Luke 17:22

Luk_17:22-24

One of the days of the Son of Man

Mistaken desires for Jesus

I.

JESUS FORESHADOWS A CHANGE OF FEELING ON THE PART OF HIS DISCIPLES IN REFERENCE TO HIS APPEARING. They will desire to see one day a visible appearance of the Son of Man. If you have the spirit of Jesus, if He has come to you so that you know Him to be your Saviour and Friend, you cannot be free from such changes of feeling in reference to Him. No. There come to you times in which you think, Surely my life in Christ is not pouring on me so clearly and warmly as it might do. You are inclined to murmur out such plaints as, I cannot see His face, though I have eagerly looked for it; waiting to catch some beams of the wondrous glory resting on it, and be able to say, It is the Lord. I want to feel His strong hand holding me up; but I do not grasp it, though I stretch out mine before, behind, on each side. My prayer this morning was that I might find to-day to be a day for a personal and new contact with Jesus. So there is a sense in which your feeling in reference to Him is somewhat changed. The day has come when ye desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man.

II. JESUS FORESHADOWS HERE THE FAILURE OF SUCH DESIRES FOR HIS APPEARING. Ye shall not see it. He does not want His people to indulge in vain dreamy longings. He does not want to frustrate hopes that at the bottom might express loyalty to Him, but are mistaken as to the way in which their purport is to be achieved. He could not grant that which would not be for the honour of God; that which would be to the hurt of those who desired only one day of the Son of Man.

III. JESUS FORESHADOWS HERE THAT THERE WILL BE FALSE ANNOUNCEMENTS MADE IN REFERENCE TO HIS APPEARING. They shall say to you, See here! or see there! From history we find that there has hardly ever been a time of special trouble in the world, hardly ever a time of formality and deadness in the Church, but men have risen up to declare that the Son of Man was just coming, and that plans should be adopted to meet Him. But that is not the kind of expectation I want to warn you against; it is not the one that you are most in danger of succumbing to. But is there not a tendency to gather religious meetings under the idea that because you thus gather together Jesus will manifest Himself? Is there not a tendency to believe that, if you can get up a great organization to carry out a Christian purpose, obtain plenty of money, and seem to succeed outwardly, Jesus is there? Is that not saying, See here, see there? Against all that sort of thing His words ate meant to bear. You may gather meetings; you dont necessarily gather with Christ. You may get wealth to support your efforts; that is not a proof that Christ approves them. You may find numbers to sustain certain plans; that is no pledge, on the part of those numbers, that they are moving under the leading of Christ. You must learn that there is no power of life in those things by themselves. I do not despise meetings, wealth, or numbers. There is a certain value to be attached to them; but that value is just equivalent to any number of cyphers, good for something when you put one, two, or other numeral before them. So gather all kinds of people, money, and meetings; but until you put Christ into them they are of no real value. It is the power of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus that is to be desired, not the power of external agencies. Pray that your heart may be brought more and more into sympathy with His, and that you may more and more clearly know that you are living on the Son of God by faith. Then you will not need anybody to point out the Son of Man to you when He comes. You do not need anybody to tell you that there is light in this place--you know it; and when Christ appears, His servants will know it without going by the reports of others, without following any one. We shall know it by the power He Himself will exert. Meantime we have to walk by faith, and not by sight. (D. G. Watt, M. A.)

And why not

While the Lord was yet on earth the days of the Son of Man were but lightly esteemed. The Pharisees spoke of them with a sneer, and demanded when the kingdom of God should come. Is this the coming of Thy promised kingdom? Are these fishermen and peasants Thy courtiers? Are these the days for which prophets and kings waited so long? Yes, Jesus tells them, these are the very days. The kingdom of God is set up within mens hearts, and is among you even now; and the time will come when you will wish for these days back again, and even those who best appreciate them shall ere long confess that they thought too little of them, and sigh in their hearts for their return.

1. We are bad judges of our present experiences.

2. We seldom value our mercies till we lose them.

I. Consider THE IMMEDIATE INTERPRETATION of the text.

1. Our Lord meant that His disciples would look back regretfully upon the days when He was with them. In a short time His words were true enough, for sorrows came thick and threefold. At first they began to preach with uncommon vigour, and the Spirit of God was upon them. But by and by the love of many waxed cold, and their first zeal declined; persecution increased in its intensity, and the timid shrank away from them; evil doers and evil teachers came into the Church; heresies and schisms began to divide the body of Christ, and dark days of lukewarmness and halfheartedness covered them.

2. These disciples would look forward sometimes with anxious expectation. If we cannot go back, they would say, Oh that He would hurry on and quickly bring us the predicted era of triumph and joy. Oh for one of the days of the Son of Man.

