Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
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. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 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. 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 sulphur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 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. 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.”
Jesus Christ is coming again. When He ascended into the heavens on a cloud, angels appeared to the disciples with this message, “Why do you stand here looking up into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven” [ACTS 1:11]. This promise is but an iteration of the promise of the Lord recorded in JOHN 14:3. “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
The divine promise has comforted believers throughout the millennia. However, the anticipation of His return seems to grow less vibrant, less important as we move forward in this Dispensation of Grace. Perhaps that is the reason the Master mused, “when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth” [LUKE 18:8]. Christians are commanded to live in anticipation of the Lord’s return. Throughout the Gospels, we are told that He is coming again to receive us to Himself. Even in the act of observing the Lord’s Table, Jesus Himself taught us who are the professed people to live in anticipation of His return to receive us to Himself. Until He returns, He commands us to be busy at the task of winning the lost to faith and building one another in this most holy Faith.
I cannot say with absolute certainty that we are in the Laodicean period of the Church Age, but professing Christians appear cavalier about obeying Christ’s command to evangelise. Personal comfort is of far greater importance to Christians than is Christ’s glory. Christendom has generally grown complacent about obedience to the Master; Christians are generally nonchalant concerning the command to win the lost. When it requires more than 32 church members to bring one person to faith, we are in trouble. In fact, the figure is likely far worse than what is reported since it does not take into account the biological growth of churches as they baptise children of their own members. Tragically, the situation is possibly worse for most other denominations.
The Bible teaches that the next great event on God’s divine timetable is the removal of His people from the earth in order to set the stage for judgement of the earth. This event, known as the Rapture, will occur suddenly, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” [1 CORINTHIANS 15:52]. Those left on the earth will enter into a period identified as the Great Tribulation, as God pours out awesome judgements on the earth. At the conclusion of seven years of judgement, Christ Himself will return to the earth to judge those surviving those awful days and to usher in His Millennial reign.
On one occasion, Jesus was asked by the Pharisees to give His opinion concerning the Kingdom of God. They especially wanted to know His view of the timing of Messiah’s reign. Jesus answered acceptably, cautioning them to cease looking for the Kingdom out there when it needed first to be within. The Pharisees, like many contemporary Christians, wanted to know the “sign” of Messiah’s coming. Jesus cautioned them to care for themselves rather than be always looking for “signs.”
Then, having addressed the question asked by the Pharisees, He privately instructed His disciples, giving them detailed instruction that is reproduced in our text. He spoke of the days when He would return to judge and to reign. The time of which He spoke is at the conclusion of the Tribulation. The immediate application of Jesus’ words is for Jews living during the days of Antichrist. However, that does not mean that His teaching has no application for us today. Indeed, we understand that our Lord can return for His church at any time. Therefore, Christians are not to invest time looking for signs.
One observation of the period known as the Great Tribulation, when Christians will have been removed from the earth and those individuals who turn at last to faith in the Son of God will be relentlessly pursued and annihilated by the Antichrist and his minions, is that righteousness will be absent from the earth. This became apparent as I led Bible studies in Revelation during the winter months just past. I saw John’s Apocalypse in a new light that I had never noticed in my many previous studies. In particular, I noted what is said concerning society during the Tribulation.
The one reading the account of the judgements unleashed on the earth as the sixth angel blows his trumpet, reads of demonically inspired war that brings death and destruction throughout the entire earth. Then, in REVELATION 9:20, 21, the reader discovers this arresting statement, “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”
Reading those words, I wondered at the language John used. He spoke of “murders” (plural), of “sorceries” (plural, referring to people resorting to drugs to escape reality), and of “thefts” (plural). In other words, John testifies that in those awful days of the Great Tribulation, life will be defined by the dictum that “might makes right” and “you owe yourself.” Personal desire now reigns over the thoughts of mankind, and what is a general trend today will become an awful reality in that day. It will be a day when godliness will be utterly absent from the thoughts of all mankind.
And yet, the ordinariness of daily routine will prevail for the most of mankind. Jesus spoke of the mundane aspects of life at the time of His return, indicating that those then living would not be anticipating His return. They would be trying to get ahead, to make a buck, and to enjoy life. It was that mundane, pedestrian aspect of unsuspecting routine that would stun mankind when the Saviour at last returned. Let’s review what He said, drawing appropriate applications for our own lives and for our own day.
