When Will Jesus Return?
In 1988, Edgar Whisenant published a book titled 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. In 1989, he published a book titled The Final Shout: Rapture Report 1989. In 1993, he published a book titled 23 Reasons Why a Pre-Tribulation Rapture Looks Like It Will Occur on Rosh-Hashanah 1993. And in 1994, he published a book titled And Now the Earth’s Destruction by Fire, Nuclear Bomb Fire.
Surprisingly, many people bought and read these books. Some people sold their belongings to prepare for the end. One man barricaded himself in his home and shot at passersby.
Harold Camping, a Christian radio broadcaster and evangelist, predicted that Jesus would return on May 21, 2011, based on a formula he’d come up with. A few months after May 21, 2011, he suffered from a stroke and retired, dying two years later.
Those who’ve predicted the timing of Jesus’ return have one thing in common: they’ve all been wrong!
For whatever reason, many folks are obsessed with the timing of Jesus’ return. But many others understandably wonder when all this will end? We see the world getting worse, not better, and we long for a new world.
In our text today, Luke 17:20-37, the Pharisees ask Jesus about the end. They want to know when the kingdom of God will come to the earth. Jesus’ answer is two-fold. He says that the kingdom is both already here and not yet here. In verses 20-21, Jesus says the kingdom is here. In verses 22-30, Jesus says the kingdom is coming. And in verses 31-37, Jesus says the kingdom’s arrival and coming demands a response. The main point of this text is that the kingdom is a present and future reality that demands a response.
The Kingdom is Here
First, in verses 20-21, Jesus says that the kingdom of God is already here. The Pharisees are asking a good question, one we all think about, “When will all this end?” They agreed with Jesus that the kingdom would come. That’s why they ask him “when” it’ll come, not “if” it’ll come (v. 20).
The Pharisees weren’t asking when Jesus would return. They were asking when God would crush the Romans, punish the Gentiles, and establish his kingdom on the earth through Israel. They were thinking of the kingdom’s arrival as something that would be very noticeable and observable.
But Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed” (v. 20). The word for “observed” was a technical term for calculating future events by observing the starts, or what we call “astrology.” But astrology is built on a faulty assumption, namely, the assumption that physical phenomena foreshadow spiritual realities. Jesus rejects this assumption. He says, first, it’s wrong to assume that the kingdom is only a future reality. And second, it’s wrong to assume that the kingdom of God is determined by empirical signs. He’s saying that the kingdom of God isn’t linked to signs in the stars. Jesus rejects the idea that the kingdom of God can only be detected by the well-trained eye.
And, he goes on to say in verse 21, the kingdom isn’t linked to a particular place. Some will say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” But unlike the pagan religions, the kingdom of God isn’t linked to a sacred site or sanctuary. Rather, Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (v. 21). He’s telling them that the kingdom is right in front of them, “in your midst.” It didn’t arrive with cosmic fireworks, but arrived quietly, subtly, even in a sense secretly.
How Can the Kingdom Already Be Here?
The Pharisees want to know “when” the kingdom will come. Jesus tells them it has come. The present tense of the verb, “The kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (v. 21) means that the kingdom is present now, not just later in the future (cf. 11:20).
How can that be possible? This question hinges on Jesus’ identity. If he’s just some Galilean peasant carpenter and itinerant teacher, then verse 21 is crazy talk. But if he’s the Son of God who has assumed human flesh, the King of the universe come to the earth as a man, then it makes perfect sense. Before the incarnation of the Son of God, the kingdom of God was far from us. But when the King of heaven came to live among us, his kingdom drew near to us. As one writer says, “The kingdom is present in the King, Jesus himself.”[1]
This is similar to what happens when there’s a gathering of world leaders. When, for example, a Chinese diplomat arrives, the commentators say, “China has arrived.” The diplomat is representing the nation, so in a sense they’re “China.” So also, when King Jesus arrived on earth, his “country” came with him. Jesus is God’s diplomat representing heaven. So he can truthfully say, “The kingdom of God is in your midst.”
