< Luke 17 >

Jesus exhorted his disciples and warned them to care for his “little ones”, to forgive fellow disciples when they repent however many times they offend, and to keep his commandments, doing their duty to the Lord.

It could be thought that Jesus didn’t respond to the apostles’ request of increasing their faith, but Jesus commonly is recorded as responding indirectly to requests Matthew 18:1-4Matthew 18:1-4XWaiting for response & Matthew 24:3-51.Matthew 24:3-51XWaiting for response

The first part to Jesus’ response is affirmation. By saying that if they just had faith the size of a mustard seed ( a very small seed) they could do marvellous things, he is encouraging them that their desire for faith is a good course of action v.6.Luke 17:6XWaiting for response With the gift of the Holy Spirit, faith would be the last ingredient needed to do be able to do wonderful miracles.

In the second part to Jesus’ response, he uses an illustrative example of a particular kind of attitude. One who diligently works for his master, overcoming any trials, all the while maintaining the perspective that he is not doing it for a reward, but because it is the right thing to do.

Likewise we are in a position alienated from God because of sin. The things we do for God should not be for the reward, but because it’s the right thing to do. Serving God in this way, through thick and thin, will no doubt increase our faith.

Trials certainly will come Hebrews 12:5-6,Hebrews 12:5-6XWaiting for response Psalm 94:12,Psalm 94:12XWaiting for response Revelation 3:19Revelation 3:19XWaiting for response but the instruction is to persevere.

Our master is Jesus but to serve him, we are to serve each other John 13:14-15,John 13:14-15XWaiting for response Matthew 25:40Matthew 25:40XWaiting for response

“I trow not” (I think not) is not in the original.

We must overcome our own human nature to obey Jesus in these matters, and an incident involving the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus highlights one of the many faults of our nature - ingratitude. Significantly, the one leper who did express his thankfulness was a Samaritan, a Gentile, and when the Jews rejected his teaching it was Gentiles who willingly accepted salvation, “giving glory to God”.

Jesus preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the Pharisees, who knew that this was the kingdom of Israel restored as in the days of king David, asked when it would come.v.20Luke 17:20XWaiting for response It will come when the Lord Jesus returns from heaven and such tremendous events will take place that there will be no doubt that it has been established in the land of Israel. Jesus therefore taught his disciples that they should not be deceived by declarations in the coming years when: “they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them”.v.23Luke 17:23XWaiting for response The coming of the Son of man would be like lightning in the east which shines over all the land.v.24Luke 17:24XWaiting for response When the kingdom of God comes they will say: “The kingdom of God is among you”.v.21Luke 17:21XWaiting for response Unfortunately, “among you” was translated as “within you” which has been taken by many to mean that the kingdom of God is within disciples’ hearts! But it is not possible to have a kingdom consisting of a king, people, territory, etc., in one’s heart. People who are misled in this way are forced to deny the true nature of the kingdom of God which will be an actual kingdom in the promised land with Jesus, the King of the Jews, ruling over Israel assisted by his faithful disciples raised from the dead.

The kingdom was to come a long time in the future from the day Jesus spoke these words. First he was to suffer crucifixion and death, being rejected of that generation,v.25Luke 17:25XWaiting for response and that generation of Jews was in turn to suffer at the hands of the Roman legions who would destroy their cities and carry them away captive as slaves throughout their empire. Therefore Jesus warned his disciples to save themselves in this catastrophe by fleeing into the mountains of Judea. They would not have time to go into their homes to collect their belongings, even if they were very close by, on the flat roof or in the field.v.31Luke 17:31XWaiting for response They would therefore have to be alert every day and ready to flee at a moment’s notice, so Jesus gave them signs to watch for, and these terrifying events occurred in A.D.70. Most of the Jews, of course, would not know the signs or they would ignore them and Jesus said it would be like the days of Noah v.26Luke 17:26XWaiting for response when people carried on their normal activities until the very day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came.v.27Luke 17:27XWaiting for response Those who were ignorant of Jesus’ warnings would be totally unaware of what was about to happen, but faithful disciples would watch the signs of the times and be ready and vigilant to save themselves. We have a similar situation today when the signs of the coming of Christ are so clear, but most people are ignorant of Jesus’ teaching and carry on their normal activities with no thought of what is about to happen in the earth. Faithful disciples, however, study the word of God, learn the signs of the times, observe political events as the world gets ever closer to the situation described by the prophets of the LORD, and prepare themselves for the coming of Christ so they are not caught unawares.