AN ORDINARY LIFE — It is vital to remember that Jesus was not speaking of the days preceding the Rapture when He spoke the words recorded in our text. Rather, His words point to conditions that will prevail immediately before His return to judge the wicked at the conclusion of the Great Tribulation. Nevertheless, we must always bear in mind that “coming events cast their shadows before.”
In LUKE 17:20, the word translated “observed” is used only here in the New Testament and means in classical Greek “to observe the future by signs.” It carries the idea of spying, of lying in wait, and even of scientific investigation. The point Jesus made was that God’s kingdom would not come with great “outward show” so that people could predict its arrival and plot its progress.
The Lord did not give away anything to the Pharisees questioning Him. However, when He had opportunity to speak in privacy with His disciples, He seized the opportunity to instruct them in greater detail. His words reach from the immediate to the distant, plainly telling those who listened to Him that He would indeed suffer. This was the same message that He had delivered throughout His ministry.
The Passion of our Lord should not have surprised those who walked with Him. In LUKE 13:33, He intimated that He would die in Jerusalem. Matthew, however, records the Lord as speaking quite plainly about His suffering. In MATTHEW 16:21, the evangelist records, “from that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed.” This message that He would be killed in Jerusalem is iterated in LUKE 9:22. Matthew also records Jesus as saying, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him” [MATTHEW 17:22, 23].
Therefore, the message that Master would suffer had become so common as to be easily overlooked. What was new was the context in which He spoke. He spoke of His return, but placed it in a future time when those disciples then listening would no longer be present. Indeed, they would long to see “one of the days of the Son of Man,” but He added that they would “not see it.” In other words, they would pass off the scene before He returned. Then, to emphasise that He was speaking of a time far removed from that moment, He prefaced His statement with the words, “but first.” He would suffer, just as He had often said, and that suffering would set in motion the events that would ultimately lead to His coming as the promised Messiah.
With verse 26, Jesus begins to reveal the tenor of life in the days preceding His return. He spoke of an ordinary life in which people are preoccupied with eating and drinking, buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage. The life He describes is routine; in fact, He compares it to life preceding the Flood that destroyed all life, except for Noah and His family, and the animals preserved in the ark. He also compares life in that day to life in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. There, the people were “eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building”— a rather humdrum description.
For most people, the comfortable rhythms of everyday life went on undisturbed until the very moment in which Noah entered the ark and floodwaters overwhelmed life. It will be the same in the period preceding the coming of the Son of Man. Again, the residents of the “cities of the valley” continued living as they always had until the moment destruction rained down on them.
Comparing the events preceding the Flood with life before the return of the King suggests that people will not be thinking of His return. Of course, this fits with multiple statements found throughout Scripture. In the midst of comfortable complacency, life as people have come to know it will be brought to a dramatic end!
Guided by the Holy Spirit, Paul writes, “You yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labour pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape” [1 THESSALONIANS 5:2, 3].
Jesus told His disciples, “concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” [MARK 13:32]. Not only is the timing of Christ’s return unknown to us, but those living at that time will be lulled into a state of spiritual somnolence, and the day will burst on them without warning.
Both Noah and Lot lived in days of religious compromise and moral declension, not unlike our present time. During “the days of Noah,” population growth was significant [GENESIS 6:1], evil was growing rapidly [GENESIS 6:5], and the earth was given over to violence [GENESIS 6:11, 13]. The summary statement given by the Word of God is that the “earth was corrupt in God’s sight.”
The experience of Lot provides a second example of the same thing. The coming of the Son of Man will be accompanied by both destruction and deliverance, but here destruction is in focus. In Lot’s day, the unnatural lusts of Sodom and Gomorrah were so abhorrent to God that He completely destroyed the cities. Only Lot, two of his daughters, and his wife (who later was destroyed) were saved from the terrible judgment.
This same generation will give itself up to worldly, godless living, as in the days of Noah and Lot. Those turning to faith in Jesus as Messiah will be shunned—to acknowledge them or to assist them in any way will expose the compassionate to extreme danger. Those awaiting the return of the Saviour will be delivered over to hostile authorities. These dark days are described by Jesus in MATTHEW 25:41-43. Those looking for the Master will be hungry, and they will not be fed. They will be thirsty, and they will be given no water. They will be avoided, deprived of shelter and clothing.