The Pharisees have something to teach us here. They’re interested in the kingdom but not the King. They want to see God’s fireworks, not follow the God’s Son. Friends, it’s possible to want the benefits of God’s kingdom without submitting to God’s Son, to be concerned about the kingdom but not the King, to be fascinated with last things while neglecting the first thing.[2]
One way to notice this impulse in your life is to think about your commitment to a local church. Local churches are embassies of the kingdom of God, assemblies of the citizens of heaven. Church is not an event, but a family where Jesus’ followers help each other follow the King. So if you see in yourself a desire to go to church without being in a church, or if you’re interested in the Christian life because of it’s benefits but don’t want the accountability of a local church, your heart may love the kingdom more than the King. But you can’t have the one without the other.
The Kingdom is Coming
Second, in verses 22-30, Jesus says the kingdom of God is coming. In verses 20-21, Jesus tells the Pharisees that the kingdom is already present. Now, in verses 22 and following, he changes audiences and tells his disciples that the kingdom is not yet present.
In the first few verses of this section, Jesus is preparing the disciples for suffering. Even though the kingdom has come in Jesus, verse 22 says that his church will enter a season where they’ll long for his presence but will have to wait. There will be a long interval between his first and second coming.
This reminds us that that Christian life is a life of waiting. Waiting has always been hard and is even more difficult in a society training us to pursue immediate gratification. But Jesus says delayed gratification is our lot during “the days” between Jesus first and second coming. We want (“desire,” v. 22) to be with Jesus, but we must wait. Patience, and hope, is what we need. And the Spirit promises to give us each (Gal. 5:22, Rom. 15:13).
Verse 23 says that this season of waiting is made more difficult by yahoos like Harold Camping and Edgar Whisenant, and I would add teachers like Jonathan Cahn. While we wait, it’s easy to become discontent, which makes us more susceptible to false rumors, “Look, there!” or “Look, here!” But Jesus says his disciples must not go after these rumors or announcements.
A major way we guard ourselves from these deceptive teachings is by being connected to a local church. You put yourself in great danger if your only or primary source of biblical instruction is YouTube. God intends his people to be taught and shepherded by qualified men who’re able to teach the word, not by videos and podcasts and reels by people you don’t know or who don’t know you. Membership in a Bible-preaching local church is the best way to guard yourself from deceptive teaching and teachers. God gives his people shepherds for a reason.
No Secret Rapture
In verse 24, Jesus gives us the logical reason why we shouldn’t follow these teachers. Just as lightning lights up the sky at night, so Jesus’ return will be inescapably visible to all. Jesus says his return will be sudden and unmistakable and overpowering. His glory will fill the whole horizon. As one writer says, “None will foresee it, and all will see it at once.”[3]
This verse undermines the idea of a “secret rapture” where Jesus returns invisibly and all his followers disappear mysteriously, such as you find in the Left Behind series. As the apostle John says in Revelation 1:7, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.” No one who sees Jesus’ return will say, “You know, I wonder if this could be the second coming?” You won’t have to check social media or watch the nightly news to learn about it. Jesus’ return will be a global, visible, and cataclysmic event. No one will miss what’s happening. It’ll be clear to all, creating immediate and overwhelming terror for those who don’t know and love Jesus and immediate and overwhelming relief for those who do.
Suffering, then Glory
In verse 25, Jesus says there’s one part of the timetable of his return we can know. He says he won’t return until after he’s suffered and been rejected. First suffering, then glory. The future coming of the kingdom will come at great cost.
