The Book of Luke
James J. Barker


Lesson 58
SIGNS OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST

Text: LUKE 17:20-37


INTRODUCTION:


  1. Most people today, even many who profess to be Christian, have little understanding of the second coming of Christ.
  2. One of the great delusions today is that man is evolving, getting better and better. But that is not what the Bible teaches as we will see in our text tonight.
  3. The second coming of Christ will be in two phases. First He will come for His saints, and then He will come with His saints.
  4. The first phase is referred to as the “rapture” (I Thessalonians 4:13-18). The rapture will take place before the tribulation begins.
  5. In our text tonight, our Lord is talking about the second phase of His coming. At this second phase, our Lord will return to earth to establish His millennial kingdom. But there can be no kingdom without the King. This will be after the tribulation period.
  6. When the Pharisees asked our Lord “when the kingdom of God shall come” (17:20), our Lord told them that the kingdom of God was “within” them (17:21), that is, “in their midst” (cf. Scofield notes).
  7. Jesus told them that the kingdom would not come in the way they were expecting (17:20, 21).
  8. In the person of the King, the kingdom was already “in the midst” of them and they did not recognize it. This is what our Lord meant by, “The kingdom of God is within you” (17:21).
  9. Charles Erdman said our Lord “could hardly have meant that it was in the hearts of the hostile and godless Pharisees” (Luke).
  10. Liberals teach that the kingdom of God is within each and every person. But Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
  11. In Luke 17:21, Jesus meant that in his own person and work the Kingdom was already present. The essence of God’s kingdom is always spiritual. Romans 14:17 says, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
  12. There will be a future, visible manifestation of the kingdom when our Lord returns as “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
  13. When our Lord returns, He will establish His kingdom. Here in our text, our Lord gave three important signs of His return.

  1. IT WILL BE LIKE THE DAYS OF NOAH (17:22-27).
  2. IT WILL BE LIKE THE DAYS OF LOT (17:28-33).
  3. IT WILL BE A DAY OF JUDGMENT (17:34-37).

 

I. IT WILL BE LIKE THE DAYS OF NOAH (17:22-27).

  1. Our Lord says in Luke 17:26, "And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man." The days preceding the second coming of Christ will be very much like the days of Noah.
  2. The days of Noah were wicked, evil, corrupt, and violent. Genesis 6:5 says, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
  3. After responding to the Pharisees, our Lord spoke to His disciples (17:22).
  4. Our Lord said the days would come when the disciples would “desire to see one of the days of the Son of man,” but would not see it (17:22).
  5. They would not be able to see it because our Lord would soon depart from them, and His return would be far into the future. In the meantime, our Lord told His disciples not to go after or follow those who shall say, “See here; or, see there” (17:23).
  6. When our Lord does return, it will be magnificent and glorious. When our Lord appears it will be suddenly, like the lightning which in an instant flashes across the sky (17:24).
  7. But first, the King who come to reign must suffer and die. The world which has rejected Christ will not be expecting His return (17:25).
  8. And during this time of rejection, our Lord warned that there will be many deceivers. Therefore, we must be careful not to follow after them (Luke 17:23).
  9. In Matthew 24:3, our Lord’s disciples asked Him, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
  10. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:4, 5).
  11. Then our Lord said, “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many...Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:11, 23-27). Notice: “lightning” (cf. Luke 17:24).
  12. When the disciples asked for signs for the second coming of Christ, and for “the end of the world” (age), our Lord said the #1 sign would be deception. “Many” are being deceived by Satan.
  13. Before wars and rumors of wars; and before we see nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and before famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places; and before persecution – “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake” (24:9) – before all of this, there will be deception (24:4, 5).
  14. And because of all this demonic deception, people will not read the Bible nor will they understand the Bible. People will be preoccupied with worldly things just “as it was in the days of Noah” (Luke 17:26).
  15. Charles Erdman said that when our Lord returns, “the race will be in the same carnal security, careless and indifferent and absorbed in the usual occupations of life, as were the men in the time of the Flood or the inhabitants of Sodom in the day of its doom. On the contrary, those who are to share the glories of the Kingdom must be looking for their returning Lord. Their proper attitude of mind is pictured by a series of acts; one who is on the housetop is not to come down to secure his goods (17:31a); one in the field will not return to his house (17:31b); they will not look backward, but will go forth eagerly to meet their Master in whom alone is their safety and their hope (17:32-36)” (Luke).
  16. There is nothing wrong with eating and drinking and marrying (17:26, 27). The problem is that men only live for the things of this world and they have no time for God.
  17. The people in Noah’s day were so taken up with eating and drinking and marrying, that they ignored Noah’s warnings. Then…“the flood came, and destroyed them all” (17:27).
  18. In like manner, the second coming of Christ will mean deliverance for those who believe in Him, but judgment for those who reject His offer of grace and mercy (17:25-27).