II. AN ADAPTED INTERPRETATION SUITABLE TO BELIEVERS AT THIS PRESENT MOMENT.

1. Days of holy fellowship with Jesus may pass away to our deep sorrow. While the Beloved is with you, hold Him, and do not let Him go. He will abide if you are but eager for His company.

2. Days of delightful fellowship with one another. Let us labour in love, zeal, humility; for a continuance of these all our life long.

3. Days of abundant life and power in the Church.

III. A MEANING ADAPTED TO THE UNCONVERTED. When on your deathbed you will be willing to give all you possess to he able once again to hear the voice of Gods minister proclaiming pardon through the blood of Jesus. Emotions formerly quenched will not come back; you resisted the Spirit, and He will leave you to yourself; and yet there will be enough, perhaps, of conscience left to make you wish you could again feel as when almost persuaded to be a Christian. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Days of holy privileges

Two kinds and sets of days are here contrasted: coming days and days that are now. The general thought is very natural and very human. It might be said to almost any one at certain periods of life, that he will one day be looking back upon that period wiG, regretful fondness, even though it may not be entirely bright or altogether enjoyable while it is passing. Days of childhood, though many restrictions have fettered, and many faults may have saddened them; days of school life, though often complained of at the time as days of burdensome lessons, arbitrary rules, and irritating punishments; days of early struggle, and hope long deferred, in the practice of a profession; days of uncertain health or variable spirits, while opinion, faith, and habit, are anxiously shaping themselves, and the aspects and prospects of life are in many ways both gloomy and formidable; of all these, and many other examples might be added to them, it might yet be said with great truth by an experienced looker-on to the person passing through them: Days will come when ye will be desiring to see one of these days over again, and when, alas, you shall not see it! Yes, you may well prize, while you have them, the days that are now, though they may be very far from perfect, either in opportunity or in circumstance; for assuredly you will one day be desiring one of them back--no tears and no prayers of yours will be of any avail to recall it. When our Lord said here to His disciples: The days will come when ye will desire to see one of these days--days of the Son of Man, He calls them--and ye shall not see it, there was a solemnity and a pathos in the prediction far beyond the universal experience of which we have spoken. There was much to make the days of that time far from enjoyable. They were days of unrest; they were days of toil; they were days of anxiety; they were days also of perplexity and bewilderment in spiritual things. They were very slowly and very intermittently realizing very elementary conceptions. They had no such hold of great hopes or great faiths as might have made their heaven all brightness, whatever their earth might be. They were always disappointing their Master by some expression which betrayed ignorance, or by some proposal which threatened inconsistency, which must have made, we should have thought, the very memory of those days of the Son of Man a bitterness rather than a comfort. Yet it is quite plain that our Lord looked upon those as in some sense happy days for them. The days will come when ye will desire to see one of them, and sorrow because ye cannot. Can ye make the children of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? And in that last clause He touches the one point, which makes those happy days for them, whatsoever their drawbacks, and whatsoever their discomforts; it was the personal presence of the loved and trusted Lord. In that one respect they would be losers even by the accomplishment of redemption. A little while, He said, as the end drew on, a little while, and ye shall not see Me, and verily I say unto you, that then ye shall weep and lament, while the world is rejoicing, then ye shall be sorrowful, though at last your sorrow shall be turned into joy. Yes; when He speaks of a sorrow in separation,and then of a joy growing out of it, He combines in a wonderful and a merciful way the natural and the spiritual, recognizes the difficulty of rising into the higher heaven of faith, and yet points us thither for the one real and one abiding satisfaction. We have had no such personal experiences as these which the text tells of--none of those companyings with Jesus, as He went in and out among the disciples. It is only from afar off that we can contemplate that living companionship. It is only by a remote emulation that we can desire one of those days of the Son of Man. In the hope of catching some distant ray of that glory travellers have sometimes sought the land of Christs earthly sojourn, if so be they might live themselves back into the days of His ministry and of His humanity. But others, with a truer and a deeper insight, have sought their inspiration in the holy Gospels, have read and pondered those four sacred biographies till they could see and hear Him in them, without those distractions of surrounding imagery and scenery which can but divert the soul from that heavenlier wisdom. He is risen; He is not here. It is not in hallowed ground, any more than in imaginative dreaming, that we shall find, in this far-off century of the gospel, the best and most life-like conception of what the text calls the days of the Son of Man. Rather