We need to understand 17:21-37 in light of the question asked by the Pharisees in verse 20. The Pharisees asked the Lord as to when the kingdom of God comes, and His answer is given in all the following verses. His answer includes all that is covered in verses 20b through 37. In His answer the Lord indicates that the kingdom of God is actually He Himself in His first coming, in His suffering, in His second coming, and in His overcomers’ rapture. In all these He is within us as the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God is not an organization or a material realm. Rather, the kingdom of God is the Son of God as life sown into the believers to grow and develop into a spiritual realm where God rules in life. Hence, the kingdom of God is a living Person. This living Person is the kingdom of God in His first coming and in His suffering, and He will also be the kingdom in His second coming and in the rapture of His overcoming believers. In each of these instances, this living Person is the kingdom of God.
I can testify that I have been considering this portion of the Gospel of Luke for over half a century. Again and again I would come to this portion, study it, and research it, looking for the proper interpretation. After studying the four Gospels thoroughly over and over, I have been brought to a certain conclusion concerning the kingdom of God as revealed here, a conclusion which I believe is correct.
Luke 17:20-37 reveals that the kingdom of God is the Son of God as the seed of life sown into God’s chosen people to grow and develop in them into a spiritual realm where God reigns and rules in His divine life. This kingdom of God is actually a living Person. When He comes, the kingdom of God comes. The kingdom came in the Lord’s first coming and in His suffering, and it will come in His second coming, in His overcoming saints’ rapture, and, as we shall now see, in His destroying of the Antichrist.
Luke 17:37 says, “And answering, they say to Him, Where, Lord? And He said to them, Where the body is, there also will the vultures be gathered together.” Literally, the word “body” here signifies a corpse. This is a most mysterious verse, and I have been puzzled by it for more than fifty years. Eventually, after careful study of the Bible and the writings of others, I have concluded that this verse is concerned with the Lord’s destroying of the Antichrist.
Antichrist will be the cause of the great tribulation. Thus, it is he who will need to be judged and destroyed. As all people in Adam are dead (1 Cor. 15:22), so the evil Antichrist with his evil armies, who will war against the Lord at Armageddon (Rev. 19:17-21), is in the eyes of the Lord a foul corpse, good for the appetite of the vultures. And as in the Scriptures both the Lord and those who trust in Him are likened to an eagle (Exo. 19:4; Deut. 32:11; Isa. 40:31), and the swift destroying armies are also likened to flying eagles (Deut. 28:49; Hosea 8:1 NASB), so the vultures here, raptorials of the eagle kind, must refer to Christ and the overcomers, who will come as a swift flying army to war against Antichrist and his armies and destroy them, thus executing God’s judgment upon them at Armageddon. This indicates not only that at His appearing to the earth Christ with His overcoming saints will be where Antichrist is with his armies, but also that Christ with the overcomers will appear swiftly from the air like vultures. This corresponds to the lightning’s flash in Luke 17:24.
Now we have the full answer of the Lord to the question asked by the Pharisees regarding the coming of the kingdom of God. The answer is that when the Son of God came the first time, the kingdom came with Him, and when He went to the cross, the kingdom went with Him. Furthermore, when He comes back, the kingdom will come back with Him. When His overcoming saints are raptured, the kingdom of God will be there. Finally, when Antichrist will be defeated by the coming Christ, the kingdom of God will be there as well. From all this we see that the kingdom of God is actually the living Person of the Man-Savior. Because He is the kingdom of God, wherever He is, the kingdom of God is there. Whenever He appears, He appears as the kingdom of God.
Let us now briefly summarize chapter seventeen as a whole. In this chapter the Lord teaches us not to stumble others, to be always ready and willing to forgive when we are offended, to exercise faith in our sovereign God, and to consider ourselves unprofitable slaves. If we do these things, we shall be kept in a high standard of morality. As those with such a high standard of morality, we shall not stumble others nor be offended by them. Because we have faith in God, we shall not complain. Furthermore, instead of considering ourselves great, useful, and profitable to God and others, we shall humble ourselves and say that we are unprofitable slaves. In addition, we shall realize how merciful the Savior is. When ten lepers came to Him, He did not exercise any choice, selection, or preference, but healed them all.
In this chapter we also see that when the Pharisees troubled the Lord with a difficult question concerning the kingdom of God, He indicated in His answer that the kingdom of God is actually a living Person, the Man-Savior Himself. The spiritual reality of this Person who is the kingdom of God is not observable to physical eyes. Hence, the kingdom of God does not come with observation. In order to see the spiritual reality of the kingdom of God, we need spiritual perception. As the living Person of the Lord Himself, the kingdom of God appeared in His first coming and in His suffering, and it will appear in His second coming, in the rapture of His overcoming believers, and in His destruction of Antichrist and his army.