I remember I was about 13 years old at a church service. Suddenly, there was a flash of lightning followed by roaring thunder in the night sky. My sister uttered with quivering lips, “is it the second coming?” That experience made me think, Jesus can come at any moment. Am I ready to meet Him? The title of the final 18 verses in my New King James Version of Luke 17 is, “The Coming of the Kingdom.” Jesus speaks a tremendous amount about judgment in Luke. Are we taking Him seriously?

Verses 20-37.

Something I find profound is how God weaves in His spiritual kingdom into physical reality. God is spirit, but Jesus came in physical form. Every person has a physical dimension being our bodies but also a spiritual dimension, our spirit and souls, and you can debate if souls and spirits are separate or the same. We, being in our physical bodies, naturally look for physical things. The Pharisees asked when the kingdom of God was going to drop down to earth. The Jews thought that the kingdom of God would come with cosmic signs, yet Jesus says it does not come with observation: “For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (21). God’s kingdom resides inside the immaterial part of a person, being their soul and spirit. It’s an invisible kingdom. 

Did you know that if you belong to Jesus, the kingdom of God dwells in your heart? The presence of God is in you. In the Exodus story, the presence of God was on Mount Sinai with fire and smoke and a great cloud and nobody besides Moses could approach the mountain, lest they die instantly. But Jesus came and brought the presence of God to dwell within the heart of every single person who puts their faith in Jesus. 

To dwell means to set up a tent and take residence. Think about it, if you are a believer the kingdom of God takes residence in your very body. That is why the Bible says that our bodies are the temple of God and should be kept holy. If you were to enter into the court of heaven today and visit Jesus, how would you prepare? Would you skip a shower and instead get inebriated at the local tavern before meeting Jesus? I wouldn’t think so. At this very moment Jesus dwells in your heart. Are you keeping yourself clean? “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).

In verse 22 Jesus speaks to His disciples. Matthew chapters 24 and 25 has a fuller outline of what Jesus covered, spanning two chapters and I will refer to that often. It is important to note that there is much debate regarding the interpretation of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse and I will explain it in a way that has made sense to me without going on a wild goose chase, I hope. This is called Jesus’ Olivet Discourse because it takes place on the Mount of Olives. 

There are two things that are perfectly clear from this teaching. First, Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem which takes place in A.D. 70. This is recorded in the first two verses of Matthew 24. Second, there will be a final judgment when Jesus judges all of mankind as recorded at the end of Matthew 25. Those on His left hand will depart into everlasting punishment and those on His right hand will inherit eternal life. 

Without any room for various interpretations, Jesus clearly teaches the destruction of the temple and final judgment. What people debate is end times eschatology. Eschatology comes from the Greek word eschastos, meaning last and eschatology is the study of the last things that happen. Books and classes have been written and taught just on Biblical eschatology, and while it is important to study these things, I think we ought not get too passionate in our particular interpretation but must always keep the focus on winning people to Christ. 

Churches and denominations can divide over eschatology but we must remember that we are called to unity in Christ. Much of the debate is about the timing of when things happen. Will Jesus come back before the rapture, is there a rapture, is the millennium literal or figurative, and is Jesus talking about this generation or a future generation?

My personal belief is that the teaching in verses 22-37 in Luke 17 is about Jesus coming in judgment in A.D. 70. My prooftext is the parallel teaching in Matthew 24:34, which says, “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.” What things is He talking about? The destruction of the temple, false Christs, wars and rumors of wars, false prophets, the preaching of the Gospel, desecration of the temple, and the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, and everything else in those Matthew and Luke passages. 

Why do I believe that Jesus is talking about A.D. 70 when Rome laid siege to Jerusalem? First, because He refers to it several times in the Gospels. Second, He says “this generation.” The word for generation is genea, which means generation or age. Biblically, a generation spans roughly 40 years. Jesus is speaking around A.D. 30 and the destruction happened in A.D. 70, which is 40 years, or one generation. Some people interpret genea to mean the race of people, but that is mishandling the text. There are two words for “race of people” in the New Testament. The first is genos, in which we get family genealogies from, and the second is ethnos, meaning nation or Gentiles. 

Let us return to Luke. Some interpret those taken in the final verses to be believers who are taken to heaven before the tribulation. This is called the pre-tribulational rapture. I believe the context leads us to conclude that these people are actually taken in judgment. Why do I believe this? Because the passage is all about judgment.  First, Jesus gives an example of Noah. People ate, drank, and married, then the flood came and destroyed them all. Second, He gives the example of Lot. They ate, drank, bought, sold, planted, and built, and then fire from heaven destroyed them all. “Even so will it be when the Son of Man is revealed,” Jesus says in verse 30.

Jesus is coming in judgment, and the onus is to flee the judgment. Don’t look back, don’t grab anything. Just run. “Remember Lot’s wife?” He said. Those who are taken will be taken in judgment, “wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered,” Jesus concludes in verse 37. 

Jesus was rejected and He suffered. Then God judged Jerusalem in A.D. 70 like He judged Jerusalem in 587 B.C. First, He used Babylon then He used Rome, but in both cases it was God who brought judgment. Ultimately, God will judge the whole earth. This hasn’t happened yet and we don’t know when it will happen. But we must be prepared. Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats. Those on His left will be condemned to everlasting judgment and those on His right to everlasting life. That is not up to interpretation. 

Many christians today believe in pre-tribulational dispensationalism. This means that Jesus will rapture the church at any moment, followed by seven years of worldwide tribulation for those that remain with 144,000 Jews being saved in the process, followed by a 1,000 literal reign of Jesus in Jerusalem with a reinstituted temple, priest, and sacrificial system. During this time, immortal believers that have already died and been resurrected will dwell with mortals in Jerusalem with Jesus reigning on His throne. However, people will still be born, live, and die, and death and Satan will still be present in this world. At the end of 1,000 years though, Satan and the world will be judged and condemned  and God will create a new heaven and new earth. 

Personally, I find this view difficult to believe. First, how can there be a reinstituted temple, priest, and sacrificial system when Jesus fulfilled all three on the cross? Second, why would Jesus physically reign on sin-rotten earth with glorified saints? My first objection is reason enough to believe this view is wrong. Hebrews 7:27 is one of many verses I could use to defend it: “who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.” In short, Jesus is the final sacrifice. That’s one of the main points of the book of Hebrews. No more sacrifice. 

Ultimately, the debate is about 1,007 years and what will happen during that time. I believe Jesus can come back at any moment, judge Satan and the world, and usher in a new created order in the twinkling of an eye. I believe the millennium is figurative for a long time and is used throughout Scripture in that context. Jesus’ millennial reign means it will go on for a long long time, to the end of eternity. If you hold a different view, then you may be right and I have much to learn. In any case we ought to do the work of an evangelist, as Paul instructs Timothy.

One day, the whole world will be glorified. But for now, the glory of God resides within you. Remember, if you are in Christ then the kingdom of God dwells in you. Are you keeping yourself holy? Let us not desecrate our bodies: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). 

Questions:

1. What does it mean that the kingdom of God is within us? (21)
2. Why does Jesus speak so much about judgment?
3. How should Christians handle different interpretations about the same Biblical passages?