Commentary on the Four Gospel Books
The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
G108 The Coming of the Heavenly Kingdom and the Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for the Church
Luke 17:20–37

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All New Testament verses quoted in this article are from the English Majority Text Version, and Old Testament verses are from the King James Version, unless otherwise noted.

Luke 17:20-37

20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of *God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of *God does not come with observation;

21 neither will they say, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look, there it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of *God is among you.”

22 Then He said to the disciples, ” Days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you shall not see it.

23 And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go forth nor follow them.

24 For just as the lightning which flashes out of the one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.

25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

26 And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man.

27 They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

28 Likewise also as it happened in the days of Lot; they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building;

29 but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

30 In the same way it shall be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

31 In that day, he who shall be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise he who is in the field, let him not turn back for the things left behind.

32 Remember Lot’s wife.

33 Whoever seeks to save his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life shall preserve it.

34 I say to you, in that night two shall be on one bed: one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.

35 Two shall be grinding together: one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.

{36 two men shall be in the field: one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.}″

37 And they answered and said to Him, “Where, Lord?” So He said to them, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”

In this lesson, we will study together the words spoken by the Lord Jesus concerning the coming of the Heavenly Kingdom and His prophecy about His coming for the Church. Although both Matthew 24 and Mark 13 record the prophecy of the Lord Jesus about His coming, they refer to a different instance than the one recorded by Luke that we are studying. Luke recorded the prophecy of the Lord Jesus while He was on His way from Galilee back to Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Matthew and Mark recorded His prophecy after He had arrived and was in the city of Jerusalem.

Luke 17 records only the prophecy of the Lord Jesus about His coming for the Church, while His coming for the world is recorded in Luke 21. Mark 13 records only His coming for the world. Matthew 24, however, records both His coming for the Church and His coming for the world.

The coming of the Lord Jesus for the Church will take place before the End Time and will be known only to the Church. His coming for the world will occur at the end of the End Time and will be known to all who are alive at that time.

Luke 17:20-21

20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of *God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of *God does not come with observation;

21 neither will they say, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look, there it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of *God is among you.”

We can understand that, immediately after the Lord Jesus spoke with the Samaritan man who had leprosy and had been healed by Him—who then returned to glorify the God and give thanks to Him—the Pharisees who were present among the crowd following Him asked Him about the coming of the Heavenly Kingdom. However, in the minds of the Pharisees at that time, the concept of the Heavenly Kingdom was different from the teaching of the Lord Jesus.

In Old Testament times, the Israelites often understood the Heavenly Kingdom to be the restoration of the nation of Israel, where they would live in peace, justice, and independence under the rule of a king anointed by the God. That understanding was based on the prophecy in Isaiah 9:6–7, which describes a king who would reign ″upon the throne of David″ and whose reign would be extended ″for ever.″

For about 400 years—from the death of the Prophet Malachi to the time when the Lord Jesus preached the Gospel—the people of Israel commonly believed that the Heavenly Kingdom would come when the Messiah appeared. They believed that this Messiah would hold political and military power over the people of Israel. They expected the Messiah to overthrow foreign rule, restore the kingdom of Israel with Jerusalem as its center, and usher in a time of prosperity and justice.

During this same period, Judaism developed, consisting of several sects: the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots. The two sects, the Pharisees and Sadducees, are mentioned in the New Testament because they frequently interacted with the Lord Jesus and His disciples. However, the Essenes and Zealots are not mentioned in the Bible.

Regarding the Essene Sect: There is no complete consensus on the origin and meaning of the term ″Essene.″ The two most commonly inferred meanings, based on their way of life, are “holy ones” or “pious ones.” These meanings reflect their characteristics: living in isolation from the world, practicing asceticism, and dedicating themselves to purity in their faith in God. They could be referred to as the Purity Sect. Because they lived in isolation and had little interaction with mainstream Israelite society or events in Jerusalem, they are not mentioned in the Bible.

Regarding the Zealot Sect: The term ″Zealot″ means “zealous.” This sect had a wide influence among the people of Israel. They operated as a revolutionary movement, resisting foreign occupying powers. They appear to have had no involvement with the Lord Jesus or the activities of the Church, so they are not mentioned in the Bible—except in Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13, which mention Simon the Zealot, implying that he had once been a member of this sect.

