‘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 you will not see it.” '
Then Jesus turned and spoke to His disciples. He did not want them to think that it was all quite as simple as that. While the Kingly Rule of God was here among them as He had just declared, it did not mean that the King would continue to be permanently among them as He now was. It did not mean that success was just around the corner, and that the going would be smooth (like it on the whole appeared to be at the moment) and that the whole world would respond. These were exciting days, ‘the days of the Son of Man' on earth, but He was not now introducing ‘the days of the Son of Man' on a continuing basis. There was to be a break in ‘the days of the Son of Man'. The Son of Man (note here the clear association of the Son of Man (Luke 17:22) with the Kingly Rule of God (Luke 17:20-21) for it is the Son of Man Who receives the Kingly Rule of God - Daniel 7:13-14) was to be taken from among them, for His days among them would cease. Soon they would look around and would not see Him. ‘His days' among them will then no longer be enjoyed. Normality will have been disrupted. And thus in the future there were to be many days when they would long to see Him, and He would not be there. They would even begin to doubt whether He really was ruling, and even possibly be in danger of following impostors because they so yearned for His presence.
This warning was necessary. The disciples were already building up the picture in their own mind of His soon coming triumph. They probably believed that by means of His extraordinary powers, of which they had only had a glimpse, He would shortly act in order to establish His Kingly Rule, after which they would then take up their places under His Kingly Rule, seated at His side and sharing His authority (Mark 10:35-41). But if they thought like that their confidence would soon be shattered. For it would not happen. So He wanted them to recognise that those ideas were not based on a sound foundation. Rather they must realise that days of uncertainly lay ahead, days of trial, days when they will find things difficult to understand, days when the Son of Man has been taken from among them (Luke 17:25) and they will long for the days when He had been among them. They would long for the outward manifestation of His Rule by His presence among them and would not see it. They were not to look for a snug establishment of His Kingly Rule.
‘The days will come --.' Compare Isaiah 39:6 where it refers to uncertain future times some time in the distance.
‘The days of the Son of Man.' These will shortly be compared with ‘the days of Noah' and ‘the days of Lot' (Luke 17:26-27). In both the latter cases everyday affairs like eating and drinking were carrying on, and then suddenly all came to a climactic end. And ‘the days' took place before the climactic end. It will be like this with the days of the Son of Man. Here He was eating and drinking with them, but the days will end equally climactically, first in His suffering (Luke 17:25) and then in His glorious appearing (Luke 17:24). And in between those two events would be days when they looked back wistfully and longed for the days of the Son of Man that they had enjoyed, and they would look forward to the day of the Son of Man that was coming. And hopefully it would spur them on. But those days could never be retraced.
For what they will miss is Him. They would never forget the days that they had spent with Him, and their hearts would delight in that day when once more they would see Him face to face, but meanwhile they would have to go on. And the grave danger was that in their desire to have Him again they might fall prey to a false Messiah. So let them remember His words now, that no Messiah who appears on earth can be the true Messiah, for when He does return it will be unmistakable. It will not be as a Messiah on earth. It will be like the transfiguration a hundred times over.
By this Jesus is preparing them for the hardness of the future. It needed to be made clear to them that in future they must not look for normal days or days of straightforward living like those enjoyed by the majority of men, nor even like those who enjoyed such lives in the days of Noah and the days of Lot. And sometimes in the hardness of the future they will look back and long for one of ‘the days of the Son of Man', one of these days when He walked with them on earth and they enjoyed His fellowship and love, days that they will remember so vividly, days when all seemed to be going forward so smoothly, but they must recognise that they will not again see such days, for He is not coming back in that way. Rather they must look on ahead and recognise that their lives in the future are to be anything but smooth and normal, awaiting His coming in glory. They must thus serve on against all odds until suddenly and climactically the Son of Man will come. The road ahead is going to be tough.
