“The Days of the Son of Man in Luke 17”

Tuesday, May 05, 2020

Luke 17:20-37 is... apocalyptic. That is true literally (the word apokalypto is used in v. 30) and it is true literarily (it shares features of a genre of literature bearing the same name) and it is quite possibly true in the popular sense of the term as well (that being that apocalypse refers to the end of the world). All of these uses are of course related. Let’s explore. So the word apokalypto means “to reveal” and when used of God, it often carries with it sudden demonstrations of His power and might exercised in this world. Apocalyptic literature was a type of writing that centered around God’s sudden in-breaking into the world, to turn it upside down (or right side up if you’re on God’s side of things). In this literature, God’s people are pictured as being in bondage/oppression until they are liberated and their enemies are defeated at God’s revealing. When God did this, it was pictured as the end of one age and the beginning of a new age, and thus upheaval is pictured on a cosmic scale with fantastical imagery. Finally, the popular notion of apocalyptic is the idea the God is going to destroy the world and deliver His people once and for all. All of these are grossly simplified but serve our purposes well enough. 

In Luke 17, Jesus is talking about the kingdom of God (as we have noted several times over this is often best understood in the dynamic sense of reigning or exercising dominion). The religious leaders want to know when it is coming and Jesus reveals two truths about the kingdom, it doesn’t come in the observable ways they were expecting with the pyrotechnics, clashing of symbols, and a Jewish king taking the Roman Caesar by the ear like a bothered grandmother at a family reunion. In fact, it was already among them in nascent form, but the religious leaders, by and large, missed it. This is the second thing Jesus reveals about the kingdom here. It had already been inaugurated in the incarnation of Jesus, as God came into this world, albeit in a backwards, backwoods son of a carpenter from Nazareth sort of way. (That this is the likely interpretation of Jesus’ saying here rather than the alternative interpretation that “the kingdom is within you - as in, within your hearts” is probable for three reasons 1) Jesus has already claimed that the kingdom was here in His own person as He cast out demons 2) while it is true God reigns in our hearts, nowhere else is the kingdom spoken of in this way 3) Jesus is addressing the Pharisees who were interrogating him, the one group of people whose hearts by in large the kingdom was not in). So the kingdom was here, just in an unexpected, less than ultimate way.

But then the language changes. Jesus begins talking about something that would happen in the future (at least future from His standpoint, though possible from ours as well, keep reading), and He uses apocalyptic language to do so.

Three contexts are necessary:

The Day of the Lord

When we think of the day of the Lord, we tend to think singularly of the ultimate and final day when God’s might would be revealed, all His enemies judged and His people delivered to live with Him in eternal bliss. We associate this day with things like the “Second Coming” of Jesus with all of the notions of the apocalyptic mentioned above. To be sure, the Bible speaks of such a day but before we get there we must take a step back.

The Day of the Lord was not just one day. In fact, there have been multiple Days of the Lord which have already happened. There are way too many passages to reference here concerning these days but consider a few from the book of Jeremiah: Jer. 46:10 speaks about the Day of the Lord against Egypt, Jer 49:22 is foretelling of the coming day against Edom, and so with Assyria Jer 49:26, Moab Jer. 48:41, Philistia Jer. 47:4; and Babylon Jer 50:27, 30, 31; 51:2. These are references to the destruction of various nations, which occurred in history. Other Day of Lord texts group multiple, sometimes all, nations together in judgment (Isa. 24:21; Jer. 25:30-33; Ezek. 30:2-5; Joel 3:11-14; Obad. 15-16; Zech 12:3–9; 14:12–13; Ezek 38:17–39:8). Many of these texts describe this Day, or these Days as “near” Ezek. 30:2-5, Obad. 15-16; Isa. 13:6-13.

However, the Biblical authors do not reserve these days just to refer to judgment against foreign nations. Notably, the Day of the Lord was coming against God’s people. Thus, Amos warns God’s people, many of which who were hastening the Day to come, that it wouldn’t be what they expected Amos 5:18-20. Again there are way too many texts to treat here but consider God’s judgment against Israel (Amos 2:13-16; 3:9-11) and Judah (Joel 1:15; 2:1-17; Zech. 1:4-18; 2:2-3). Many of these texts use apocalyptic imagery of cosmic upheaval like the shaking of the heavens and fail of stars and which is accompanied by fires, wars, and darkness.

