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| Luke 17 Memory Verses, Romans 10:9-10 Good Morning Brothers and Sisters, I have extended my vacation a few days here in the mountains, it is too beautiful to leave. The weather is perfect. I went for another long run and found another mountain road to explore this morning. I find it hard to believe that I have lived in Southern California for over 20 years and missed this fantastic terrain around here. Shelley and I are doing well and working on building our marriage in the Lord on our vacation. It is like our own private retreat. As I read through Luke this morning, I was stunned by the truths and the requirements of the Christian life, along with putting a serious dent in my philosophy regarding the rapture. It seems to be a disconnected chapter going in many directions, but the main thoughts that carry all the way through it is faith and righteousness in action. Luke 17:1-4 Forgive your brother. Stumbling blocks could also be translated "temptations to sin" according to NASB. This throws a different light on the subject. The thought is carried over from the previous chapter, in that if we are the reason for the stumbling block, we are in trouble. God protects His children. This is not just talking about little children, it is also talking about young believers. Matt 18:1-6. Looking at it from another angle, stumbling blocks are coming and we cannot avoid them. When they do come it is up to us to recognize them for what they are. In view of this and recognizing that we are so fallible, if our brother sins, we are to forgive him, we could have failed in the same way. We know that it is easy to fail, even if our brother sins 7 times in the same way on the same day and ask us to forgive him, we are to forgive him every time. This is indeed a difficult statement. If a brother wrongs me once and repents, then a second time the same way and repents again, I am likely to believe him the first time, forgive him the second time, reluctantly, then the third through the seventh time? Gives you something to think about doesn't it? How do we react toward our brothers who sin? Can we claim this type of love and forgiveness in our lives? Luke 17:5-6 Example of Faith. In response to the apostles request, I once again am stunned by the power of faith. I don't think that Jesus is exaggerating here, I believe that we don't have a clue as to what faith is really all about. We dabble around the edges of faith, and try to understand it, yet this is a resource that remains largely untapped. This is in regard to the miraculous, Jesus balances the statement with the following story about slaves. Luke 17: 7-10 Unworthy slaves. We are all unworthy slaves, the reason the slave did not receive any recognition was because he did what he was told, and nothing more. What does it take to do more than we are told? All of us are slaves, unless we are independently wealthy. We are slaves of our employers, and our employers dictate our lifestyles by the wages that we earn. We do have the opportunity today of having more than one employer, and that of switching employers, but the principle remains the same. In order to be recognized by our masters, we must do more than the call of duty, much more. We must approach the business as if we have a vested interest in it. We want to see it grow. This takes faith, a lot of faith. It is faith in action, we exercise our faith daily in doing above and beyond the call of duty. As a result of this, perhaps we will be recognized, perhaps we will not be recognized, either way, our faith will be exercised and it will grow! The boss is not what is important here, our relationship to God is what is important. Off the top of my head I cannot recall the verse, but we are to treat our jobs as if we are working for Christ. In these verses we see that the slave has a hard taskmaster, one who is only interested in his own interest, and totally disregards the needs of the slave. Many employers take the same attitude. Gives us more to think about. Faith in the mundane exercises of daily life. Luke 17:11-19 Ten Lepers. The Samaritan was the only one to return to the Lord and praise Him for what He had done for him. This shows us that as men, once we have our problem fixed, it is easy for us to turn our back on the Lord and continue with daily life. Faith was required to get us through the problem, and once it is over, we go on with life and place faith on the back burner. Many of us forget when the Lord heals us or gets us through a difficult time that it was not by our doing that we were healed, but by God's doing. Self check here, think back on your life, once you made it over the last difficult trial that you faced, did you focus on the Lord, or ignore Him afterward? I know that you focused on Him during the trial, what happened afterward? Makes you think doesn't it? Here are three thought provoking stories, all designed for us to evaluate our lives and our faith. Luke 17:20-37 Second Coming. I am going to abbreviate this section tremendously. Matthew goes into more detail in Matthew 24-25. This