And he said to the disciples, Days are coming, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and shall not see [it].
Jesus has just told the Pharisees that the kingdom of God does not arrive with signs to watch for, because it was already among them. He now turns to His own followers and speaks of days of longing that will go unanswered.
The Pharisees asked when the kingdom would come. The disciples had already received the King, and that is why the Lord can now open the future to them.
Here He can speak freely of the future form of the Kingdom, which was all the Pharisees thought about. The disciples had received the Lord by faith. However little they understood, they grasped that the kingdom of God was among them. So the Lord could give them divine light about the future, when He would set up the Kingdom in open sight.
Commentators differ on what "one of the days of the Son of Man" points to. Some read it as a backward ache — a wish for the days they had already tasted in His company.
He was rejected and leaving them. Suffering awaited them. Their position now was hard: they were companions of a rejected Man. But days would come when they would long for one of those days of blessed and sweet fellowship with the Son of Man. That longing would be in vain.
Others read it forward, as a cry for the day when He steps in with power.
Days were coming that would cause a yearning for one of the days of the Son of Man. That means His coming in great power to deliver His people Israel out of the terrible agonies of the great tribulation.
The verse opens a gap. Before any day of the Son of Man arrives, there is a long stretch in which He is not here to be seen.
But as rejected, He says no more to them about this. Instead He turns to His disciples to tell them of the days of His absence. He is not speaking of Christian times. He carries them on to when Israel's long night would be hurrying to its close. Those are days when there would be disciples longing to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and not seeing it. But first He would have to suffer and be rejected.
An unmet longing is the very thing deceivers trade on. So a warning about "See here" and "See there" comes next.
The time would seem long — and indeed almost 2000 years have gone by. So there would be deceivers to trap souls with false hopes: "see here, or see there." These are plausible substitutes for the promise of the Messiah. The Lord warned the disciples to refuse to follow such things.
The desire in this verse is not left hanging. The parable in the next chapter answers it.
There will certainly be a time of fierce trial for the saints. Their desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man will show it. What then is to be their resource? Prayer, and prayer always. So the Lord added a parable to teach that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
The title in this verse points forward. The Son of Man is the one who takes the kingdom — but His rejection comes first, and the wait has stretched across generations.
In verse 22 Jesus turns again to His disciples and speaks of "the days of the Son of Man." It is the Son of Man who is to take the kingdom, when the hour comes for it to be set up in public, as Daniel 7:13-14 had made known long before. But meanwhile His rejection was going to come in between. The sayings recorded to the end of the chapter were clearly meant for the disciples as standing for saints who would be here until the time when He is revealed in glory. Many there have been who have desired to see one of His days, and have not seen it.
- Rejection first. His people refused the King, and everything in this verse flows from that. He must suffer and be rejected before any day of the Son of Man arrives.
- Absence next. Jesus tells His disciples about "the days of His absence" — a stretch when no one sees Him, running on toward the close of Israel's long night.
- Longing then. Some writers hear a backward ache for the sweet fellowship the disciples once had with Him. Others hear a forward cry for His coming in power to deliver Israel. Either way, the desire goes unanswered for a time.
- Deception preys on it. The wait feels long, so deceivers offer "see here, see there" — plausible substitutes for the real promise. The Lord's instruction is not to follow them.
- Prayer is the outlet. The unmet desire is not a dead end. The Lord answers it with a parable: they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
And they will say to you, Lo here, or Lo there; go not, nor follow [them].
The Lord has just warned His disciples: days are coming when they will long for one of the days of the Son of Man and will not see it. Now He adds the warning that goes with that longing. When the heart aches for Him, voices will start pointing — and He says not to chase them.
The words come out of Christ's rejection. Once the King has been refused and has gone, the very absence that makes His people ache is what the deceiver works on.
He was rejected and was leaving them. Suffering lay ahead of them. Their place now, as the companions of His rejection, might be hard. But days would come when they would long in vain for one of those days when they had enjoyed close and sweet fellowship with the Son of man. Then Satan, to attract and deceive in that day, would lead men to say, "Look, here!" or "Look, there!" But the disciples would know it was false. There was no hope for the nation that rejected Christ. The King had been there and was refused; He was no longer "here" or "there."