They will be imprisoned and denied basic medical care. Because they will not be able in conscience to submit to the reign of the Antichrist, they will suffer terribly. Anyone who dares show compassion to those awaiting the Messiah will expose themselves and their families to the same fate. However, in those dark days, the followers of the Antichrist will have food and water and shelter and clothing—life will continue as it always has.
People in that day will be content to know nothing of Christ’s return, even though judgements will be raining down on the earth. The majority of people then living will pay no heed to the Gospel and consequently the day of the Coming of the Son of Man will take the world by surprise with its sudden judgment and destruction. If that day brings redemption for God’s people, know that it also brings judgment on the ungodly.
Since “coming events cast their shadows before,” I suspect that I see something of this attitude of complacency taking root in society even now. There is little concern about spiritual matters in contemporary society. Sunday is no longer a day for worship; rather it has become a day for entertainment and for pleasing oneself. Even among Christians is a growing trend to insist upon making the day agreeable, avoiding unpleasant subjects and reducing worship to a glorified self-help session. It seems unlikely that modern Christians think of the coming the Lord if the lack of concern for the lost is any indication.
A MATERIALISTIC LIFESTYLE — Jesus identified an attitude that is markedly materialistic in that day. The focus of His words is on acquiring things, on caring for number one. Even among those who profess to be living in anticipation of His return will be witnessed an attitude that longs to possess things instead of building relationships.
Jesus’ return will be sudden, abrupt, unanticipated. Therefore, the Master warns that those on the rooftop— resting, much as we might relax on the back deck or on the patio—must not try to gather their goods. Likewise, those engaged in work are not to try to return to their house to retrieve some treasured possessions. The warning is issued precisely because people are attached to what they possess.
To His disciples, who were familiar with the Word of God, Jesus warned, “Remember Lot’s wife.” The allusion is to GENESIS 19:26. When the angels sent to rescue Lot hurried him out of the city, they specifically warned that neither Lot, nor his wife or daughters, were to look back. In GENESIS 19:17, Lot and his family were warned, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills.”
As divine judgement was raining down on Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot’s wife “looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” The implication is that though she was delivered out of Sodom, her heart was still in Sodom. We might assume that she was unwilling to surrender the stature that came with her husband’s position as a judge. Perhaps she resented the loss of her possessions. Having lived in a tent while wandering with Abraham and Sarah, she no doubt enjoyed having a house of her own in which to live. The implication is that she grieved at loss of material possessions.
To remember is more than an intellectual act—it is to pay heed to something and so to be encouraged, or, as here, to be warned by remembering a particular incidence. Following closely to this warning, Jesus spoke a warning that is easily neglected today. He said, “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.” In MATTHEW 10:39, a variant of this saying is recorded “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
During the dark days of the Tribulation, believers will experience intense political pressure to renounce the Faith. However, the greatest pressure will internal—the desire to possess and for ease of life. Jesus warned, “Many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.” He continued by warning, “because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold” [MATTHEW 24:10, 12].
Today, a spirit of materialism pervades society. Not even the churches are immune to this invasive wickedness. The attitude of too many who are called by the Name of the Son of God betrays that selfish spirit. Too often, we judge one’s worth by what one possesses instead of judging by the character of the individual. We buy into the lie that a bigger house, a newer vehicle, the latest styles in clothing, and more gadgets to make our life more comfortable will make us happy; and so we go ever deeper into debt in order to have what we imagine we deserve.
The result of succumbing to the spirit of materialism is that the churches of our Lord are hindered through our indebtedness, and we are unable to fulfil the covenant we made with one another to advance the cause of Christ. Few Christians today tithe, much less show themselves generous at every opportunity. The primary reason for this lack of generosity lies in no small measure to having surrendered to that materialistic spirit.
We find it difficult to move ahead because we are busy looking back. Though few professing saints will admit the reason for their reluctance to commit to building the church, it is nevertheless true that our personal desires stand in the way of commitment.
