Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 17:22
And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see [it.]
22. The days will come, when ye shall desire, &c.] Compare Mat 9:15, “The days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast, in those days.” See, too, Joh 12:35; Joh 13:33; Joh 17:12. They were looking forwards with no realization of that rich present blessedness for which they would one day yearn. Rev 6:10.
(The days will come He here takes occasion to direct the minds of his disciples to the days of vengeance which were about to fall on the Jewish nation. Heavy calamities will befall the Jewish people, and you will desire a deliverer. Ye shall desire – You who now number yourselves among my disciples. One of the days of the Son of man – The Son of man here means the Messiah, without affirming that he was the Messiah. Such will be the calamities of those times, so great will be the afflictions and persecutions, that you will greatly desire a deliverer – one who shall come to you in the character in which you have expected the Messiah would come, and who would deliver you from the power of your enemies; and at that time, in the midst of these calamities, people shall rise up pretending to be the Messiah, and to be able to deliver you. In view of this, he takes occasion to caution them against being led astray by them. Ye shall not see it – You shall not see such a day of deliverance – such a Messiah as the nation has expected, and such an interposition as you would desire. Luk 17:22-24
One of the days of the Son of Man
Mistaken desires for Jesus
JESUS FORESHADOWS A CHANGE OF FEELING ON THE PART OF HIS DISCIPLES IN REFERENCE TO HIS APPEARING. They will desire to see one day a visible appearance of the Son of Man. If you have the spirit of Jesus, if He has come to you so that you know Him to be your Saviour and Friend, you cannot be free from such changes of feeling in reference to Him. No. There come to you times in which you think, Surely my life in Christ is not pouring on me so clearly and warmly as it might do. You are inclined to murmur out such plaints as, I cannot see His face, though I have eagerly looked for it; waiting to catch some beams of the wondrous glory resting on it, and be able to say, It is the Lord. I want to feel His strong hand holding me up; but I do not grasp it, though I stretch out mine before, behind, on each side. My prayer this morning was that I might find to-day to be a day for a personal and new contact with Jesus. So there is a sense in which your feeling in reference to Him is somewhat changed. The day has come when ye desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man.
And why not
While the Lord was yet on earth the days of the Son of Man were but lightly esteemed. The Pharisees spoke of them with a sneer, and demanded when the kingdom of God should come. Is this the coming of Thy promised kingdom? Are these fishermen and peasants Thy courtiers? Are these the days for which prophets and kings waited so long? Yes, Jesus tells them, these are the very days. The kingdom of God is set up within mens hearts, and is among you even now; and the time will come when you will wish for these days back again, and even those who best appreciate them shall ere long confess that they thought too little of them, and sigh in their hearts for their return.
1. We are bad judges of our present experiences.
2. We seldom value our mercies till we lose them.
1. Our Lord meant that His disciples would look back regretfully upon the days when He was with them. In a short time His words were true enough, for sorrows came thick and threefold. At first they began to preach with uncommon vigour, and the Spirit of God was upon them. But by and by the love of many waxed cold, and their first zeal declined; persecution increased in its intensity, and the timid shrank away from them; evil doers and evil teachers came into the Church; heresies and schisms began to divide the body of Christ, and dark days of lukewarmness and halfheartedness covered them.
2. These disciples would look forward sometimes with anxious expectation. If we cannot go back, they would say, Oh that He would hurry on and quickly bring us the predicted era of triumph and joy. Oh for one of the days of the Son of Man.
1. Days of holy fellowship with Jesus may pass away to our deep sorrow. While the Beloved is with you, hold Him, and do not let Him go. He will abide if you are but eager for His company.
2. Days of delightful fellowship with one another. Let us labour in love, zeal, humility; for a continuance of these all our life long.
3. Days of abundant life and power in the Church.
Days of holy privileges
Two kinds and sets of days are here contrasted: coming days and days that are now. The general thought is very natural and very human. It might be said to almost any one at certain periods of life, that he will one day be looking back upon that period wiG, regretful fondness, even though it may not be entirely bright or altogether enjoyable while it is passing. Days of childhood, though many restrictions have fettered, and many faults may have saddened them; days of school life, though often complained of at the time as days of burdensome lessons, arbitrary rules, and irritating punishments; days of early struggle, and hope long deferred, in the practice of a profession; days of uncertain health or variable spirits, while opinion, faith, and habit, are anxiously shaping themselves, and the aspects and prospects of life are in many ways both gloomy and formidable; of all these, and many other examples might be added to them, it might yet be said with great truth by an experienced looker-on to the person passing through them: Days will come when ye will be desiring to see one of these days over again, and when, alas, you shall not see it! Yes, you may well prize, while you have them, the days that are now, though they may be very far from perfect, either in opportunity or in circumstance; for assuredly you will one day be desiring one of them back–no tears and no prayers of yours will be of any avail to recall it. When our Lord said here to His disciples: The days will come when ye will desire to see one of these days–days of the Son of Man, He calls them–and ye shall not see it, there was a solemnity and a pathos in the prediction far beyond the universal experience of which we have spoken. There was much to make the days of that time far from enjoyable. They were days of unrest; they were days of toil; they were days of anxiety; they were days also of perplexity and bewilderment in spiritual things. They were very slowly and very intermittently realizing very elementary conceptions. They had no such hold of great hopes or great faiths as might have made their heaven all brightness, whatever their earth might be. They were always disappointing their Master by some expression which betrayed ignorance, or by some proposal which threatened inconsistency, which must have made, we should have thought, the very memory of those days of the Son of Man a bitterness rather than a comfort. Yet it is quite plain that our Lord looked upon those as in some sense happy days for them. The days will come when ye will desire to see one of them, and sorrow because ye cannot. Can ye make the children of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? And in that last clause He touches the one point, which makes those happy days for them, whatsoever their drawbacks, and whatsoever their discomforts; it was the personal presence of the loved and trusted Lord. In that one respect they would be losers even by the accomplishment of redemption. A little while, He said, as the end drew on, a little while, and ye shall not see Me, and verily I say unto you, that then ye shall weep and lament, while the world is rejoicing, then ye shall be sorrowful, though at last your sorrow shall be turned into joy. Yes; when He speaks of a sorrow in separation,and then of a joy growing out of it, He combines in a wonderful and a merciful way the natural and the spiritual, recognizes the difficulty of rising into the higher heaven of faith, and yet points us thither for the one real and one abiding satisfaction. We have had no such personal experiences as these which the text tells of–none of those companyings with Jesus, as He went in and out among the disciples. It is only from afar off that we can contemplate that living companionship. It is only by a remote emulation that we can desire one of those days of the Son of Man. In the hope of catching some distant ray of that glory travellers have sometimes sought