It’s worth noting that this is the only passion prediction in the Gospels that’s embedded in an eschatological discourse. In other words, this is the only place Jesus talks about his death in the context of his return. Why is this important? Professor James Edwards says it’s important because:
“…apocalyptic Christianity often emphasizes religious triumphalism at the expense of costly discipleship, and ascetic Christianity often emphasizes costly discipleship at the expense of ultimate glory. The inclusion of the cross in Jesus’ vision of glory gives hope of ultimate triumph to those who suffer, just as it chastens religious triumphalism with the necessity of impending suffering.”[4]
In other words, we can’t separate suffering from glory, or glory from suffering. This means that the versions of Christianity that dominate the public conversation right now, whether the MAGA movement on the right or the social gospel movement on the left, are both missing key elements of the gospel. On the one hand, conservatives need to talk more about the necessity of suffering and costly discipleship as a feature, not a bug, of biblical Christianity. While on the other hand, progressives need to talk about the future coming of the kingdom of God when Christ will judge all people. Neither making the world a “Christian” utopia (conservatives) or making the world a better place to go to hell from (liberals) is the way of Christ. Rather, Jesus calls us to suffer with him on the way to the glory of another world.
Avoid Noah and Lot’s Culture
Jesus’ return is certain, even if the timing is not (cf. Mk. 13:32). Therefore, we must be on alert. Though not necessarily on “red alert,” as if we know exactly when he’ll return. If everything was spelled out for us exactly, no faith or diligence would be needed and we’d default to passivity.
So Jesus says we must be watchful and avoid the kind of life prevalent in Noah and Lot’s day. This is what he says in verses 26-30. Jesus’ main point here is that his followers must avoid a “business as usual” approach to life. There’s nothing evil or wrong about the things he mentions in verses 27-28. These are good things. So what’s Jesus’ point? His point is that the people in Noah and Lot’s day were preoccupied with the ordinary affairs of life. It’s not that they did these things, it’s that these things were their life. Dale Davis says, “They were completely absorbed in their own interests.”[5] Yes, their lives were wicked in many ways, but their godlessness was also seen in how they carried on their lives with no thought of God.
Jesus says these people were rocked to spiritual sleep by the steady flow of normal life. Their inattentiveness and indifference to God blinded them from the dangers at the door. They attended to their daily business as if it they would last forever, not thinking about eternity. Like the people in Jesus’ parable of the Great Banquet, they were too busy to take the kingdom seriously (14:16-23).
Jesus says this is how it’ll be when he returns (v. 30). As in Noah and Lot’s day, only the vigilant few who’re ready for the impending catastrophe will be saved. This is a warning for believers as well as unbelievers. As believers, it’s easy to assume that it’s only unbelievers who’re preoccupied with worldly concerns. But believers are just as liable to live a life that is consumed by the frenzied pace of doing one thing after another while losing sight of the coming King.
Of course, we have to pursue our various callings and can’t have an all-day quiet time with the Lord! The goal is to live in this world in light of the next one. So we parent and work and love our spouse and rest and play and serve with eternity in mind.
John Bunyan begins his book Pilgrim’s Progress with the description of a man named Christian who sees his society’s indifference to the impending disaster and sets off with Bible in hand and the burden of sin on his back, leaving the City of Destruction, even leaving his family, setting out for the Celestial City.
Christian is an example of a man animated by the urgency of the kingdom of God “in an age of self-indulgence and moral indifference.”[6] He understands what’s at stake and responds appropriately. What about you?
The Kingdom Demands a Response
Third, and finally, in verses 31-37, Jesus says that the kingdom of God demands a response. In light of the coming kingdom, Jesus’ disciples should live with a healthy detachment from the things of the world (vv. 31-33).
In verse 31, Jesus calls for, as one writer says, “absolute indifference to all worldly interests as the attitude of readiness for the Son of Man.”[7] Going into your house to gather your things or returning from the field to retrieve something would be pointless on the day Jesus returns. Why? Verse 32 helps us understand, “Remember Lot’s wife.” When God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire, Lot’s wife looked back while fleeing the city and became a pillar of salt (Gen. 19:17, 26).
Jesus is saying that we must hold everything loosely in light of his return. We must not be indifferent to the kingdom (vv. 26-30), but we must be indifferent to the world.
We must hold everything but Jesus with an open hand. We pursue our callings diligently, but we don’t set our hearts on what we do or what we have, but on the Lord. This is what Martin Luther means in his hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” when he says, “Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; the body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still, his kingdom is forever.”
