It is interesting to note the
terms used in addressing Him. It is first Jesus, the name uniquely associated
with His being the Savior of all who will trust Him. But Master speaks of His
lordship. The Jewish leaders refused to acknowledge either. For believers,
the lesson of this special order is that having trusted Him as Savior, we are
responsible to obey Him as Lord. It is to be noted that this continues the
lesson of lordship symbolically presented in the preceding verses concerning
the master and the slave.
17:14.
“And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the
priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.”
Leviticus chapter 13 contains
the instructions relative to dealing with leprosy in OT times, and there it is
recorded that it was the responsibility of the priests to discern whether the
victim had been healed, hence the Lord’s command to the ten that they shew
themselves to the priests. While they were going they discovered that they
had been cured of the disease.
17:15.
“And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud
voice glorified God.”
Things haven’t changed since
then. The number of believers who “turn back” to the Lord to express their
gratitude in the presentation of an obedient life, are relatively few.
17:16.
“And fell down on his face at his feet, giving thanks: and he was a
Samaritan.”
Its being emphasized that he
was a Samaritan, implies that the others were Jews, and in this we find the
symbolic confirmation of the truth that Israel was willing to accept the
benefits of the Lord’s miracles, but not to accept Him. The nine were
obviously happy to be healed, but they evinced no further interest in the
Lord. Unfortunately many professing Christians manifest the same selfish
attitude: they’re happy to be saved from hell and fitted for heaven, but they
offer scant evidence that they have any further interest in the Lord Himself.
The grateful response of the
one Samaritan declares that the Gentiles gladly and gratefully accepted what
the Jews rejected.
17:17.
“And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the
nine?”
17:18.
“There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.”
The Lord can’t have been
anything but disappointed by the obvious lack of gratitude, nor is He any less
disappointed by the same lack on the part of very many professing Christians
today who are content to accept His salvation, and then evince little or no
interest in Him. Such Christianity is of dubious character, and would
indicate that those professing to have it would do well to examine whether
they have in fact ever had a new birth.
17:19.
“And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.”
This would indicate perhaps
that initially the healing of the ten had been only physical, but now this one
who alone had returned to thank his Benefactor, was healed also spiritually.
Its being said that his faith had brought him this spiritual healing would
indicate that the other nine had not had that saving faith. It would be
amazing that they could have had such an experience, and yet remain unsaved,
were it not for the fact that they are only a few of multitudes who daily
experience the Lord’s goodness, yet never seem to realize their need of His
salvation. Stranger still is the fact that many who have received His
gift of eternal life rarely pause to give Him thanks.
17:20.
“And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should
come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with
observation:”
These spiritually blind
leaders were interested only in the coming of the earthly millennial kingdom
which would deliver them from the yoke of Rome, and promote them to even
greater authority. They failed to see that faith in the One they rejected was
the only way into that kingdom, for it would eventually give place to the
eternal kingdom to be enjoyed when the present earth and aerial heavens will
be replaced with the new heavens and the new earth, the faith that qualified
one to enter the millennial kingdom, qualifying him also to enter the eternal
kingdom.
The Lord’s comment that, “The
kingdom of God cometh not with observation,” i.e., no visible signs accompany
the conversion of a soul, was a double warning, one distinct, the other
veiled. Only a converted state would enable men to enter the millennial
kingdom. That was the direct warning. The Lord, however, knew that the Jews
would reject Him, and therefore make impossible the inauguration of the
millennial kingdom at that time. That was the veiled warning. But what He
was also declaring was that by faith men could enter the eternal kingdom,
which though invisible to natural eyes (“cometh not with observation”), is
superior to the millennial kingdom.
17:21.
“Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of
God is within you.”
This eternal kingdom could not
be perceived by the senses. It was not such as would enable men to point to
something tangible, and say “Here it is,” or “There it is.”
“... within you” is more
correctly rendered, “in your midst,” or “among you,” for very obviously the
spiritual kingdom of God was not in the hearts of the unbelieving Jewish
leaders. But the King was among them, in their midst, and had they received
Him they could have had the millennial kingdom then after He had died to make
atonement for sin, and after Daniel’s seventieth week, i.e., the seven years
of the Tribulation, had run their course. As a result of their unbelief, the
millennial kingdom which they could have had in just seven years, was
forfeited, and its inauguration postponed until a future, but now imminent
day.
17:22.
“And he said unto his disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to
see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.”
“The days of the Son of man”
refer to the days when He will be reigning over the millennial earth, and in
telling them that they would be earnestly desiring to see those days He was
indirectly warning them of the terrible troubles that would occur in the
interval between His return to heaven and His second coming to earth in power
and glory to establish His millennial kingdom.