shall we seek to frame our idea of them--first, in the most human and personal contact with such wants and woes as He came to seek out and to minister to; and, secondly, in the diligent study and imitation, so far as we may, of those characteristics and those ministries which, in our own day and generation, make the nearest approach, however distant it must be, to the character and ministry below of the Divine Son Himself. To acquaint ourselves, not as unconcerned hearers, but as sorrowing sympathizers, with the actual condition at our very doors of the toilers and sufferers by whose labour--alas! too often by whose sacrifice--the wealth and luxury, nay, the comforts and conveniences of the higher English life, are made what they are; not to shrink from the contemplation with a sentimental repugnance, but to compel ourselves to take notice of it, and to encourage by word and deed, by giving and feeling, all the serious enterprises by which English manliness, and English philanthropy, and English Christianity, late or early seek and strive to grapple with it. Thus, on the one side, we shall be realizing the days of the Son of Man. For this was the earth which He came to save, and this was the man whom He took upon Him to deliver. True, He did not become Himself the denizen of an overgrown city. He did not take our flesh in the midst of that swarming hive of humanity, imperial Rome. He did not wait for that latest age which should develop into its gigantic proportions such a metropolis as this London. But no monstrous growth and no uttermost corruption was out of the ken and scope of His incarnation. The days of the Son of Man are wherever Christ and misery stand face to face. Whosoever tries to bring Jesus Christ into one lodging-house or one alley of sinning, suffering London, is doing more to realize to himself, and to others, the ministry of the Saviour, than if He tried to track His earthly footsteps through Palestine, or to picture in vivid imagination the very occupations and employments of the days of His flesh. (Dean Vaughan.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 17:22-25. The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man — One day of mercy, or one day wherein you might converse with me, as you do now. Having spoken to the Pharisees, he now addressed his disciples, and in the hearing of the Pharisees prophesied concerning the destruction of the Jewish state, whose constitution, both religious and civil, was the chief obstacle to the erection of his kingdom; for the attachment which the Jews had to their constitution was the spring of all their opposition to Christianity, and of their cruelty to its abetters. A prediction of this nature, delivered as the continuation of his answer to the Pharisees, who desired to know when Messiah’s kingdom should come, plainly signified, that it would first become conspicuous in the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth. But because love and compassion were eminent parts of our Lord’s character, he spake of that dreadful catastrophe in such a manner as might be most profitable to his hearers. He told them, first of all, that they and the whole nation should be in the greatest distress before the destruction of their constitution, and the full establishment of Messiah’s kingdom; and that they should passionately wish for Messiah’s personal presence to comfort them under their afflictions, but should not be favoured with it. Next he cautioned them against the deceivers which, in that time of universal distress, would arise, pretending to be the Messiah, and promising to deliver the people from the powers which oppressed them. He told them, that these deceivers would lurk a while in private, till, by the diligence of their emissaries spreading abroad their fame, and exhorting the people to go out to them, they had gathered a force sufficient to support them. They shall say to you, See here, or see there; go not after them — Do not go forth to them, nor follow them, for by this mark you shall know them to be deceivers. For as the lightning, &c., shall the Son of man be in his day — So manifest, so swift, so wide, so irresistible, so awful in its consequences shall his coming be. He shall come, indeed, but in a manner very different from that in which the generality of this people expect him, even to execute a sudden and unavoidable destruction upon his enemies, and establish his religion and government in a great part of the world. See notes on Mat 24:23-27. But first he must suffer many things — See on Mat 16:21; Mar 8:31; Mar 9:31; Mar 10:33.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22-37. The discourse to his disciples, which follows, is evidently added by Luke rather from analogy in the subject than from sameness of time. As Jesus had described to the Pharisees his present and internal kingdom, so now he describes to his disciples his coming and eternal kingdom. It is difficult to say whether or not this entire passage unto his disciples is a fragmentary sketch by a fourth hand in distinction to the three given in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, of the discourse on Mount Olivet, or whether it be a separate discourse. Our own view (the reason for which will appear as we progress) is, that 22-30 is complete in itself; is upon one subject; and was addressed to his disciples subsequently to, and in reference to, his words above to the Pharisees. The passage 31-37 is obviously a part of the discourse on Olivet, as will appear in our notes upon it. We divide, therefore, the whole passage to the disciples into these two parts.

