Don't Look Back Because Jesus is Coming | Luke 17:22-37
Luke 17:22-37
How do we, as Christians, find contentment in this chaotic world? How can we live with hope in a world that seems to have no hope?
-The Late Great Planet Earth (world ends), Left Behind Book and Movie Series, Apocalypse II: Revelation (1999), Harold Camping Predicted the end of the world on Oct. 21st, 2011.
--I am not just talking about the broader world rather I am also talking about our own personal issues, our personal trials that we may still struggle with. For the beginning of this series looking at Luke we have been reminded of how powerful Jesus is, how sovereign Jesus is, and today we will be reminded of how much God’s His creation. God love’s His family and He is coming back for His family.
From Luke 5-17 we see a pattern coming up within the gospel of Luke when it comes to the teachings and signs of Jesus Christ and what kind of reception Jesus receives through this time.
Jesus calls the first disciples in Luke 5:1-11, later in vs. 12-26 Jesus heals a leper and a paralytic man (who is dropped down through the roof of a house—the Pharisees are mad at Christ because Jesus forgives the man of his sin). Luke 6:1-11 Jesus enters a synagogue on the Sabbath and heals a man’s hand in the synagogue.
“The scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him.” – Luke 6:8 --The pharisees are filled with rage after Jesus heals the man. Jesus is showing us God’s heart throughout the gospel of Luke, we see Jesus perform signs and wonders, get rejected by the high priest, and gain those who truly believe in Him. Jesus pours into these followers, these disciples (and the crowd) with a continuing message throughout his gospel.
“Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”
--Luke 6:46-49
This theme of “how to plant one’s life” is found throughout Luke’s gospel:
Parable of the Sower—“But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.” – Luke 8:15
Martha and Mary—Mary sits at Christ’s feet and Martha is too busy preparing her home – Luke 10:38-42
Jesus instructs the disciples on how to Pray, how to stay in touch with God – Luke 11:1-12
- The foundation of a peace-filled life is built on the gospel and person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus wants the hearts of His followers! He wants His followers to have their full foundation on Him and if others (or if they) are taking others away from Christ they are to be corrected and rebuked. Jesus is commanding His disciples to put their foundation and their faith in Him—this will give them confidence, it will give them peace, in times of turmoil and persecution.
This can be compared to the context of Luke 17:22-37, found in Luke 17:1-3 Jesus warns the disciples of their stumbling blocks.
“He said to His disciples, ‘It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him…The apostles said, ‘Increase our faith!’ and the Lord said, ‘If you had faith like a mustard seed you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘be uprooted and be planted in the sea; and it would obey you.”
--Luke 17:1-6
Jesus then heals ten lepers and only one of them worships Him as Christ (after they are healed).
“’Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?’ and He said to him, ‘Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.’ 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; nor will they say ‘Look, here it is! Or ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.’”
--Luke 17:17-21
This is the context of Luke 17:22-37. Where the Pharisees are always questioning Jesus, they are always faithless in their belief of Jesus, Jesus is reminding them there is no sign of God’s kingdom rather the kingdom is among them! It is in their midst because the are looking at the ultimate sign of God’s providence, of God’s salvation: Jesus Christ. So much of Luke is focused on reminding the reader, the gentile audience, of putting their foundation on Christ because God knows how hard it is for someone to put their foundation on Him—there is so much rebellion in the human heart and a spirit in the world that will reject Christ.
Christ is grieved whenever the Pharisees question Him—He also gets angry with them. He then turns to His disciples and talks about His second coming:
“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. They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them.” –Luke 17:22-23
Jesus is warning His disciples! Don’t believe false teachings of me, don’t believe signs and wonders from a different Spirit or lesser god. Jesus is warning them to remain together, united not under themselves, not under their goodness but under the name, power and love of Jesus Christ. This is why He commands his disciples to “be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”
–Luke 17:3-4
- Jesus is Coming Back. Don’t worry. Don’t be anxious. Fixate your whole being on Jesus Christ.
Jesus continues to instruct His disciples and to encourage them:
“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. But First He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And Just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, and they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all…”
--Luke 17:24-27
In this moment, Jesus is comforting His disciples, they had just experienced these lepers being miraculously healed and only one of the lepers comes back to worship Jesus. Jesus is reiterating to them what they just witnessed—many people will witness Jesus, they will even receive a miracle from Him and they will hear His gospel but they will not follow Him. They will reject the perfect Savior—but don’t lose heart, don’t be weary, don’t be scared because Jesus is coming back. Stay focused on the true sign of Jesus coming back—not the false signs.
The Christian’s faith should not be a faith of anxiety, of work-based salvation, it is not up to the Christian to make themselves content rather we find true contentment in the man who did the impossible work: Jesus Christ.
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
--1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
Jesus is doing two things here: He is forewarning the disciples by telling them many will reject Christ, and there will be false Christ’s, the world will get continually worse (just like Noah’s time). B He’s giving them peace and hope, even though they will live through a time such with perversion just like the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, because they will never be abandoned by Him—Jesus is coming back for His family.
Luke 17:31-32 – Jesus tells His disciples to keep their eyes on the Son of Man, keep your focus on God, do not look back as Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt (Gen. 19:1-29). Keep your eyes on the right signs, on the ultimate sign Himself, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Jesus is saying here that It is God Himself that will get them through the end of days, it is God’s grace, God’s hope and God’s love that will get His people through perilous times—not their own desires or their own works.
“The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the [w]valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”
--Genesis 19:23-24
“The Hebrew verb employed by the angels in their warning and in the statement afterward that Lot’s wife looked back is not the usual verb employed to denote the action of looking or seeing but is a less frequent verb that carries the specific idea of looking at something with desire, approval, or confidence.”
--The Moody Bible Commentary
“Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”
--Luke 17:33
Where is our confidence placed in? Is it in our favourite government or politician? Our favourite celebrity? Is it placed even within ourselves and the abilities we can do? Or is our ultimate confidence place in the finished, complete work of Jesus Christ?
- Jesus is coming back to save His people and to judge those who reject Him.
The last three verses of Luke 17 should fill the reader with urgency. A reminder that Jesus is coming back to judge those who don’t follow Him.
“There will be two women grinding at the same place, one will be taken and the other will be left. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left. And answer they said to Him, ‘Where, Lord?’ And He said to them, ‘Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.’”
--Luke 17:35-37
This shouldn’t fill us with fear. We cannot create a fear mongering theology of “being left behind” or “missing the rapture.” Rather, Jesus is encouraging and confirming with His disciples to stay focused on Him, to keep Him at the center of their lives because Jesus will come back and have the victory over the world that hates Him.
“And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord. As the waters cover the sea.”
--Isaiah 11:6-9
“Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.”
--Revelation 20:4-5
Don’t look back. Look at Jesus. Put Him on the throne of your life, worship Him and find peace in the most uncomfortable situations. Find contentment in knowing that it is not up to us to usher the kingdom of Christ into the world rather Jesus will come back and do that Himself—we will be victorious through His victory—we are victorious through His death and resurrection. So preach that good news, the news that reminds us we have a loving God who came once to give us new life and He will come again to bring us into eternal glory forever—It is going to be okay.