We Await the Day of the Lord (Luke 17:20-37, Jeff Kliewer)

Father, sovereign God, I feel your presence in this place, God, in the worship, in the praises of your people.

You inhabit the praises of your people. We thank you that you are with us this morning, that you are sovereign over us, that you're with us no matter what fire we're walking through, what flood, that you are for us and that you are right there.

I think of the three who were in a fiery furnace and then the king looked in and saw, who is this fourth who looks like the son of man?

Jesus, it's you. You are with us in our trials. We thank you that you are with us in this worship service.

We ask now that you would continue to reveal yourself through your word, that we would know you more, that our hearts would be set on you and not ourselves.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Last week we talked from Luke 17 about God -centeredness, about changing the way we think to put

God at the center of everything. So his kingdom becoming first for us rather than our own kingdoms.

What did that look like? Well, we said, for one, it's a passionate battle against sin.

If we're thinking about God, we recognize that the things that are contrary to God and his will, we need to be at war against those things.

We need to kill sin. And so in Luke 17, verse three, it says, pay attention to yourself.

Pay attention to yourself. The second thing we said was that we need to kill sin, not only in ourselves, but sometimes we need to rebuke a sinning brother or sister.

We need to call out sin in order that we together would be sanctified and become holy. But not only that, when people repent, when we turn away from sin, we need to be the quickest people on earth to forgive.

Kingdom people, those who are centered on God, recognize how much we've been forgiven through Jesus Christ and so we can forgive others.

Fourth, we said that being God -centered, having the kingdom on your mind means that you're constantly depending on God for grace.

We can't do this on our own. We can't just survive in our own strength and we can't just work things together and make a plan and carry it out.

No, we need God. We need his grace all the time. The disciples prayed, increase our faith, because they recognized they didn't have it.

They weren't moving mountains with their faith and Jesus is the source even of faith. Next, we talked about deflecting glory to God.

When we serve God and when we do all that we can for the kingdom to not take praise and glory for ourselves, but at the end of the day to just say, what,

I am an unworthy servant. I only did what I was supposed to do. He's the king, he's the glorious savior.

Deflecting all praise and glory back to him and then finally we said, number six and number seven, offering praise and thanks all day long.

As you're driving in your car, you're singing these worship songs. These songs that we sing on Sunday morning, they become the anthem of your life.

You sing them all day long in your heart and you give thanks for the blessings in your life. That's God -centeredness.

It's about God all the time, putting him at the center of your life. Well, today we continue with that in Luke chapter 17, verses 20 to 37.

We're still talking about the kingdom of God. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.

We're still talking about being God -centered, but now the emphasis moves from the here and now, how to have the kingdom on our minds now and to live in that kingdom with this new ethos of the kingdom where we're a forgiving people, a loving people, a

God -centered people to the future. In these verses now, we begin to look ahead in time to the second coming of Christ and that affects us once again here and now.

We are called to be a people who are longing for the coming king.

To be God -centered means that we're looking for his coming. We're loving his appearing. We're ready and we're waiting for Christ to come.

The king is on our mind. His return matters to us. That's what we're gonna learn today.

Now, the Pharisees didn't recognize the king in their midst and so all along in the book of Luke, you see this problem that keeps popping up.

The religious leaders of Judea are not accepting their king and here again, they'll ask a question that I think has an element of mockery in it.

Well, look at that. Scoffers will look at us Christians who are waiting for the coming of Christ and they'll say, what?

Where is his coming? You've been talking about this a long time, right? But where is his appearing?

Second Peter chapter three says, when that happens, see Jesus foretold this happening, he said, remember this one thing, for God, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.

So it's been two days since Jesus left us. He can come back today or it could be another thousand years, we don't know.

We don't have a date but it sure looks like the signs of the times are pointing that it's getting close. So we look for his coming while scoffers mock us.

Where is the promise of his coming? We see the beginning of that in Luke 17 verses 20 and following.

