Biblical Logos Blog

Summary: In Luke 17, Jesus is continuing teaching his disciples as he had in the prior chapters. He is likely on route to Jerusalem at the time. Commentaries see this chapter in particular as a loose collection of teaching without much of a theme. Could the Holy Spirit actually have been using Luke prophetically in ordering this loose collection of teaching to show a picture of the Church age?

Let’s break Luke 17 down into portions that may show a story that is being told.

• Luke 17 verses 1-4: A warning about the temptation of sin and that we should rebuke and warn those who fall into sin. The message is specific to believers as verse 2 references “little ones” which appears to be those young in their faith who are more prone to fall into sin.
• Luke 17 verses 5-6: Asking the Lord to increase their faith. The example given is having a mustard seed of faith could cause a fig tree to be uprooted and thrown into the sea.
• Luke 17 verses 7-10: Unworthy servants. Jesus teaching that doing what the Lord asks is our right duty and not something that obligates the Lord to us.
• Luke 17 verses 11-19: Jesus cleanses 10 lepers. Jesus is met by 10 lepers who ask Jesus / God, for healing. Jesus heals them all and tells them to show themselves to the priests, showing they were Jewish and doing what the OT stated to be brought back into right standing in the community. Only one leper returns to thank Jesus in complete humility. That person was actually a Samaritan, considered a half-breed in Jesus day. He would have been the lowest possible class of Jewish person.
• Luke 17 verses 20-37: A teaching on the coming Kingdom of the Lord. The Pharisees are now asking about the coming Kingdom promised in the OT. Jesus responds with very similar language as what is in Matthew 24. It is the differences in the language here that are the most intriguing.

Good Bible interpretation looks at the plain meaning of the text as the primary message or point of the text. The rest of this post is not challenging or changing the plain meaning of the text. It is an attempt to point to a subtle pattern the Holy Spirit may have embedded into the ordering of Jesus’ teaching recorded here in Luke 17. Let’s go step by step through this chapter:

Verses 1-4

Luk 17:1-4  Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!  It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.  And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. 

Here Jesus is talking to his disciples about offenses that would surely come to these “little ones”. This passage is a reference to young believers in Jesus not children necessarily. As a pattern, the Church is about to be born on the day of Pentecost when several thousand would come to faith (Acts 2) and begin the Church age. The main challenges to the early church came from the Jewish leaders and Pharisees. Think about the Apostle Paul before his conversion. The early Church was persecuted by the Jewish religious leadership. If this is a prophetic picture of the early Church age, then the offenders who are “cast into the sea” could be a parallel to the Jewish non-believers who in 70 A.D. were pushed from Jerusalem and Israel by the Romans and cast into the sea of Gentiles. Symbolically, the Holy Spirit used refences to the “sea” as the Gentile nations. The parallels to the Church age then would be

1. The Church is born after Jesus resurrection (Acts 2)
2. The young believers in Jesus are persecuted by the Jewish religious leaders and other non-believing Jews
3. The non-believing Jewish nation is cast into the sea of Gentile nations in 70 A.D.

Verses 5-6

Luk 17:5-6  And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.  And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. 

In verses 5+6 the disciples are asking to have their faith increase. As the Church was growing and expanding, God did showing many miraculous blessings on the early Church to validate their new belief and to build and encourage them for their difficult ministry. Think of the miracles of Peter and Paul in the early days of the Church, but also their suffering and persecution. God was building their faith! Now it is curious that in Luke’s account here of faith like a mustard seed, Jesus is saying that a sycamine tree could be plucked up and thrown into the sea. In Matthews account of faith being compared to a mustard seed we see a mountain being moved out of its place: “Mat 17:20  And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Why the difference in Luke’s account?

What is a sycamine tree? According to Strong’s Lexicon, “συκάμινος sykáminos, soo-kam’-ee-nos; of Hebrew origin (H8256) in imitation of G4809; a sycamore-fig tree:—sycamine tree.” It is a tree very similar to the fig tree, but the fruit is an imitation of a fig. It is hard to digest as a fruit used for food. The parallels to the Church age in these passages are:

1. The Church is being built in faith through the miracles and signs being performed by the early disciples.
2. Faith is compared not to a “mountain being moved” as in Matthew’s account, but to a sycamine tree being uprooted and cast into the sea. The sycamine is a “false fig” bearing tree. In the OT and NT, fig trees are tied as a symbol of the Jewish people. Good figs and bad figs are produced by these trees (Jeremiah 24:1-10). We see again a reference to the judgment that took place on the “bad figs”. In 70 A.D. the Jewish temple was destroyed and over 1 million Jewish people were killed by the Romans. The remainder of the Jewish people were expelled from Jerusalem. Their faith was judged as false just like the sycamine fruit.

