14 And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a man, kneeling to him, and saying, 15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is epileptic, and suffereth grievously; for oft-times he falleth into the fire, and oft-times into the water. 16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. 17 And Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? bring him hither to me. 18 And Jesus rebuked him; and the demon went out of him: and the boy was cured from that hour. 19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast it out? 20 And he saith unto them, Because of your little faith: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Noah - water & Lot - fire
Here is my take. Im seeing it thru the lens of prophecy:
Everything hinges on the actions of the boy with the demon:
Mat 17:15
Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is EPILEPTIC for oft-times he falleth into the FIRE, and oft-times into the WATER.
Per Strong's concordance:
1. Epileptic - (to be moon struck, that is, crazy, lunatic)
2. fire - (fire, literally or figuratively)
3. water - (as if rainy, literally or figuratively).
Water is metaphoric for the "days of Noah" and the ensuing judgement of the flood. Fire is metaphoric for "day of Lot" and the ensuing judgement of fire and brimstone against Sodom.
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Days of Noah
Mat 24:37-39
37 And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. 38 For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 39 and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man.
Sins found in Noah's day
Gen 6:4-8
4 The NEPHILIM were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them: the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown. 5 And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented Jehovah that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 And Jehovah said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground; both man, and beast, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah.
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Days of Lot
Luk 17:28-30
28 Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29 but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all: 30 after the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed.
Sin of Sodom
Jud 1:7
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after STRANGE FLESH, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
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In these verses, Jesus equates His second coming with the days of Noah AND the days of Lot. Therefore the state of the lunatic son is metaphoric for the state of either the world or the church or both upon Christ's second coming.
Possessed by a spirit that throws him into fire (homosexuality like in Sodom, LGBTQ…). Also possessed by a spirit that throws him into water (deep wickedness of world (Gen 6:5-7), Giants/Rephaim from Gen 6).
Disciples in Jesus day AND the disciples at Jesus 2nd coming are unable to cast out these spirits since they are esp strong or fierce. (Example: And we see this today in the fierceness of the Trans movement). In both OT examples, God had to destroy them, completely wiping them out. In the same way today, these issues will only be dealt with by Jesus and his second coming. Only Jesus has the strength and authority and understanding to do this.
Therefore the harsh words of Jesus in Mat 15:17 are directed toward the later end of the church age. That is why Jesus says:
"how LONG shall I be with you, and LONG shall I bear with you?"
He is speaking prophetically thru time, the words and the situation that He will go thru 2000+ years later towards our day when he arrives and takes on the strong demonic spirits that Noah and Lot saw in their day.
So altho Jesus' words in Mat 17:17 seem out of context if you just read the story, I think they fit perfectly if you realize they are spoken to 7th day unbelieving wicked faithless generation at His 2nd coming.
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