The enemy aims the same rumour two ways. It can mislead a waiting people, or overwhelm them until they take a counterfeit.
The enemy would certainly say it once the King was far away, to deceive them after they had rejected Him. Or, on the other hand, he would say it to dazzle and confuse them, so that they would fall into the hands of Antichrist.
This cry is not a small mistake about timing. In both directions of the story it marks unbelief.
There will be no question of "Look, here!" or "Look, there!" when Christ comes again, any more than when He was here. It was unbelief to say "See here" and "See there" while Christ was present in the power that showed Who He must be and was. It will be unbelief later on to say "See here" and "See there," for the Kingdom will then be set up in power. They were not to follow such rumours but to listen to His Word.
The Lord does not merely forbid the chase; He gives the reason in the image of lightning that follows in verse 24. Nobody has to be told where lightning is.
His day, however, will come, and it will come out in the open. And "as the lightning flashes from one part under heaven and shines to the other part under heaven, so will the Son of man be in His day" (Luke 17:24). Nothing about it will be hidden or uncertain, and knowledge of it will not be kept to a select few. Everyone will see it.
Note what this rules out. An announcement that only insiders can verify is, by that fact alone, disqualified — His appearing will be public.
If any say "Lo, here is the Christ, or there," they must not believe it. His appearing will be as public as the lightning. Everyone will be aware of it, friends and foes alike.
The delay itself is part of the danger. A long wait makes people ready to take something less than the real thing.
Because the time would seem long (and almost 2000 years have now gone by), deceivers would trap souls with false hopes: "see here, or see there." That cry offers a believable substitute for the promised Messiah. The Lord warned the disciples to refuse to follow such things. When the Son of Man comes to reign, it will be as plain as lightning flashing across the sky. This will bring in the millennial kingdom. But notice that the stress falls not on the kingdom, but on the King Himself, the Son of Man.
The Lord warned them ahead of time. That is why being fooled carries blame.
The Lord did not feed simple curiosity. He urged them to be careful not to be deceived. When it comes to prophecy there are countless deceptions. But if we are deceived, we are to blame, for God is not deceived. Honest fellowship with Him, in submission to His Word, will keep us safe.
The protection is not suspicion of every claim but knowledge of the real Christ.
The central point of the conflict is always here. The devil knows that if he can deceive men as to Him, he can deceive them in everything else. If we are wrong at the centre, we are bound to be wrong all the way out to the edge. Being rooted in our knowledge of the true Christ makes us proof against the pull of the false ones.
- Rejected. The King came, and His people refused Him. He is no longer "here" or "there," so any voice that places Him somewhere on earth contradicts that fact.
- Exploited. Satan uses the longing that His absence creates. He can mislead a waiting people, or confuse them into the arms of Antichrist.
- Public. His day will flash like lightning from one end of heaven to the other: no concealment, no uncertainty, and no select few in the know.
- Refuse. His coming needs no announcement, so the Lord tells His disciples not to go and not to follow. They are to listen to His Word instead of rumours.
- Rooted. God is not deceived, so if we are, the blame is ours. Knowing the true Christ, in submission to His Word, makes the false ones powerless.
For as the lightning shines which lightens from [one end] under heaven to [the other end] under heaven, thus shall the Son of man be in his day.
The Lord told the Pharisees of a kingdom they could not see; now He points His disciples to a day no one will miss. Why lightning, and why has that day still not come?
Why does the Lord say more here than He said to the Pharisees? Faith in His hearers is what makes the difference.
Here He can speak freely of the future form of the Kingdom, of which alone the Pharisees thought. The disciples had received the Lord by faith. However little they understood, they recognised the kingdom of God among them. So the Lord could give them divine light about the future, when He would set up the Kingdom in a way all could see.
No one needs a messenger to say that lightning has flashed. That is the force of the comparison.
His day, however, will come, and it will be out in the open. There will be no concealment or uncertainty about it, and the knowledge of it will not stay with a select few. It will be clear to everyone.
