20 And having been questioned by the Pharisees, when the reign of God doth come, he answered them, and said, 'The reign of God doth not come with observation; 21 nor shall they say, Lo, here; or lo, there; for lo, the reign of God is within you.' 22 And he said unto his disciples, 'Days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not behold 'it'; 23 and they shall say to you, Lo, here; or lo, there; ye may not go away, nor follow; 24 for as the lightning that is lightening out of the one 'part' under heaven, to the other part under heaven doth shine, so shall be also the Son of Man in his day; 25 and first it behoveth him to suffer many things, and to be rejected by this generation. 26 'And, as it came to pass in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man; 27 they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were given in marriage, till the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the deluge came, and destroyed all; 28 in like manner also, as it came to pass in the days of Lot; they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; 29 and on the day Lot went forth from Sodom, He rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed all. 30 'According to these things it shall be, in the day the Son of Man is revealed; 31 in that day, he who shall be on the house top, and his vessels in the house, let him not come down to take them away; and he in the field, in like manner, let him not turn backward; 32 remember the wife of Lot. 33 Whoever may seek to save his life, shall lose it; and whoever may lose it, shall preserve it. 34 'I say to you, In that night, there shall be two men on one couch, the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left; 35 two women shall be grinding at the same place together, the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left; 36 two men shall be in the field, the one shall be taken, and the other left.' 37 And they answering say to him, 'Where, sir?' and he said to them, 'Where the body 'is', there will the eagles be gathered together.'
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Luke 17:20-37
Commentary on Luke 17:20-37
(Read Luke 17:20-37)
The kingdom of God was among the Jews, or rather within some of them. It was a spiritual kingdom, set up in the heart by the power of Divine grace. Observe how it had been with sinners formerly, and in what state the judgments of God, which they had been warned of, found them. Here is shown what a dreadful surprise this destruction will be to the secure and sensual. Thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. When Christ came to destroy the Jewish nation by the Roman armies, that nation was found in such a state of false security as is here spoken of. In like manner, when Jesus Christ shall come to judge the world, sinners will be found altogether regardless; for in like manner the sinners of every age go on securely in their evil ways, and remember not their latter end. But wherever the wicked are, who are marked for eternal ruin, they shall be found by the judgments of God.