What does Luke 17:30 mean?
Jesus has given examples from history to describe the conditions of His second coming. In one sense, the world at that time will be like it was during Noah's life. That was when "the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and…every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). In those days, people were "eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage;" they were celebrating while living an ungodly lifestyle "until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all" (Luke 17:27).In the same way, people will be living like those in Sodom at the time of Lot: "they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building" until "fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all" (Luke 17:28–29).
According to the pretribulation view of the end times, Jesus will physically return only after the world has experienced seven years of catastrophic events: manmade, natural, and supernatural. Some who take advantage of what the Antichrist has created will be protected, however, by their wealth and good standing. The blissful ignorance Jesus refers to here may mean those persons. It may also be a broader statement: that when the end times begin, the world at large will be unprepared.
Jesus said His followers "will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man" and not immediately see it (Luke 17:22). When they finally witness God's judgment over His enemies, they may be like Habakkuk. He sought justice but became more hesitant when he saw how terrible it would be (Habakkuk 3:1–15). Ultimately, the Old Testament prophet says, "I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us" (Habakkuk 3:16).
The last part of Matthew 24:39 may be a parallel account of this same conversation. More likely, Jesus warned about His second coming more than once. Matthew and Mark place Jesus' warning during the Passion Week and don't mention Lot (Matthew 24; Mark 13).