the land of Christs earthly sojourn, if so be they might live themselves back into the days of His ministry and of His humanity. But others, with a truer and a deeper insight, have sought their inspiration in the holy Gospels, have read and pondered those four sacred biographies till they could see and hear Him in them, without those distractions of surrounding imagery and scenery which can but divert the soul from that heavenlier wisdom. He is risen; He is not here. It is not in hallowed ground, any more than in imaginative dreaming, that we shall find, in this far-off century of the gospel, the best and most life-like conception of what the text calls the days of the Son of Man. Rather shall we seek to frame our idea of them–first, in the most human and personal contact with such wants and woes as He came to seek out and to minister to; and, secondly, in the diligent study and imitation, so far as we may, of those characteristics and those ministries which, in our own day and generation, make the nearest approach, however distant it must be, to the character and ministry below of the Divine Son Himself. To acquaint ourselves, not as unconcerned hearers, but as sorrowing sympathizers, with the actual condition at our very doors of the toilers and sufferers by whose labour–alas! too often by whose sacrifice–the wealth and luxury, nay, the comforts and conveniences of the higher English life, are made what they are; not to shrink from the contemplation with a sentimental repugnance, but to compel ourselves to take notice of it, and to encourage by word and deed, by giving and feeling, all the serious enterprises by which English manliness, and English philanthropy, and English Christianity, late or early seek and strive to grapple with it. Thus, on the one side, we shall be realizing the days of the Son of Man. For this was the earth which He came to save, and this was the man whom He took upon Him to deliver. True, He did not become Himself the denizen of an overgrown city. He did not take our flesh in the midst of that swarming hive of humanity, imperial Rome. He did not wait for that latest age which should develop into its gigantic proportions such a metropolis as this London. But no monstrous growth and no uttermost corruption was out of the ken and scope of His incarnation. The days of the Son of Man are wherever Christ and misery stand face to face. Whosoever tries to bring Jesus Christ into one lodging-house or one alley of sinning, suffering London, is doing more to realize to himself, and to others, the ministry of the Saviour, than if He tried to track His earthly footsteps through Palestine, or to picture in vivid imagination the very occupations and employments of the days of His flesh. (Dean Vaughan.)
Verse 22. When ye shall desire to see one of the days] As it was our Lord’s constant custom to support and comfort the minds of his disciples, we cannot suppose that he intimates here that they shall be left destitute of those blessings necessary for their support in a day of trial. When he says, Ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, he either means, ye of this nation, ye Jews, and addresses his disciples as if they should bear witness to the truth of the declaration; intimating that heavy calamities were about to fall upon them, and that they should desire in vain to have those opportunities of returning to God which now they rejected; or, he means that such should the distressed state of this people be, that the disciples would through pity and tenderness desire the removal of those punishments from them, which could not be removed because the cup of their iniquity was full. But the former is more likely to be the sense of the place. Our Lord spendeth his further discourse in this chapter in a forewarning of his disciples of those great troubles which should follow His departure from them. At present the Bridegroom was with them, and they could not mourn; for many years after that he was departed from them the days of the Son of man continued, that is, gospel days, times wherein the gospel of Christ was freely preached to them. But (saith he) make use of that time, for it will not hold long; there will come a time when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and shall not see it. These evil days began when false Christs and false prophets rose up, which was most eminently a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, which happened about forty years after. Every factious person that had reputation enough to make himself the head and leader of a faction, taking his advantage of the common error of the Jews, that a Messiah, a Christ, was to come, who should exercise a temporal kingdom over the Jews, would pretend to be, and give out he was, the Messiah, to draw a faction after him. This is that which our Saviour saith in the next words. 22. The daysrather “Days.” will comeas in Lu19:43, when, amidst calamities, c., you will anxiously look for adeliverer, and deceivers will put themselves forward in thischaracter. one of the days of the Son ofmanHimself again among them but for one day as we say when allseems to be going wrong and the one person who could keep them rightis removed [NEANDER inSTIER, &c.]. “Thisis said to guard against the mistake of supposing that His visiblepresence would accompany the manifestation and establishment of Hiskingdom” [WEBSTER andWILKINSON]. And he said unto his disciples,…. Who also were expecting a worldly kingdom, and external honours, and temporal emoluments, and riches; and therefore to take off their minds from these things, and that they might not have their expectations raised this way, but, on the other hand, look for afflictions and persecutions, he observes to them,
the days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the son of man; , “the days of the Messiah”, a phrase frequently used in Jewish writings; that is, when they should be glad to enjoy one such a day in the personal presence of Christ, as they now did; and instead of looking forward for happy days, in a temporal sense, they would look back upon the days they have enjoyed with Christ, when he was in person among them, and wish they had one of those days again; when besides his corporeal presence, and spiritual communion with him, and the advantage of his ministry and miracles, they bad much outward peace and comfort: whereas in those days nothing but afflictions and persecutions abode them, wherever they went; so that by these words Christ would have them to understand, that they were not to expect better times, but worse, and that they would be glad of one of the days they now had, and in vain wish for it:
and ye shall not see [it], or enjoy it. Moreover, days and opportunities of public worship, of praying to the Lord, of singing his praise, of hearing his word, and of attending on his ordinances, may be called days of the son of man, or Lord’s days; see Re 1:10 even the first days of weeks, on which days the apostles, and primitive churches, met together for religious worship: and these may very well be called days of the son of man, since, on those days, he first appeared to his disciples, after his resurrection,
Joh 20:19 and on the same days his disciples and followers met together to preach in his name, to hear his Gospel, and to commemorate his sufferings and death, Ac 20:7 and still continue to do so; and seeing he often meets with his people at such seasons and opportunities, fills them with his Spirit, communicates his grace, and indulges them with fellowship with himself, which make those days desirable ones: but sometimes so violent has been the persecution of the saints, that they have not been able, for a long time, to enjoy one of those days openly, and with freedom, though greatly desired by them; which may be considered as a fulfilment, at least in part, of this prediction of our Lord’s: and therefore, whenever this is the case, it should not be thought strange; it is no other than what Christ has foretold should be: and it may teach us to prize, make use of, and improve such days and opportunities, whilst we have them, we know not how soon our teachers may be removed into corners, when we shall wish in vain for them; and seasons of hearing them, as is here suggested: sad it is to know the worth of Gospel opportunities, by the want of them!
THE SECOND COMING FORETOLD TO THE CHURCH V. 22-37
1) “And he said unto the disciples,” (eipen de pros tous mathetas) “Then he said to the disciples,” those who were following Him, as His new covenant church fellowship company, begun in Galilee, Mat 4:15-22; Act 10:37; Act 15:14.