All of this contributes to our understanding that The Day of the Lord, is often a day of God’s judgment (though see the parenthetical comment at the end), that often times, does not refer to one single event at the end of history, but has referred to multiple events throughout history. Applying this to the Luke 17, we are prepared for the possibility that the “day/days of the Son of Man” might refer to the end of everything but also for the equally plausible possibility that something less than the final end is in view.

The Son of Man

The next relevant context is the Son of Man language. Generally, this phrase was just an expression to refer to a human being (cf. Num. 23:19; Job 25:6; Psa. 8:4). However, this took on a Messianic connotation in the book of Daniel and referred to the one “like a son of Man” that God would raise up and establish as king over His people. This king would destroy the wicked nations who oppressed the people of God (see Dan. 7:1-28; esp. vv. 13-14). Jesus uses this term often to refer to Himself. Notably, in Lk. 21; Matthew 24; and Mark 13 the Son of Man is pictured as coming in judgment against Jerusalem, the city that rejected Jesus and would go on to be a major source of oppression against God’s people in the book of Acts.

Luke’s Gospel

This brings us to our final context, Luke’s Gospel itself. By the time we get to Lk. 17 Jesus has been traveling toward Jerusalem (Lk. 9:51-53) where he would face rejection and death (Lk. 9:21-22, 43-44). Significantly, as Jesus makes his way toward Jerusalem laments over its rejection of Him, which would result in their house (likely a reference to the temple) being left desolate (Lk. 13:31-35). Similarly, He will weep over it as He enters the city because they would reject him and Jerusalem would be destroyed (Lk. 19:41-44).

So taking all of this together, the Day of the Son of Man must be referring to the destruction of Jerusalem, right? Well… maybe. Indeed, Lk. 17:25 foretells Jesus’ rejection by the current generation. And the language of not entering the house or not turning back for one’s possessions and is repeated from Mt. 24:17, 18 and Mk. 13:15, 16 which in those contexts clearly refer to the destruction of Jerusalem (note it would happen in that generation Mt. 24:34; Mk. 13:30). And there may even be some tacit symbol for Rome invading Jerusalem when the “vultures”, also the word for eagles (the ancients thought of vultures as a type of eagle) which was a well-known icon of Rome, gathered at the corpse. And yet, Jesus’ teaching here has a level of ambiguity not found in Mt. 24 or Mk. 13. Jerusalem is not specified in this context. Also, if this is a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem, why would Jesus repeat Himself in Lk. 21? We must keep in mind the context here. It begins with a question from the Pharisees about “when” all of this would happen. Jesus’ answer is that it is the wrong question. He responds, now to His disciples, who also needed to hear this message saying, it would appear suddenly, like lightening (Lk. 17:24). If their approach was, “I will wait for a sign of the kingdom to come before I get my priorities right,” they had the wrong approach. They needed to be ready now. They should not be so tied to the things of this life that they were unprepared (Lk. 17:26-33), when God broke suddenly, powerfully, and apocalyptically into this world to destroy Jerusalem. So while I do believe this refers primarily to events that transpired in 70 AD, the openness and ambiguity of this passage is intentional and instructive for us. Ultimately, this Day of the Lord, like so many before it, points forward to the final Day of Lord in which God’s enemies will be destroyed, His people delivered and the present heavens and earth are first destroyed and then renewed 1 Thess. 5:1-11; 2 Pet. 3:8-13; Rev. 20:11-21:1ff). Therefore, let us stay ready, loosen our grasp on the things of this world, and encourage each other for the final Day of the Lord that will come like a thief in the night. Thanks be to God that we are not of the night for that day to surprise us.

(While it is a bit beyond the bounds of our present discussion the is another reference to the Day of the Lord of great significance. Joel 2:17-27 begins to shift from the Day of the Lord’s wrath against Judah to a day of His mercy toward His people also described as a Day of the Lord (Joel 2:28-32). Notably, Peter takes this text and applies it to the events of Acts 2. Thus, when the Spirit was poured out on mankind and the message of deliverance preached, God was breaking powerfully into the world, turning it upside down, and delivering His people. It was properly a Day of the Lord.)

(Just for reference Rev. 2:5, 16; 3:3 also picture Jesus coming in judgment against particular churches, thus any discussion about “The Second Coming of Jesus” probably needs to be more nuanced. Jesus “comes” many times before His “Second Coming”.)

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