As they mock, we wait joyfully for our coming savior. Luke 17, begin with verse 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.

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

Now, some of you have probably heard that verse in the King James version. And the King James there translated the

Greek to say, the kingdom of God is within you. That translation is permissible by the

Greek. You could go with within you or in your midst, the Greek could go either way. But I think from the context of the book of Luke, and especially here, it doesn't seem to be a helpful translation.

The NASB or the ESV, here's what we're using. It says in your midst. In your midst is a better translation.

Because the point that Jesus is making is that he is standing right there in the midst of the

Pharisees. The King, whose kingdom it is, is in their midst.

The kingdom is not in the Pharisees. In fact, Jesus said quite the opposite.

If you've forgotten, go back and read Luke 11, the last 10 or 15 verses. Jesus rebukes the

Pharisees very harshly and points out that their father is not God, but rather the devil.

That the kingdom is not within them, they are at war against the kingdom. They're a brood of vipers. So the

Pharisees do not have the kingdom in them. And that's who's being addressed in this text. Being asked by the

Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come. What prompts this question?

Why do they say when will the kingdom of God come? Well, the primary message that Jesus was preaching as he appeared on the scene was the kingdom of God is at hand.

And when he sent out the 12 and then the 70, the message was the kingdom of God has come.

It's upon you, it's at hand. So the disciples were preaching this. Jesus was preaching this.

And now the Pharisees are looking around. It's been three years. Jesus has been preaching this message.

They're in route to Jerusalem in order for him to lay down his life. And the

Pharisees, I believe, are beginning to scoff. Where's the kingdom? Looks like Rome is still ruling us.

It looks like we're still under oppression. If you're the king, if you're the Messiah, where's your kingdom?

So that's what prompts the question. The Pharisees are beginning to scoff and mock

Jesus and the disciples. But he answered them, the kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed.

Not coming in ways that can be observed. Here and now, you don't even notice that the kingdom has begun.

The kingdom is in their midst because the king is there. But lest we get too far carried away and over -realize our eschatology, in case we think that the kingdom is here in its fullness, turn with me just one or two pages to Luke 19, verse 11 and 12.

We won't read the whole parable, but I just want to show you how Luke sets up the parable. Because there is a sense in which the kingdom is not yet here, okay?

Verse 11, chapter 19, as they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near to Jerusalem and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.

He said, therefore, a noble man went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.

We won't go through the parable, you can read it later, but notice the Pharisees, the people of Israel even, were expecting the kingdom now.

That's their expectation according to verse 11. They're expecting it to appear. But he says, no, the king has to go away and then return.

That indicates, especially that in the parable it's a far off country, that Jesus would go away for a period of time, probably a long time, and come back in his kingdom.

So is the kingdom here or is it not? Is it now or is it later?

The answer is both yes in this way and in other ways not. In some ways the kingdom is here, in other ways it's not.

Jesus refers to this in Matthew 13 over and over again through many parables as the mystery of the kingdom.

As you're studying through the Old Testament, you see these kingdom promises, coming of Messiah, the setting up of a glorious reign.

Isaiah chapter 11, he judges with the breath of his mouth and he has the spirit of God. And then you see the lion lays down next to the lamb and a little child can play with snakes and not get bitten.

And there's peace on earth and there's no sin and there's no problems. And in the book of Isaiah, as you read that 11th chapter, for example, it just looks all smooshed together.

It's not revealed that there's two stages to the coming of the kingdom. So Jesus calls it a mystery.

Now a mystery in the Bible is something that was previously hidden that is now made known.

So the parables that Jesus tells reveal the mystery. The mystery is that the king has come and established the kingdom in a certain way.

But there's coming a return of that king to bring it in the fullness of the kingdom.

So what is that like? Well, it's like a little bit of leaven that someone sews into dough.

And over time it spreads and fills all the dough and makes it rise. Or it's like wheat that is sewn into a field, but simultaneously there are weeds sewn into the same field and the wheat and the weeds grow up together at the same time.