2) “The days will come,” (eleusontai hemerai) “Days will come,” to you all, as my “little flock”, my church, when I am gone.
3) “When ye shall desire to see,” (hote epithumesete) “When you all will long (idein) to see or behold,” when it is too late, Mat 9:15; Joh 17:12.
4) “One of the days of the Son of man,” (mian ton hemeron tou huion tou anthropou) “Even just one of the days of the Son of man,” days of visions and opportunities with which you have been and are now blessed.
5) “And ye shall not see it.” (kai ouk opsesthe) “And you will not see it,” for mercy’s days shall have then passed you by; and the voice of my teaching you will hear no more, alluding to His coming death and return to His Father, Joh 14:1-3. But he would not desert them, leaving them comfortless, Joh 14:16-17; Joh 14:26; Joh 16:7.
(22) When ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man.The words express both the backward glance of regret, and the forward look of yearning expectation. The former feeling had been described before, when the disciples were told that the children of the bride-chamber should fast when the Bridegroom should be taken from them (Luk. 5:34; Mat. 9:15; Mar. 2:19). The latter was expressed by-one of those who were now listening, when he spoke of men as looking for and eagerly hasting the coming of the day of God (2Pe. 3:12); by another, when he recorded the cry of the souls beneath the altar, How long, O Lord? (Rev. 6:10). It is, we must re member, the disciples, and not the Pharisees, who are now addressed. In the long, weary years of conflict that lay before them, they would often wish that they could be back again in the pleasant days of friendly converse in the old Galilean life, or that they could be carried forward to the day of the final victory. Analogous emotions of both kinds have, of course, been felt by the successors of the disciples in all ages of the Church. They ask, Why the former days were better than the latter? (Ecc. 7:10); they ask also, in half-murmuring impatience, Why tarry the wheels of His chariots? (Jdg. 5:28); sometimes, even in the accents of unbelief, Where is the promise of His coming? (2Pe. 3:4).
22-37. The discourse to his disciples, which follows, is evidently added by Luke rather from analogy in the subject than from sameness of time. As Jesus had described to the Pharisees his present and internal kingdom, so now he describes to his disciples his coming and eternal kingdom. It is difficult to say whether or not this entire passage unto his disciples is a fragmentary sketch by a fourth hand in distinction to the three given in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, of the discourse on Mount Olivet, or whether it be a separate discourse. Our own view (the reason for which will appear as we progress) is, that 22-30 is complete in itself; is upon one subject; and was addressed to his disciples subsequently to, and in reference to, his words above to the Pharisees. The passage 31-37 is obviously a part of the discourse on Olivet, as will appear in our notes upon it. We divide, therefore, the whole passage to the disciples into these two parts.
The external kingdom ( at the advent) explained to the disciples, Luk 17:22-30.
As Jesus had to the Pharisees checked all their Lo, heres and Lo, theres by referring the kingdom to the inner man, the disciples seem on a late occasion to have questioned him whether there was no external kingdom and coming.
Jesus replies, (Luk 17:22-25,) that after his departure their intense desire for his presence may dispose them to believe in a Jesus disclosing himself on earth; but his final coming will be lightning-like from heaven; but not in the present generation, which embraces only his advent of suffering. But (Luk 17:27-30) that advent, when it did come, would be as sudden as the flood, and as the doom of Sodom. The disciples thus are now taught the difference between the internal and the external coming and kingdom. The former is now; the latter in a coming generation.
22. The days will come After his ascension the national commotions, the Roman invasion, the anarchy and the downfall of the state are to ensue. Deceivers, false prophets, and false Christs should appear. How would those disciples look back to those halcyon days when the blessed Jesus was protecting them by his present divinity, and guiding them, by his infallible counsel, into the paths of truth and safety.
One of the days Trials may come when, should Jesus for but one day revisit them, they would esteem it a most wondrous happiness. So it is said that the Venetians, when their power declined, used to recall the name of one of their most victorious admirals in the words, “O for one day of brave old Dandolo!” The connection here shows that the days of the Son of man, unlike the same words in Luk 17:26, refer to the days of the first advent.
Ye shall not see it What is this but a clear and decisive intimation that the second coming of the Son of man would not take place in their day?
‘And he said to the disciples, “The days will come, when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you will not see it.” ’
Then Jesus turned and spoke to His disciples. He did not want them to think that it was all quite as simple as that. While the Kingly Rule of God was here among them as He had just declared, it did not mean that the King would continue to be permanently among them as He now was. It did not mean that success was just around the corner, and that the going would be smooth (like it on the whole appeared to be at the moment) and that the whole world would respond. These were exciting days, ‘the days of the Son of Man’ on earth, but He was not now introducing ‘the days of the Son of Man’ on a continuing basis. There was to be a break in ‘the days of the Son of Man’. The Son of Man (note here the clear association of the Son of Man (Luk 17:22) with the Kingly Rule of God (Luk 17:20-21) for it is the Son of Man Who receives the Kingly Rule of God – Dan 7:13-14) was to be taken from among them, for His days among them would cease. Soon they would look around and would not see Him. ‘His days’ among them will then no longer be enjoyed. Normality will have been disrupted. And thus in the future there were to be many days when they would long to see Him, and He would not be there. They would even begin to doubt whether He really was ruling, and even possibly be in danger of following impostors because they so yearned for His presence.
This warning was necessary. The disciples were already building up the picture in their own mind of His soon coming triumph. They probably believed that by means of His extraordinary powers, of which they had only had a glimpse, He would shortly act in order to establish His Kingly Rule, after which they would then take up their places under His Kingly Rule, seated at His side and sharing His authority (Mar 10:35-41). But if they thought like that their confidence would soon be shattered. For it would not happen. So He wanted them to recognise that those ideas were not based on a sound foundation. Rather they must realise that days of uncertainly lay ahead, days of trial, days when they will find things difficult to understand, days when the Son of Man has been taken from among them (Luk 17:25) and they will long for the days when He had been among them. They would long for the outward manifestation of His Rule by His presence among them and would not see it. They were not to look for a snug establishment of His Kingly Rule.
‘The days will come –.’ Compare Isa 39:6 where it refers to uncertain future times some time in the distance.
‘The days of the Son of Man.’ These will shortly be compared with ‘the days of Noah’ and ‘the days of Lot’ (Luk 17:26-27). In both the latter cases everyday affairs like eating and drinking were carrying on, and then suddenly all came to a climactic end. And ‘the days’ took place before the climactic end. It will be like this with the days of the Son of Man. Here He was eating and drinking with them, but the days will end equally climactically, first in His suffering (Luk 17:25) and then in His glorious appearing (Luk 17:24). And in between those two events would be days when they looked back wistfully and longed for the days of the Son of Man that they had enjoyed, and they would look forward to the day of the Son of Man that was coming. And hopefully it would spur them on. But those days could never be retraced.