In verse 23 people will say, "Look, there!" or "Look, here!" Verse 24 shows why no one needs to check such reports.
Because the time would seem long (and almost 2000 years have now gone by), there would be deceivers trapping souls with false hopes: "see here, or see there" — that is, some believable substitute for the promise of the Messiah. The disciples were warned to refuse to follow such things. For when the Son of Man comes to reign it will be as obvious as lightning flashing across the sky. While this will bring in the millennial kingdom, notice that the emphasis is not on the kingdom, but on the King Himself, the Son of Man.
The verse calls Him "the Son of Man". One writer shows how far that title reaches at His return.
He returns not merely as the rejected Messiah, but as the Son of man, the exalted ruler of all nations, peoples, and tongues. His Kingdom will be seen under the whole heaven as He comes from heaven.
The very next verse (v. 25) puts suffering before that day. This order runs right through Scripture.
This is what the astonished disciples were taught by the Lord Himself, both before His death and after His resurrection, and nowhere more clearly than in the Gospel of Luke. "So will the Son of Man be in his day (that is, His appearing in glory). But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation" (Luke 17:24-25). Again, when risen He said (Luke 24:26), "Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."
Not every coming of Christ is like lightning. One writer sets two pictures side by side.
When the Lord comes for the church He will come as the Morning Star; whereas His coming in His day will be "as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other" (Luke 17:24). As Enoch was taken without the world noticing, so will the church be taken. As the flood affected the whole world, God preserving a few to repopulate the earth, so the coming of the Son of man in His day will be judgment on the whole world.
Why will that day come as such a shock? Because of the state of the people it falls on.
Men will at last have found their happiness in forgetting God... So sudden will it be, breaking with horror on an astonished and careless world.
- Hidden now. The kingdom came first with no outward show. The Pharisees heard only that it was among them; the disciples heard of the day when the King will set it up in the open.
- Lightning then. One picture rules the verse: no hiding, no doubt, no inside group. He comes as ruler of all nations, and everyone will see Him.
- So ignore rumours. Refuse anyone who says Christ has come quietly to one spot. His day will need no announcement.
- Cross before day. "First he must suffer many things" is not a delay in the plan. It is the order of it: suffering, then glory, as Moses and the Prophets said.
- Two pictures, two hopes. For the church He comes as the Morning Star. For the world His day comes as the lightning, breaking on people busy forgetting God.
But first he must suffer many things and be rejected of this generation.
The Pharisees had just asked when the kingdom of God would come. The Lord turned to His disciples, pictured a day as bright as lightning, then held that day back with one word: first — suffering and refusal come before any splendour.
The word "first" marks a moral necessity, not just a timetable. A sinful world could not receive a King who sought God's glory instead of His own. Kelly shows what that refusal made possible.
This rejection was already going on in principle at the time; the Cross would be its climax. The moral order is completely in keeping with God: first He must suffer... It must be so in a sinful world for one who seeks not his own glory, but God's, and the real and eternal good of man. It would be impossible to take the Kingdom while man is in a state of sin and rebellion. In grace, then, He accepts the rejection which was inexcusable on their part; and in His rejection He accomplishes atonement. So God can righteously introduce the Kingdom with many a rebel pardoned.
The Lord now speaks to His own followers, not to the Pharisees. He tells them what His rejection will mean for them, and He names who the rejecters were.
To His disciples He had other things to say. He was rejected and leaving them. Suffering awaited them... There was no hope for the nation which rejected Christ. The King had been there but refused; He was no longer "here" or "there." ... But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation, that is, the unbelieving Jews.
Kelly draws the sense of the phrase from its use elsewhere in Scripture.
It means — as it very often does in Scripture — this Christ-rejecting race of Israel, and not a mere period of time. It is used in a moral sense to describe a race acting in a particular way, good or evil.
That rejecting spirit did not die out with the crowd standing in front of Him.
"First He must suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation" — a generation which goes on still morally, and will, until He returns in glory to judge.
The Lord never says how long the "first" would last. Grant measures that gap from where we now stand.