 

II. IT WILL BE LIKE THE DAYS OF LOT (17:28-33).

  1. Not only will the days preceding the second coming of Christ be very much like the days of Noah, they will also be very much like the days of Lot (17:28). “Likewise also…”
  2. If you compare verse 27 with verse 28, it seems like man advanced from the days of Noah to the days of Lot. Now they were not only eating and drinking and marrying, but they were also buying, and selling, and planting, and building (17:28).
  3. The idea is the same – those who are preoccupied with the things of this world – what our Lord referred to as the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches (Matthew 13:22) – are not interested in the things of God.
  4. People get all caught up in making money, and shopping, and entertainment and worldly pleasures, and as a result they are cold and indifferent toward the Gospel (17:28-30).
  5. In fact, our Lord warned that attachment to material possessions could prove fatal (17:31-33).
  6. Lot and his wife had to be literally forced out of Sodom. Genesis 19:15 says, “The angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.”
  7. But Lot lingered. “And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city” (Genesis 19:16).
  8. The angels said, “Look not behind thee” (Genesis 19:17), but Lot’s wife disobeyed (Genesis 19:17-29).
  9. “Remember Lot's wife” (Luke 17:32).
  10. Adam Clarke said that Lot’s wife “became a monument of the divine displeasure, and of her own folly and sin.”
  11. Matthew Henry said, “The flood came, and destroyed all the sinners of the old world; fire and brimstone came, and destroyed all the sinners of Sodom. God has many arrows in his quiver, and uses which he will in making war upon his rebellious subjects, for he can make which he will effectual. But that which is especially intended here is to show what a dreadful surprise destruction will be to those who are secure and sensual.”
  12. Matthew Henry wrote that three hundred years ago – “secure and sensual” – and it certainly describes our generation!

 

III. IT WILL BE A DAY OF JUDGMENT (17:34-37).

  1. I have heard preachers quote Luke 17:34-36 in reference to the rapture. I think we can make an application here, but I do not believe that is the correct interpretation of this passage.
  2. When studying Scripture, we need to remember there can be many applications but only one correct interpretation.
  3. I think these verses should be understood this way – “I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken (in judgment), and the other shall be left (to enter into the kingdom). Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken (in judgment), and the other left (to enter into the kingdom). Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken (in judgment), and the other left (to enter into the kingdom).”
  4. By the way, these Scriptures affirm that the world is round. When Christ returns, it will be nighttime in many parts of the world – “in that night there shall be two men in one bed” (17:34), while in other parts of the world it will be daytime with women grinding grain and men working out in the field.
  5. It took scientists hundreds of years to figure that out. Two thousand years ago when our Lord spoke these words, most people thought the world was a flat disc floating in the ocean.
  6. Seven hundred years before Christ, the prophet Isaiah wrote that God “is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22).
  7. Isaiah wrote that years before the ancient Greek philosophers speculated that perhaps the earth was round.
  8. Even earlier than the book of Isaiah is the book of Job, thought by many to be the oldest book in the Bible. Job 26:10 says, “He hath compassed (encircled, encompassed, made a circle) the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.”
  9. In Matthew 24:3, the disciples asked our Lord, “When shall these things be?” In Luke 17:37, they said, “Where, Lord?”
  10. Our Lord answered them by saying that wherever the body is, there the eagles (birds of prey) will be gathered together (17:37).
  11. The picture is one of judgment (cf. Revelation 19:17-21).

 

CONCLUSION:


  1. Back a number of years ago, Pastor W.A. Criswell preached a message from our text, and he said this, “After the war (WWII), the Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn was entertained here in Dallas. And at a big, vast banquet, on the fourth of January, in 1946, the citizenry of Dallas honored Speaker Sam Rayburn. I sat by his side; I had prayed the invocatory prayer. And in the midst of his address, as he described the awesome destructive power of atomic fission, he turned to me and addressing me, said, “I am not a preacher, sir, but I believe that if the world and its civilization are not to be destroyed, we must have a resurrection of the old time religion!” Pastor Criswell said that the audience responded to these words with a deafening applause.
  2. “A resurrection of the old time religion” means a genuine, heaven-sent revival.
  3. That is our only choice – revival or ruin.
  4. Many people are getting all worked up over the upcoming election. I have strong feelings about it myself, but no matter what happens on November 8, the only hope for America, and the only hope for the world, is God.


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