Luke 17:20-37, When Is It Over?

Luke chapter 17 be reading from verses 20 to 37 Hear the word of the

Lord Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come He answered them the kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed

Nor will they say look here it is or there for behold the kingdom of God is in the midst of you 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 and they will say to you look there or look here

Do not go out or follow them For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other so will be the

Son of Man in his day But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation

Just as it is it was in the days of Noah So it will be in the days of the Son of Man 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 likewise just as it was in the days of lot

They were eating and drinking buying and selling planting and building But on the day when lot went out from Sodom fire and sulfur rain from heaven and destroyed them all

So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed on that day? That the one who is on them housetops 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

Remember lots wife Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life will keep it

I tell you in that day there will be two in one bed one will be taken and the other left

There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left and they said to him where Lord He said to them where the corpse is there the vultures will gather

Make the Lord had his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word We'll ever been through some ordeal maybe like a medical procedure an exercise a

Suspenseful football game. That's an ordeal a bad movie and wonder

When will this be over? Just last week we saw a Super Bowl that that we knew because of the way the

Patriots came back from last year But was it over and tell it was over. I mean until there were nothing but zeros left on the clock

Then finally it's over last month the college football Championship game it went past the zeros on the clock when the time ran out.

It still wasn't over but in overtime After a 16 -yard loss By the eventual winning team that will go nameless Just when you expected

The game to go on at least three more plays you would assume the game was suddenly surprisingly over So when is it over sometimes we're in something and we rightly want it to be over but it's not the doctor still has to poke

We still got to do a few more laps or reps the suspense is killing you as the game keeps going but it's close

I guess we can walk out of a movie if we really you know We don't just so bad and you don't don't care until it's over you can walk out of that But sometimes we can't get out of something before it's over businesses often make us sign contracts

So we won't get out of them Just because we feel like it should be over Depressed people

Wish life would be over. They might be suicidal or they may just don't care to do anything

There's a stay in bed late as every day if they can stare out the window No desire for anything to do anything to achieve anything

To have their favorite foods or do their favorite activities or watch a TV show or anything life for them is over They think even if they have to go on living a little while longer

But it's not It's not over until it's over But when is it over?

This world not not the planet mind you but this social system what Paul calls this present evil age in Galatians chapter 1 verse 4

When is it over? with this world where might makes right and money makes the world go around and people live for money and pleasure and Immorality is celebrated on TV and lies are openly told and killing certain people is presented bizarrely as a right to choose a pride predominates

When is it over when will all this be over? When will God finally intrude put an end to it all?

That's what every righteous person, you know wants to know from time to time. Maybe all the time would have you have your senses your

Convictions offended by what you see out there in the world By arrogant men claiming to have all the answers running the world immorality made normal unfaithfulness now acceptable now even the church was supposed to be the pillar and bulwark of the truth is used by some to make themselves wealthy or Powerful or just for their ego so they can be somebody you got to listen to me

False doctrine flourishes and many churchgoers don't care about the word They only want to hear their opinions affirmed and if they and if they don't get that they say it's over and they go somewhere

Else, when is it finally go all of that mess? Finally going to be over and we finally get to the perfect world where all

God's enemies are put under Jesus's feet when Well, that's what we see here in two parts first now and second not yet It's over now

But not yet Well first the Pharisees hearing Jesus talked about a lot about the kingdom of God He's constantly talking about the kingdom of God got which

God's rule where he reigns where he's in charge They asked him when the kingdom of God would come

Now they thought they knew what that would mean that it would mean they thought it would mean an uprising

Of the Jews a great king like David and from the line of David seizing power Leading an army driving out the

Romans restoring all of Israel's old territory Dominating their neighbors that they would be the next big

Empire in the region whether Rome liked it or not For these Pharisees they wanted to know when the rule of the

Romans would be over When will their humiliation is being subject to a

Gentile power? So humiliating to be under their thumb, when would that that be over when will these sinners?