They were not to expect this coming in the near future. First the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected, which would involve His being put to death. How long this rejection would continue is not suggested at all. Yet it has continued since His resurrection for almost 2,000 years, and verse 26 is still future.
This sequence was not a late change of plan. Kelly ties the verse to what the Spirit had already signified through the prophets.
We are not left in doubt about what the Spirit of Christ in the prophets of old meant. He testified beforehand to the glories of the anointed One whom all the saints awaited. He also testified — and at first sight this seems beyond measure strong — to the sufferings appointed for Him, which come first. The Lord Himself taught this to the astonished disciples, both before His death and after His resurrection, and nowhere more clearly than in the Gospel of Luke.
The same order marks the life of everyone who follows Him.
Suffering first, and then glory, mark the proper path or history of the saint. Ancient times show this. Remember Joseph, Moses, and David in connection with this truth. But it is the common history of those who hold to God in a system or world that has departed from Him and set up its own thoughts. In a deep moral sense it is the necessary history. For such must always be swimming against a contrary current.
- First — God's order stands: suffering before splendour, cross before crown. A sinful world could not receive the Kingdom any other way.
- Rejection — men refused Him, and in that rejection He accomplished atonement. So God can bring in the Kingdom with many a rebel pardoned.
- Generation — the phrase marks a moral character, not a span of years. That unbelief runs on until He returns in glory to judge.
- Delay — the Lord never said how long the "first" would last. Two thousand years later, the day He described is still ahead.
- Followers — what held for the Master holds for the disciple: suffering first, then glory. That is the path of everyone who holds to God in a world that has left Him.
And as it took place in the days of Noe, thus also shall it be in the days of the Son of man
The Lord's questioners want to know when the kingdom of God will come. He turns to His disciples and points back to Noah's generation, to show what the world will look like on the day He is revealed — busy, at ease, and entirely normal.
That day will be clear to everyone. But it comes only after rejection: suffering first, then open display.
Time had to pass, and events that looked disastrous to the cause they cared about had to happen, before the day of the Son of man could appear... First the Son of man — a title of the Lord tied to power (Psalm 8) — had to suffer many things, and that generation had to reject Him. The cross must come before the glory. His day will come, though, and it will come openly... Nothing about it will be hidden or uncertain. Knowledge of it will not be kept to a select few. It will be plain to all.
Some expect the world to grow better and better until Christ returns. The comparison with Noah says the opposite.
In Luke 17 He does not tell us that the world will slowly change from a wilderness into a Paradise. He does not say that the nations will drop their false gods, or that the Jews will drop their hatred of the true Messiah. Instead He warns the disciples that it will be as in the days of Noah, and in the days of Lot. Those were times of ease and worldliness, when all mankind was rising up against God. Yet they picture the scenes that will meet the Lord as He appears from heaven to judge the world... The world will show the same self-security and love of ease when the Lord is revealed as it showed just before the flood.
Nothing on the Lord's list — eating, drinking, marrying — is a crime. That is the point. One writer shows where the guilt lay.
"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." (Luke 17:27) There was nothing wrong in any of these things by itself. The wrong was not in the things done, but in the doers of them. Each of them could be done in the fear of the Lord, and to the glory of His holy name, if only they were done in faith. But they were not. They rejected the word of God. He told them of judgment, but they did not believe.
The same danger reaches respectable people. Daily life can crowd God out without any scandal.
How busy Satan is, even among Christians, in shutting out the things of God! He does it through the demands and pressure of things that may not be evil in themselves — things we have not learned to connect with God and to use for God.
One writer marks this scene off from two others. It is not the moment when Christ receives His own, and not the judgment of the dead. The flood swept away people who were alive and busy.
This is not about receiving the Church, and not about judging the dead. The judging of the dead follows at the end, and the receiving of the Church comes first. What we have here is the judgment of the living on the earth — a truth Christendom has largely forgotten... This can only mean people alive on the earth, caught out by the flood... Men forget too easily that a far wider judgment waits for the world, on the pattern of these two times when God stepped in — and above all for the part of the world that has had God's testimony.