The external kingdom (at the advent) explained to the disciples, Luk_17:22-30.

As Jesus had to the Pharisees checked all their Lo, heres and Lo, theres by referring the kingdom to the inner man, the disciples seem on a late occasion to have questioned him whether there was no external kingdom and coming.

Jesus replies, (Luk_17:22-25,) that after his departure their intense desire for his presence may dispose them to believe in a Jesus disclosing himself on earth; but his final coming will be lightning-like from heaven; but not in the present generation, which embraces only his advent of suffering. But (Luk_17:27-30) that advent, when it did come, would be as sudden as the flood, and as the doom of Sodom. The disciples thus are now taught the difference between the internal and the external coming and kingdom. The former is now; the latter in a coming generation.

22. The days will come—After his ascension the national commotions, the Roman invasion, the anarchy and the downfall of the state are to ensue. Deceivers, false prophets, and false Christs should appear. How would those disciples look back to those halcyon days when the blessed Jesus was protecting them by his present divinity, and guiding them, by his infallible counsel, into the paths of truth and safety.

One of the days—Trials may come when, should Jesus for but one day revisit them, they would esteem it a most wondrous happiness. So it is said that the Venetians, when their power declined, used to recall the name of one of their most victorious admirals in the words, “O for one day of brave old Dandolo!” The connection here shows that the days of the Son of man, unlike the same words in Luk_17:26, refer to the days of the first advent.

Ye shall not see it— What is this but a clear and decisive intimation that the second coming of the Son of man would not take place in their day?

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

OUR LORD’S SECOND COMING

Luk 17:22; Luk 18:8. “And He said to the disciples, The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and shall not see it.” Having answered the captious question of those critical Pharisees, informing them that the kingdom of God, which comes by the silent, invisible work of the Holy Ghost in the heart, is already among them, though in their gross spiritual blindness they are utterly unapprehensive of the fact, He now turns and addresses His disciples with reference to Himself, stating to them that the days will soon come when they will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man and shall not see it. As this is only about eight or nine days before His crucifixion, He notifies them that, having been with them three years, He is going to leave them, and they will desire to see Him and be with Him as hitherto, but shall not be able; this idea of His departure and return now running on into a beautiful and sublime revelation and exposition of His return back to the earth, where they will see Him again.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17:22 you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man, which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 17:22. Μαθητὰς, the disciples) who were likely to comprehend that saying, rather than the Pharisees.—ἐλεύσονται, shall come) Jesus intimates hereby that the present time of the kingdom of God [the time of its being present] will have passed away [will become past], whilst the Pharisees are seeking and inquiring when it is to come. His reply embraces events further off, Luk 17:24, et seqq., as well as nearer events, Luk 17:31, et seqq.—ἐπιθυμήσετε, ye shall desire) A hypothetical statement;[190] for afterwards the Paraclete allayed that desire, but only in the case of the Christians: see ch. Luk 24:49; Luk 24:52. [Avail yourself of present privileges.—V. g.]—μίαν) one of such days, as ye have now in great numbers,[191] Mat 9:15: inasmuch as ye now see Me with your eyes (See on the appellation, “Son of man,” the note, Mat 16:13): and the “heaven open,” Joh 1:51. After His ascension, but one such day, and that the greatest of all days, still remains, namely, the last day: see Luk 17:30.

[190] i.e. If ye were to desire, or when ye shall desire, to see a day of the Son of Man, ye could not see it. The Pharisees had no such desire. The disciples would have it, when Jesus left them: Mat 9:15; Joh 16:6.—E. and T.

[191] See Amo 8:11.—E. and T.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk_17:22. The Pharisees have got their answer. But Jesus does not allow the point of their question to be lost thereby, but turns now to His disciples (probably after the departure of the Pharisees, as they do not appear again in what follows, and as the discourses themselves bear an unreserved character, wholly different from Luk_17:20 f.), in order to give to them instructions in reference to the question raised by the Pharisees, and that not on the temporal development of the kingdom of the Messiah wherewith He had despatched them, but on the actual solemn appearing of the Messiah in the Parousia. Calamities will arouse in them the longing after it, and false Messiahs will appear, whom they are not to follow; for, like the lightning, so immediately and universally will He reveal Himself in His glorious manifestation, Luk_17:22-24. See further on Luk_17:25. We have here the discourse of the future from the source of the account of the journey. This and the synoptic discourse on the same subject, Luk_21:5 ff., Luke keeps separate. Comp. Weizsäcker, pp. 82 f., 182, and see the remark after Luk_17:37.

μίαν τῶν ἡμερῶν τοῦ υἱοῦ τ. ἀνθρ. ἰδεῖν] i.e. to see the appearance of a single day of the Messianic period (of the αἰὼν μέλλων), in order, to wit, to refresh yourselves by its blessedness. Comp. Grotius, Olshausen, de Wette, Lange, Bleek. Your longing will be: Oh, for only one Messianic day in this time of tribulation!a longing indeed not to be realized, but a natural outbreak under the pressure of afflictions.

Usually, yet not suitably in accordance with Luk_17:26 : erit tempus, quo vel uno die meo conspectu, mea consuetudine, qua jam perfruimini, frui cupiatis, Kuinoel; comp. Ewald.

καὶ οὐκ ὄψεσθε] because, to wit, the point of time of the Parousia is not yet come; it has its horas et moras.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 17:22-25 . The coming of the Son of Man (Mat 24:26-28 ). πρὸς τ . μαθητάς : so in Mt., but at a later time and at Jerusalem; which connection is the more original cannot be decided. ἐλεύσονται ἡμέραι , there will come days (of tribulation), ominous hint like that in Luk 5:35 . μίαν τ . ἡ ., etc., one of the days of the Son of Man; not past days in the time of discipleship, but days to come. Tribulation will make them long for the advent , which will put an end to their sorrows. One of the days; why not the first, the beginning of the Messianic period? Hahn actually takes μίαν as = first, Hebraistic fashion, as in Mat 28:1 , Mar 16:2 . οὐκ ὄψεσθε , ye shall not see, not necessarily an absolute statement, but meaning: the vision will be deferred till your heart gets sick; so laying you open to temptation through false readers of the times encouraging delusive hope.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2 d. Luk 17:22-37. The Coming of the Kingdom.

