Luke 17:24 Commentary and Bible Study

The Lord’s coming, when it happens, will be unmistakable, irresistible, and universal. God has given us a phenomenon which we are familiar with which has a feint similarity to that unique event. The lightning illuminates a vast swathe of land, and all can see it, and know without anyone telling them that it has come. It is so fast and so unexpected that no one can predict the exact second it strikes. It is the result of titanic forces operating in the atmosphere. It lights up the entire landscape with a single burst of power, even in the dead of night. That is only an illustration, for the reach of lightning is limited, but somehow the Lord will be seen by all around the globe at once.It will be unmistakable because it will be a divine interruption of life on earth. No one who is alive at the time will have the slightest doubt that Christ has returned. It will not just be some atmospheric effect that could be interpreted in one way or in another way; it will not be open to interpretation like that. It will not be some unusual colour in the sky, or some unusual sound that could be explained in a number of different ways. It will be a supernatural event, and everyone will know instantly what it means. Christ will come for judgment, and all man’s earthly plans and purposes will instantly seem irrelevant. They will know that they are unobtainable and of no importance. Those who have denied God all their lives will instantly know that their Judge has come, and that he has entered into his world, and that they are about to be called to account. They will be aware that they can no longer hide from him, and they are being summoned before him to give an account of their lives. All will be summoned, even the long dead, and there will be no refuge for lost men and women, not event the caves of the earth which they will beg to fall on them and bury them alive. Even that will be preferable to them, rather that facing the wrath of the Lamb (Revelation 6:15-16). It will be undeniable. No one will be able to pretend it has not happened. Though the wicked have resisted God all their lives in their hearts, and God has allowed them to do so, to demonstrate what they are, now they will be overcome with irresistible power. God was holding back, not because he was weak or unable to act, but to give opportunity for repentance, but they have refused his gracious offer for too long. It will be universal. There will be no corner of the earth that is unaware of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore there will be no opportunity for one person to tell another person that he has come and is to be seen here or there. Each one will know it for himself by direct observation, whether blind or sick or asleep at the time. He who will raise the dead, will also bring each one to be aware of this momentous event. No one need fear that they have missed it. Somehow no one will fail to know he has come. But the righteous will rejoice. Their time of waiting has ended. Those who are then alive, who are not asleep in death, ‘shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). The Lord has brought an end to their suffering at his appointed time.