These people who don't keep the law all around them and if they get away with it Because there's no punishment because the

Romans not gonna punish them for it When will they when will that then bring you all to run loose like that be over?

When will they finally be punished and their life of their flaunting their sin? When will that be over? So Jesus answers their question very succinctly he says first the kingdom of God is

Not coming with signs to be observed It's not like you know, what? Dr.

Luke writing this what his cups and custom to symptoms of a disease you can tell certain disease that goes through stages has early symptoms and You watch see how it progresses and soon it will be in if you see the early symptoms, you know

Soon, it will reach another stage and it'll be in full bloom No, the kingdom of God will not be like that It won't be like like last

October or August 21st the Eclipse Remember the big Eclipse or soon after a couple weeks after that was the the

Sun the planets were in the constellation Virgo Making a sign as many people said that the end was here

September 23rd, I think it was supposed to be the end was supposed to be then we'll we would that just blew right by People want signs so they can get ready so they can stop living for Whatever for getting rich maybe stop indulging their lust with pornography so they can stop being distracted by everything else

They want a sign like a stop sign So they will finally stop and they'll get ready for Jesus.

They want a sign that all this will be over here Jesus is saying the kingdom of God is not coming with a sign notice that very clearly

He tells that to the Pharisees because that's important because there's a lot of teaching out there from all kinds of different people saying differently

The kingdom of God does not come with a sign Then Jesus says they are at least the people who are in there who are right.

They will not say Look, here it is. Here's the kingdom of God. It's here or it's there over there

It won't be in a city where the Saints are Are in control and they impose their rule.

There's the kingdom of God. Let's go live there It won't be in New England in America just because the Puritans went there and established their their

Bible Commonwealth's It won't be in a retreat somewhere Where everybody's a Christian and you can just sit back and trust that everything here is perfect It won't be some perfect Church If only we could go there and join them and get rid of all this mess that we're having to do with no

It won't be here or there because Jesus tells us behold the Pharisees. That's key speaking to the

Pharisees behold Look you Pharisees pay attention open your eyes. The kingdom of God is in the midst of you

Now some people here But there's some people think that Jesus is teaching some kind of mystical idea Some translations happen if your translation has this get a new translation if it says the kingdom of God is within you

Yeah, that's wrong because he's speaking to the Pharisees and you think about it Is the kingdom of God within their hearts think about that, you know, some people think that's what

Jesus is teaching though It's a mystical idea. It's the king was within you and your heart. If only you'll open it up That's where you'll find

God within No, that's not what he means he's speaking to the

Pharisees and certainly wouldn't mean that the rule of God is within them Would he if only you know, you know, although you

Pharisees He'll get in touch with the spark of the divine and within each and every one of you No, we didn't mean any of that stuff. He means as in the

ESV here that the kingdom of God is it's here You're asking Pharisees when the kingdom of God will come on earth

It's already now among you. It's on earth already Look Behold, here it is.

They've come to the king. Think about this They've come to the king and basically they're asking him a king.

When is the king gonna come? Except they don't know that he's the king and he tells them I'm standing right in the middle of you

Look look and see Here I am Where Jesus is there is the kingdom of God.

He is the king He brought in the kingdom of God when he was on earth He said in Luke chapter 11 verse 20 that if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons and it was

Then the kingdom of God has come It's a past tense. It has perfectly it's been completed as it's come here

Here it has come upon you here. Jesus says Is the kingdom of God and here in this passage?

Jesus has just healed ten lepers. Remember it's a sign of his kingdom That where he rules the curses of sin are

Driven out and no disease portrayed sin as much as did leprosy this kind of disfiguring disease

That ate away at the body was Mary and I saw some leprosy in Ethiopia people's fingers and extremities where body would just be

Eating away be gone Here Jesus healed leprosy to show that his rule was on earth

He was undoing all the effects of sin So we conclude from that that the kingdom of God has come and here he says it again

When will the kingdom which is the rule of God come? Well, the rule of the king is wherever the king is not much of a king if you're not ruling where you are

