IN THE MEANTIME
The 2nd coming of Jesus has sparked no small
The goal of this series is not to focus on “how/when” Christ will return but rather the reality
THE MYSTERY 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 with something observable;
21 no one will say, ‘See here!’ or ‘There!’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” —Luke 17:20–21
The Kingdom of God works according to what might be called the “
This principle
The principle also
THE RETURN OF THE KING:
22 Then he told the disciples: “The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you won’t see it.
23 They will say to you, ‘See there!’ or ‘See here!’ Don’t follow or run after them.
24 For as the lightning flashes from horizon to horizon and lights up the sky, so the Son of Man will be in his day.
25 But first it is necessary that he suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. —Luke 17:22–25
The days preceding the 2nd coming of Christ will be marked by
Jesus says, when he does return, it will be like
HOW TO WAIT IN THE MEANTIME:
26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man:
27 People went on eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah boarded the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 It will be the same as it was in the days of Lot: People went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building.
29 But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 It will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
—Luke 17:26–30
As disciples wait for the 2nd coming of Christ to happen, they are to first reject
For us that means we need to wake up to what’s real and feel the
31 On that day, a man on the housetop, whose belongings are in the house, must not come down to get them. Likewise the man who is in the field must not turn back.
32 Remember Lot’s wife!
33 Whoever tries to make his life secure will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.
34 I tell you, on that night two will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left.
35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”
37 “Where, Lord?” they asked him. He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there also the vultures will be gathered.” —Luke 17:31–37
The second thing disciples should do in the meantime is embrace the
For us this means that we should live intentional lives of strategic
THIS WORLD IS PASSING AWAY:
This world, and the things of this world are passing away. Afterwards, Jesus will bring about something so much