Where is the dead body in Luke 17?
score:6
This one line "Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather." is parable.
This would be the equivalent of saying, "Where there's smoke, there's fire."
Long answer:
Where, Lord?
The question that Jesus is responding to is also a bit confusing (particularly given our modern understanding of the rapture). However, the question of "Where, Lord?" seems to be addressing the last thing Jesus says. He just finished saying that the "Son of Man" will come and gather his people. The disciples' question seems to ask "Where will they be gathered to."
This very much is a reference to what we call the "rapture". This is the "gathering up" of people that Jesus will perform in the last days. Just before this he talks about how the world is turning evil and then he says that he will come back and gather his people. This is definitely what we modernly call the "rapture".
Jesus replies
His reply to the question of "Where, Lord?" is a parable. He's basically saying, "Where there's smoke, there's fire." The meaning behind this is:
"That should be pretty obvious to you."
Jesus was saying that his kingdom was coming, the world was about to end, he was about to gather his people. The disciples ask a stupid question: "Where will you gather them?" Jesus doesn't even bother giving a straight answer because the answer is obvious: He's gathering them to heaven to be with him forever.
Why use a parable?
The reason that the answer is obvious is because, he's already answered that question. Just previously in Luke 17:20-21 the passage begins Jesus' speech with "The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed."
The entire speech is about the Kingdom of God. So when they ask, "Where will they be gathered." He just replies in parables, since he's already made it obvious.
Summary
This phrase about vultures and a dead body is just Jesus way of saying, "Hey, it should be obvious". He's not trying to imply anything with vultures or dead bodies. Just like the phrase "Where there's smoke there's fire" today does not imply smoke, fire, or anything related to smoke or fire.
Upvote:0
Ok, I'll give you an answer to this question. My answer is this. Jesus Christ is using a veiled reference here. And what it's referring to is a prophesy. Daniel 8 to be exact. In Matthew 24 he referenced Daniel 11 with the abomination of desolation. I believe this carcass/dead body reference is simply another Daniel reference and his story of the battle of the ram and goat.
He telling you to watch for the event when 2 nations in the middle east get conquered by a powerful country from the west. And it's aftermath in Matthew 24. The tribulation of those days.
:)
Upvote:2
It is a common view that this part is talking about the rapture:
"I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”
In that case the ones taken would be raptured while the left ones were in troubles, or tribulation.
There are other views too. Kingdom Theology for example looks at this like this:
In Noah's time, the people that were left on the earth were the people after God's heart, while the ones taken were in fault. This teaching is started by likening the times with Jesus is talking about to the times of Noah. If we follow that analogy, to be taken has to be translated as to die (a valid translation from the Greek). According to Kingdom Theology there is no rapture, as both accepted and not accepted will live on earth until the ones that are not accepted are done away.
This view is supported by the parable of the wheat and the tares, where the tares are kept until harvest and then burned.
This interpretation can be argued pointing out that both Noah and Lot left the place of destruction, while the others stayed and died. Yet leaving and staying are active decisions on the part of the people, while being taken and being left are not.
Both views are within the local context valid interpretations and can be used to support both Rapture and Kingdom Theology.
More post
- 📝 During Assyria’s conquest of Israel, what side did Judah take?
- 📝 What is the Biblical support for Purgatory?
- 📝 According to Trinitarians, if Jesus was saying things that clearly made Him out to be God, why didn't Caiaphas mention it at Jesus' trial?
- 📝 How much time did medieval Christians devote to prayer?
- 📝 When was Abraham alive?
- 📝 If you believe that Messiah Jesus is a human being what logic you have to guess that he could be a God or son of God?
- 📝 Universalism in the Orthodox Church?
- 📝 Context for Paul and Solomon's usage of "heap burning coals on his head."
- 📝 Is it Christian Doctrine to say that macroevolution is not the same as microevolution?
- 📝 Was the Son eternally begotten?