Only three sects within Judaism believed in the coming of the Heavenly Kingdom. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead and in a future kingdom ruled by the Messiah. They emphasized both the spiritual and political-physical aspects of the Heavenly Kingdom. The Essenes anticipated a theocratic kingdom, sometimes involving two Messiahs (one king and one priest). They lived in isolation from the world, kept themselves pure, and awaited the Heavenly Kingdom.

The Zealots strongly believed in a Messiah who would be a political-military leader. They envisioned the Heavenly Kingdom as a physical kingdom—an independent nation of Israel. They pursued their goals through acts of violence.

As for the Sadducees, they paid little attention to the Messiah or the future kingdom of Israel. They focused only on the present and the Temple. They did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, nor in the actual existence of angels. They believed only in the first five books of the Old Testament written by Moses, also called the Pentateuch. It can be said that they did not believe in the Messiah or the Heavenly Kingdom at all.

When the Pharisees asked the Lord Jesus about the coming of the Heavenly Kingdom, they were referring to the Heavenly Kingdom according to their own concept. That was an independent and powerful nation of Israel, living in peace and righteousness under the spiritual and supernatural rule of the God, involving redemption and judgment through the Messiah.

The Pharisees likely asked such a question because they had heard the Lord Jesus preach that the Heavenly Kingdom was near (Matthew 4:17), but they saw no political or military signs pointing to the restoration of the nation of Israel.

The answer of the Lord Jesus means that the Heavenly Kingdom does not come through visible observation with the physical eye. First of all, the Heavenly Kingdom comes into the spirit of those who believe in His message. Whoever believes in the preaching of the Lord Jesus and truly repents of their sins will be forgiven by the God and will have the Lord Jesus reign in their spirit.

For nearly two thousand years, the Heavenly Kingdom has come into the spirit of God’s people. One day, not long from now, the Heavenly Kingdom will be manifested on earth as a global kingdom under the direct rule of the Lord Jesus. That will be when the Lord Jesus returns to earth at the end of the End Time, destroys all who do not belong to Him, casts Satan into the bottomless pit in Hades, and establishes the Millennial Kingdom.

After the period of the Millennial Kingdom, when the new heaven and new earth appear, the Heavenly Kingdom will be manifested on the new earth, also called the Eternal Kingdom.

Luke 17:22-23

22 Then He said to the disciples, ” Days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you shall not see it.

23 And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go forth nor follow them.

There are two things we need to pay attention to and remember.

First: When the Lord Jesus spoke the words we are studying to His disciples, He was limited in His humanity—in His human person. He did not know the hour or the day when He would return to take them out of the world. Every prophecy He spoke and every miracle He performed was by the inspiration of God the Spirit. Only after He completed His atoning death for mankind and rose from the dead did He begin to act according to His divine nature within His human flesh. That is, through that human body, He acted entirely in the capacity of God.

Second: Every word the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples, if the context shows it was not applied specifically only to the disciples at that time, is applicable to all His disciples in every age. Therefore, what we learn in this lesson applies to us as well.

″Days will come″ are difficult days of suffering and persecution because of faith or due to natural disasters and epidemics when the Lord Jesus is no longer physically present with them.

″To see one of the days of the Son of Man″ means to see one of the days when the Lord Jesus lived among them and walked with them.

At that time, if there were many rumors that Christ had returned, God’s people should not believe them. Do not seek Christ; do not follow those who spread or believe such rumors. Today, ″follow them″ can also mean following YouTube channels or social media pages of those who spread news that Christ has come.

Luke 17:24

24 For just as the lightning which flashes out of the one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.

First of all, we need to understand that this is the prophecy of the Lord Jesus about His coming in the air to take the Church out of the world. This event can happen at any time. The details of this coming are foretold by the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18. The Lord Jesus will descend from heaven with the clouds, and the Church will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air:

“Because the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

This coming of the Lord Jesus will happen before the End Time, and He will not descend to the earth. When the Lord comes, the world will continue to live normally: eating and drinking, marrying, buying and selling, planting, building… Even God’s people will live their normal lives: working or resting.

This is not a prophecy about the Lord Jesus coming after the End Time to destroy the Antichrist and those who do not belong to Him. At that coming, the Lord Jesus will arrive amid the chaos and terror of the world, after seven years of great tribulation. There will be no normal activities such as eating and drinking, marrying, buying and selling, planting, or building. At that time, the armies of the kings on the earth will have gathered at Armageddon to oppose Christ (Revelation 16:16). Then, ″The cities of the nations fell,″ and ″every island fled away, and the mountains were not found″ (Revelation 16:19–20).