To the Pharisees Jesus declared what they did not know, the spiritual essence of the kingdom. But Jesus did not mean to deny the external and final appearing of a divine state of things. To develope this other side of the truth, He turns to His disciples, because it is only to those who possess something of His spiritual life that He can speak profitably of His future return. Thus it is that the treatment of the same subject is modified, according to the character of those whom Jesus addresses. Besides, the abstract idea of the coming of the kingdom is now presented as the reappearing of Jesus Himself. The truth could only be expounded in this aspect to believers. We may see with what justice the Revue de Théologie alleges: “The first two verses (Luk 17:20-21) are in contradiction to the rest, and have no connection with what follows!” (1867, p. 386.)

The discourse of Jesus bears on three points: 1 st. When and how will Jesus reappear (Luk 17:22-25)? 2 d. What will be the state of the world then (Luk 17:26-30)? 3 d. What will be the moral condition of salvation in that last crisis (Luk 17:31-37)?

Vers. 22-25. “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. 23. And they shall say to you, See here! or, see there! go not after them, nor follow them. 24. 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. 25. But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.”

The course of thought is this: The kingdom, in the sense understood by the Pharisees, will not come immediately (Luk 17:22); and when it shall come, no uncertainty will be felt about His appearing (Luk 17:23-24). Luk 17:25 returns to the idea of Luk 17:22.

῾Ημέραι (Luk 17:22), days, long days, during which there will be time to sigh for the visible presence of the Master. Comp. Luk 5:35. The desire to see one of the days of the Son of man may refer either to the painful regret of the Church when she recalls the happiness enjoyed by her while He was present on the earth, or to her impatient waiting for some manifestation from on high announcing that the day is at length near. Substantially, the first meaning leads to the second, as regret does to desire; but the second idea is the dominant one, according to the context. When the apostles or their successors shall have passed a long time on the earth in the absence of their Lord, when they shall be at the end of their preaching and their apologetic demonstrations, and when around them scepticism, materialism, pantheism, and deism shall more and more gain the ascendency, then there shall be formed in their souls an ardent longing for that Lord who keeps silence and remains hid; they will call for some divine manifestation, a single one (μίαν), like that of the old days, to refresh their hearts and sustain the fainting Church. But to the end, the task will be to walk by faith (οὐκ ὄψεσθε, ye shall not see). Need we be astonished if in such circumstances the faith of the great majority verges to extinction (Luk 18:8)?

With this heightening of expectation among believers there will correspond the seducing appeals of falsehood (Luk 17:23). Literally taken, this verse is in contradiction to Luk 17:21. But Luk 17:21 related to the spiritual kingdom, whose coming cannot be observed or proclaimed, while the subject now in question is the visible kingdom, the appearing of which shall be falsely announced. Why shall those announcements be necessarily false? Luk 17:24 gives the explanation.

Gess exhibits the application of this teaching, on the one hand, to the folly of the Romanists who will have no Church without a visible head, and, on the other, to that of Protestant sectaries who expect the appearing of the kingdom of God to-day in Palestine, tomorrow in Russia, etc.

Ver. 24. The Lord’s coming will be universal and instantaneous. Men do not run here or there to see a flash of lightning: it shines simultaneously on all points of the horizon. So the Lord will appear at the same moment to the view of all living. His appearances as the Risen One in the upper room, when closed, are the prelude of this last advent. But if He is to return, He must go away, go away persecuted. This is the subject of Luk 17:25.

This generation can designate no other than the Jewish contemporaries of the Messiah. A separation is about to supervene between Israel and its now present Messiah. And this rejection of the Messiah by His own people will be the signal for the invisibility of His kingdom. Comp. the antithesis Luk 13:35 (the faith of Israel bringing back the Messiah from heaven). How long will this abnormal state last? Jesus Himself knows not.

But He declares that this epoch of His invisibility will terminate in an entirely materialistic state of things, Luk 17:26-30, which will be brought to an end suddenly by His advent.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

We oftentimes neglect those things when they be present, which we afterward desire when they are gone, but in vain.

