Days are coming

This phrase is commonly associated with “better days are coming.” Jeremiah uttered “days are coming” 15 times and more frequently than all the other prophets combined. It represents a more positive view of humanity being accountable to God than “day of the Lord.” This assessment is apparently based upon this verse from Jeremiah 31:31 which offered these encouraging words:

"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,....”

It is the subject matter today because Luke is the only NT writer to use this phrase, “the days are coming.”

Luke 17:22

And he said to the disciples, "The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you will not see it.

Luke 23:29

For behold, the days are coming when they will say, `Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!'

Perhaps, the phrase should read: “the days of accountability are coming.”

Bock indicates that the text in Luke 17:22 “warns disciples not to be impatient if the kingdom does not come as they wish it.” The son of man will eventually come. The interpretation of this verse is consistent with my comments last February 27th in “Happy is the man who waits.”

In Luke 23:29, Jesus gives the Daughters of Jerusalem a reason not to weep for him. “Behold, the days are coming” indicates a key period of God’s activity is approaching. The people are being judged so harshly that having no children or family is a blessing. “Behold, the days are coming” probably alludes to a host of judgment imagery from Jeremiah for those individuals who have rejected God’s commandments.

Copyrighted 2007

Religion

Christianity

Gospel of Luke