He's the king. He brought it. Never does the Bible say as some teach today that he's just offered the kingdom and And it was rejected and so he took back the offer and here here they they ask him

Where does the kingdom come or when does the kingdom come? Excuse me, and Jesus says now

It's here Now Well, how can that be? You know, they would have thought you know, the kingdom of God ends this world came to God Have couldn't have come yet because the world is still here

The world is still going on as we know it this world system with Gentiles dominating us sinners still living openly and sin

It's still going on. So the kingdom could not have come that that's the way they think I thought when the kingdom comes

The world as we know it ends But they thought wrong

We still have people who teach similarly today that the kingdom will will end this world as we know it

They they think and so therefore they conclude on the basis of that wrong assumption that it hasn't come yet That Jesus didn't bring it and so we will have to wait for it still

When will when will this world end? well we'll look for the signs and The politics and the wars in the

Middle East and they're just obsessed with all that stuff because they think that's what the signs are But here Jesus tells us the kingdom has already begun with him on earth the first time it's now

But how come it the world? How come the world isn't over yet?

How come it is hasn't ended? Jesus explained that in his parables. You remember all those parables, but the kingdom the case kingdom is like yeast

It's like a mustard seed It's a has a small beginning. It's not this overwhelming

Visible Invasion like a you know an army marching in taking over right away. It's not like that like they were expecting

Sure, the kingdom of God is a great treasure a pearl of great price. That's worth selling everything you've got to get it

But not everyone accepts it just like not every seed scattered on the ground brings a crop

Remember that parable some are hard -hearted like seed on you throw on a stony path. Some are shallow and appear for a time

That they love the kingdom of God But they're too attached to their money to the pleasures to the fun

Whatever the world has to offer and so they wilt away Some won't let go with their love of money.

And so even if they appear to accept the kingdom They don't bear any fruit like seed among a bunch of weeds they just don't grow but some come into the kingdom some come in and They love it and they bear much fruit.

And so but the point is not everyone in this time It just accepts the kingdom and Pursues it and wants it that kingdom is now on earth and another parable.

It's like a field planted with good wheat but there's also with weeds and They grow up side by side the wheat and the weeds at the same time and now is the time for the wheat to grow but The time of the weeds is not over yet either

They're together One thing I dislike about most debates or opinions a lot of teaching that's out there today about the end times

Which is what really what this is all about what the kingdom of God is about, you know It's about with the world will be over God takes over at the end times

I just like that when the focus is taken off of Jesus. It's often put on something else For some maybe on the destruction of Jerusalem in 8070 and sure that fulfilled some of Jesus's prophecies elsewhere

But I note here nothing in this passage has to do with the destruction of Jerusalem in 8070 Okay, some people say it's all

Jesus's teaching was about that well not here doesn't fit here and sure, but did elsewhere but Jesus foresaw it but not here or maybe some events yet to come

They're always looking for something soon to come maybe what's happening with Israel and the Middle East and so they're just obsessed with that And and all of that All kinds of different opinions.

It's often a sign of a problem. It's often it's about politics. It's about Middle East it's about maybe about history.

It's about some whatever it's but it's not about Jesus Here the King Jesus tells us asked by the

Pharisees When his when the kingdom and thus when the King would come

He says it has come now with him the focus here is on Jesus That's all he tells the

Pharisees notice that because until they accept that he is the king They can't enter the kingdom of God But then he turns to his disciples the believers

Those who accepted him as king and he tells them much more about the kingdom and the next few verses now now sure is

Now like he just told the Pharisees it's in your midst but it's also not yet And he tells them about two major things first the interim and then the end first there's an interim in verses 22 to 25 and Jesus says 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 Okay, there's a lot there try to take it apart

But he said remember Jesus is speaking from his time from his time. There are coming days

For him in the in the future there are coming for you you disciples. It's not to the

Pharisees Disciples you believers the church we would say to us

There are days coming in which you won't want to see you'll dip It'll be your desire your longing to see one of that what he calls the days of the

Son of Man And we'll see in a few verses that he'll use that same term for the time of his return

When he the Son of Man comes back when it's all over so he's saying there's coming a time

Which you people the church will desire for me to return The Son of Man was

Jesus's favorite term for himself He uses it. We use it many times four times in this passage alone

It's not that term is not like many people just assume because they see son of man.