The time will come that you shall seek for the Son of man, with great sorrow of heart, and shall not find him.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The days--rather "Days."

will come--as in Luk 19:43, when, amidst calamities, &c., you will anxiously look for a deliverer, and deceivers will put themselves forward in this character.

one of the days of the Son of man--Himself again among them but for one day; as we say when all seems to be going wrong and the one person who could keep them right is removed [NEANDER in STIER, &c.]. "This is said to guard against the mistake of supposing that His visible presence would accompany the manifestation and establishment of His kingdom" [WEBSTER and WILKINSON].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 22. When ye shall desire to see one of the days] As it was our Lord's constant custom to support and comfort the minds of his disciples, we cannot suppose that he intimates here that they shall be left destitute of those blessings necessary for their support in a day of trial. When he says, Ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, he either means, ye of this nation, ye Jews, and addresses his disciples as if they should bear witness to the truth of the declaration; intimating that heavy calamities were about to fall upon them, and that they should desire in vain to have those opportunities of returning to God which now they rejected; or, he means that such should the distressed state of this people be, that the disciples would through pity and tenderness desire the removal of those punishments from them, which could not be removed because the cup of their iniquity was full. But the former is more likely to be the sense of the place.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(22) When ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man.—The words express both the backward glance of regret, and the forward look of yearning expectation. The former feeling had been described before, when the disciples were told that the children of the bride-chamber should fast when the Bridegroom should be taken from them (Luk_5:34; Mat_9:15; Mar_2:19). The latter was expressed by-one of those who were now listening, when he spoke of men as “looking for and eagerly hasting” the coming of the day of God (2Pe_3:12); by another, when he recorded the cry of the souls beneath the altar, “How long, O Lord?” (Rev_6:10). It is, we must re member, the disciples, and not the Pharisees, who are now addressed. In the long, weary years of conflict that lay before them, they would often wish that they could be back again in the pleasant days of friendly converse in the old Galilean life, or that they could be carried forward to the day of the final victory. Analogous emotions of both kinds have, of course, been felt by the successors of the disciples in all ages of the Church. They ask, Why the former days were better than the latter? (Ecc_7:10); they ask also, in half-murmuring impatience, “Why tarry the wheels of His chariots?” (Jdg_5:28); sometimes, even in the accents of unbelief, “Where is the promise of His coming?” (2Pe_3:4).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22. The days will come, when ye shall desire, &c.] Compare Mat_9:15, “The days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast, in those days.” See, too, Joh_12:35; Joh_13:33; Joh_17:12. They were looking forwards with no realization of that rich present blessedness for which they would one day yearn. Rev_6:10.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they shall say unto you, see here, or see there,.... That is, there is Christ; and in two of Beza's exemplars, the word Christ is added as in Mat 24:23 from whence it seems to be transcribed: and the sense is, it shall be said by one or another; Christ is in such a place, or he is in such a place, and he will quickly appear, and deliver the people of the Jews out of all their distresses and calamities by the Romans,

Go not after them nor follow them: the last clause, "nor follow them", is left out in the Syriac and Persic versions; the meaning is, give no credit to them; as if Christ was come again in person, and was in such a place, do not go along with them, where they direct, as into the desert, or into the secret chambers; for to follow them will be very dangerous, of bad consequence, as well as vain and fruitless; see Act 5:36.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

22 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.

Ver. 22. And he said unto his disciples] q.d. This doctrine concerns you also, as well as the perverse Pharisees. You shall be ere long at a great loss for me; look to it, therefore, and bestir you.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(The days will come He here takes occasion to direct the minds of his disciples to the days of vengeance which were about to fall on the Jewish nation. Heavy calamities will befall the Jewish people, and you will desire a deliverer.

Ye shall desire - You who now number yourselves among my disciples.

One of the days of the Son of man - The Son of man here means “the Messiah,” without affirming that “he” was the Messiah. Such will be the calamities of those times, so great will be the afflictions and persecutions, that you will greatly desire “a deliverer” - one who shall come to you in the character in which “you have expected” the Messiah would come, and who would deliver you from the power of your enemies; and at that time, in the midst of these calamities, people shall rise up pretending “to be” the Messiah, and to be able to deliver you. In view of this, he takes occasion to caution them against being led astray by them.

Ye shall not see it - You shall not see such a day of deliverance - such a Messiah as the nation has expected, and such an interposition as you would desire.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

To see one day, &c. Hereafter, when I shall be no longer visibly among you, you shall heartily wish for one day’s conversation with me. (Witham) --- This verse is addressed to the disciples. He insinuates that he will take from them this corporeal presence, and they shall be exposed to persecution and affliction: then they shall wish to see one day of the Son of man, and shall not be able to obtain it. They shall wish ardently to see him, to entertain themselves with him, and consult him, but shall not have that happiness. This was meant to excite the disciples to profit more of his presence whilst they enjoyed it. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Our Lord spendeth his further discourse in this chapter in a forewarning of his disciples of those great troubles which should follow His departure from them. At present the Bridegroom was with them, and they could not mourn; for many years after that he was departed from them

the days of the Son of man continued, that is, gospel days, times wherein the gospel of Christ was freely preached to them. But (saith he) make use of that time, for it will not hold long; there will come a time

