In the previous blog we saw that the vultures are a representation of the armies of the nations, which are gathered around the dead body, which is a metaphor for the unbelieving Jewish state.
In Luke 17 we find a passage that runs parallel to Matthew 24. This section is less extensive and much shorter than the chapter in Matthew. We do not come across all the things that are described in Matthew 24, it is much more concise. But we do find a verse there that is very similar to Matthew 24:28, however with a subtle difference.
Luke 17
37 And they answered and said to Him, Where, Lord? And He said to them, Wheresoever the body is, there will the vultures be gathered together.
Although this is a short passage compared to Matthew 24 (Luke 17:20-37), we cannot cover it in its entirety. We have seen that in Matthew 24 the nations, represented as vultures, will be gathered around the dead body, the unbelieving Jewish state, at the end of the great tribulation (Matt. 24:29), when the Lord returns to the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:1-4).
another moment
Here in Luke 17:37 we are talking about another time. An event that takes place some time after the great tribulation, after Israel’s conversion and also after the period that comes after that, the day of wrath. It is the moment just before the Kingdom of the Messiah is established over the whole earth. Because at the beginning of the Kingdom, those who are (still) unbelievers will be taken away from the earth. The living will be left, in the sense of: left alone. They are not taken away, but remain on earth, where the Kingdom then begins.
Two examples of this are mentioned in Luke 17, each time involving two people and one is taken away from the earth and the other is left (Luke 17:34-35).
Armageddon
Later in Matthew 24 we find this in the same way, also two examples where one is taken from the earth and the other is left (Matt. 24:40-41). We will discuss these verses later. For now it is sufficient to say that this takes place at a later time than Matthew 24:28, namely after the day of wrath (Rev. 6:17), immediately preceding the thousand years, when the armies of the nations are gathered at Armageddon. That is therefore a different battle, with a different gathering of the armies of the nations, than in Matthew 24:28.
Revelation 16
14 (…) the kings of the whole world, to gather them together to the battle of that great day of God the Almighty.
16 And they gathered them together into a place called in Hebrew Armageddon.
striking
In Luke 17:37 it is another time when the nations (>vultures) are gathered together for battle. But now another remarkable difference between the passage in Matthew 24 and Luke 17.
In Matthew 24:14 the Greek word is ptoma (G4430), which means: corpse, dead body.
But in Luke 17:37 it says soma (G4983), which means: body. In Luke 17 there is no mention of a corpse or dead body, as in Matthew 24, but of a living body!
believing Israel
At the end of the great tribulation Israel is not yet a believing nation, and that is why it is presented in Matthew 24:14 as the corpse, or the dead body. There is no spirit in it (Ezek. 37:8).
But in Luke 17 the Lord has returned for His people, accepted by Him as Messiah, they have received the spirit and that is why it is presented here as a body, namely: a living body!