For what they will miss is Him. They would never forget the days that they had spent with Him, and their hearts would delight in that day when once more they would see Him face to face, but meanwhile they would have to go on. And the grave danger was that in their desire to have Him again they might fall prey to a false Messiah. So let them remember His words now, that no Messiah who appears on earth can be the true Messiah, for when He does return it will be unmistakable. It will not be as a Messiah on earth. It will be like the transfiguration a hundred times over.
By this Jesus is preparing them for the hardness of the future. It needed to be made clear to them that in future they must not look for normal days or days of straightforward living like those enjoyed by the majority of men, nor even like those who enjoyed such lives in the days of Noah and the days of Lot. And sometimes in the hardness of the future they will look back and long for one of ‘the days of the Son of Man’, one of these days when He walked with them on earth and they enjoyed His fellowship and love, days that they will remember so vividly, days when all seemed to be going forward so smoothly, but they must recognise that they will not again see such days, for He is not coming back in that way. Rather they must look on ahead and recognise that their lives in the future are to be anything but smooth and normal, awaiting His coming in glory. They must thus serve on against all odds until suddenly and climactically the Son of Man will come. The road ahead is going to be tough.
Had we not had the comparison with the days of Noah and the days of Lot, which are vividly described in their normality (Luk 17:26-27), we might have seen ‘the days of the Son of Man’ as referring either to the judgment on Jerusalem (see Luk 17:31) or to the period after His coming in glory. But the comparison with the days of Noah and Lot makes clear that that cannot be so. It must thus refer to the present days in which He is among them, the days in which they have settled into a period of contentment with things as they are. These are ‘the days of the Son of Man’, the days of His powerful and successful ministry on earth, when He forgives sins (Luk 5:24), lives among them eating and drinking (Luk 7:34), establishes the new Laws of His Kingly Rule and declares the principles of the Sabbath (Luk 6:5), and has nowhere to lay His head (Luk 9:58). Days that they share with Him. And when inevitably in days to come they look back on these days in their worst moments, and say, ‘If only we could get back to things as they were then’, they must remember His words now.
Note on The Days of the Son of Man.
If we are to take Luke seriously this phrase must be interpreted in its context, and not just as suits our theories. Let us consider what we know about them.
o The first thing we know about them is that they will not go on permanently, for the disciples will one day long to see one and will not see it. Thus there will be a period in the disciples’ lives which will not be the days of the Son of Man. They will be either looking back to them, or looking forward to them. The ‘days of the Son of Man’ are thus not just all the days leading up to His second coming.
o We know also that He has revealed to them that He will be away from them and will return at His second coming as the Son of Man (Luk 12:35-48).
o We know from the comparison with the days of Noah and the days of Lot that the days of the Son of Man will be before the final climactic event (Luk 17:26-29).
o The climactic events connected with the days of the Son of Man are His coming suffering (Luk 17:25) and His coming in glory (Luk 17:24).
The only days which fit in with all these facts are His days with them on earth. In the excitement of second coming teaching the days of Jesus’ life on earth can seem almost secondary, but of course they were not. They were huge. They were in a sense the most primary days of all. For it was during those days that He fulfilled the Father’s will to the uttermost (Heb 10:5-10) and accomplished the redemption of mankind and gave His life a ransom for many (Mar 10:45). These were the days of the Son of Man supreme as He forgave sins, re-evaluated and expanded on the Laws of Moses, and went on to offer Himself, as the Son of Man, as a ransom for many (Mar 10:45). They were also the days in which He ‘ate and drank’ among us as the Son of Man (Luk 7:34), ideas connected with both ‘the days of Noah’ and ‘the days of Lot’. They were the days of endurance which the son of man in Daniel 7 had to undergo prior to His approach to the throne of God.
But why then does He speak of them in the future tense in Luk 17:26? The answer is that He does not. It is the climax of those days that He speaks of in the future tense, a climax that has not yet come. The climax of His days of suffering which will be the foundation of all the rest.
Other suggestions for the meaning of the term are:
o That they signify the same thing as ‘the days of the Messiah’ signifying the period after His return. But there is a great deal of difference between what the Scriptures say about the days of the Son of Man and the days of the Messiah. For in Daniel 7 the days of the son of man are days of suffering, when with His people He suffers under the hand of the beasts, days which then lead up to His approaching the throne of God and receiving His Kingly Rule. Furthermore such an interpretation would not meet the criteria mentioned above, and thus can only be held if the phrase is taken totally out of its context and we assume that Luke was simply throwing phrases together without thinking about them.
Some would support this position by translating ‘the first of the days when the Son of Man is revealed’, which is undoubtedly a possible translation, but that ignores the clear parallel in Luk 17:26. It also raises the question, 1) why in that case Luke does not use the singular, and 2) as to why they will not see it, for surely the point of Luk 17:24 is that they will see it.
o Some see it as indicating the days immediately preceding His return ‘in which the signs of His imminence are made clear’. These would fit all the criteria but there is no obvious reason why these should be specifically called ‘the days of the Son of Man’ in contrast with any other days prior to His coming, for He was present with them as the Son of Man in His days on earth as He makes very clear, and He would promise that He would continue with them to the end, ‘lo, I am with you always’ (Mat 28:20). Nor is it clear what kind of signs would indicate His imminence. There has been so much tribulation in the world that it is difficult to see what kind could indicate the time of the end.
Some see ‘the days of the Son of Man’ as indicating His special days of Messianic revelation such as the transfiguration, the resurrection, the ascension, the appearances to Stephen and Paul, etc. but that is surely being too technical.
End of note.
Luk 17:22 . The Pharisees have got their answer. But Jesus does not allow the point of their question to be lost thereby, but turns now to His disciples (probably after the departure of the Pharisees, as they do not appear again in what follows, and as the discourses themselves bear an unreserved character, wholly different from Luk 17:20 f.), in order to give to them instructions in reference to the question raised by the Pharisees, and that not on the temporal development of the kingdom of the Messiah wherewith He had despatched them, but on the actual solemn appearing of the Messiah in the Parousia . “Calamities will arouse in them the longing after it, and false Messiahs will appear, whom they are not to follow; for, like the lightning, so immediately and universally will He reveal Himself in His glorious manifestation,” Luk 17:22-24 . See further on Luk 17:25 . We have here the discourse of the future from the source of the account of the journey . This and the synoptic discourse on the same subject, Luk 21:5 ff., Luke keeps separate. Comp. Weizscker, pp. 82 f., 182, and see the remark after Luk 17:37 .