Had we not had the comparison with the days of Noah and the days of Lot, which are vividly described in their normality (Luke 17:26-27), we might have seen ‘the days of the Son of Man' as referring either to the judgment on Jerusalem (see Luke 17:31) or to the period after His coming in glory. But the comparison with the days of Noah and Lot makes clear that that cannot be so. It must thus refer to the present days in which He is among them, the days in which they have settled into a period of contentment with things as they are. These are ‘the days of the Son of Man', the days of His powerful and successful ministry on earth, when He forgives sins (Luke 5:24), lives among them eating and drinking (Luke 7:34), establishes the new Laws of His Kingly Rule and declares the principles of the Sabbath (Luke 6:5), and has nowhere to lay His head (Luke 9:58). Days that they share with Him. And when inevitably in days to come they look back on these days in their worst moments, and say, ‘If only we could get back to things as they were then', they must remember His words now.
Note on The Days of the Son of Man.
If we are to take Luke seriously this phrase must be interpreted in its context, and not just as suits our theories. Let us consider what we know about them.
o The first thing we know about them is that they will not go on permanently, for the disciples will one day long to see one and will not see it. Thus there will be a period in the disciples' lives which will not be the days of the Son of Man. They will be either looking back to them, or looking forward to them. The ‘days of the Son of Man' are thus not just all the days leading up to His second coming.
o We know also that He has revealed to them that He will be away from them and will return at His second coming as the Son of Man (Luke 12:35-48).
o We know from the comparison with the days of Noah and the days of Lot that the days of the Son of Man will be before the final climactic event (Luke 17:26-29).
o The climactic events connected with the days of the Son of Man are His coming suffering (Luke 17:25) and His coming in glory (Luke 17:24).
The only days which fit in with all these facts are His days with them on earth. In the excitement of second coming teaching the days of Jesus' life on earth can seem almost secondary, but of course they were not. They were huge. They were in a sense the most primary days of all. For it was during those days that He fulfilled the Father's will to the uttermost (Hebrews 10:5-10) and accomplished the redemption of mankind and gave His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). These were the days of the Son of Man supreme as He forgave sins, re-evaluated and expanded on the Laws of Moses, and went on to offer Himself, as the Son of Man, as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). They were also the days in which He ‘ate and drank' among us as the Son of Man (Luke 7:34), ideas connected with both ‘the days of Noah' and ‘the days of Lot'. They were the days of endurance which the son of man in Daniel 7 had to undergo prior to His approach to the throne of God.
But why then does He speak of them in the future tense in Luke 17:26? The answer is that He does not. It is the climax of those days that He speaks of in the future tense, a climax that has not yet come. The climax of His days of suffering which will be the foundation of all the rest.
Other suggestions for the meaning of the term are:
o That they signify the same thing as ‘the days of the Messiah' signifying the period after His return. But there is a great deal of difference between what the Scriptures say about the days of the Son of Man and the days of the Messiah. For in Daniel 7 the days of the son of man are days of suffering, when with His people He suffers under the hand of the beasts, days which then lead up to His approaching the throne of God and receiving His Kingly Rule. Furthermore such an interpretation would not meet the criteria mentioned above, and thus can only be held if the phrase is taken totally out of its context and we assume that Luke was simply throwing phrases together without thinking about them.
Some would support this position by translating ‘the first of the days when the Son of Man is revealed', which is undoubtedly a possible translation, but that ignores the clear parallel in Luke 17:26. It also raises the question, 1) why in that case Luke does not use the singular, and 2) as to why they will not see it, for surely the point of Luke 17:24 is that they will see it.
o Some see it as indicating the days immediately preceding His return ‘in which the signs of His imminence are made clear'. These would fit all the criteria but there is no obvious reason why these should be specifically called ‘the days of the Son of Man' in contrast with any other days prior to His coming, for He was present with them as the Son of Man in His days on earth as He makes very clear, and He would promise that He would continue with them to the end, ‘lo, I am with you always' (Matthew 28:20). Nor is it clear what kind of signs would indicate His imminence. There has been so much tribulation in the world that it is difficult to see what kind could indicate the time of the end.
Some see ‘the days of the Son of Man' as indicating His special days of Messianic revelation such as the transfiguration, the resurrection, the ascension, the appearances to Stephen and Paul, etc. but that is surely being too technical.
End of note.