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Luke 17:26–32
“On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife” (vv. 31–32).
We have noted the difficulty in determining whether Luke 17:22–37 is about Christ’s coming at the end of history or about events that were closer in time to when Jesus spoke the words that Luke records. Many commentators, including Dr. R.C. Sproul, have taken a “partial preterist” approach to this text. This view teaches that Jesus will return bodily at the end of history to bring in the new heavens and earth but that certain New Testament passages actually predict the Romans’ destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. In other words, some passages where Jesus talks about His “coming” are about His final coming to judge the world and others are about His judgment, through the Roman army, of the Jews who rejected Him and His church. Others believe that these passages speak of Christ’s final return and don’t necessarily refer to events in AD 70.
These two approaches are not diametrically opposed. Throughout Christian history, interpreters have recognized that many biblical prophecies have both a near-term fulfillment and a final, consummate fulfillment. Dr. Sproul mentions this in his commentary on Luke 21, using the example of the prophecies of the Messiah, especially as found in Isaiah. The Persian King Cyrus, who rescued the Jews from the Babylonian exile, initially fulfilled these prophecies, but Jesus is their ultimate fulfillment, for He saves His people from their sins. Likewise, the day of the Son of Man described in Luke 17:22–37 likely has an immediate fulfillment in the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem, which serves as a type of the final coming of Jesus.
Matthew Henry takes this view. Looking to verses 26–32, he notes that the emphasis is on the apparent normalcy of life in the days of Lot and Noah and how people saw that normalcy as proof that judgment was not coming. They were caught off guard because they thought that since life had gone on normally for so long—in the rhythms of eating, drinking, marrying, buying and selling, and so forth—it would be that way forever. Henry applies this to the final coming of Jesus to judge the living and the dead: “In like manner, when Jesus Christ shall come to judge the world, at the end of time, sinners will be found in the same secure and careless posture, altogether regardless of the judgment approaching, which will therefore come upon them as a snare; and in like manner the sinners of every age go on securely in their evil ways, and remember not their latter end, nor the account that they must give.”
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
In His merciful providence, God allows the regular rhythms of life to continue in order to sustain creation’s existence (Gen. 8:22). Sinners, however, fall into a false sense of security, thinking that these rhythms mean that life as we know it will go on forever. They begin to think that judgment day may not come. Even Christians can lose the sense of urgency that comes with thinking that life will always be this way. Let us never forget, however, that Jesus will soon return.
for further study
- Ecclesiastes 9:12
- Zephaniah 1:7–18
- Matthew 24:36–44
- 2 Peter 3:1–10
the bible in a year
- Psalms 142–144
- 1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1