. . ] i.e. to see the appearance of a single day of the Messianic period (of the ), in order, to wit, to refresh yourselves by its blessedness. Comp. Grotius, Olshausen, de Wette, Lange, Bleek. Your longing will be: Oh, for only one Messianic day in this time of tribulation! a longing indeed not to be realized, but a natural outbreak under the pressure of afflictions.
Usually , yet not suitably in accordance with Luk 17:26 : “erit tempus, quo vel uno die meo conspectu, mea consuetudine, qua jam perfruimini, frui cupiatis ,” Kuinoel; comp. Ewald.
] because, to wit, the point of time of the Parousia is not yet come; it has its horas et moras .
(22) And he said unto the disciples, The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. (23) And they shall say to you, See here, or see there: go not after them, nor follow them. (24) For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day, (25) But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. (26) And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. (27) They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered in the ark; and the flood came and destroyed them all. (28) Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot: they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; (29) But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all (30) Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. (31) In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away; and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back, (32) Remember Lot’s wife. (33) Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.
Our Lord took occasion, from this ill-designed question of the Pharisees, to instruct his people in respect to the day of visitation, partly, perhaps, with an eye to the destruction of Jerusalem, and partly in relation to the last day. All shall be sudden and unexpected as the days of the flood, or as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, I cannot help noticing what Jesus saith respecting the destruction of the cities of the plain; that in the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. If the Reader will turn to the account of this awful event, as it is related by Moses, (Gen 19:24 ) he will there observe, that it is said, that the Lord rained from the Lord out of heaven; a strong expression, as if Jehovah the Father answered what that glorious person (which seems to have been Christ himself,) who was present to this destruction as soon as Lot had entered Zoar, declared; and both concurred in the judgment. And let not the Reader overlook that such, Jesus saith, will be the final overthrow at the second coming of Christ. Beautifully the Lord refers to the awful consequence of an hankering after anything when the judgments of God are abroad, as in the instance of the wife of Lot. It is blessed to sit loose and detached to anything, and to everything here below, that when the angel of death comes, we may be ready to fly with him to our Zoar, Christ Jesus!
22 And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it .
Ver. 22. And he said unto his disciples ] q.d. This doctrine concerns you also, as well as the perverse Pharisees. You shall be ere long at a great loss for me; look to it, therefore, and bestir you.
22. ] This saying is taken up from . ‘ He is among you, who is the Bridegroom , the Son of Man; ’ during whose presence ye cannot mourn, but when He shall be taken from you, you shall wish in vain for one of these days of His presence.
Stier (iii. 362) thinks this addressed to the Pharisees also, and to apply to their recognizing too late in their future misery the Messiahship of Jesus: but this does not appear from the text.
Meyer tries to prove this interpretation altogether wrong, from the . . . . ., Luk 17:26 . But the words have the general meaning of the days of the Son of Man’s presence , and this extends on to His future presence, or , as well. Of course, if they hereafter desired to see one of the days of His presence, it would be a second or future presence.
Luk 17:22-25 . The coming of the Son of Man (Mat 24:26-28 ). . : so in Mt., but at a later time and at Jerusalem; which connection is the more original cannot be decided. , there will come days (of tribulation), ominous hint like that in Luk 5:35 . . ., etc., one of the days of the Son of Man; not past days in the time of discipleship, but days to come. Tribulation will make them long for the advent , which will put an end to their sorrows. One of the days; why not the first, the beginning of the Messianic period? Hahn actually takes as = first, Hebraistic fashion, as in Mat 28:1 , Mar 16:2 . , ye shall not see, not necessarily an absolute statement, but meaning: the vision will be deferred till your heart gets sick; so laying you open to temptation through false readers of the times encouraging delusive hope.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 17:22-37
22And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them. 24For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. 25But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; 29but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. 31On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. 32Remember Lot’s wife. 33Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. 35There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. 36 [Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.”] 37And answering they said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.”
Luk 17:22 “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man” The phrase “the days will come” seems to imply times of trials, persecution, illness, etc. Although post-millennialists (see The Meaning of the Millennium, Four Views, ed. By Robert Glouse) have asserted that things are going to get better and better and then the Lord will return, the Bible seems to teach that things are going to get worse and worse before the Lord’s return (cf. Dan 12:1; Rom 8:18-23).
“the Son of Man” This seems to be a self-designation used by Jesus that comes from Eze 2:1 and Dan 7:13, which implies both human and divine qualities. See fuller note at Luk 6:5 and Special Topic at Luk 5:24.
“you will not see it” Jesus is addressing the disciples in Luk 17:22-27. Therefore, this must denote
1. they will be killed and suffer persecution before His return
2. there will be a delay in the Parousia (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2)
3. it will come suddenly with no advance signs or warning
Jesus clearly admitted that He did not know the time or date of His return (cf. Mat 24:36), but this phrase implies a delay.
Luk 17:23 “They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!” This verse is related to Luk 17:24, which assures the believers that Jesus will have a public, visible coming of which none of His disciples will be ignorant.
NASB”Do not go away, and do not run after them”
NKJV”Do not go after them or follow them”
NRSV”Do not go, do not set off in pursuit”
TEV”But dont go out looking for it”
NJB”Make no move; do not set off in pursuit”
These are both aorist active subjunctives used in the sense of imperatives. The aorist subjunctive with the negative particle means “do not even start.” Believers are not to get caught up in end-time frenzy or fanatical speculation on supposed physical manifestations.
Luk 17:24 This verse is paralleled in Mat 24:27, but is absent in Mark 13. It is asserting that Jesus’ return will be visible and obvious to all, no secret coming! Mat 24:40-41 (Luk 17:27) in context refers to those who are killed in judgment (“as in the days of Noah”), not a select group of Gentile believers or the visible church.
There is a Greek manuscript variant related to the close of the verse. Some ancient Greek texts have “in His day” (cf. MSS , A, L, W, and the Vulgate and Syriac Versions). However, several other ancient manuscripts do not have it (cf. MSS P75, B, and some Coptic Versions). Textually it is impossible to choose between these manuscripts, however, the phrase is found only here in the NT and may have caused scribes’ confusion. The most unusual reading is probably original. See Appendix Two. But as so often is the case with these variants, the thrust of the passage is not affected by either choice.
Luk 17:25 “But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation” Jesus has revealed this message several times to His disciples (cf. Mat 16:21; Mat 17:9; Mat 17:12; Mat 17:22-23; Mat 20:18-19; Mar 8:31; Mar 9:12; Luk 9:22; Luk 9:44; Luk 12:50; Luk 13:32-33; Luk 18:32-33). A suffering Messiah was unexpected by the Jews of Jesus’ day (cf. 1Co 1:23), but the OT passages, as well as NT, are specific.