Verses 7-10

Luk 17:7-10  But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?  And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?  Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. 

I believe that the Apostle Paul said it best in Ephesians ”

Eph 2:8-10  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast. 
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

This is a central Church age doctrine. Jesus provided a way for us to come into relationship with God. We are forever humbled by the grace shown to us sinners. Our work here on Earth are works that we do for the kingdom out of gratitude and not creating an obligation on God for anything.

1. This set of Jesus teachings foreshadows the believers in Christ during the Church age

Verses 11-19

Luk 17:11-19  And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:  And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.  And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.  And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,  And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.  And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.  And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. 

If the last set of verses pictured the Church age believers, this set of verses give us a glimpse of the Jewish people during the Church age. Here we see 10 lepers came to Jesus. Ten in the Bible can represent completion here on Earth, so symbolically, we have the 10 lepers representing the unclean people. We know who these people are because when they were healed, Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priests. These 10 are Jewish people. They encountered Christ who healed them, but they gave no thanks to him except the Samaritan leper. The most lowly of the Jewish people. He is told his faith made him whole. Prophetically during the Church age, the Jewish people in general do not accept Christ who is their Passover Lamb for their sins. They need cleansing, but only a fraction of them will humble themselves to accept Christ during the Church age. The parallels to the Church age are:

1. Church age believers are Jesus servants. We thankfully serve our Lord and savior out of gratitude for the grace we have been given
2. Church age Jewish non-believers in general do not give thanks for their Messiah who came and cleansed them as the Passover Lamb. Only a fraction during the Church age will have faith and believe and be saved.

Verses 20-37

Luk 17:20-37  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.  And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;  But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.  Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.  In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife.  Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.  Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. 

The Pharisees ask Jesus about when the Kingdom of God will come. In his answer in this teaching, Jesus parallels many of the same teachings on the Tribulation Period / 2nd coming of Christ which are found in Matthew 24. As I have noted in several posts, Matthews Gospel was written for the Jewish people to know Jesus as their Messiah. The Church is not in view in Matthew 24. It is a prophetic telling of the events at the end of the age. So statements like “For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day” parallels Matthew 24:27. It is the differences in Luke’s account that are interesting.

In Luke’s account the Son of Man is “revealed” vs coming in the clouds as Matthew records it. I believe this is a reference to what Paul calls the Day of Christ:

“The ascended Lord revealed this Day unto Paul for it is a day that has reference to the Church, the Body of Christ exclusively. Paul called it our “blessed hope” (Titus 2.13) and is the day which believers eagerly anticipate.”

https://doctrine.org/the-day-of-christ

If this is a reference to the Day of Christ as Paul taught it, then it is a reference to the Rapture of the Church!

Next, Luke says “..as it was in the days of Lot… the same day lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven..” It is interesting to note the teaching about Lot here is about how he was taken out before the destruction. The references here and in Matthew to Noah are pointing to the suddenness of the Judgement to come. Why was the Lot teaching added here to Luke’s account? I speculate that it represents the Church being taken before the Tribulation period begins!

The last highlighted set of verses are very intriguing. Again, Jesus uses the same language of Matthew 24:40-41. He takes one set of people and leaves another set. In the case of Matthew’s account, these verses fall after Matthew 24:28-29

Mat 24:28  For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 
The Coming of the Son of Man Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 

We can see from the underlined text, where the carcase (ptoma in Greek – lifeless / dead body), from the Tribulation period are, there eagles (aetos – sometimes translated vultures) will be gathered.

Now there is a slight difference in Luke’s account. Luke says “Wheresoever the body (soma – body is used which very well could mean a live body or person) is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. ” Here in Luke, the word translated body is a different Greek word than in Matthews account. It is a reference not to a dead person, but likely a live person! The eagles are gathered where people are taken and left on earth when they are living. I believe this is pointing to the Rapture of the Church whereas Matthews account the bodies are dead and the taken and left people are after the Tribulation in those days… See my prior posts on the New Heavens and New Earth for a more detailed description of the plan for the Jewish people at the end of the age.