His words, however, embraced
also the truth that the days were fast approaching when He would be taken from
them, and they would long for the return of those days during which they had
enjoyed His physical presence with them. What He didn’t mention at that
moment was that while He would not be with them physically, He would be with
them still through the Holy Spirit Whom He would send, and Who would indwell
them until their earthly course was finished. In other words, He was
preparing them to abandon the expectation of the imminent establishment of the
millennial kingdom, and to begin to anticipate the better things belonging to
the eternal kingdom, their enjoyment of that kingdom beginning with their
continued enjoyment of His invisible, but no less real presence still with
them through the indwelling Holy Spirit.
17:23.
“And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor
follow them.”
He warned them that the days
would come when many false Christ’s would present themselves, each claiming to
be the Messiah, but believers are not to accept their claims, for as the next
verse makes clear, the Lord’s second advent will be an unmistakable event
which none could duplicate.
17:24.
“For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven,
shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in
his day.”
When He comes back to earth to
establish His millennial kingdom, the accompanying blaze of His glory will
convince the whole world that He Who came once as the Lamb to die, has
returned as the mighty Lion of Judah to execute judgment. The brilliance of
His glory will exceed that of the lightening, the flash of which illuminates
the whole sky for an instant. His glory is of no such fleeting duration: it
is eternal.
The speed with which
lightening suddenly and unexpectedly flashes across the sky points also to the
unexpectedness with which the Lord will return in power and glory to judge the
nations and set up His millennial kingdom.
Seven years prior to that
coming, however, will be His coming with the same lightening-like speed to the
air to rapture His Church home to heaven!
The “day” referred to here is
that period of time that will begin with the rapture of the Church, and that
will continue until after the Millennium, when He, having subdued all things,
will then deliver up the kingdom to the Father, and God (Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit) will be all in all, 1 Cor 15:28.
17:25.
“But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.”
The Jewish leaders should have
known this, for it was foretold by the prophets just as clearly as was His
millennial reign, but obsession with His millennial reign had blinded them to
everything else. Their failure to see this truth precluded the possibility of
their instructing the people, with the result that the ignorance was
nationwide, for even the disciples didn’t know until the Lord informed them.
17:26.
“And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son
of man.”
Having instructed them
relative to His approaching death, He went on to tell them what the world
would be like when He would return to inaugurate the millennial kingdom.
17:27.
“They did eat, they drank, the married wives, they were given in marriage,
until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed
them all.”
There will be the same
disregard of God, and the same giddy pursuit of pleasure as marked the world
of Noah; and there will be the same unexpected abrupt end to those activities,
the same swift destruction of unbelievers. Other Scriptures inform us that at
His second advent the Lord will judge the nations, separating believers from
unbelievers as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, believers being
invited to enjoy the blessings of the millennial kingdom, while the
unbelievers will be banished bodily into hell, see Mt 25:31-46. And that
judgment will come with the same appalling swiftness as did the flood.
While the removal of Noah into
the ark before the judgment fell, and his preservation from destruction in the
flood, portrays the preservation of the believing remnant through the
Tribulation judgments, we may see also the truth that the Church will be
removed before the Tribulation judgments devastate the earth. The same truth
is declared in the removal of Lot from Sodom prior to the destruction of the
cities of the plain. A believing remnant will be preserved through the
Tribulation judgments, but the Church will be removed before they begin.
It is to be noted that there
will be an interval - probably a short one - between the rapture of the Church
and the beginning of the Tribulation.
17:28.
“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they
bought, they sold, they planted, they builded:”
17:29.
“But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from
heaven, and destroyed them all.”
17:30.
“Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”
If the activities of the men
of Noah’s day point to the pursuit of godless pleasure by the world to which
Christ will return, the activities of the Sodomites point to that same world’s
occupation with pleasure and business. Only the spiritually blind will fail
to recognize that both descriptions depict today’s world. Another
characteristic of Lot’s world has peculiar relevance to the world today:
homosexuality was rampant then as it is now also.
Peter has written, “We have
also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as
unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day
star arise in your hearts,” 2 Pe 1:19. No one familiar with prophecy can
doubt that we are living in the closing days of the age. The Lord’s return
could be today, first to rapture His Church, that event to be followed
approximately seven years later by His return in glory with her, to judge the
nations and establish His millennial kingdom. As noted above there will be an
interval of undefined length between the rapture of the Church and the
beginning of the seven-year Tribulation era.
17:31.
“In that day, he which shall be upon the house top, 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.”
The general lesson is
obviously against allowing occupation with temporal things to hinder one from
ensuring the salvation of his soul; but the more specific truth relative to
“that day” appears to be that it will be the day when the Beast violates the
seven-year covenant with Israel, a day that will mark the beginning of the
final three and a half years of the seven year Tribulation era, those three
and a half years being the great Tribulation which will see the earth
devastated by the terrible judgments which will culminate with the Lord’s
return to judge the nations and establish His millennial kingdom.
17:32.
“Remember Lot’s wife.”