when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and shall not see it. These evil days began when false Christs and false prophets rose up, which was most eminently a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, which happened about forty years after. Every factious person that had reputation enough to make himself the head and leader of a faction, taking his advantage of the common error of the Jews, that a Messiah, a Christ, was to come, who should exercise a temporal kingdom over the Jews, would pretend to be, and give out he was, the Messiah, to draw a faction after him. This is that which our Saviour saith in the next words.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And he said unto the disciples. The Master now turns to the disciples, and, basing his words still upon the question of the Pharisees, he proceeds to deliver a weighty discourse upon the coming of the kingdom which will be manifest indeed, and externally, as well as internally, exceeding glorious, and for which this kingdom, now at its first beginning, will be for long ages merely a concealed preparation. Some of the imagery and figures used in this discourse reappear in the great prophecy in Mt 24. (a shorter report of which St. Luke gives, Luk_21:8-36) Here, however, the teaching has no reference to the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish polity, but only to "the times of the end." 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. In the first place, our Lord addressed these words to the disciples, who, in the long weary years of toil and bitter opposition which lay before them, would often long to be back again among the days of the old Galilaean life, when they could fake their doubts and fears to their Master, when they could listen without stint to his teaching, to the words which belonged to the higher wisdom. Oh, could they have him only for one day in their midst again! But they have a broader and more far-reaching reference; they speak also to all his servants in the long Christian ages, who will be often weary and dispirited at the seemingly hopeless nature of the conflict they are waging. Then will these indeed long with an intense longing for their Lord, who for so many centuries keeps silence. These will often sigh for just one day of that presence so little valued and thought of when on earth.

Vers. 22-25. The brief day of opportunity.

The thought of our Master in this passage (as I understand it) is this: "I have been asked when the kingdom of God will come: my reply is that it has come already; that you have not to look about in this and that direction; here, in the midst of you, impersonated in him that speaks, is the kingdom. It is present in the Present One. But," he says to his disciples, "he is present in a very strict sense. The time will soon be here when you will greatly long for his fellowship, and you will not be able to possess it. Do not believe those who will tell you that the Son of man is still on earth; it will not be true. His life below will be of the very briefest; it will be but as a lightning-flash which passes through the darkened heavens in a moment, and is gone again; so brief will be his stay, so soon will he be gone. But before he goes he must suffer many things; much must be done, for much must be endured, before his short day is done.

I THE BRIEF DAY OF OUR LORD"S OPPORTUNITY. When we think of the long centuries that preceded, and of those that have already succeeded, the day of Christ, we may well regard his short visit to our world as a mere flash of light for transitoriness. What were those few months of his short stay among men compared with all those dark ages, and to all those that have been illumined by the light which his truth has shed upon them! But, transient as it was, it sufficed. It does not take long to utter or to illustrate the most Divine and the most vital truths; it did not take long to undergo the most mysterious and the most availing sorrows it took but a few agonizing hours to die the death of atonement. Into that short day of opportunity our Divine Redeemer compressed:

1. The utterance of all needful truth all the truth we need for our guidance into the kingdom of God, and for our passage through life and death into the kingdom of glory.

2. The illustration of every human grace; the living of a human life in all its perfect loveliness and grandeur.

3. The endurance of sorrow such as constituted him for ever the Man of sorrows, and the High Priest of human nature, touched with the feeling of our infirmities. (Heb_4:15)

4. The dying of that death which is the all-sufficient sacrifice for sin. A few months of time sufficed to complete his work and make him the Divine Teacher, Leader, Friend, Saviour, of the whole race of man for all time to come.

II OUR BRIEF DAY.

1. Measured by hours, our day is very brief. Human life is abort at the longest. We are "but of yesterday," and to-morrow we shall not be. The rocks and even the trees look down on many generations. And in all the bustle and battle, in all the pursuits and pleasures of our lira, the little time we have hastens away and is gone far sooner than we thought it would go. It is not only our poetry that sings, but our experience that testifies of the swiftness of our course beneath the sun.

2. Yet it holds manifold and precious opportunities of regaining our position as the children and heirs of God; of doing "many things" that shall tell even in future years for truth and God; of "suffering many things" after Christ our Lord, and in holy and noble fellowship with him. (Php_3:10)

3. Its transiency is an urgent reason for

a. immediate decision, and

b. constant and earnest action in the cause of righteousness,

Whilst we have the light that shines, let us walk and let us work in the light. C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man - One day of mercy or one day wherein you might converse with me, as you do now.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Son of man

(See Scofield "Mat 8:20").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the remaining part of this chapter, our Saviour acquaints his disciples with what days of tribulation and distress were coming on the Jewish nation in general, and on Jerusalem in particular. "Days of sufferings (as if our Saviour had said) are not far off, when you will wish for my bodily presence again among you, to support and comfort you; and when many seducers will rise up, pretending to be deliverers, but go not you after them; for after this generation have rejected and crucified me, my coming (says Christ) to execute vengeance upon my enemies and murderers at Jerusalem by the Roman soldiers, will be sudden, and like the lightning that shines in an instant from one part of the heavens to the other."