″The lightning which flashes out of the one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven″ is used as a comparison to describe the very swift and sudden coming of Christ. It also expresses the glory and majesty of Christ on that day. When the glory of the God appeared on Mount Sinai to the people of Israel, there were also ″thunders and lightnings″ (Exodus 19:16).

Luke 17:25

25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

However, before Christ returns, He must endure much suffering. He was humiliated, beaten, and nailed to the cross to die.

The suffering that Christ had to endure was a necessary part of the God’s plan of redemption for mankind. Christ had to bear the punishment for the sins of all humanity. The Bible prophesied about that suffering.

Isaiah 53:3-6

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

The words spoken by the Lord Jesus in verse 25 also imply that He is the Messiah prophesied by Isaiah.

What is important is that He was rejected by the generation of the people of Israel at that time. The term ″generation″ used by the Lord Jesus refers to the Israelites living in His time. Even many who had been His disciples later turned back and no longer followed Him (John 6:66). Only about 120 of His disciples remained faithful to Him (Acts 1:15).

The rejection of the Lord Jesus by the people of Israel is ironic, since they professed faith in the God and in the prophecies of the Scriptures, yet rejected the Messiah.

Today, many who claim to be God’s people profess faith in the Lord Jesus but live lives contrary to His teachings—that is also ironic. In reality, billions who bear the name of God’s people in religious organizations bearing the name of the Lord—such as Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches—live in ways opposing God’s Word.

Luke 17:26-27

26 And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man.

27 They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

The details in verses 26 to 36 show that the coming of the Lord Jesus mentioned here is not His coming at the end of the End Time. For at the end of the End Time, after the world has endured seven years of great tribulation, everyone will be living in chaos, and the armies of the nations will have gathered in Israel for the battle against Christ. At that time, the world’s population will have been reduced by at least 50% compared to when the End Time began.

″The days of Noah″ generally refers to the time when Noah lived on the earth, but according to the context, it implies the days before the Great Flood. Those were days when humanity lived on the earth indulging in their own desires and freely committing sin. Eating and marrying represent normal social activities. The whole world, except for Noah’s family of eight, lived joyfully in sin and did not believe Noah’s preaching.

Today, many who claim to be God’s people still live joyfully in sin. They do not believe that Christ is about to come to take the Church out of the world and that they will be left behind to suffer during the End Time. Most of the people in the world today do not belong to the Lord. They are busy chasing after worldly things. The coming of Christ to take the Church out of the world will be a surprise to them and will mark the beginning of the seven years of great tribulation that will come upon them.

Luke 17:28-29

28 Likewise also as it happened in the days of Lot; they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building;

29 but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

The Lord Jesus again used the image of Lot being brought out of Sodom by the angels before fire and brimstone rained down from heaven to destroy Sodom and its surrounding regions to illustrate His coming to take the Church out of the world.

Just as Lot was taken out of Sodom before the punishment fell on the city, so the Church will be taken out of the world before the judgment during the End Time falls on the world for seven years.

Before the day Sodom was destroyed, the people of the city still lived their normal lives: eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting, building… Likewise, before Christ comes to take the Church out of the world, the people of the world will still live their normal lives.

Normal activities such as eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting, and building… cannot happen at the end of the End Time, when the world has already endured seven years of unprecedented great tribulation. Therefore, it is clear that in Luke 17:20–37, the Lord Jesus prophesies about His coming for the Church before the End Time.

Luke 17:30-31

30 In the same way it shall be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

31 In that day, he who shall be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise he who is in the field, let him not turn back for the things left behind.

Verse 30 speaks of the appearance of the Lord Jesus for the Church before the End Time, which will be as sudden as the Great Flood that came upon the earth and the fire that rained down on Sodom. It will happen while the world is busy indulging in sin and everyone is living their normal lives.

Verse 31 refers to God’s people who are living and working normally and will be taken away by Him, leaving behind all things related to the physical world.

″He who shall be on the housetop″ could be someone praying (Acts 10:9) or working on the roof, since roofs in Canaan at that time were usually flat.

″He who is in the field″ refers to someone farming or tending livestock.

In general, when Christ comes to take the Church out of the world, God’s people may be in various situations—some praying, some resting, and some working. When Christ comes, depending on their location on earth and the time zone, they may be either sleeping or working.

Luke 17:32-33

32 Remember Lot’s wife.

33 Whoever seeks to save his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life shall preserve it.

The words of the Lord Jesus in these two verses are meant to warn God’s people who are living lukewarm lives and still clinging to worldly things (Revelation 3:16). Perhaps Lot’s wife, because of her attachment to the wealth and possessions left behind in the city, disobeyed the angel’s command, looked back, and was turned into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:17, 26).

