Luke 17:20-37
When Is It Over?

I. When Will the Ordeal Be Over?
1. Ever been through an ordeal, like a medical procedure, and wonder, ‘when will this be over?’
2. Depressed people wish life would be over. Life for them is over, they think.
3. When is this world over, the “present evil age” (Galatians 1:4), where might makes right?
II. Now (17:20-21)
A. The Kingdom in Your Midst
1. The Pharisees ask Him when God’s rule would come. They expected an uprising, an empire.
2. “The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed,” like symptoms of a disease.
3. People want signs so they can get ready. Jesus says the Kingdom will have no sign.
4. It won’t be here or there. Because, Look!, “the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
5. The rule of God is not within them (the Pharisees). It’s here, now, in the middle of you.
6. They’ve come to the King and asked Him when the King is coming. He’s in their midst.
7. Jesus healed leprosy to show that His rule was on earth. So, the Kingdom of God has come.
B. Why Isn’t it Over?
1. They thought when the Kingdom comes, the world ends. But they thought wrong.
2. Jesus explained in His parables that His Kingdom is different than they thought.
a. Like a mustard seed and yeast, it starts small, not an overwhelming invasion.
b. Like a great treasure, it’s worth selling all you have but many reject it.
c. It’s now on earth, like a field planted with good wheat but also with weeds, together.
3. King Jesus tells us the Kingdom has come, with Him. The focus is Jesus.
III. Not Yet (17:22-37)
A. Interim (17:22-25)
1. “The days are coming when you will desire”, between His first coming and the end.
2. The “Son of Man” refers to Daniel 7:13f, where Daniel sees one “like a son of man.”
3. There’s a time when we’ll crave those days to come, but they’ll be not yet.
4. There’s a time in between Jesus first on earth and the end. We’re in that interim.
5. Jesus prepared His people for the time between His bringing the Kingdom and the end.
6. People will say, in verse 23, “‘Look there!’ or ‘Look here!’” It’s fake news.
7. His coming is like lightning, obvious, public, undeniable. It’s not isolated or hidden.
8. If you can deny that He’s come, then He hasn’t. ‘No one will foresee it but all will see it.’
9. First, He must suffer the cross. It’s what happens when the Kingdom meets this evil age.
B. End (17:26-37)
1. Like Noah’s and Lot’s days, people were going about their routines. Suddenly destruction.
2. The day Christ returns and the world faces judgment will come suddenly, without warning.
3. So, if you’re not ready when it comes, it’s too late to get ready. It’s too urgent to go back.
4. People will not have years to get ready once these events start.
5. “Remember Lot’s wife.” “She looked, she longed, she lingered and she died.” (Spurgeon)
6. Instead of being like Lot’s wife, don’t be so attached to what is in your house, your life.
7. Your life is in the One who is coming so you can easily lose what this world gave you.
8. Be ready for separation from those closest to you. This sudden judgment brings separation.
9. Judgment is individual. You will be judged for your own faith or longing for the world.
10. Some will be taken to an obvious, public place. Some will be condemned, some saved.
11. The December 26, 2004 earthquake followed by a tsunami killed about 250,000 people.
12. After an interim, the tsunami wiped out entire towns, hitting Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, etc.
13. The world thinks life will go on. But Christ will come and sweep the world away.
14. Some will be saved. He has His Noahs and Lots, His people who love Him, long for His return.
IV. Invitation: Is that where your heart is set on Jesus, detached from this world and all the stuff it has, and focused on Jesus and His rule in your life? Are you done with this world? Is it over for you, even while you’re still in it? If not, yet, then now is the time to get ready.