Noah preached at the end of an age, not into a calm world. One writer draws the parallel to our own day.
So Noah lived at the close of an age, when the storm clouds of God's judgment were gathering on every side. We too live at the close of an age, and once more God is preparing judgment for an evil world. Men are as careless and indifferent now as they were in the days of long ago.
Our part is not to build, but to take shelter.
Noah's faith saw that the world stood under judgment... Noah built an ark to save his household. We do not have to build an ark. We have to take the shelter of the death of Christ and the end of all flesh before God. Then we find that God's saving power carries us through a world under judgment.
- Suffering first. That generation rejected the Son of man before His day dawns. The cross comes before the glory, so our long wait is order, not failure.
- Normal, not notorious. Eating, drinking and marrying are not wrong in themselves. The fault lay in the doers. They heard God's warning and did not believe.
- No golden age first. Ease, self-security and worldliness will meet the Lord when He is revealed — not a converted world.
- The living are judged. This is not the receiving of the Church, and not the judging of the dead. It is judgment falling on people alive and busy on the earth.
- Shelter now. Noah built an ark. We take the shelter of the death of Christ, and God carries us through a world already under sentence.
they ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all [of them];
Jesus describes the world at His return by pointing back to the days before the flood. He does it with a list of the most ordinary human activities. So the question is not what terrible sin those people were doing. It is what they were doing when judgment came, and what they had done with the warning.
The scene is not the church being taken up. It is not the final judgment of the dead either. The flood fixes the moment: living people, going about life on earth, caught where they stand.
The Lord next refers to the days of Noah: so should it be in His own days when He comes as the Son of man. This is not about receiving the Church, and not about judging the dead. The judging of the dead follows at the end, and the receiving of the Church comes first. Here it is plainly the judgment of the living on the earth — a truth the Christian world has largely forgotten. "The flood came and destroyed them all." This can only mean people alive on the earth, taken by surprise.
The warning is not mainly about sin. It is about assuming the world will simply keep going. And the listed activities show people still alive on an earth that still exists.
Here the passage does not warn people about sin, but about the unholy idea that the world may just keep going for ever. As soon as Noah entered the ark, the flood came and destroyed them all. As soon as the church is taken up, judgment will come, for Satan will have filled men's hearts with lies. Notice here how impossible it is to apply this to the great white throne. When He sits on the great white throne, the heavens and the earth flee away; there is a total destruction of everything. Men will not then be eating, drinking, planting, building.
Not one item on the list is a crime. The problem was the place these ordinary things had taken in people's lives.
People of the world will carry on in their own independent way. They will keep concentrating on the material things of life: eating and drinking and marrying. These things are not wrong in themselves, but too often they are the only thing men live for. They forget God, so they will be shocked when He steps into their affairs without warning to judge them.
That generation had a preacher, and a warning they could watch growing for years. They still did not believe.
While Noah built the ark, he was a "preacher of righteousness". With his hand he was driving a nail, but with his mouth he was saying: "Judgment is coming. God will destroy the world with a flood. All will be drowned. Come, come quickly into the ark." But they did not believe. Did they not know? It was not a few days or months that Noah took to build the ark: but 120 years... Perhaps they said, "No, Noah, you have said this for many years. The flood has never come: we are not afraid." Or "Today we cannot go in. Wait. We will not get ready yet. Maybe tomorrow."
The verse turns on a single day. Life went on as normal right up to the moment the door shut. And God shut it.
The ark grew larger every day, a witness to the coming judgment. There was no sign at all of a coming flood... But the flood came, and destroyed them all. "And they went in to Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh;" "and the Lord shut him in." Every soul that was not shut in with Noah, was shut out. There was then no hope; it was too late.
The days before the flood are the pattern. So the world will not slowly improve until it is ready for Christ's return.
Some would have us believe that righteousness will cover this earth from pole to pole, like a beautiful robe, before the Son of man appears in the clouds of heaven... but the brief passage just quoted pulls up all such empty and misleading expectations by the roots. How was it in the days of Noah? Did righteousness cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea?... Scripture replies, "the earth was filled with violence." "ALL flesh had corrupted his way on the earth." Well, then, "so shall it be in the days of the Son of man."