Since Jesus’ return is certain, we must not live like Lot’s wife. As we follow Jesus, we must not look back or yearn for what’s been lost. The angels tried to get Mrs. Lot out of Sodom but they couldn’t get Sodom out of Mrs. Lot. When she looked back, her eyes were following her affections.[8] In his book Holiness, J. C. Ryle has an entire chapter on this verse. In it, he says, “The world was in her heart, and her heart was in the world. In this state she lived, and in this state she died.”[9]
The reality of the present and coming kingdom demands a total-life response (v. 33). I love the CSB translation of this verse, “Whoever tries to make his life secure will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” This verse is “a sacred and fundamental Christian paradox.”[10] It’s a reminder that building our life on anything other than the gospel will result in the loss of our life, not it’s preservation.
If we, like Lot’s wife, escape destruction but look back with longing on what might have been, our hearts belong to something greater than the gospel. James Edwards again, “The kingdom of God is more than escaping wrath; it is receiving eternal life from the hand of the Son of Man, and whoever receives that life can no longer yearn for the life the world offers.”[11]
Decisions that Divide
Jesus ends this section in verses 34-37 by saying that following him will lead to decisions that divide. Verses 34-35 are an application of 12:51-53. Being Jesus’ disciple often requires decisions that divide families.
The two people in bed (v. 34) and two women working (v. 35) illustrate the closest human connections. Outwardly, the two look the same. They’re doing the same thing at the same time and same place. But even in families bonded together or among coworkers laboring together, there can be two different heart-postures before God. The Son of Man knows who’s with him and who’s not, and when he returns, he’ll divide people accordingly.
In verse 37, the disciples ask for something Jesus has already denied in verse 23. They understand that Jesus will return, but they’re discontent with the ambiguity around the events of the end. So Jesus gives them an enigmatic illustration, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
Assuming that Jesus isn’t trying to torture them with an ambiguous saying, what he means is that, just as vultures follow dead bodies, so also his return will follow the events of verses 22-25. Just as it’s true that vultures go after dead bodies, it’s also true that Jesus will return after a period of waiting for his disciples (v. 22), after many have claimed to know when he’s going to return (v. 23), and after he suffers and is rejected (v. 25). Jesus’ return is sure, but he says some things need to happen first.
You Can Enter His Kingdom Today
Jesus teaches on his return while traveling to Jerusalem because he doesn’t want his disciples to be passive observers just waiting around for the Not Yet. Jesus knows the challenges they’ll face so he gives them a vision of his glorious return. A vision meant to inspire and sustain faith and resolve and courage and sober mindedness.
Jesus knows that the journey in front of us is long, that there will be temptations to follow false teachers, that, like the culture around us, we’ll be tempted toward complacency and not live with watchfulness. So he challenges to never turn back and to always find our security in Christ and nothing else.
As we do this together in the context of a local church, we’ll experience the blessings and power and peace and joy of the kingdom of God here and now, even as we wait for it to come in its fullness.
And when the Son of Man returns, there will be separation. Some will be taken into his everlasting kingdom, and the rest will be cast into the outer darkness. If you’re not yet a follower of Jesus and you’re hearing this now, the Son of Man hasn’t returned yet, which means you can bow before him now and enter his kingdom.
If you’re not sure where you are with the Lord today, ask yourself, “When Jesus is revealed from heaven, will his revelation be terrifying or relieving?” And, “Do I love the benefits of the kingdom or the King?”
Jesus’ kingdom is here now and coming later, and it’s only for those who love and run to him for relief.
[1]James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Luke, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015), 489.
[2]Dale Ralph Davis, Luke 14-24: On the Road to Jerusalem, Focus on the Bible (Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus, 2021), 70.
[3]Plummer, quoted in Edwards, 491.
[4]Ibid.
[5]Davis, 72.
[6]Edwards, 492.
[7]Plummer, quoted in A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament: Volume 2, The Gospel According to Luke (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1930), 230.
[8]Davis, 73.
[9]J. C. Ryle, Holiness (Moscow, ID: Charles Nolan Publishers, 2001), 197.
[10]Edwards, 493.
[11]Ibid.