He's emphasizing his humanity You know think about it people around him Looking at him as a man would assume he's a man.

Okay, he didn't need to emphasize that It refers instead to Daniel chapter 7 where Daniel sees a vision

First of all these series of beasts that represent different kingdoms that are beastly but then there's one like a son of man

Okay separate from the beasts the empires of this world the powers of this present evil age are like beasts

They're cruel. They're oppressive. They're barbaric but then there's one that's like a son of man and That one like a son of that son of man

Brings in God's kingdom on earth Overwhelming over toppling over all these other these kingdoms of this world and he is worshipped as God That's why

Jesus especially uses that term like here when teaching about the kingdom of God the son of man is the

Messiah Brings in the kingdom of God, but he's something more than that Who is work who could be worshipped like God?

Well, Jesus says first the kingdom of God is here now and then that there is coming a time You disciples for you the church coming a time when you will want to see one of the days of the

Son of Man To see that it's all over to see Jesus with us again To see the kingdom of God perfectly come to see all his enemies under his feet

Even the last enemy especially that last enemy death to see no more sicknesses

No more funerals. No more wondering no more concussions after falling off a ladder No more of that kind of thing.

There's a time when we'll crave those days to come but they'll be

Not yet Notice that he says that but you will not see them. It's coming a time now

Eventually, we'll see them but there'll be a not yet. So there's an interim coming Between when he is on earth

Telling the Pharisees that the kingdom of God is in the midst of you and the time when it's all over the end

There's a time between those two events and that's the time we're in now

We're in the interim now some people Some skeptics, especially, you know say we want to say

Jesus was wrong about the kingdom coming soon. They Or even some Christians selling their various in times theories

They don't notice that Jesus clearly taught there will be an interim even in Matthew chapter 24

I know there was several many years ago when we went through that most of the emphasis there was on That there's gonna be a long delay.

You know, there are ten virgins. They fall asleep. Why because the bridegroom is delayed That's it's a big emphasis on that Skeptics say

Jesus was this apocalyptic preacher the first century and he was expecting a fiery end to the world right away

Well, if so Why did he teach that the kingdom was like yeast like a mustard seed?

Something so small it takes time that it's in your midst Some say that well the delay was called by the

Jews Rejecting the offer of the kingdom, you know, but in John chapter 6 They don't reject it and John chapter 6 they tried to make him

King remember and he ran away on Palm Sunday They were welcoming him shouting Hosanna because they wanted him to be that kind of King But he had already told them that he is not that kind of King as we as we seen

That's not what his kingdom is like that the delay wasn't an accident

It wasn't caused by their rejection it was part of the plan the plan for an interim

Probably so that you and I could be born and come to faith and know him There's there's an interim but a time between now when he's speaking here and the days of the

Son of Man the end So Jesus prepared his people for the time

Between the times he prepared us For what we're going through right now the time between his bringing in the kingdom

Here and when it's all over the time we're in We desire who we should

We desire to see the days of the Son of Man when his rule is fully caught fully come on earth

That's why we pray Your kingdom come We want this present evil age to be over that's why the early church shouted

Maranatha our Lord come We want Jesus to come but for now

We're in an interim and in this interim people will say in verse 23

Some people will say look it's there or look it's here. He's come somewhere

You know Under my control maybe he's coming sung young moon or Jim Jones David Koresh And Jesus tells us here

Don't believe him. It's fake news Jesus says do not go out and follow them Well, then if that's the case because you manage to put yourself in the disciples position.

Don't go out and follow them People say they saw him come back Don't go out. Don't believe them.