- 📝 Why have some conservative Reformed churches objected to the Belhar Confession?
- 📝 What is an overview of how Christians discern genuine cases of demonic influence from mundane mental health problems?
- 📝 Is numbers.10:7 a picture of how the church shall be spared from "sound of alarm" or great tribulation?
- 📝 How could Cain have built Enoch?
- 📝 Is intercessory prayer valid?
- 📝 Why do Jehovah's Witnesses travel in pairs?
- 📝 What does Mary look like in the Fatima Apparitions?
- 📝 Do Latter-day Saints expect miracles from their Apostles to authenticate their callings?
- 📝 How do deniers of Jesus preincarnate existence handle all the personal pronouns in John 1, particularly verse10?
- 📝 What is the Orthodox Position On Lack of Veneration for Mary in NT Epistles?
- 📝 What is the archaeological evidence for the events in the Book of Mormon?
- 📝 "Resist not evil" (Matthew 5:39) - What does this mean? not to fight evil?
- 📝 Who was first, men or angels?
- 📝 Why is Origen considered a Church Father, but not a saint?
- 📝 Could a Catholic Church minister distribute communion to the community while churches are closed?
- 📝 Are there any Roman Catholic Bishops with a more Protestant View of Mary?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for saying one won't be healed if they lack sufficient faith?
- 📝 Is there a dogmatic or theological (yet not dogmatic) justification for kneeling before a statue/icon of the Virgin Mary?
- 📝 Where can one access Aland's 23rd edition which was used for the first edition of the New American Standard Bible (NASB)?
- 📝 Is this a Calvinistic or Arminian statement of faith?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Where is the dead body in Luke 17?
- 📝 What is the significance of Luke 22:44 where Christ's sweat was as great drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane while he prayed?
- 📝 Is Luke 12:50 where Roman Catholics get the concept of baptism by blood?
- 📝 Why was the dead body of Saul cremated?
- 📝 Where does the concept of a "God-shaped hole" originate?
- 📝 Why are Matthew, Mark, and Luke called the synoptic gospels?
- 📝 According to those holding that Lazarus was literally raised from the dead, why did Matthew, Mark, and Luke not mention it?
- 📝 What is the meaning of "let the dead bury their dead"?
- 📝 Where do the names of books of Bible come from?
- 📝 Where can I find out more about other people rising from the dead, when Jesus died on the Cross?
- 📝 From where does the doctrine that there is no time in heaven originate?
- 📝 Why does the (N)KJV put Jesus' name in all caps in Matthew 1:21 and Luke 1:31?
- 📝 Where is the sermon in a Mormon church service?
- 📝 Where are the tombs of Jesus' original 12 Apostles
- 📝 Where does the Bible stand on vegetarianism?
- 📝 When does the bread and wine become Body and Blood?
- 📝 Where did the idiom "asking Jesus into your heart" come from?
- 📝 What is the origin of the idea that Matthew, Mark, and Luke didn't mention Lazarus in order to protect him?
- 📝 Where does prevenient grace originate in the Bible?
- 📝 Where was Jesus during the period from His death to resurruction?
- 📝 Where did the notion that Adam and Eve ate an APPLE come from?
- 📝 Where do primary sources for the Bible reside?
- 📝 The Dead Sea Scrolls and Protestant canon
- 📝 How do the Dead Sea Scrolls impact modern apologetics?
- 📝 When is the first documented case of Christians praying to the dead saints?
- 📝 How did the practice of soliciting the prayers of dead saints originate?
- 📝 Do Catholics believe that they are actually eating the body of Christ? Does this make them cannibals?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for identifying the Lazarus Jesus raised from the dead and the Lazarus in the story of the rich man and Lazarus?
- 📝 From where do Jehovah's Witnesses derive the doctrine that Jesus was and now is Michael the Archangel?
- 📝 Where does the Catholic church procure most of its Bibles?