1. Gen 3:15
2. Psalms 22; Psa 118:22
3. Isa 8:14; Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12
4. Zec 12:10
5. Luk 2:34
6. Mat 21:42-46
7. Act 2:23
“this generation” Jesus used this phrase to refer to those contemporary Palestinian Jews who heard Him speak, but did not believe (cf. Luk 7:31; Luk 9:41; Luk 11:29-32; Luk 11:51; Luk 16:8; Luk 17:25; Luk 21:32; Act 2:40). “He came to His own and those who were His own did not receive Him” (Joh 1:11). This phrase is used in such a way as to clearly reveal that the way people respond to Jesus determines their destiny. The kingdom was inaugurated by Jesus’ incarnation and will be consummated at His return.
Luk 17:26 “And just as it happened in the days of Noah” Noah’s life is described in Genesis 6-9. The emphasis here is the continuation of the normal activities of life before the flood (cf. Luk 17:27-30; Mat 24:36-39). Only eight people prepared for God’s coming Judgment (cf. Gen 7:7; Gen 7:13).
Luk 17:28-29 “Lot” Lot’s life in Sodom is described in Gen 12:5; Gen 12:13-14; Gen 12:19.
Luk 17:30 “It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed” This context asserts several things about the Second Coming:
1. that it will be visible and public (cf. Luk 17:23-24)
2. that there will be normal social life (cf. Luk 17:27)
3. that it will be sudden
4. that it will be unexpected
This same revelation is described in Mat 16:27; Mat 24:29-44; 1Co 1:7; 1Th 4:12-18; 2Th 1:7; 1Pe 1:7; and Rev 11:15-19; Rev 19:1-21.
Luk 17:31-32 This context has three examples which emphasize that believers should not be unduly concerned with worldly possessions or entanglements. These are used in other contexts with different applications. This leads me to believe that Jesus used the same teachings in different settings and in different ways. The three mentioned are
1. the person on the roof (cf. Mat 24:17)
2. the man in the field
3. the negative example of one who turned back, Lot’s wife (cf. Gen 19:26)
Matthew 24 seems to combine the problems which will be present at the Second Coming with the problems related to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman general (later Emperor), Titus in A.D. 70. Luk 17:31-32 (cf. Mat 24:17-18) may refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in the sense that some took Jesus’ warnings and fled, but others did not act and were killed. Whatever the context (A.D. 70 or end-time) this is a context of the fate of unprepared, unexpecting unbelievers!
Luk 17:33 “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it” The term “keep” in the middle voice, means to acquire, gain, or earn. Jesus’ call to discipleship was a call to personal abandonment (cf. Gal 2:20; 1Jn 3:16). It is a radical decision of self denunciation (cf. Luk 9:24; Mat 10:39; Mat 16:25; Mar 8:35; Joh 12:25).
The term “life” is literally the term psuche, often translated “soul,” but it refers to the entire person. See note at Luk 12:19.
This same teaching is found in Luk 9:24 and Mat 10:34-39; Mat 16:25; Mar 8:35; Joh 12:25, which deals with the need for ultimate commitment to Jesus alone.
Luk 17:34 “on that night” This refers to the night of the Lord’s return (cf. Luk 17:30).
“two in one bed” The Greek idiom can mean a man and his wife.
Luk 17:34-35 These two examples are often used as a proof-text for a secret rapture of believers (by dispensational premillennialists). However, in this context, it seems to emphasize the separation of the lost and saved at the Second Coming, by the angels (cf. Mat 24:31; Mar 13:27). In this context it is the judgment on the unprepared, the unbelieving (“as in the day of Noah,” cf. Mat 24:40-41). I do not believe in a secret rapture, but rather the visible return of the Lord, along the lines of 1Th 4:13-18.
Luk 17:36 Luk 17:36 is not found in the early Greek manuscripts P75, , A, B, L, or W. It comes from Mat 24:40 and seems to be included in this parallel passage by a later scribe. The UBS4 committee rated its omission as “certain.”
Luk 17:37 The exact meaning of this statement is uncertain. It is obvious the people who heard Jesus speak understood what He meant. It possibly
1. relates to the destruction of Jerusalem , as do Luk 17:31-32
2. is a common proverb (cf. Mat 24:48)
3. means the spiritually dead attract God’s judgment
The term “eagle” (aetos) is also used in a similar way in Mat 24:28. The OT background is that the birds of prey (vultures) are attracted to battles and slaughter (cf. Job 39:26-30; Eze 39:17; Hab 1:8). This implies an end-time judgment scene.
If it is true that Luke, like Matthew 24, refers to the fall of Jerusalem (cf. Luk 17:31-35), then it is possible that “eagle” may refer to the Roman army, whose standards were topped with eagles.
the disciples. Note the change. one of the days, &c. Such as they were then seeing, i.e. have another opportunity. the Son of man. See App-98.
22.] This saying is taken up from . He is among you, who is the Bridegroom,-the Son of Man;-during whose presence ye cannot mourn, but when He shall be taken from you, you shall wish in vain for one of these days of His presence.
Stier (iii. 362) thinks this addressed to the Pharisees also, and to apply to their recognizing too late in their future misery the Messiahship of Jesus:-but this does not appear from the text.
Meyer tries to prove this interpretation altogether wrong, from the . . . . ., Luk 17:26. But the words have the general meaning of the days of the Son of Mans presence, and this extends on to His future presence, or , as well. Of course, if they hereafter desired to see one of the days of His presence, it would be a second or future presence.
Luk 17:22. , the disciples) who were likely to comprehend that saying, rather than the Pharisees.-, shall come) Jesus intimates hereby that the present time of the kingdom of God [the time of its being present] will have passed away [will become past], whilst the Pharisees are seeking and inquiring when it is to come. His reply embraces events further off, Luk 17:24, et seqq., as well as nearer events, Luk 17:31, et seqq.-, ye shall desire) A hypothetical statement;[190] for afterwards the Paraclete allayed that desire, but only in the case of the Christians: see ch. Luk 24:49; Luk 24:52. [Avail yourself of present privileges.-V. g.]-) one of such days, as ye have now in great numbers,[191] Mat 9:15 : inasmuch as ye now see Me with your eyes (See on the appellation, Son of man, the note, Mat 16:13): and the heaven open, Joh 1:51. After His ascension, but one such day, and that the greatest of all days, still remains, namely, the last day: see Luk 17:30.
[190] i.e. If ye were to desire, or when ye shall desire, to see a day of the Son of Man, ye could not see it. The Pharisees had no such desire. The disciples would have it, when Jesus left them: Mat 9:15; Joh 16:6.-E. and T.
[191] See Amo 8:11.-E. and T.
