Lightning, Vultures, and the End of an Age
Introduction: Escapist Fantasies
Modern American evangelicalism has a peculiar and unhealthy obsession with the end of the world. We have developed a multi-million dollar industry of novels, movies, and prophecy charts, all dedicated to decoding the signs of the times. This has bred a particular kind of Christian, one who is more interested in looking for the exits than in occupying his post. It has created a theology of escapism, a longing to be airlifted out of history before the final exam. This is the great rapture-rescue fantasy, and it is not only exegetically bankrupt, it is spiritually debilitating. It teaches Christians to view the world as a sinking ship to be abandoned, rather than a kingdom to be won.
Into this confusion, the words of our Lord Jesus in Luke 17 cut like a surgeon's scalpel. He is not giving His disciples a secret decoder ring for newspaper headlines. He is giving them marching orders for living in a world that is perpetually on the brink of judgment. He is teaching them how to distinguish between the genuine coming of the Son of Man and the cheap imitations peddled by charlatans. He is warning them about the catastrophic judgment that was about to befall their own generation, and in doing so, He establishes the pattern for how God deals with corrupt civilizations in every age.
Jesus is not trying to satisfy our idle curiosity about the future. He is trying to forge a certain kind of character in His people, a character marked by radical detachment from the world's goods, unwavering allegiance to Him, and a robust confidence in the face of judgment. This passage is a frontal assault on any theology that encourages us to stick our heads in the sand. Christ is not coming to rescue us from the battle; He is coming to lead us in it, and through it, to victory.
The Text
And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them. For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as in the days of Lot, they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out, and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two women grinding grain at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. [Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.”] And answering they said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.”
(Luke 17:22-37 LSB)
The Unmistakable Coming (vv. 22-25)
Jesus begins by addressing a future longing in the hearts of His disciples.
"The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them. For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation." (Luke 17:22-25 LSB)
The disciples would face persecution, hardship, and confusion. In those moments, they would long for the King to show up and vindicate them, to make everything right. This longing for deliverance is fertile ground for false messiahs and end-times hucksters. "Look, He's over here in the desert!" "No, He's in this secret inner room!" Jesus says to pay them no mind. Why? Because the real coming of the Son of Man in judgment will not be a secret, localized, or private event. It will be as public and undeniable as a flash of lightning that illuminates the entire sky. You won't need a special television program to tell you it's happening. Everybody will see it.
This is a direct polemic against any gnostic or "insider information" approach to eschatology. If someone has a secret date or a hidden location, you can know for a fact that they are a false prophet. The coming of the Lord in judgment is a public event.
But before that day of vindication, there is a fixed, divine necessity. Verse 25 is the anchor for this entire passage: "But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation." The cross comes before the crown. The glory follows the suffering. And notice the specific target of this rejection: "this generation." Jesus is speaking about the specific first-century generation of Jews who would reject and crucify Him. This rejection would culminate in a cataclysmic judgment upon that same generation, a judgment that would be the "day of the Son of Man" He is describing. The destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was the vindication of Jesus against the generation that rejected Him. It was a coming in judgment as visible as lightning.
Business as Usual (vv. 26-30)
Jesus then gives two historical analogies to describe the cultural atmosphere just before this judgment falls.
"And just as it was in the days of Noah... they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying... until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as in the days of Lot... they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building... It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed." (Luke 17:26-30 LSB)
What is the point of these comparisons? It is the sheer, oblivious, mundane normalcy of life right up to the moment the hammer falls. The world before the flood was not filled with people cowering in fear of impending doom. They were having weddings. They were going about their lives. The men of Sodom were not looking at the sky for fire and brimstone. They were closing real estate deals, planting crops, and drawing up building plans.
This demolishes the popular idea that the world will get progressively and obviously worse and worse until everyone knows the end is near. Jesus teaches the opposite. The judgment will fall on a world that is completely absorbed in its own affairs, utterly blind to its own corruption and the impending wrath of God. The normalcy is the sign. The world will be fat, dumb, and happy, right up until the moment the floodgates open. This was true of Jerusalem in the years leading up to A.D. 70, and it is a recurring pattern for any civilization ripe for judgment.
