So Shall It Be

And we're going to read from verse 25 to 30. Luke chapter 17, verse 25 to 30. And the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking and he's telling his disciples about what lies ahead. He says, but first must he suffer many things and be rejected of this generation.

And as it was in the days of Noah, 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 Noah 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.

Amen. May the Lord bless to us this reading from his word. We have in these recent studies been realising how much the disciples struggled to grasp the true nature and meaning of Christ's kingdom. It's a kingdom of faith. It's a spiritual kingdom, a mystical kingdom. It is an internal kingdom, a kingdom in the heart.

And I guess that we have come to understand that in these days. we realise that. But let us not minimise the difficulty that the apostles had, the disciples at the time, had in realising these things. They had learned to anticipate this glorious time when Israel would be restored and God would vindicate his people. And this is what yet they looked forward to. So the Lord has to disabuse them of this situation, this view.

The disciples, and it's always harder, is it not, when we want something to be. The disciples wanted it to be physical. They probably dismissed many of the things that the Lord was saying to them that leaned into the fact that it was a spiritual kingdom. They wanted it to be physical. They wanted it to be tangible and external. And they wanted a part of the glory that would come with it and attach to it, that would follow the establishment of the Messiah's kingdom on earth.

However, the kingdom Christ spoke of, that which was within a man and within a woman, would, he said, come without observation. It was secret. It was without concrete physical signs. No one can look at another person and know that that person is in the kingdom.

Indeed, we have to take it for granted, if I can use that phrase, we have to take a testimony on face value because no one can look at another man's heart There are so many examples of people that have had an outward profession of faith, and yet in time it has been revealed that these people have been living hypocritical lives. They've been living corrupt lives. They've been living double lives because they find it useful to be a part of the observable kingdom of Christ, the outward church, if you like. It can be a very good disguise for people who want to follow their own lusts and pleasures.

But there would be no observation of this kingdom. Nor, indeed, was it so attractive as a kingdom of earthly glory, at least not to the flesh. When properly understood, it would be hardship, it would include hardship, it would include rejection, it would include persecution, particularly for the apostles. And the Lord told his disciples, the days will come when I will be gone from you and you'll wish you were back here, able to enjoy my immediate presence.

The kingdom of God or the kingdom of Christ, it's the same thing. Indeed, the kingdom of heaven. The phrases are used synonymously. They're used interchangeably in the New Testament. It's a kingdom of faith. It's formed in a man's heart. It is quickening, it is powerful, it is lively, it is spiritual. It's a spiritual work of grace and it unites us to Christ and it unites us to each other in the body of Christ. It is God's kingdom for he has chosen its citizens in eternal election, those individuals who comprise that kingdom. It is Christ's kingdom because he has secured its existence and he is the head of the body and its government is upon his shoulders.

But here the Lord Jesus tells his disciples one principle characteristic of this kingdom. One principal thing that needed to happen prior to the full manifestation of this kingdom. He says the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected of this generation. So he's speaking particularly of the Jews in this moment, although of course we know that those who are outside of that kingdom live their whole lives rejecting the Lord Jesus. But he's speaking about the kingdom of the Jews in this instance. and the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected. Here once again, the Lord is informing his disciples of the certainty of his suffering and death.

You know, we must never think that Christ was in some way overtaken by events or that his death and resurrection was a sort of plan B because he was rejected by the Jews. There is a teaching abroad in these days, they call it dispensationalism, or sometimes it has a broader, more fanciful name than that, premillennial dispensationalism. but there are teachings integral to that which says that it was because the Lord Jesus Christ was rejected and went to the cross that God worked out another way of salvation. Well, that's not at all what we understand by the Saviour's work on the cross. It always was designed and intended in this way.

And here is the Lord telling us and his disciples once again. that he would be rejected by the Jews and he must suffer much. He knew full well he was about to suffer and be rejected, indeed that his death was a prerequisite for the full revelation of his kingdom and Christ embraced what was about to happen. we've said it in previous weeks, he was literally on his way in the road to Jerusalem at this very moment for that very purpose. Knowing the suffering which lay ahead, the beating, the scourging, the mocking, and ultimately the most painful and disgraceful death that man could devise.

Let us not pass by this lightly. Think for a moment what that must have been like. Remember, the Saviour was a man like us, and he must have lain in the darkness in these nights as he anticipated his journey up to Jerusalem, thinking about what lay ahead.

One of the great blessings that we have as men and women of limited knowledge and understanding is that we don't know what tomorrow will bring. If we knew what tomorrow would bring we would either spend all of today worrying about it or else we would ignore today because we were eagerly looking forward to it. The Lord has wisely hidden the future from us but the Lord Jesus Christ knew exactly what he would have to suffer.

He was a man without sin yet he knew what lay ahead. He knew that there would be glory that would follow, yet suffer he would in his body, in his nerves, in his physical frame, and he would suffer terribly. I don't know, was it a month? that he had, was it two weeks? I don't know how long it would take to make that journey and fulfil the various things that he had to do.