Well, then how are we supposed to know? You know Jesus, how are we supposed to know when you return if we don't believe anybody and he tells us in verse 24 as The lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to another

So will the Son of Man be in his day? there by the way is One of the proofs that the day or days of the

Son of Man refers to his second coming to the end So it's like here in his day when he comes

It's like lightning flashing and you think about it when lightning flashes nearby You don't have to say hey

Did you see lightning? Did you see like no? No, you know it. It's obvious It's just it's very impressive, especially very real close.

Don't believe any report that he's come Somewhere, you know some on some mountaintop some cave some distant country

Don't believe that Jesus said that's fake news Because his coming is like lightning it's it's obvious.

It's public. It's undeniable It's not isolated or hidden or mysterious or just local somewhere.

It's for all to see So if you can deny that he's come Then he has it

Simple right very simple any report that Jesus has come that you can't see out your own window is

Fake news. All right, no one will foresee it But all will see it

But Jesus says in verse 25 Between the now when he's speaking kingdom of God is in your midst and the end when it's all over is in the interim of the kingdom of God and this world side by side and In this time first he says he the

Son of Man Must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation

And this time the cross is what happens when the kingdom of God meets this present evil age

But it will eventually the cross will eventually be What will end this present evil age

This is that this is the age of the cross The cross his suffering many things and being rejected

Is what characterizes our lives as we seek to live in the kingdom of God while living in this world?

He said he must it is necessary. It's not a plan B Because the first plan of bringing in a kingdom and without the cross did work.

No, that's not what it is It's not just an optional display of affection You know that doesn't really achieve anything

Just kind of shows us how much he loves us kind of like giving a bouquet of roses for Valentine's Day Doesn't really do anything but it's a nice nice display.

No, that's not what the cross is. He said he must suffer it It's something that must be done because our sins must be paid for then if we're to follow him

If he must suffer that We're to follow him. We must it's also necessary To take up our cross to share to share his sufferings to be rejected

Sometimes rejected because we tell the world that its ways are sinful that that Fifty Shades of Grey movie is pornography about inducing lust that homosexuality

Is it really the same love their relationships even on Valentine's Day our money even when giving out on pals and Chinese New Year?

Isn't the goal of life? telling people Who are not in the kingdom the truth now in the interim this age of the cross is offensive

Expect some suffering some rejection some being unfriended in this present evil age

That's what that's what life is like for us in this interim before it's over Well, that's the interim

But what's the end like I? See Christians commenting, you know, we know the end is near we can see the signs what

Jesus already said that there are no signs You know then in verse 26, he says the days of the

Son of Man again There's that phrase will be like the days of Noah, you know days of Noah people were going about their business

Eating and drinking going out to eat eat getting married going to work making money paying mortgages

Vacationing talking sports. I don't know what kind of sports they had back then but I'm sure they had something Sports and our politics

Disorderly days it was routine Why that crazy old man is building that big boat out here We don't know but we don't care and then suddenly

Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all Or it's like lot in Sodom.

They too were going about their routines Buying and selling planning and building, you know, there was no sign

There was no warning that soon they would be destroyed But on the very day that lot left leave

Sodom notice that both cases God protects His people even in the midst of the judgment but then suddenly fire and sulfur rain down from heaven and destroy them all in verse 30

So will it be in the day singular when the Son of Man is revealed?

There's the days of the Son of Man when he's revealed when people see him when I like the lightning flashes It's obvious in that day the day

Christ returns the world faces judgment. It will come suddenly without warning or I should say without further warning this

This right here is your warning This is it. You don't get anything else

Here we're warned you better be ready at any time because he's he's coming suddenly at a time you do not expect and On that day in verse 30 when he says what are you to do on that day when he's revealed?

It's too late on that day. It's too late to do anything more There are not as some as some teach years to prepare, you know days to count down to get your life, right?

Something happens and we know we have so many years until the judgment. No, it will be a surprise

So if you're not ready when it comes It's too late to get ready. And so if you're on the housetop and they had these places to relax on there

They have flat roofs so they would go up there just to relax today. Maybe you say if you're on the porch You know don't go back inside To try to get some stuff.