Don't Look Back (vv. 31-33)
Given the suddenness of this judgment, Jesus gives a stark ethical command.
"On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out... Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it." (Luke 17:31-33 LSB)
When the judgment comes, there is no time for sentimentality. Your stuff does not matter. Your earthly attachments are a liability. The man on the flat housetop must flee along the rooftops without even going back inside to grab his possessions. The man in the field must not go back for his cloak. The warning is absolute: when God says "flee," you flee with nothing but the clothes on your back.
And then the chilling, two-word sermon: "Remember Lot's wife." What was her sin? It was not just a glance over the shoulder. Her body was leaving Sodom, but her heart was still there. She longed for the life she was leaving behind, a life under God's condemnation. She was destroyed because of a divided heart. She wanted God's deliverance and Sodom's comforts. You cannot have both. This is a call to radical, singular allegiance to Jesus Christ. To save your life, your soul, you must be willing to lose your life, meaning all your earthly treasures, securities, and attachments. If you try to cling to the condemned world, you will be condemned with it.
The Great Separation (vv. 34-37)
Finally, Jesus describes the divisive nature of this judgment and reveals its location.
"I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left... And answering they said to Him, 'Where, Lord?' And He said to them, 'Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.'" (Luke 17:34-37 LSB)
This is the passage that the entire "Left Behind" theology has been built upon, and it is a classic case of exegetical malpractice. They read "one will be taken" and assume it means "taken to heaven in the rapture." But look at the context Jesus just provided. In the days of Noah, who was "taken"? The wicked were taken by the floodwaters. Noah and his family were "left" to inherit the new earth. In the days of Lot, who was "taken"? The inhabitants of Sodom were taken in the fiery judgment. Lot was "left" to escape. In this context, being "taken" is a bad thing. It means being taken away in judgment. Being "left" is a good thing. It means being the righteous remnant left behind after the wicked have been purged.
This judgment will be discriminating. It will cut through the most intimate human relationships, a husband and wife in bed, two women grinding at the mill. God's judgment separates the wheat from the chaff, right down the middle of the bed.
The disciples, practical men that they were, ask the logical question: "Where, Lord?" They want to know the location of this event. Jesus answers with a proverb: "Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered." Some translations say "eagles," which is also a valid rendering. The image is stark. Vultures, or eagles, gather where there is a dead and rotting carcass. What was the spiritual carcass in the first century? It was apostate Jerusalem, the generation that had rejected and killed the Lord of life. And who were the vultures, the eagles? They were the Roman legions, whose standards were famously adorned with eagles. They were the instruments of God's judgment that would descend upon the corrupt body of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The judgment was not some far-off, abstract event. It was coming for them, in their lifetime, at the site of their greatest sin.
Conclusion: Occupy Your Post
So what does this mean for us? The judgment on Jerusalem in A.D. 70 is a pattern. It is a miniature of the final judgment, and it shows us how God operates in history. He is patient, but His patience has limits. He warns, but His warnings are not idle threats. And He judges, bringing down corrupt and apostate civilizations.
We are not to be looking for signs and portents in the sky. We are not to be listening to date-setters and prophecy gurus. We are to be living as though judgment could fall at any moment, because for any given generation, it can. This means we must live with a radical detachment from the love of this world. We must cultivate an undivided heart, remembering Lot's wife. We must understand that our ultimate security is not in our 401k, but in our union with Christ.
And we must reject the cowardly theology of escapism. We are the ones who are "left." We are the heirs of the world. We are not called to abandon our posts, but to occupy them faithfully. We are to be found eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building, but doing all of it to the glory of God. We do our work, we love our families, and we build outposts of the kingdom, knowing that the Son of Man has already been vindicated. He suffered, He was rejected, and then He was enthroned at the right hand of the Father. His coming in judgment is not a matter of if, but when. And when it comes, it will not be a rescue mission for the fearful, but a final victory for the faithful.