The Days of the Son of Man
Luk 17:22-37
Clearly enough, our Lord foresaw the approaching dissolution of the Jewish state. There was no help for it, notwithstanding all that the Baptist and Christ Himself had done. Suddenly and inevitably its doom must befall, as the deluge in the old world and the overthrow of Sodom. The Roman eagles would gather round the devoted city and only instant flight would avail. The early Christian disciples were warned by these words, and escaped to Pella, before Titus struck the last blow.
Since then other catastrophes have befallen, and finally the day of doom will break upon the world-to all of which the Masters words have been and are appropriate. In one sense, the advent of Christ took place at the fall of Jerusalem, the scenes of which were probably a miniature of the travail through which the new heavens and the new earth will be born. Let us not seek our own, but the things that belong to the Kingdom; then all other things will be added, Mat 6:33.
Son of man
(See Scofield “Mat 8:20”).
when: Luk 5:35, Luk 13:35, Mat 9:15, Joh 7:33-36, Joh 8:21-24, Joh 12:35, Joh 13:33, Joh 16:5-7, Joh 16:16-22, Joh 17:11-13
Reciprocal: Jer 30:3 – the days Mat 23:39 – Ye shall not Luk 17:26 – the days of the Son Joh 7:34 – General Heb 8:8 – the days
A DAY OF THE SON OF MAN
The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not see it.
Luk 17:22
Two kinds and sets of days are here contrasted: the coming days, and the days that are now.
I. The days of the present.Days of the Son of Man, He calls them. There was much to make the days of that present anxious, unrestful, perplexing. The disciples were slow to learn, and were always disappointing their Master by some expression which betrayed ignorance, or by some proposal which threatened inconsistency. Before them, already casting its shadow, was a closing scene of ingratitude, desertion, or denial of their Master, as the case might be, which must have made, we should have thought, the very memory of those days of the Son of Man a bitterness rather than a comfort. Yet our Lord looked upon these as in some sense happy days for them. The days will come, when ye will desire to see one of them, and sorrow because ye cannot. The personal presence of the loved Master and Lord made those happy days for them. In that one respect they would be losers even by the accomplishment of the redemption. Let us take one of these days of the Son of ManSabbath. It opened with a service in the synagogue, when the hearers were astonished at His doctrine. Then He spoke the healing word to a man possessed with an unclean spirit, and as He enters a friendly dwelling as if for repose, even then a case of sickness meets Him, and He must heal it. At even they brought to Him all that were diseased, and the whole city was gathered together at the door. Such was a day of the Son of Man, followed by a night of devotion. Ministry with Him was no substitute for prayer.
II. The coming days.Can we not picture one of those coming days, after the great Easter, far on, perhaps, into evening of the apostolic ministry, when the wearied Apostle may have cried, O that I could hear the Voice of the loved and loving Lord, Go ye into the desert and rest awhile, or could I be taken up by Him into the holy mount to behold His transfigured countenance, and have the prophetic word confirmed in the Voice from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased! We have had no such personal experiences, none of these companyings with Jesus. But we can live, realising the days of the Son of Man by seeking out and ministering to the wants and woes of humanity, as He loved to do. The days of the Son of Man are wherever Christ and misery stand face to face. Whosoever tries to bring Jesus into one lodging-house of sinning, suffering London, is realising to himself and to others the ministry of the Savioura day of the Son of Man.
Dean Vaughan.
2
From this verse through the end of the chapter the subject matter corresponds with Matthew 24, except it is much more brief. It will be well for the reader to examine that chapter with the comments, before going further in the present place. Like the chapter in Matthew, this one considers the destruction of Jerusalem and the second coming of Christ as two separate events, and he warns his disciples not to get the two mixed. During the siege of Jerusalem the distresses were to be so great that the disciples would long for the days when Jesus was with them. That is what is meant by one of the days of the Son of man which they would remember and long for.
Luk 17:22. Unto the disciples. The Pharisees had probably withdrawn. In what follows there is no reference whatever to the destruction of Jerusalem, as in the later discourse. The one subject is the Lords future coming, the sudden personal appearance of the Son of man. Some, to escape this view, maintain the groundless conjecture that Luke has inserted here a part of the discourse on the Mount of Olives, which referred to the destruction of Jerusalem.
Days will come, etc. The connection with the answer to the Pharisees is close. The kingdom has already begun, for the King, the Bridegroom, the Son of man, is here, but He will be taken away. From the answer to the Pharisees the disciples might have inferred, as they were wont to do, that our Lord would now establish a temporal kingdom on earth, but he discourages such false hopes.
When ye shall desire. They would have tribulation, which would make them long for Christs presence.
One of the days of the Son of man. The future coming or presence of the Lord is meant, since it is implied that at that time He would be absent. They might also long for the former days, for such intercourse with him as they were now enjoying.
Shall not see it. Because the hour had not yet come, because the Lord still asked for patient waiting.
In the remaining part of this chapter, our Saviour acquaints his disciples with what days of tribulation and distress were coming on the Jewish nation in general, and on Jerusalem in particular. “Days of sufferings (as if our Saviour had said) are not far off, when you will wish for my bodily presence again among you, to support and comfort you; and when many seducers will rise up, pretending to be deliverers, but go not you after them; for after this generation have rejected and crucified me, my coming (says Christ) to execute vengeance upon my enemies and murderers at Jerusalem by the Roman soldiers, will be sudden, and like the lightning that shines in an instant from one part of the heavens to the other.”
From this coming of Christ to judge Jerusalem, which was an emblem of the final judgment, we may gather this instruction, that the coming and appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the judging of wicked and impenitent sinners, will be a very certain, sudden, and unexpected appearance.
Luk 17:22-25. The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man One day of mercy, or one day wherein you might converse with me, as you do now. Having spoken to the Pharisees, he now addressed his disciples, and in the hearing of the Pharisees prophesied concerning the destruction of the Jewish state, whose constitution, both religious and civil, was the chief obstacle to the erection of his kingdom; for the attachment which the Jews had to their constitution was the spring of all their opposition to Christianity, and of their cruelty to its abetters. A prediction of this nature, delivered as the continuation of his answer to the Pharisees, who desired to know when Messiahs kingdom should come, plainly signified, that it would first become conspicuous in the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth. But because love and compassion were eminent parts of our Lords character, he spake of that dreadful catastrophe in such a manner as might be most profitable to his hearers. He told them, first of all, that they and the whole nation should be in the greatest distress before the destruction of their constitution, and the full establishment of Messiahs kingdom; and that they should passionately wish for Messiahs personal presence to comfort them under their afflictions, but should not be favoured with it. Next he cautioned them against the deceivers which, in that time of universal distress, would arise, pretending to be the Messiah, and promising to deliver the people from the powers which oppressed them. He told them, that these deceivers would lurk a while in private, till, by the diligence of their emissaries spreading abroad their fame, and exhorting the people to go out to them, they had gathered a force sufficient to support them. They shall say to you, See here, or see there; go not after them Do not go forth to them, nor follow them, for by this mark you shall know them to be deceivers. For as the lightning, &c., shall the Son of man be in his day So manifest, so swift, so wide, so irresistible, so awful in its consequences shall his coming be. He shall come, indeed, but in a manner very different from that in which the generality of this people expect him, even to execute a sudden and unavoidable destruction upon his enemies, and establish his religion and government in a great part of the world. See notes on Mat 24:23-27. But first he must suffer many things See on Mat 16:21; Mar 8:31; Mar 9:31; Mar 10:33.