Let’s look at these “Eagles” a a little more carefully. The word in Greek is aetos, and is only found in 5 places in the New Testament. Interestingly it is found exactly in this passage and Matthews parallel passage describing where either the dead or live bodies will be at the End of the Age. The other three places are in the Book of Revelation:

Rev 4:7  And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. 

Rev 8:13  And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound! 

Rev 12:14  And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 

The word translation here actually is trouble for Bible translators in that it is often noted that Eagles are not primarily carrion birds, especially human bodies. So they tend to believe the wrong word could have been chosen by the Holy Spirit (I don’t think so… In the three other cases of the word used in the New Testament it is referring to a heavenly creature. The heavenly creatures are depicted as flying in the air (because the root of aetos is “air”) and in multiple references (including Greek translations of the OT where it was used), the heavenly creature is acting upon the people of Earth. I’ll admit the plain meaning of the word may represent a flying eagle, but it appears to me with the Bible interpreting the Bible, the intended point is to show an eagle-like heavenly creature acting upon the people of the Earth. Where does that leave us? In the case of Luke, the “eagles” are taking people off the Earth. In the case of Matthew, the Eagles appear to be enacting judgment which leads to dead bodies (which is consistent with Revelation 6-18).

Summarizing the parallels in these verses we have:

1. A reference to the Days of Lot where Lot and his family are taken out suddenly and Sodom is then destroyed. This seems to parallel a Rapture of the Church
2. We have a reference to the Son of Man being revealed. The language used here Parallels the concept Paul calls the Day of Christ. The Day of Christ is the blessed hope of the Church when the Son of Man comes for his bride, the Church, at the Rapture.
3. Lastly, we have two groups of people, those taken and those left behind. In Luke’s account, the people are taken where the live bodies have been, by “eagles”. This is another reference to the Rapture of the Church. In Matthew’s account the bodies are dead, presumable caused by the “eagles”.

In conclusion, although the primary meaning of Jesus’ teaching in Luke 17 is just what he states, it is interesting to see a possible pattern to the Church age. The parallels are as follows in order:

1. The Church is born after Jesus resurrection (Acts 2)
2. The young believers in Jesus are persecuted by the Jewish religious leaders and other non-believing Jews
3. The non-believing Jewish nation is cast into the sea of Gentile nations in 70 A.D.
4. The Church is being built in faith through the miracles and signs being performed by the early disciples.
5. Faith is compared not to a “mountain being moved” as in Matthew’s account, but to a sycamine tree being uprooted and cast into the sea. The sycamine is a “false fig” bearing tree. In the OT and NT, fig trees are tied as a symbol of the Jewish people. Good figs and bad figs are produced by these trees (Jeremiah 24:1-10). We see again a reference to the judgment that took place on the “bad figs”. In 70 A.D. the Jewish temple was destroyed and over 1 million Jewish people were killed by the Romans. The remainder of the Jewish people were expelled from Jerusalem. Their faith was judged as false just like the sycamine fruit.
6. This set of Jesus teachings foreshadows the believers in Christ during the Church age
7. Church age believers are Jesus servants. We thankfully serve our Lord and Savior out of gratitude for the grace we have been given
8. Church age Jewish non-believers in general do not give thanks for their Messiah who came and cleansed them as the Passover Lamb. Only a fraction during the Church age will have faith and believe and be saved.
9. A reference to the Days of Lot, where Lot and his family are taken out suddenly and Sodom is then destroyed. This seems to parallel a Rapture of the Church
10. We have a reference to the Son of Man being revealed. The language used here Parallels the concept Paul calls the Day of Christ. The Day of Christ is the blessed hope of the Church when the Son of Man comes for his bride, the Church, at the Rapture.
11. Lastly, we have two groups of people, those taken and those left behind. In Luke’s account, the people are taken where the live bodies have been, by “eagles”. This is another reference to the Rapture of the Church. In Matthew’s account the bodies are dead, presumable caused by the “eagles”.

Coincidence?? You be the judge!