From this coming of Christ to judge Jerusalem, which was an emblem of the final judgment, we may gather this instruction, that the coming and appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the judging of wicked and impenitent sinners, will be a very certain, sudden, and unexpected appearance.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22–24. Ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man. His second coming. The church longs for his appearing. See 2 Tim. 4:8.

For as the lightning. See notes on Matt. 24:16–18. The remainder of the chapter is a condensed and fragmentary report of a part of Matthew, chapter 24.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Jesus begins to teach his disciples.

The days are coming when

The idea of days days coming represents something being soon. AT: "A time is coming when" or "Soon" (See: Metaphor)

you will desire to see

"you will want very much to see" or "you will wish to experience"

one of the days of the Son of Man

This refers to the kingdom of God. AT: "one of the days when the Son of Man will rule as king" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

the Son of Man

Jesus is speaking about himself. (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

but you will not see it

"you will not experience it"

Look, there! Look, here!

This refers to seeking the Messiah. AT: "Look, the Messiah is over there! He is over here!" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

do not go out or run after them

The purpose of going out can be stated clearly. AT: "do not go with them to look" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

for as the lightning shines brightly

The coming of the Son of Man will be clear and sudden, like the appearance of lightning. AT: "for as the lightning is visible to everyone when it appears and" or "for as the lightning appears suddenly" (See: Simile)

so will the Son of Man be in his day

This refers to the future kingdom of God. AT: "it will be like that on the day when the Son of Man comes to reign" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

disciple

Son of Man

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

22. ἐλεύσονται ἡμέραι κ.τ.λ. Comp. Mat 9:15, “The days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast in those days.” See too Joh 12:35; Joh 13:33; Joh 17:12. They were looking forwards with no realization of that rich present blessedness for which they would one day yearn. Rev 6:10.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22.] This saying is taken up from ἐντὸς ὑμῶν ἐστίν. ‘He is among you, who is the Bridegroom,—the Son of Man;’—during whose presence ye cannot mourn, but when He shall be taken from you, you shall wish in vain for one of these days of His presence.

Stier (iii. 362) thinks this addressed to the Pharisees also, and to apply to their recognizing too late in their future misery the Messiahship of Jesus:—but this does not appear from the text.

Meyer tries to prove this interpretation altogether wrong, from the ἐν τ. ἡμέραις τ. υἱ. τ. ἀνθ., ver. 26. But the words have the general meaning of the days of the Son of Man’s presence, and this extends on to His future presence, or παρουσία, as well. Of course, if they hereafter desired to see one of the days of His presence, it would be a second or future presence.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22. Εἶπεν δὲ πρὸς τοὺς μαθητάς . Apparently this is the same occasion (comp. 12:22); and perhaps the Pharisees have retired. But we cannot be certain of either point. Christ takes up the subject which the Pharisees had introduced, and shows that it is the Second Advent that will be accompanied by visible signs. But with regard to these, discrimination must be used. Comp. Mat 24:23, Mat 24:26 and Mar 13:21, to which this is partly parallel.

Ἐλεύσονται ἡμέραι. No article: “Days will come”: as in 5:35, 21:6; Mat 9:15; Mar 2:20. Even RV. has “The days will come.” Comp. the Johannean phrase, ἔρχεται ὥρα, “There cometh an hour” (Joh 4:21, Joh 4:23, Joh 4:5:25, Joh 4:28, Joh 4:16:2, Joh 4:25, Joh 4:32). But it is erroneous to make this passage mean the same as 5:35; Mat 9:15; Mar 2:20:—“Days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them; then will they fast in those days.” This means, not that hereafter there will be a time when the disciples will long in vain for one day of such intercourse with Christ as they are constantly enjoying now; but that there will be days in which they will yearn for a foretaste of the coming glory, a glory which must be waited for and cannot be anticipated. “Oh for one day of heaven in this time of trouble!” is a futile wish, but it will be framed by some. It is clear from ver. 26 what “the days of the Son of Man” must mean. But what does μίαν τῶν ἡμερῶν, κ.τ.λ., mean? The common rendering, “one of the days,” etc., makes good sense. But the possibility of taking the expression as a Hebraism, “one” being used for “first,” as in μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων (Mar 16:2), is worth noting. Comp. 24:1; Mat 28:1; Act 20:7; 1Co 16:2; Joh 20:1. In this case he desire would be for “the first of the days of the Son of Man,” the day of His return.

καὶ οὐκ ὄψεσθε . Not because it will never come; but because it will not come in those days of longing.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.