2 d. Luk 17:22-37. The Coming of the Kingdom.
To the Pharisees Jesus declared what they did not know, the spiritual essence of the kingdom. But Jesus did not mean to deny the external and final appearing of a divine state of things. To develope this other side of the truth, He turns to His disciples, because it is only to those who possess something of His spiritual life that He can speak profitably of His future return. Thus it is that the treatment of the same subject is modified, according to the character of those whom Jesus addresses. Besides, the abstract idea of the coming of the kingdom is now presented as the reappearing of Jesus Himself. The truth could only be expounded in this aspect to believers. We may see with what justice the Revue de Thologie alleges: The first two verses (Luk 17:20-21) are in contradiction to the rest, and have no connection with what follows! (1867, p. 386.)
The discourse of Jesus bears on three points: 1 st. When and how will Jesus reappear (Luk 17:22-25)? 2 d. What will be the state of the world then (Luk 17:26-30)? 3 d. What will be the moral condition of salvation in that last crisis (Luk 17:31-37)?
OUR LORDS SECOND COMING
Luk 17:22; Luk 18:8. And He said to the disciples, The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and shall not see it. Having answered the captious question of those critical Pharisees, informing them that the kingdom of God, which comes by the silent, invisible work of the Holy Ghost in the heart, is already among them, though in their gross spiritual blindness they are utterly unapprehensive of the fact, He now turns and addresses His disciples with reference to Himself, stating to them that the days will soon come when they will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man and shall not see it. As this is only about eight or nine days before His crucifixion, He notifies them that, having been with them three years, He is going to leave them, and they will desire to see Him and be with Him as hitherto, but shall not be able; this idea of His departure and return now running on into a beautiful and sublime revelation and exposition of His return back to the earth, where they will see Him again.
17:22 {8} And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see {d} one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see [it].
(8) We often neglect those things when they are present which we afterward desire when they are gone, but in vain.
(d) The time will come when you will seek for the Son of Man with great sorrow of heart, and will not find him.
2. A longer explanation for the disciples 17:22-37
This teaching is quite similar to portions of the Olivet Discourse (cf. Mat 24:23-28; Mat 24:37-39), though the differences suggest separate teaching situations. It is one of several teachings that Luke recorded that deals with the future (cf. Luk 12:35-48; Luk 14:7-24; Luk 21:5-33). This one stresses the distant future and the Second Coming. The one in chapter 21 deals mainly with the near future from Jesus’ perspective and the destruction of Jerusalem.
Characteristics of the last days 17:22-33
Jesus next gave His disciples more instruction about the coming of the kingdom. One of the days of the Son of Man refers to one of the future days when the Son of Man will be reigning on the earth (cf. Luk 17:24-25; Luk 17:30), perhaps the first day. [Note: Plummer, p. 407.] The use of "Son of Man" recalls Dan 7:13-14 that predicts the earthly reign of Messiah. The disciples would desire to see the kingdom come because they would experience persecution before Jesus returned. There would be many false alarms about His return, but disciples should not allow others to mislead them (cf. Mat 24:23; Mar 13:21).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
I.
II. JESUS FORESHADOWS HERE THE FAILURE OF SUCH DESIRES FOR HIS APPEARING. Ye shall not see it. He does not want His people to indulge in vain dreamy longings. He does not want to frustrate hopes that at the bottom might express loyalty to Him, but are mistaken as to the way in which their purport is to be achieved. He could not grant that which would not be for the honour of God; that which would be to the hurt of those who desired only one day of the Son of Man.
III. JESUS FORESHADOWS HERE THAT THERE WILL BE FALSE ANNOUNCEMENTS MADE IN REFERENCE TO HIS APPEARING. They shall say to you, See here! or see there! From history we find that there has hardly ever been a time of special trouble in the world, hardly ever a time of formality and deadness in the Church, but men have risen up to declare that the Son of Man was just coming, and that plans should be adopted to meet Him. But that is not the kind of expectation I want to warn you against; it is not the one that you are most in danger of succumbing to. But is there not a tendency to gather religious meetings under the idea that because you thus gather together Jesus will manifest Himself? Is there not a tendency to believe that, if you can get up a great organization to carry out a Christian purpose, obtain plenty of money, and seem to succeed outwardly, Jesus is there? Is that not saying, See here, see there? Against all that sort of thing His words ate meant to bear. You may gather meetings; you dont necessarily gather with Christ. You may get wealth to support your efforts; that is not a proof that Christ approves them. You may find numbers to sustain certain plans; that is no pledge, on the part of those numbers, that they are moving under the leading of Christ. You must learn that there is no power of life in those things by themselves. I do not despise meetings, wealth, or numbers. There is a certain value to be attached to them; but that value is just equivalent to any number of cyphers, good for something when you put one, two, or other numeral before them. So gather all kinds of people, money, and meetings; but until you put Christ into them they are of no real value. It is the power of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus that is to be desired, not the power of external agencies. Pray that your heart may be brought more and more into sympathy with His, and that you may more and more clearly know that you are living on the Son of God by faith. Then you will not need anybody to point out the Son of Man to you when He comes. You do not need anybody to tell you that there is light in this place–you know it; and when Christ appears, His servants will know it without going by the reports of others, without following any one. We shall know it by the power He Himself will exert. Meantime we have to walk by faith, and not by sight. (D. G. Watt, M. A.)
I. Consider THE IMMEDIATE INTERPRETATION of the text.
II. AN ADAPTED INTERPRETATION SUITABLE TO BELIEVERS AT THIS PRESENT MOMENT.
III. A MEANING ADAPTED TO THE UNCONVERTED. When on your deathbed you will be willing to give all you possess to he able once again to hear the voice of Gods minister proclaiming pardon through the blood of Jesus. Emotions formerly quenched will not come back; you resisted the Spirit, and He will leave you to yourself; and yet there will be enough, perhaps, of conscience left to make you wish you could again feel as when almost persuaded to be a Christian. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)