Even as she was being hurried
away from Sodom by the angels, she disobeyed the command not to look back, and
as a result was turned into a pillar of salt, Ge 19:26. This clearly
continues to emphasize the folly of setting one’s heart on earthly things.
In previous studies we have
noted that the wife represents the expression of the man’s spiritual life, and
certainly there could be no more fitting symbol of Lot’s spiritual life than
this nameless woman. In contrast with Sarah, who played a prominent role in
Abraham’s entertainment of the heavenly visitors in Genesis chapter 18, Lot’s
wife isn’t even mentioned in connection with the feast which he prepared. As
there was little in Lot’s spiritual life worthy of record, so is there a
corresponding paucity of detail in regard to the woman who represented the
expression of that life.
We should note, however, the
care with which God preserves the accuracy of the type in His description of
the end of the woman herself. In the NT the death of the believer is referred
to as a falling asleep. The new life cannot die. Accordingly
therefore, the Holy Spirit, describing the end of the woman who represents
that life in Lot, says, not that she died, but that she became a pillar of
salt. In Mt 5:13 it is said of believers, “Ye are the salt of the earth,
but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is
thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot
of men.” That warning applies as much to believers as to unbelievers, and
when we link the warning with what is said about salt, we find a lesson we do
well not to ignore.
An intact pillar of salt is a
useless thing until it is broken into grains. That intact salt pillar that
had ben Lot’s wife speaks volumes. His spiritual life had never been yielded
up to God to be broken for the spiritual good of men, and now that life,
represented by a pillar of salt, stood as an eternal monument to his folly.
That which in life had represented his atrophied spiritual life, became
petrified, useless, save as a warning to others, to us - prompting the
question, What is my spiritual life? Only a pillar of salt, intact, unbroken,
useless? Is there yet time to yield it up to being broken and made useful for
God? “Remember Lot’s wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose
it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it”
17:33.
“Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose
his life shall preserve it.”
The thought here in the first
part is that the man who tries to live his life for himself, and not for God,
may preserve it for a little while here on earth, but in doing so will have
lost his soul. The second part relates to the man willing to lose his
physical life for Christ’s sake. He will save his soul.
17:34.
“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.”
Keeping in mind that this has
to do with the Lord’s second advent at the end of the Tribulation, not His
coming to the air for His Church, the one taken away is the unbeliever
banished into hell following the judgment of the nations; the one left is the
believer left on earth to enjoy the blessings of the millennial kingdom. At
His coming for His Church it will be the reverse: the one taken away will be
the believer caught up to heaven; the one left, the unbeliever, who having
rejected the gospel during this Church age, will be left behind to die in the
Tribulation, or if he survives those terrible seven years, to be banished into
hell following the judgment of the nations.
The reference to night, and to
their being in a bed, speaks of spiritual darkness, and of the slothful ease
in which multitudes will be living, all unaware that swift and certain
judgment is about to awaken them out of their deadly sleep, and sweep them
into hell’s unquenchable fire.
17:35.
“Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other
left.”
The grinding of meal speaks of
Bible study, the one woman representing true believers; the other, religious
but unconverted professors. Nor should we overlook the corporate
application. The one represents the believing remnant, Jews as well as
Gentiles; the other the apostate mass of Israel and of the nations. And
again, in relation to Christ’s coming for His Church, the true Church will be
caught up to heaven, while the great harlot counterfeit will be left on earth
to experience the Tribulation judgments, at the mid point of which the Roman
beast ruler will seize her power and wealth, the whole evil system being
destroyed by the Lord returning to end the Tribulation, judge the nations, and
set up His millennial kingdom.
17:36.
“Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”
This verse is not found in the
majority of manuscripts, but the question of its authenticity doesn’t negate
the general truth that at the Lord’s second advent there will be a dramatic
division of the men on earth (in the “field”). One will be banished into
hell; the other left to enjoy the millennial earth.
The opposite will be the case
at His coming to rapture His Church. There, as already noted, the one taken
will be the believer caught up to heaven; the other left behind, will be the
unbeliever left on earth to face the terrible Tribulation judgments, dying
during those years, or surviving till the Lord’s return which will result in
his being banished bodily into hell.
What a dreadful awakening that
day will bring to unbelievers!
Some have seen in the two men
in the bed a reference to night time; in the two women grinding, a reference
to morning; and in the two in the field, a reference to midday - and have
taken it to be a description of the fact that when the Lord returns it will be
night in one part of the world; morning in another; and midday in yet
another. Such an application may be made, but it seems contrived and
fanciful.
17:37.
“And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them,
Wheresoever the (dead) body is, there will the eagles (vultures) be gathered
together.”
In response to the disciples’
question as to where the judgment would take place, the Lord indicated that it
would be world wide, the dead body representing unbelievers all over the earth
(physically alive, but spiritually dead).
[Luke 18]