It's coming is so sudden Don't go back inside to get you know, you get to pack your bags or take your family photos got to have that Now would you get your precious

Jewelry or whatever it is Or when our house caught fire almost five years ago. We had to call the fire department

They rushed to our house sirens blaring, you know go as fast as they can they were in a hurry But we still had time

Go back in the house and each one of us did and we kind of each went after the thing that we thought was the Most precious I went for a removable hard disk for the computer because there's all kinds of pictures and stuff on there somebody went for a video game system and Some for a laptop, you know

Gotta get some clothes case the fire burned the whole house down and we didn't we was all gone His coming though.

It will be will be more sudden than that You won't even have that much time if you're a farmer in the fields

You won't have time to go back into your house and maybe you know change out of your coveralls Not time to change clothes, you know the fiction that people will have years to get ready once these events start

Is refuted by what Jesus clearly teaches here. So you better be prepared now

Remember lots wife. He says there's a there's a memory verse for you. I'm committed to memory verse 32

Remember lots wife there. You got one Don't be so attached to whatever is in your house that you feel the urge

To go back and get it to the removable hard disk or the video games or the laptop or the clothes or whatever it is

Don't be like lots wife longing for the delights That the world offers

While while we're here the things the experiences the relationships That make us not

Really desire the days of the Son of Man and we kind of like some of the stuff we got now

We don't really want him coming back cutting that off We kind of we can be content with a life in this world and we don't really wish it would

The world would be over don't be like her looking back Longingly now sure.

She was probably offended Lots wife. She was probably a righteous woman She was probably offended by the overt immorality proudly displayed in the town square imposed on people there

They traveling through like you're probably offended by all kinds of things You see out there by seeing ads for 50 shades of gray or demands that we celebrate sexual indulgence even perversion

That we agree that it's the same love. We're offended by all that probably should be We get used to it don't we it's kind of overlooking

Besides we think there's so many other things this world offers So enjoyable exciting

Super Bowls There's good food entertaining movies nice houses fancy cars

We can enjoy all those things And just overlook the rest like lots wife

But remember a CH Spurgeon said she looked She longed

She lingered and she died Instead of being like lots wife.

Jesus repeats the challenge in verse 33 That he first gave us and Luke chapter 9 verse 24

After he there after he foretold his death on a cross and he and the resurrection

That we looked at two years ago on Good Friday Whoever would save his life will lose it.

But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it there It makes sense on it. It's about his his coming crucifixion sacrifice for our sins

But here here it is again repeats it again now in the context about the end

How are you going to survive the end? How will you survive the judgment that comes so suddenly that you had that you better not try to run back to get it

Get to get into your house to get your favorite thing or two. How are you going to survive that? By not being so attached

To what's in your house Your life is not here with this with the stuff that you bought with the fun that you had

It's really it's not that it's really not that you love iPads or video games or cars or football or your wife or husband and family

It's not that you love those things less than people in the world It's that you love

Jesus more and that love makes the other good things pale in comparison

Your life is in the one who is coming and so you can easily lose

What this world gave you? So be ready Be ready to let go of your things of this world and then be ready for separation from those closest to you

Again Jesus's challenge to discipleship is shocking Christianity today is so often sold first as a as a strategy for improving your relationships now and Then a way of keeping them for eternity

You know, you'll go and be with those who went who died before you reunited. We're shocked

That when Jesus tells us first, you know first a few weeks ago that we must hate those relationships at least compared to him

And in the end when it's over we had be we had better be ready for separation not reuniting

Two will be in one bed. He says maybe they're married. Maybe they're siblings one will be taken and the other left

Two will be working together Maybe their family maybe their friends one will be taken and the other left

Now someone to argue get into argument whether it's the believers the Saints who are taken out and The rest are left for judgment.

They're judged here on earth or Whether it's the other way around the unbelievers are taken out

To a place of judgment where the corpse is in the very next verse kind of ominous sounding, isn't it?