- Living, not dead. This is judgment on people alive on earth. Men are still eating, planting and building — which could never describe the great white throne.
- Lawful, not harmless. Eating, drinking and marriage are not wrong in themselves. They had become the only thing men lived for.
- Warned, not ignorant. For 120 years a growing ark and a preacher of righteousness stood in plain view. The answer was "maybe tomorrow."
- Shut in, not shut out. Normal life ran right up to the day Noah entered. Then the Lord shut him in. Everyone not shut in was shut out, and it was too late.
- Pattern, not exception. Violence filled the earth then. So do not expect the world to grow righteous before the Son of Man appears — the Lord's own comparison rules it out.
and in like manner as took place in the days of Lot they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
The Lord sets a second picture beside the days of Noah: Sodom in the time of Lot, described not by its worst sins but by its buying, planting and building. Why picture a city on the edge of destruction by the most ordinary activities of life?
Genesis records the gross evil of Sodom, yet the Lord's summary here stays on the surface of daily routine. One writer notes that choice, and what buying and building show about the hopes of the people doing them.
We know from the history (Genesis 19:4-10) that Sodom was also guilty of the dreadful moral corruption of homosexuality. But the Lord spoke here only of their concentration on living for this life. He adds to the previous verse that they bought, sold, planted and built. These things show how they were preparing to go on living on earth, with no concern for eternity.
Lot's Sodom adds trading and building to the list of daily habits. That extra marks a step forward for the world, and the question is what the step was worth.
There was progress in the world. Civilisation had advanced. But was it any better morally? … People too easily forget that a far wider judgment is waiting for the world, following the pattern of these two judgments from God.
Luke alone records this comparison. Notice who is telling it.
Only this Gospel gives us this reference to Sodom in the days of Lot. And it is the Lord who tells us about the world before the flood, and about the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Admah too, and of Zeboiim. He saw it all. He tells us the future too.
Eating, trading and building are not crimes. The question is how people use them, and whether they leave any room for God.
There is nothing wrong in these things of the world themselves. The right or the wrong lies in the use man makes of them. There is no conscience in these things, no spiritual affection in them, no moral good in them (they are all God's creatures, of course). The things are not evil… It is a world that is forming pleasures for itself out of what God did create; but it does not care for God, for it rejected Him.
The angels led Lot out in full daylight, and the city carried on. One writer fills in the ordinary scene behind the verse's short list.
They held their market. The exchange opened, traders met there, and farmers came in from the country with their produce. Housewives went out to buy the food for the day, and everybody was busy… Note this: God is not going to give the world one single bit of warning when He judges it, any more than He gave Sodom. Its only warning was the angels leading Lot out of the city, and that warning the people despised.
Sodom's routine ran right up to the moment Lot was outside the city. One writer traces how tightly the fire waited on him reaching the town of Zoar.
The sun had risen on the earth when Lot entered Zoar. And yet that sunny hour was the very time for the rain of burning sulphur and fire to fall. Nothing could happen until Lot reached the city; but once he was in it, nothing more held back the fire.
Many expect the world to improve until it is fit for Christ's return. One writer meets that hope head-on.
Scripture nowhere teaches that the time of the earth's blessing will come before Christ comes. It comes after… If you are not a believer, but someone who rejects Christ, that day may catch you by surprise, just as it caught the people of Sodom when they had opened their shops for another day's business and another day's sins.
- Ordinary. The charge against Sodom here is not its worst sins. It is a life wrapped up in this world, with no concern for eternity.
- Advanced. Buying, selling, planting and building show a world that had moved on: progress in civilisation, none in morals.
- Neutral. The things listed are God's creatures and not evil; the wrong lies in a world using them to enjoy itself without Him.
- Uninterrupted. Business opened as usual on the final morning. Sodom's one warning was the sight of Lot being led out, and the city despised it.
- Until. The fire could not fall while Lot was still inside, and nothing held it back once he was out. So Scripture promises the world no slow improvement before Christ comes.