In Luke 17:1,2 Jesus showed that it is necessary that occasions of stumbling should come, but He hurls a warning against those through whom they come. It would be a more desirable fate, said He, if a millstone were hanged about a person's neck, and he be cast into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of the least of Christ's disciples to stumble. Everybody must be tested, but woe be to the man who throws a stumbling block in the way of the least of Christ's disciples.

In verses 3 and 4 the Lord gave us some teaching concerning the duty of forgiving a brother who sins against another. If one should sin, the one thus attacked should rebuke the one doing the wrong. Holiness demands that. God's holiness will not allow Him to countenance sin and wrongdoing in any form. Thus Christ tells His disciples to take the same attitude toward wrongdoing that God does. If one is living a holy life in the scriptural sense of the term, he will take the same attitude toward wrongdoing that God does. His seeing things from God's standpoint will cause him to rebuke the sinner in love and holiness. But love unites with holiness and forgives the offender when he repents. A person cannot forgive and forget a sin that is not repented of; but, when the guilty one actually repents and asks forgiveness, love immediately will forgive and forget all the past. If one should sin against another seven times in one day and should repent seven times and ask for forgiveness, the one sinned against must, in holiness and in love, grant the pardon.

The power of faith is set forth in verses 5 and 6. It takes faith and grace to forgive an offender, even when he repents. The Apostles realized that fact. Knowing their own failure to come to this standard, they asked the Lord to increase their faith. They needed greater faith than they had in order to follow out those instructions. You and I kind reader, need faith--such a faith as that mentioned by the Master.

If we have faith, genuine faith, though it be as small as the tiny mustard seed, we can and will rise to the height of forgiving love. To show the power of faith Jesus said that if we had real, true faith, though it be ever so small, we could say to a sycamine tree: "Be thou rooted up, and be thou planted in the sea," and it would be done. In a passage which is probably parallel to this one, though not spoken at the same time, Jesus also said that one could speak to a mountain that was at hand, commanding that it be moved to another place, and whatever he commanded would be done. There is power, mighty power, in trusting faith.

Our Lord emphasized the importance of works and showed that they are insufficient from the standpoint of merit and worth. This teaching is found in Luke 17:7-10. He illustrated what He was talking about by calling attention to the fact that no landowner whose servant had been working in the field all day, and who came in at its conclusion, would tell the servant to sit down while he himself waited upon him. Rather, he would instruct the servant to prepare the evening meal and, when it was made ready, the landlord would sit down and partake. Then the servant would eat afterwards. This was the social custom of the day. When the servant has thus labored all day and served the evening meal, does the landlord thank him for what he is doing? The answer is in the negative. The servant has done only that which is his duty. Thus when we have done everything that has been commanded us of the Lord, we have no merit or worth of our own to claim. We can only smite ourselves upon the breast and say that we are unprofitable servants.

Men are saved by the grace of God through faith (Eph. 2:8-10). They are saved for service and good works, "...which God afore prepared that we should walk in them." Nothing that we can do, say, or accomplish will add merit to our account so that we can say we deserve anything. Even after we are saved and in the strength of the Spirit of God accomplish great works, there is no merit in our own which we can claim. We can only say that we have done that which was our duty. All boasting, therefore, is excluded.

"And it came to pass, as they were on the way to Jerusalem, that he was passing along the borders of Samaria and Galilee" (Luke 17:11). After our Lord went to Jerusalem at the call of Martha and Mary and raised Lazarus from the dead, there was great opposition stirred up against Him on the part of the Pharisees. The raising of Lazarus was just a few weeks before the final Passover, at which Christ was crucified. When the Jerusalem authorities took such a hostile attitude toward Jesus, He went northward into the little village of Ephraim, mentioned in John, chapter 11. He stayed there for a while and then, in all probability, went northward through the borders of Samaria and Galilee and joined a band of pilgrims that was wending its way through the great Plain of Esdraelon to cross the river Jordan and then to go southward through Perea. They took this route in order to avoid going through Samaria, the province that lay between Galilee and Judea. While Jesus was on this journey, He engaged in the latter Perean ministry, which lasted for only a very short time. The writers of the other Gospels simply take up this last journey to Jerusalem when Jesus was beyond the Jordan--that is, just east of it and opposite Jericho, which city was on the west side of the river.

We are thankful that Luke gave us the account of our Lord's cleansing the ten lepers. Whenever a person was afflicted by that dread disease, he was ostracized from all society. He was never allowed to reunite even with his family until he was cured and the priest had pronounced him clean. Whenever a person had leprosy, he was commanded by the law to shout that he was unclean so that no one would come in contact with him. This was a wise precaution. As Jesus was approaching a certain village, there were ten men who were afflicted by this awful disease. While Jesus and His group were afar off, they lifted up their voices saying: "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us" (Luke 17:13). Immediately He said that they should go and show themselves to the priests.

