NOTES for Лк 17:36
Speaking of the coming of the Kingdom, the Savior speaks of the division between those who enter it and those who remain outside. Moreover, it turns out that there are no external signs distinguishing those who enter from those who remain, at least at first glance.
Two apparently identical people, leading the same way of life, living nearby, as neighbors or even in one house, occupied with one and the same work, can end up on different sides of the boundary separating the Kingdom from this world. As is clear, everything listed is not determinative when the matter concerns the Kingdom. Something else proves important, something one cannot see with physical sight.
This is no surprise: Jesus said more than once that the Kingdom begins in the human heart and only afterward becomes an external reality, embracing the whole universe at the end of time. But here is the question: will those in whose heart there is no Kingdom see it? And if they see it, what will it be for them? From the Savior's quoted words this is not entirely clear. But it is possible that the Kingdom may really prove fully and completely real only for those in whom it already abides in the heart. Of course, this does not mean that all the rest will see nothing.
The text says nothing about what those taken or those left will see. But it is quite possible that they will find themselves in different worlds, in different realities. Even beside Jesus during His earthly ministry, some experienced miracles, were healed, walked on water - in short, in a way quite clear and obvious to themselves, they abided in the Kingdom, sharing in its life, while others who did not trust Jesus noticed nothing.
Of course, one cannot be completely certain that at the Savior's return in glory everything will be the same, but something of the kind, perhaps in other forms and scales, cannot be excluded. Indeed, one cannot remain in the spiritual space of the Kingdom without having it within, without living its life. For such people it will be inaccessible, though near. They may well find themselves in the physical space of the Kingdom, but its spiritual dimension will still be closed to them. What this will mean for such people, what it will look like, we can hardly imagine today. One thing is clear: it will not be what the Savior wants for them.