Read: Luke 19:20-37
The Coming of the Kingdom
20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
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. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 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 will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. 34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. 35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” 37 And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
Corem Deo
I remember sitting on the roof of my dormitory in college watching a late summer storm roll in. It wasn’t a normal storm. This was a spectacle of flashing lights and thunderous booms! We were young college students who had climbed the stairs to the roof to look this monstrous storm right in the eye. We weren’t scared, but we were filled with awe! Until…FLASH!! BOOM!!! The storm that we thought was miles away from us suddenly dropped a bolt of lighting close enough to make the hair on our arms stand on end! Even though we knew the storm was coming, we could not predict or anticipate its imminency.
Jesus is cautioning his hearers to ready themselves. We must take action to prepare for his coming. Just as Noah built the ark and Lot fled Sodom without turning back, we must fix our hope and our gaze on the returning of our King. Do you live every day with the expectation that today could be that day?