Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together – Lk 17:20-37
The original Korean text: http://blog.naver.com/stevision/220277555578
) -->
>> Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Lo, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” .... “As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of man. They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was in the days of Lot - they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom fire and sulphur rained from heaven and destroyed them all – so will it be on the day when the Son of man is revealed. .... There will be two women grinding together; one will be taken and the other left.” And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” (Lk 17:20-37) <<
>>Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you. Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God has given you. (Deut 28:45-53)<<
) -->
The kingdom of God is the kingdom of life, and those who do not belong to it belong to the world of death. In the Old Testament, Sodom and Gomorrah were the world of death. The angels of God descended there and executed the judgement of fire. Lot's family were fortunate to be chosen by them, and escaped from the world of death and saved their lives. In the very process, however, Lot's wife didn't suppress a lingering love for the world of death and looked back and turned to a salt-pillar.
) -->
In the age of New Testament, it is the Son of Man (Jesus) who leads us from the world of death to the world of life. Jesus says that we should not live like the people in the days of Noah and Lot, who lived as sinners in the world of wicked sin. Jesus says that, even if two are in the same place, one will be chosen and receive eternal life, the other, not being chosen, will perish in the world of death.
) -->
The disciples asked where the place (the world of death) was (v. 37). This is not so much a question of a specific place as a question of the situation of the place where the reprobate will go. Jesus answered the question, “Where the body (the corpse) is, there the eagles will be gathered together."
) -->
When the people of Sodom and Gomorrah died all by the judgement of fire, their corpses maybe were eaten by wild animals. This means that their dignity as human being was completely deprived of. Human beings can die. But if a dead man's body is eaten by wild beasts, he has completely lost his dignity as a man.
) -->
Jesus is warning that those who do not believe in the Savior (Jesus) but die after a sinful life will be completely deprived of their human dignity even after their death. He tells us that evil men who reject the Savior will be under the punishment of 'the complete loss of the dignity of human being' in the hell, in addition to the eternal death (the eternal separation from God).
) -->
Brethren, let's wake up! Will you choose 'the eternal death and the eternal loss of dignity' or 'the eternal life and the eternal dignity (glory) by believing in the Savior Jesus'? No matter what happens, we have to come to Jesus at any cost so that we may live. If we don't follow Jesus into the kingdom of life, then the unimaginable suffering and shame will be waiting for us.
) -->
The passage ‘Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together’ may be interpreted as follows. Those who deliberately disobey God and continue to sin will be deserted by God and will become spiritually dead. They will be outside the protection of God and be appallingly devoured by the carnivores, especially by beasts such as vultures that like dead bodies (that is, by the merciless powerful people who are under the power of Devil). In fact, Jerusalem was abandoned by God and cruelly destroyed by the Roman army like eagles in 70 AD. And you know that the eagle is the symbol of the Roman Empire. The spiritually dead cannot but be prey to the people stronger than them in the world. Blessed are those who live under the protection of God. Let's be not dead ones but living ones (in God).
) -->
) -->