Second Coming · Sudden as lightning; as the days of Noah

Luke 17:22-37

Jesus · ~30 AD · Status: Future · Confidence: 60%
“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.”
King James Version · the opening — all 16 verses are below

Jesus describes His day as sudden and universally visible like lightning, coming upon an unprepared world as in the days of Noah and Lot.

Read the whole passage — all 16 verses (KJV)

17:22And 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 seeit.

17:23And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.

17:24For 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.

17:25But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.

17:26And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

17:27They 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.

17:28Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;

17:29But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

17:30Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

17:31In 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.

17:32Remember Lot’s wife.

17:33Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

17:34I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.

17:35Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

17:36Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

17:37And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

Fulfillment References

Matthew 24:27-39 Genesis 7:6-23 Genesis 19:24-25 2 Peter 3:10

How Traditions Read This Prophecy

Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalThe day of the one Lord Jesus comes suddenly and visibly; apostolic believers live ready, not as the unprepared world.
JewishThe Noah and Lot typology of sudden judgment echoes Jewish use of the flood and Sodom as paradigms of the Day of the LORD.
CatholicThe suddenness and universality of the Lord's day, urging readiness and warning against worldly complacency.
ProtestantChrist's coming will be sudden, visible, and unexpected like lightning; the Noah/Lot pattern warns the complacent.
OrthodoxThe unexpected, glorious day of the Son of Man, calling for spiritual wakefulness.
DispensationalThe visible return after the tribulation; the 'taken and left' imagery is variously applied to judgment or to the rapture.
AcademicLukan apocalyptic with distinctive Lot material; scholars discuss the 'taken/left' sayings and Parousia suddenness.
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