is a tremendous study on the end times and what is to come. An interesting thing is in v.21 the response to the Pharisees regarding the coming of the Kingdom of God is essentially the same as the response to the disciples in v. 23. We are not to be misled by goofy people claiming to be the Christ. There will be no doubt when Jesus returns. Noah was considered goofy and the people lived life as if there were no God, until the rain started falling. Lot was considered goofy, and the people lived their lives as if there were no God, then fire rained down from heaven. Today, we as Christians are considered goofy, and the people live their lives as if there is no God. Kind of makes you wonder doesn't it? The idea of the rapture is pressed forward very hard here. It certainly sounds like the rapture from the text. I have had difficulty with the concept of the rapture because I cannot see God taking His army off the earth just before the battle begins. Yet here, we are not told if this will be before the tribulation, or afterwards, only that the people are living as if nothing else matters. So I must concede that the rapture is going to happen, but still am unsure of the timetable. Any thoughts on this? Lord, as we all study Your Scripture this morning, Encourage our faith, help us to lean on You and to allow our faith to grow. Teach us to exercise our faith in daily life. Thank you Jesus for our study. In Him, Joe Turner. |
| Joe, Thanks for the study in Luke 17. Is the passage you recall Ephesians 6:5-8? Regarding the Second Coming: Luke 17:34-36 certainly would appear to be the Rapture. Larry David Norman sang "I Wish We All Were Ready" incorporating such verses. Seem to me Hal Lindsey quoted such verses in "Late Great Planet Earth" to describe the pre-tribulational Rapture. However, that would be an error. Luke 17:37 clearly indicates those who are taken are taken to judgment, where the vultures are gathered. I would parallel it to verses like Matthew 25:46. As to why the Lord takes His army out before the Rapture: It is not our battle! Yes, we will be there, dressed in white, following Christ on white horses (Rev. 19:14, 8). Jesus wins the victory (Rev. 19:21 - reminds me of Luke 17:37 too). The timing of the Rapture has been a source of disagreement between born-again believers for years. The majority of those who identify themselves as Christians are amillennial (no thousand year kingdom). They spiritualize the text in Revelation 20:1-10 to eliminate a coming kingdom. The timing of the Rapture is not a vital concern for them. Those who are looking for the coming kingdom (i.e. pre-millennialists) are divided into groups largely by their view of the timing of the Rapture: pre-tribulational, mid-tribulational, post-tribulational, pre-wrath, and partial rapture positions come to mind. Whole books on the subject have been written. Dallas Seminary is identified with the pre-tribulational position. Thus it is the view championed by Chafer, Walvoord, Swindoll, Pentecost, Ryrie, Krag ;), etc. The Bible is not absolutely clear on the subject (timing of the Rapture), and thus the views are out there. I am persuaded that the evidence best fits into a pre-tribulational model. Note: the Church is not mentioned on earth during the Tribulation as described in Revelation 6-20. The word church is missing after Revelation 3 until 22:16. The Church, the born-again believers, are not present during the Tribulation. Where are they? I prefer the textual support for the reading of the KJV in Revelation 5:9 - 9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; (The Holy Bible : King James Version. 1995. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) The twenty-four elders are the ones redeemed and are a picture of the Church in heaven. Revelation 3:10 - He will "keep you from the hour of 2 dtesting, that hour which is about to come upon the whole 3 eworld, to 4test fthose who dwell upon the earth." (The New American Standard Bible. 1986 (Re 3:10). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.) "From" is ek, out of - we will be kept out of the Tribulation. I identify the restrainer of 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 as the Holy Spirit indwelling Christians. The Restrainer has been identified as many things (government, etc.), but He is identified in verse 6 as neuter (what restrains - τὸ κατέχον) and in verse 7 as masculine (who restrains - ὁ κατέχων). The Holy Spirit as God is omnipresent (present everywhere), but His special work as the Restrainer will end when He is taken out of the way of the Antichrist through the pre-tribulational Rapture of the Church. The Tribulation is a time when God's wrath is poured out (Rev. 6:17), but the church is excluded from His wrath (1 Thes. 1:10; 5:9). The Rapture can only be imminent (1 Thes. 5:6 - don't sleep, the Rapture could take place at any time) if it is pre-tribulational. That is my view. There is lots more evidence, but my fingers are tired. I need feedback on this one. Questions? Comments? Lifted up the requests. IHG, Erik |
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