luke-17:20-36,1-thessalonians-5:1-2

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:22-25

The brief day of opportunity. The thought of our Master in this passage (as I understand it) is this: "I have been asked when the kingdom of God will come: my reply is that it has come already; that you have not to look about in this and that direction; here, in the midst of you, impersonated in him that speaks, is the kingdom. It is present in the Present One. But," he says to his disciples, "he is present in a very strict sense. The time will soon be here when you will greatly long for... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:23

And they shall say to you, See here; or, See there: go not after them, nor follow them . Again addressed to the disciples in the first instance, but with a far more extended reference. In the early days of Christianity such false reports were exceedingly frequent; false Messiahs, too, from time to time sprang up; unhealthy visions of an immediate return disturbed the peace and broke into the quiet, steady work of the Church. Nor have these disturbing visions been unknown in later ages of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:24

For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day . "Yes," went on the Master, "let not delusive expectations interrupt you or turn you aside out of the narrow way of patient faith, for my' coming will, like the lightning, be sudden, cud will gleam forth on every side. There will be no possibility of mistake then. " read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:25

But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation . But, and here again he repeats "as a solemn refrain to all his teaching," the warning to his own of the fearful end fast coming on him. If he is to come again with glory, he must first go away with shame, persecuted, forsaken, by the generation then living. The suffering Messiah must precede the glorified Messiah. After this rejection and suffering would begin the period alluded to above ( Luke 17:22 ) as the time... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:26-28

As it was in the days of Nee (Noah) … as it was in the days of Lot . The prominent sin of the antediluvian, he reminds them, was sensuality in its varied forms. The torch of religious feeling will have waned in that unknown and possibly distant future when Messiah shall reappear, and will be burning with a pale, faint light. The bulk of mankind will be given up to a sensuality which the higher culture then generally reached will have been utterly powerless to check or even to modify.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:26-30

The unlearnt lesson. Man differs from the brute creation in that he learns and profits by experience—he advances. He passes through stage after stage toward the perfection of his life upon the earth. He is the hunter at one period, then the shepherd, then the agriculturist. From the lowest barbarism he reaches, in time, the most refined civilization. But he is very slow indeed to learn, if he does learn at all, moral and spiritual truths. The excellency of thrift, of temperance, of purity,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:30

Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed . "Is revealed,'' that is to say, he has been present all along, through those long ages of waiting; only an impenetrable veil has hid him from mortal eyes. In that day will the veil be lifted, "and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced" ( Zechariah 12:10 ). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:31-32

In that day, he which shall be upon the house-top, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife . The Lord, with this striking imagery, describes, not the attitude which men who would be saved must assume when he appears with power and great glory—there will be no time then to shape any new way of life—but it pictures the attitude they must always maintain, if they would be his servants,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:33

Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. Very deep must have been the impression which this saying made upon the early Church. So literally did many interpret it, that the wiser and more thoughtful men in the congregations during the days of persecution had often to prevent persons of both sexes recklessly throwing away their lives in the conflict with the Roman authorities. Very many in the first three centuries positively ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:34-35

I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, the other left . How taken? Not, as some scholars have supposed, taken only to perish, but taken away by the Lord in the way described by St. Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 , where he paints how the faithful servant who is living when the Lord returns in glory, will be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:22-25

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:23

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:24

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:25

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:26-28

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:26-30

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:30

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:31-32

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:33

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 17:34-35

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