seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Luke 17:20 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
22 Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23 People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them. 24 For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32 Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” [36]*
37 “Where, Lord?” they asked.
He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”
Day before yesterday, a couple of horrible earthquakes ruined a portion of what we know as Turkey in the Middle East. Over seven thousand souls, and counting, got up that morning with only the cares of the world. Family drama, work drama, rent, food, transportation, children and on and on.... were the last things on their minds. They didn't even have time to go back and get their passports. They didn't even have time to grab a jacket.
That, I am afraid, is how the last day will begin. If I'm lucky, I'll be sitting at the computer with a good cup of coffee when it begins. If I'm really lucky, I'll be dressed, and my shoes will be readily available. There will be a lot of naked, barefooted, people if the day begins before they had a chance to get moving.
Perhaps it won't happen until the day is really underway. After all, as I write this, in Arizona the sun won't be up for another couple of hours, while back in Southern Maryland, people are already at work or still snarled in rush hour traffic. Some are feeding the kids, getting them ready for school, worried about another gun ridden day.
See verse 36? In the online Bible I use it just has a footnote for that verse which refers to Matthew 24:40.
Matthew 24:40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
Check out verse 24,,,,, when it happens.... we'll all know. Everyone from "one end to the other" will know. Everyone around the globe will know. We all saw that stupid balloon, and that was not the topic of Biblical Scholars. Jesus told the Pharisees and the Apostles, when the end comes, it will not announce itself. It will not give us notice. No matter how many telescopes we put in the sky.... we won't see it coming.
We will be going about our business, whether in Lexington Park or Central Park or in the town square in Istanbul, we'll all know it. I bet there will be a lot of people saying, "Oh Poop!". Others will be shaking their fists and saying, "not now, he hasn't signed the contract, I've been working on this deal for weeks, not now", because life is not going to get in the way of this event.
Like the earthquake that just took over 7,000 lives, there will only be the knowledge that it will happen. One day the sun will come up and there will be dead bodies everywhere. There will be vultures everywhere [Verse 37]. We know it's coming. There was just an announcement, the doomsday clock is at 90 seconds. That's not 90 minutes, that's 90 seconds. It's going to happen. Is that 90 seconds in human earthly time? Or is that 90 seconds in God's Time? We know it's coming. The earth is quaking and spewing and shaking every day. We know it's coming, but we keep working on that contract, we still send our kids to school, we keep loading the dishwasher and grabbing the keys. Priests and preachers are still working on their sermons. We know it's coming... but we don't do anything to get ready.
If I'm lucky, I won't wake up that day. If I'm lucky, my Father will take me home before it happens. I'm 73 years old.... I could be lucky.
My online Bible titled this section "The Coming of the Kingdom of God...".
I call it "The Vultures Feast.
