22 Then He said to the disciples: “Days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of the Man, and you will not see it.[j] 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Do not go along or follow. 24 Because just like the lightning that lights the whole sky when it flashes, so also will the Son of the Man be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 Also, just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it also be in the days of the Son of the Man. 27 They were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building— 29 but on the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and brimstone rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of the Man is revealed.
31 “In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not go down to get them; and likewise he who is in the field, let him not turn back. 32 Remember Lot's wife![k] 33 Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever ‘wastes’ it will preserve it. 34 I tell you: on that night there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding together; one will be taken and the other left.”[l]
37 They reacted by saying to Him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where there is a carcass, there will the vultures also be gathered.”[m]
<- Luke 16Luke 18 ->- a What is worse than a horrible, premature physical death? Spiritual death. Whoever destroys the faith of a ‘little one’ is self-condemned. What about all the professors who make it their business to destroy the faith of their students?
- b Perhaps 4.5% of the Greek manuscripts omit “against you” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.), which changes the meaning of the verse.
- c Dear me, that could get ‘old’! But the Lord is emphatic; we must forgive!
- d The manuscripts are evenly divided between ‘had’ and ‘have’; I follow the best line of transmission.
- e What kind of ‘faith’ might a mustard seed have? Albeit so small, it reacts without question to the climactic circumstances, and grows to remarkable proportions. If we reacted similarly, without question, to the Holy Spirit's promptings, our spiritual ‘climactic circumstances’, we should indeed move mountains, literally.
- f About 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “I guess not!” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).
- g If we were really committed to the master's project, we would do more.
- h In all probability the priests would not have wanted to deal with a Samaritan, in any case, so the Lord just sends him on his way, relieving him of that duty.
- i They were probably thinking of the Messianic Kingdom, that will indeed have a concrete starting point, but the Lord does not give them that information. He does go on to say to the disciples that the onset will be sudden. In the meantime, the King's true subjects have the Kingdom in their hearts, which presumably did not include those Pharisees, so ‘within you’ would be a generic statement.
- j I suppose He is referring to His physical presence among them.
- k The Lord affirms the historicity of the pillar of salt.
- l Perhaps 20% of the Greek manuscripts have verse 36: “Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left”. I would say that this paragraph deals with the Rapture. In that event, Jesus is addressing those who are left behind, but who had expected to go. I believe that immediately after the Rapture the forces of evil will be unleashed to take complete control. Anyone who is going to refuse the ‘mark’ had better head for the hills.
- m A spiral of vultures in the air can be seen at quite a distance, and indicates a carcass on the ground.