These are very full days as we will discover in the next few weeks as we continue on this series, God willing. And yet, for the love of his bride, the Saviour pressed onward, pressed forward, knowing what he must endure for our sakes. He says in John 15 verse 13, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And I hope that in our lives we have all known love of some kind or another, but there's no greater love experienced by the Lord's people than the knowledge that the Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. and it was a must. He tells the disciples that he must suffer many things.

This was the way of salvation. Blood atonement, blood redemption is a must. Some writers have asked, could not the Lord, the Lord God, the triune God, the God all-powerful, the God omniscient have conceived, have formed another way? Could there not have been in the vast majesty of God's knowledge another way found, devised in order to secure the same end? Well, here Christ tells us he must. Is that must because this would fulfil God's plan? Or is it must because there was no other way? This was not just the chosen way, it was the only way. It was God's greater glory that would be secured by this way and therefore it was a must. He must suffer and be rejected of this generation. Christ would be rejected by the Jews because his kingdom was not the sort of kingdom that they wanted. He would be handed over to the Romans and he would be crucified.

However, by this means, the salvation of his people would be accomplished. By the shedding of blood, there would be remission for sins. By this means, the covenant of grace would be fulfilled. By this means, Christ would be glorified and honoured by his Father, raised up for our justification and to draw his people to himself. How thankful we should be that Jesus went to the cross, faced his persecutors and died for you and for me. Now the Lord Jesus continues his explanation to the disciples concerning these days of the Son of Man.

And he likens them to the days of Noah and to the days of Lot These Old Testament saints lived through terrible times of sin and immorality. And I know that we all think we are living in the worst days the world has ever known, so far as sin is concerned. But let us not imagine our modern society has a monopoly on wickedness. The days of Noah and the days of Lot were days of rich excess. and sensual indulgence and sexual indulgence and evil abounded. We're told that they did eat and they drank, not for the maintenance of the body but immoderately and for pleasure.

They denied the claims of God and the rights that God had on them as his creation. They ignored the warnings of judgment from God's preacher of righteousness amongst them, who warned of the flood by the boat that he built. Where ought to have been a warning, they made a cause for mockery. They married and were given in marriage, The posterity of Seth and the seed of Cain became mixed and joined together.

Those who professed to know God lived as though his word was vain. They compromised the truth, lived for themselves and pursued the pleasures of sin. There was no difference between the men and women of the world and those men and women who professed to follow Christ. These things repeat themselves and they have done all through the history of mankind in his fallen state and the history of sin.

Noah preached righteousness all the days that he built the ark, all the days of the building of the ark until it was completed. till it was filled up with the animals that would come, and until God shut the door. And then judgment fell, and the Lord destroyed all who were outside the ark. Peter tells us in 2 Peter 2, And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. And likewise, the Lord, likewise says the Lord, as in the days of Lot, as in the days of Noah, so in the days of Lot. And here he adds to the eating and drinking, he adds that the people of that age, those cities of the plain, as they are called, Sodom, Gomorrah, and others.

They bought and they sold. They planted and they builded. You know, that could be just today. That's what the whole of our society is geared up to do. This was a trading society. Men and women became rich. They planted, they built, expecting to live to enjoy the fruit of their labour. but they ignored God and they forgot God. There's nothing wrong with buying and selling and planting and building, but not at the exclusion of him who bestows every good and perfect gift. They replaced God with their own self-sufficiency until the day God's wrath fell on them by means of fire and brimstone.

It says in Genesis 19 verse 24, You know, that's pretty emphatic. The Lord reigned upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. There's no question where it came from. This was no ordinary natural judgment. Like the flood, it was sent by God and it brought wrath and destruction upon everyone upon whom it came. Peter again tells us that these are examples for all men and women who choose to live ungodly lives in this world.

And the purpose of the examples that the Lord gave to his disciples Well, the Lord was saying that his day shall be like theirs, shall be like Noah's, shall be like Lot. It comes with judgment. That was true with Jerusalem when it was raised to the ground in A.D. 70. It will be true of the whole world when the great and terrible day of the Lord comes at the end of time.

And yet it is also the case for every individual soul that dies and enters hell without the Saviour. I often wonder what must be the agony of those who die outside of Christ and like the rich man open their eyes in hell being in torment. Noah's Ark and the angel who delivered Lot out of Sodom into the little city, Zohar. They're pictures of Christ and his salvation.

The day of the Lord will bring judgment upon all who are outside of Christ, all who fail to follow the Lord. There's a warning in the Gospel, a warning of punishment for sin against all who will not come to Christ for salvation. Sin demands judgment and holiness will apply justice with the curse and condemnation of God's perfect holy law. The day of the Lord will declare whose are his. who are in his kingdom and who are left outside his kingdom, who are subject to God's wrath and who are the beneficiaries of his grace.

How privileged we are to know the gospel of God's free, sovereign grace. How blessed to believe that the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. as it was in the day of Noah, as it was in the day of Lot, so there is a day of accountability coming for this world. And yet the Gospel day is still extended, that men and women might yet be saved. Christ went to the cross to uphold the justice of God and secure the mercy of God. May we all find grace to trust in him by whom salvation comes. Amen.

So Shall It Be

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So Shall It Be

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