″Whoever seeks to save his life shall lose it″ includes trying to maintain one’s means of livelihood and work as well as trying to protect one’s life according to one’s own desires, while violating God’s commandments. Such a person will lose their life both in this present age and in the age to come. Life in the age to come is eternal life in the Heavenly Kingdom.

″Whoever loses his life shall preserve it″ means whoever is willing to sacrifice their means of livelihood, work, and even their life in order to keep God’s commandments fully. Such a person, even if they lose their life in this age, will be resurrected and live forever in the age to come, in the Heavenly Kingdom.

Luke 17:34-36

34 I say to you, in that night two shall be on one bed: one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.

35 Two shall be grinding together: one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.

{36 two men shall be in the field: one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.}″

The time when the Lord Jesus comes to take the Church out of the world will be night in one place but day in another.

Two people sleeping together on one bed could be a husband and wife. Two people grinding grain together could be members of the same family. Two people in the field could be family members, or two hired workers for the same employer, or an employer and a hired worker.

The one who is taken away is a person belonging to the Church, caught up by the Lord Jesus to meet Him in the air and enter heaven together with Him and the Church.

Those who are left behind are people who do not belong to the Lord. They may be those who do not believe in the atoning death of the Lord Jesus. They may also be those who believe in His atoning death but do not repent of their sins and still prefer to live in sin. Those who do not believe in the Lord and are left behind will have the opportunity to repent and believe in the Lord, enduring suffering for His name during the End Time. Those who believe in the Lord but do not repent may no longer have the opportunity to repent because they have been vomited out by the Lord Jesus and cut off by God (Revelation 3:16; John 15:2). This is the case of being hardened by God, like Pharaoh in the time of Moses.

Luke 17:37

37 And they answered and said to Him, “Where, Lord?” So He said to them, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”

The disciples’ question, “Where?” means in which location the Lord’s coming will occur.

The proverb, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together,” appears in the context beginning at Luke 17:26, referring to the event of the Lord’s coming to take the Church out of the world before the Great Tribulation, while the world is still engrossed in pursuing the pleasures of the flesh.

Therefore, ″the body″ symbolizes the pleasures of the world, and ″the eagles″ are scavenger birds representing those who love the world and the things of the world.

Never before in human history have civilization, progress, material comforts, wealth, and the pleasures of life—aimed at satisfying every desire of the flesh—developed and increased as remarkably as in our era. Currently, according to statistics, there are over two billion people worldwide who bear the name Christian, but how many of them truly do not love the world and the things of the world (1 John 2:15) and deny themselves and take up their cross daily to follow the Lord (Luke 9:23)?

While the disciples thought that the event of the Lord coming when the world is still busy eating, marrying, buying and selling, planting, building… would happen in some specific locality, the Lord’s answer reveals that it will happen throughout the whole world. Wherever there are the pleasures of the world, there those who are intoxicated with those pleasures will be found, indifferent to the day of the Lord’s coming.

The Lord’s words about His coming imply that when He comes, half the world will be in daytime and half the world will be in nighttime. Whether it is day or night, there will be people taken away or left behind—while they are sleeping, or while they are working.

The coming of the Lord Jesus to take the Church out of the world will happen worldwide. That time is very near and could occur in the blink of an eye, at any moment. May each of us be ready for His coming.

We conclude this lesson here.

May the Holy Spirit guide us into all the truths of God’s Word (John 16:13). May the Word of God sanctify us (John 17:17). May the Faithful *God of Peace Himself sanctify our spirit, soul, and body entirely, without blame (1 Thessalonians 5:23), at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Beloved Savior. Amen!

Timothy Christian Huynh
Priscilla Christian Huynh
05/31/2025

Note:

About Using “*God”, “the God” and “holy spirit”

Wherever the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts of the Bible use a definite article with a noun to denote GOD, we translate it into English as *God or “the God” to refer to God the Father. We understand that “God,” without a definite article, was used as a collective noun for all and any of the three Persons of the Godhead. And “God,” with a definite article, was used to refer to God the Father.

In the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, the term “holy spirit” (πνευματι αγιω) without the definite article “the” (το) is used to denote the power of God, which is given by God the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit” (το πνευματι το αγιω) is God, and “holy spirit” (πνευματι αγιω) is the power that comes from God.