Though Jesus specifically addressed a time that is yet future, the reference serves to warn us who have been saved against the danger of falling back into worldliness and sin, and hence into judgment. People must beware of attachment to earthly things, remembering the terrible experience of Lot’s wife. Only people who have given up living for themselves will escape at Christ’s return. There will be separation even between members of the same family and within groups of fellow-workers. Just so, we must know that we invite judgement on ourselves when we embrace the materialistic life.
The author of the Letter to the Hebrew Christians must have had this in mind when he cautioned those Jewish saints. They had drifted into a similar spirit of materialism when he wrote the words found in the tenth chapter.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
“But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. For,
“’Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;
but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.’
“But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” [HEBREWS 10:23-39].
Those words, written long before our own time, speaking of divine judgement as they do, confront us even in this day. Let us take warning and turn away from the temptation to yield to a materialistic spirit. Let us determine that we will seek Christ and His glory instead of seeking only, or even primarily, to gratify our own desires.
A SUDDEN JUDGEMENT — Judgement is always sudden. Perhaps there is a nagging, worrisome knowledge that our actions merit judgement. Nevertheless, judgement, when it comes, is always a shock. In verse 30, Jesus says, “So will it be.” Those words serve to inform us that material prosperity and apparent security will prevail at the time of Christ’s return.
As we have already noted, the flat roof of the Oriental house, accessible by an outside stairway, was used as a porch, and sometimes as a place to sleep in hot weather. The man on the rooftop will not have time to enter his house to get his valuables; he must flee immediately. A parallel to this prediction occurred in the siege of Jerusalem. According to Eusebius, the Christians in the city abandoned it during a temporary withdrawal of the Roman invaders, and fled to a village called Pella, where they survived the fall of the city.
The coming of Jesus will not be a secret; rather it will be visible, much as “lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other.” His Second Coming will herald judgement for all who have been living without regard to His Person. Those who have attempted to make their own righteousness will be called to account suddenly.
To the disciples, Jesus spoke of the judgement He will exercise at that time. Matthew, in the Olivet Discourse, records Jesus’ words concerning that judgement. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left” [MATTHEW 25:31-33].
Even though the primary interpretation of these verses is for Israel in the Tribulation period, they do emphasise for Christians in this day the importance of being ready when Jesus returns. We must not be like Lot’s wife whose heart was so entrenched in Sodom that she looked back in spite of the angels’ warning [GENESIS 19:17, 26].
There are many professed Christians today whose plans would be interrupted if Jesus returned! A tragic number of our fellow saints are so attached to this world that they have forgotten the danger of ignoring the warnings of the Word. Our generation is not the only generation to be attached to this present world, but we are closer to the time of Christ’s call to His people and the awesome days of Tribulation than ever before. Therefore, the danger is perhaps greater now than ever before.
Paul wrote the Thessalonian saints about the danger of living without consideration of the will of the Lord. “Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labour pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then, let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” [1 THESSALONIANS 5:1-11].
Jesus pictured civilisation as a “rotting corpse” that would one day be ripe for judgment. The discerning believer sees evidence of this on every hand and realises that the “days of Noah” and the “days of Lot” are soon on us. As we see the progress of society toward wickedness, we know that His return is drawing near [see LUKE 21:28].
In my reading, I found a statement concerning society at the time Jesus walked on the earth. “It has been rightly said, that the idea of conscience, as we understand it, was unknown to heathenism. Absolute right did not exist. Might was right. The social relations exhibited, if possible, even deeper corruption. The sanctity of marriage had ceased. Female dissipation and the general dissoluteness led at last to an almost entire cessation of marriage. Abortion, and the exposure and murder of newly-born children, were common and tolerated; unnatural vices, which even the greatest philosophers practised, if not advocated, attained proportions which defy description.”
What Edersheim wrote over one hundred years ago portrays our own generation. The coming of Christ must surely be nearer than we can imagine. The time is short. Whatever we are going to do, we must do shortly. If the lost are to be won to faith, they must be won soon. If we will witness to the grace of God, we must do so quickly. If we will build one another in the Faith, it must be soon. If you will be saved, it must be now. Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians, urges those reading that letter to heed the message of life precisely because the time is short [2 CORINTHIANS 5:17-6:2].
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
“Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says,
“‘In a favourable time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’
“Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
My prayer is that you who are outside the love of Christ will come to faith, and that each of us who name His Name will prepare ourselves for that coming. Amen.