You know, but they want to debate that I don't think that's the point because it's not clear You want to take one side or the other

I don't it's up to you I don't care. I don't think that's the point. The point is that this suddenly coming judgment brings separation

Sometimes at least judgment is sudden without warning and it's individual

Your attachment to someone who is a true believer who is ready who loves the

Lord with all his his or her heart Loves the Lord more than the houses and the stuff everything that the world provides who isn't looking back like lots wife

Your closeness to a believer like that Will do you no good?

Your wife or your mother or your husband or your father won't get you into the kingdom

You will be judged for your own faith for your own love for him or your own

Attachment to the world There will be separation

Some will be taken They can wear Disciples asked and Jesus answers them where the corpse is there the vultures were gathering in other words.

It's obvious You you can see the you know flocks of those big birds hovering overhead

Where's the deer that got killed you told me about? Oh You can't miss it.

There's buzzers all around Some will be taken to an obvious Public place and some will be left.

Some will be judged and condemned Some will be saved and this has already begun with Jesus when his kingdom when he brought his kingdom on earth

But it will all be over suddenly with no further notice

On December 26 2004 the day after Christmas at about 7 a .m.

Local time The third largest recorded earthquake in history shook in the Indian Ocean about a hundred miles off the coast of Indonesia It was so forceful.

It caused the entire planet to shake about half an inch Normally, though you would think well, it's way out to sea.

Well, it will do no harm Like people who felt the quake kind of dissipated where they were far far from the epicenter on land

They probably thought it's no big deal And they went about their business that day But they didn't know that they weren't in in an interim between the literally earth -shaking event and the disaster that was coming they were between the event and The judgment that it brought

They thought the quake maybe they thought the quake was too far away to impact them that there was nothing to be worried about so Go about my day

Go shopping relax at the beach go swimming in the ocean have a good time a normal day but the quake

Caused a tsunami it hit the Indonesian island of Sumatra about 15 minutes later wiping out entire towns

Suddenly the ocean rose about 10 meters up to about 35 feet Ocean water flooded into city streets carrying cars and people along rising up to the second story of buildings for two hours people in Thailand Sri Lanka and India thought that they were safe until They had a two -hour interim and late then the ocean rose sweeping trains off their tracks it killed about probably over 250 ,000 people for about a quarter of a million victims suddenly

It was all over When it's all over for the world It will be like that the world thinks life will go on that we should spend our lives on Stuff on gadgets on money on pleasure on relationships shopping and Selling and working and playing

But we see here that suddenly When we least expect it That it that will all be swept away

That he who can shake the planet will shake Everything and that he started that already the earth shaking event has already

Happened we're in an interim if you don't think Jesus Is who he is what he did if you don't think he's you don't think he's that important That you don't think he's really earth -shaking that he's worth shaking your whole life about that He's maybe he's too far

Removed from you. He's from another time another culture He doesn't really impact you you think you think this is all all this church stuff is just irrelevant theology talk so Let's go about our business

Making money and getting married and having fun and getting stuff and watching the games

Don't worry about it But suddenly Jesus says because of what he started when he came the first time

Suddenly he will come and sweep the world away When is it over?

Suddenly when we don't expect it with no warning this is

Your warning he's coming at any time like a tidal wave except Some will be saved and that's the amazing part.

That's the good news He has his Noah's his his lots his people who love him more than they love their lives in this world

Who long for his return who pray your kingdom come who say Maranatha?

So that wind with no further notice he returns suddenly What started is just an ordinary day turns when that day an ordinary day turns into the day the

Son of Man is revealed then When we see him when they see him, they don't think

You know, I need to get my pictures my laptop my video games my checkbook my jewelry from the house now they think

Praise the Lord. It's over Is that you? It's not how you think is that where your heart is set on?

Jesus detached from this world and all the stuff it has and focused on Jesus and his rule for you

Are you done? With this world. Are you looking up?

For Jesus or still looking back To the house to the stuff to this world

Is it over for you? Even while you're still in it If not