As they were going to carry out His instructions, they were miraculously healed of their leprosy by the Lord Jesus Christ. When this miracle was wrought, one of them recognized the fact that he had been completely healed. He immediately turned and went back to thank Jesus for what He had done for him. The man who did this was a Samaritan, a man who was looked down upon and despised by the Jews. When he came to Jesus, he knelt before Him and was very profuse in his thanks. Jesus spoke to him, saying, "Were not the ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 Were there none found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger?" (17:17,18).

We do not know where these nine men went, nor what occurred to them afterwards. All we know is that they were cured, and that they did not return to give thanks for their cleansing!

The Samaritan who did return to give thanks to God was told by the Lord Jesus that his faith had made him whole. One can take hold of the blessing's of God only by faith. May our faith be strengthened and increased!

Certain of the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come. In reply the Lord stated: "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 neither shall they say, Lo, here! or There! for lo, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20d, 21).

It is rather difficult for us to understand what was in the mind of the inquirers regarding the kingdom, that is, the phase of the kingdom which they had in mind. As we see by careful study of the parables of the kingdom, found in Matthew, chapter 13, and parallel passages, the expression, kingdom of heaven, or kingdom of God, there refers to what we might term Christendom, the spiritual phase of the kingdom. A careful study of the Scriptures reveals also that the expression, kingdom of God, in the New Testament refers to that phase of it that will be ushered in when the Lord Jesus returns in glory and power, lifts the curse, establishes the throne of David, and reigns over the earth for a thousand years. Which of these meanings did the Pharisees have in mind? Though we cannot be dogmatic as to what their thought was, it is quite probable that they had the glorious outward manifestation of the kingdom in view: that is, that which will be established upon earth when the glory of God shall encircle the earth as the waters cover the sea.

When the time arrives for Christ to come back to this earth and establish His visible kingdom, people will not be able to see His coming and observe the different developments. When He leaves heaven, He will come with all swiftness, speed, and power, and He will slay the Antichrist, and establish His kingdom immediately. This is why He said the kingdom of God does not come by observation.

The marginal reading in the American Standard Version (issued in 1901) of the phrase, "within you," is, "in the midst of you." This rendering seems the more probable one. Suddenly and catastrophically the kingdom of God and its outward manifestation will be in the midst of people who will be here upon the earth at that time.

The rapture of the believers is discussed in verses 22-27 of this passage. Our Lord told the disciples that the time would come when they would desire to see one of the days of the Son of man but would not see it. He constantly, in the last months of His earthly ministry, told the disciples that He was going away. Naturally this made their hearts sad. They did not want to be denied the privilege of association with Him. After He would go away, said He, they would desire one of the days such as those when He was with them, but, when He would go away, He would not come back until the end of the age.

Their intense desire to see Him return might be the occasion of their being misled by someone, who, guided by speculation and guessing, might say that He has come back and declare: "Lo, there! Lo, here!" By these ejaculatory statements they would say that Jesus has come back, and that He is at a certain place. The Lord warned His disciples against accepting such statements as these. He will not come back in secrecy, but visibly, "for as the lightning, when it lighteneth out of the one part under the heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall the Son of man be in his day" (Luke 17:24). Then, our Lord illustrated His coming and the things that will exist at that time by two Old Testament cases. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man. In Noah's day practically everyone was engaged in pursuits of life and pleasure and paid no attention to Noah, the preacher of righteousness. Suddenly the day arrived when the rain began to descend from heaven and the Flood came to destroy civilization and the human family. In a manner analogous to this, at the time when Christ comes for His saints, men will be engaged in earthly pursuits and pleasures. The Son of man will come at a time when they expect Him not. Again, the Lord illustrated this principle by the case of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The people of those doomed cities were grossly engaged in earthly pursuits until the day when Lot and his family left the city--immediately preceding the raining of fire and brimstone upon them for their destruction. Thus these cities were destroyed through the direct intervention of God.

Just as in the case of Noah and of Lot, who escaped, the judgments that fell upon their doomed civilization, so shall it be when the Son of man is revealed from heaven. But what is meant by His being revealed? Is the Lord talking about His coming for His saints before the Tribulation, or His coming with His saints at the conclusion of the Tribulation? The word revelation refers to both phases of His second coming. In certain passages it refers undoubtedly to the rapture of the saints before the Tribulation. But in other connections it refers to the glorious coming of the Lord at the end of the Tribulation. The facts of each context must determine its significance in a given case.

When we look at the destruction that will be wrought during the Tribulation, and when we see the scriptural picture of the world at the very end of the Tribulation, we know that the people of the world will not be eating and drinking, marrying, giving in marriage, buying and selling toward the close of the Tribulation. On the other hand, they will be crying to the rocks and to the mountains to fall upon them and to hide them from the face of Him who sits upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath has come. When we see these facts, then we know that the coming of the Son of man, His revelation, of which Jesus spoke, is not the glorious revelation at the end of the Tribulation. It must be His coming for His saints before the Tribulation. Thus all the facts point to this interpretation. In Luke 17:32-37, therefore, the rapture of the church is in view.