(Luke 17:25-32)
The Lord is coming. He never tells a lie and if he said he is coming then you can bank on it happening. The second coming of the Lord is not far off too. Exactly when it will happen I don’t know and nor does anyone else, but be assured it will happen. As for how it will happen, well this section of scripture gives us a good indication, and he tells us to run for the hills.
How will the Lord appear?
In this section Jesus talks about his second coming and likens it to a few examples from the Old Testament. In my last post I looked at his coming being like lightning that shines from one end of the earth to the other. Here we see Jesus likens it to the time of Noah and Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah.
In both of those cases we see the Lord explains what life was like just before they were destroyed. He explained it like this in verses 27-30:
27 They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 Likewise as it was in the days of Lot–they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built,
29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom fire and sulphur rained from heaven and destroyed them all–
30 so will it be on the day when the Son of man is revealed.
In both cases life was normal. Normal things happened and men went about their daily affairs right up until the time of their destruction. It happened suddenly and there was no escape.
It will be the same with the coming of the Lord. Life will appear normal, people will be going about their lives as normal…and then the Lord will appear. And like those cataclysmic events in the Old Testament, there will be no escape and no turning back. Jesus says as much in verse 30 above.
A warning to his people
Jesus warns his people at this time also. We see in verse 31-32 he says, “On that day, let him who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away; and likewise let him who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife.” Yes, remember Lot’s wife indeed.
This warning relates in particular to those who are in Jerusalem and the surrounding region at that time. We know that the Lord will return exactly as he left as the angel told his disciples in Acts 1:11. He left the earth and was taken up from the Mount of Olives or Olivet.
In Zechariah 14 we see that the Lord will return and as his feet touch the Mount of Olives, the mount will split in two and a great plain will be formed and living waters shall run from the mount to the sea to the east and the west. Basically the whole region will be flattened around Jerusalem. That is why he tells his people in Judea to flee to the mountains (Matthew 24:16-18). It is for their safety for the wrath of the Lord will come down to destroy the man of Sin who has taken his seat in the temple in Jerusalem proclaiming himself to be God.
He tells his people to “get out of Dodge” and don’t bother taking anything with you…just go. Just as He told Lot to leave and not to dilly dally about it, so too we need to remember his warning and go, especially those in Judea at the time.
There are many warnings the Lord has given us about the time of his return, and even though we may not know the exact hour and day, he has given us timelines so that we can know the rough timing of His return. The triggers for that time have begun already and time is growing short, but there is much still to happen. So use this time wisely while you have the time. Encourage your brothers and sisters in the Lord. Learn what is pleasing to the Lord and help as many as will listen to find the way of the truth.
(Photo sourced from stock.xchng www.sxc.hu/ taken by Michal Zacharzewski)
You might also like:
The Second Coming Of The Lord
The Return Of The Lord
Hi! I’m John, the owner, author, and editor of this site. Over the past 50+ years as a Christian I have been teaching, preaching and writing about the Bible to help Christians gain a deeper insight into the scriptures that are easily understood. I also answer specific Bible related questions, so feel free to contact me.
Comments
One response to “The Coming of the Lord”
John
I enjoyed reading your views concerning the soon coming return of our LORD. I found no disagreement with what I was taught as a child and what I have believed all of my adult years. Your view is my view even today. Likewise, most of my Christian friends hold this view, but in my mind it has become an obsession with them. They continue to reject any thought towards seriously doing something about all of the things they complain about, i.e. abortion, gay marriage, national debt, war on islam, etc.
Many times I have put forth strategies for Christians to consider in an effort to combat these and many other evils which currently plague our society. It is not that they think the strategies will or will not work – they can’t even get far enough to evaluate their worth let alone come up with their own solutions and do something to rid our nation of the sinful things we as a nation continue to do. Their reasoning is (and this infuriates me) all of these evils simply add up to the soon coming return of Jesus for His bride, plus there is nothing we as a Church can really do about it anyway but pray, and maybe vote for the right candidate if one comes along.
The apostle Paul was convinced Jesus’ return would be in his lifetime. Many of the great preachers of the 18th and 19th centuries were likewise convince His return would be in their lifetime. When I was a kid back in the 50’s the evangelists who periodically held revivals (in those day revivals consisted of at least two weeks of meetings every night and twice on Sunday) to a man were convinced God would not wait any longer then to sometime before the 1900s ended send His Son to retrieve the Church. All of these men down through the centuries based their belief on Jesus’ soon coming return on fulfilled prophecy.
I believe it is wrong for us Christians to let the world go to Hell and do nothing to stop it, simply because we think Jesus will soon come and take us away from here. I always ask, “What if he doesn’t? What if He doesn’t return for 100 hundred more years?” Can you imagine left unchecked, the millions and millions of babies that will be slaughtered in that time frame? Can you imagine what kind of world this will be governed by sharia law? Can you imagine the poverty that will permeate throughout this entire planet?
We are going to be held responsible for not putting forth every effort in putting a stop to all the wickedness we possibly can. As much as I believe in the power of prayer, we are called to do more than pray. Joshua had to do more than pray. David had to do more than pray. Likewise Peter, Paul, George Washington (and all of the American founding fathers), Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, General Patton, General McCarthy, and many, many others all had to do more than pray. We Christians cannot go on being the pacifists we have been over the past 55 years.
There is a time to be a prayer warrior, if you will, but there is also a time to be the kind of warrior who is willing to do all that is required to stop the sinful wickedness which continues to strangle all freedom loving people whereever they may be found.
Rich