“It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.”

Luke 17:20-36 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

²⁰ Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; ²¹ nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

²² And 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. ²³ They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them. ²⁴ For 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. 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 being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. ²⁸ It 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; ²⁹ but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. ³⁰ It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. ³¹ On 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. ³² Remember Lot’s wife. ³³ Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. ³⁴ I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. ³⁵ There 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.”

“For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”  That was Jesus answer to the Pharisees when they asked Him when the kingdom of God was coming. When Jesus began His ministry, He said: “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In Matthew 12:28 Jesus says: "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” When He walked the earth as a man Jesus was God in flesh, He was Emmanuel, God with us. When He arrived He brought about the arrival of the kingdom.

In Matthew 16: 15-19 Jesus speaks of the establishment of the church.       He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock (the rock of the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Lord and Savior of the world) I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”     Jesus church, is not a building or a denomination. The word which is translated as church is the Greek word ekklesia, which is a group which is called out, set apart for the purpose of ruling or governing. The church is to be the ruling or governing authority of the kingdom. Jesus says the church has been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven and the authority to bind and loose the realities of heaven here on earth.   Jesus taught that that should be our prayer, that the realities of heaven would be manifested here on earth. “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”  

In John 18:36-37, when Jesus was before Pilate , He said:  “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” ³⁷ Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”   So even with Jesus there was this struggle between the earthly realm and the kingdom. On the cross Jesus said: “It is finished.” Jesus has accomplished all that needed to be done to redeem man from sin, to reconcile man to God and to restore God’s people, Jesus church, to the dominion which was intended from the beginning, when God said:    “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28)

We are to live in and walk in the authority Jesus restored to us as rulers of His kingdom. Because of the finished work of the cross Jesus says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.”(John 14:12)    In today’s text though Jesus speaks of the time He will return. He says:  “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… And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man… It was the same as happened in the days of Lot… It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.      Jesus speaks of the normal order and activity of life, eating, drinking, marrying, planting, building, all of these things will be going on when the Son of Man is revealed. The examples Jesus describes though also have another common aspect. Jesus speaks of Noah and the flood. He speaks of Lot and the judgment of Sodom by fire.

Jesus says: “It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.” The revelation of Christ brings about judgment.  “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”  Hebrews 13:8 says:  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.       There always has been, there is and there always will be a judgment on evil and sin. That judgment is not the job of the church. In John 5:21-23 Jesus says:  For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. ²² For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.   James 4:12 says:   There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?

The church is to live as a revelation of Christ. We are to walk in the authority and dominion God intended, to do the works that Jesus did, to be a demonstration of the love and power of God,   to point the world to the cross so that they might be judged by the finished work of the cross and not by their own deeds.  

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus the Christ; Holy Spirit Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.     Amen.