Or it's like an oyster with a pearl on the inside, this small pearl inside an oyster.

Or it's like a dragnet that gets pulled through the water and pulls out some fish, some good, some bad.

What's the point? The kingdom comes in a surprising way, in our midst, taking over slowly and gradually, but not in that distinct, overwhelming expectation that the

Israelites had. Yes, the kingdom grows here in a church and all over the earth.

Meanwhile, the weeds are growing right beside us and sometimes in our midst. The kingdom is being established and yet it's messier than you would expect.

It's not a kingdom of peace on earth and goodwill to men from end of the earth to end of the earth, where righteousness dwells.

Not yet. That's coming at the return of the king. So that's the mystery of the kingdom spoken of by Jesus, that it comes in a surprising way.

It doesn't just immediately take over, it grows slowly, like a seed, a mustard seed, that then becomes a tree.

And before long, the biggest of all trees, and then the birds of the air find rest in its branches. The kingdom of God is in our midst, but it's messier than you would have expected until the king himself comes back to bring it all together.

Jesus knew this, the Pharisees didn't. Going back to that, this is chapter 17 now,

Luke 17, verse 20 and 21. So Jesus is saying the kingdom is not coming in ways that can be observed.

In fact, there's the king. And I think to myself, what are these

Pharisees like? And the analogy that came into my mind was a squirrel trying to cross the road.

You ever notice how when you're driving down the street and there's a squirrel that's trying to cross, they creep out really slowly.

And you see this coming, so you slow down and you wait. And then as you get closer and closer, the squirrel darts right in front of you, changes its mind and goes back the other way, turns around again, and before long, it's darting right back and forth till you've come to a dead stop, and then it takes off.

And I just picture, what is this squirrel thinking? I think as he runs off, he's thinking, oh yeah, I just juked you.

I just broke your ankles in basketball language. The squirrel thinks that he's outwitted you, that he's escaped this, but all it is is that the car was sitting there waiting.

That's how I picture Jesus in this passage. He's just sitting there waiting, delaying his judgment, giving them time.

Now, with any analogy, it kind of breaks down at some point. If an analogy doesn't break down, then it's the thing itself, right?

It's not an analogy, it's the actual thing. So it's only a point of comparison. So if we were to make this analogy with a squirrel, it would have to be an evil squirrel, some kind of squirrel -centered squirrel that's trying to take over the world and centering on itself.

Follow me for a minute. In my parable, the squirrel is centered on himself, and that's the

Pharisee. Notice, they think they're trapping Jesus with these questions.

They're darting back and forth, and all he's doing is waiting on them. His judgment over them is just.

He has a right to judge them, and yet he's delaying judgment. He's just waiting, and they run off.

So in verses 20 and 21, it's really about the Pharisees, but notice verse 22 and following. Now the teaching toward the disciples is directed at them.

You always need to follow who's the speaker and who's the listener in the text. And in verse 22, he says 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 the

Son of Man be in his day.'" Jesus now turns away from the

Pharisees who have wicked hearts, and they don't believe in their king, and he turns to the disciples, and he warns them, a difficult time is coming, a time where you will long for these good days.

When you walked with the king, the king will go away, and yes, he will return, but there will be a time when the king is not here in the flesh with us.

But notice they're to wait for him, they're to long for him, you will desire to see him.

And some people will tell you, go out over here, he's there, or go there, and we see that all the time, don't we?

The Messiah's in Hawaii right now, they say, guy who calls himself Jesus, and he's gathering a band of followers, that's all over the earth, moonies in one part of the world, and other religious leaders who claim to be the

Christ, claim to be Messiah, that's gonna happen, Jesus tells us, don't believe it, don't follow that, and when someone picks a date, by the way, don't believe that either.

In verse 23, look here, look there, do not go out and follow them, but verse 24, believers, for us, this is a blessed hope, for as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will be the

Son of Man, so will the Son of Man be in his day. Times grow dark, like dark clouds coming over the earth, difficult circumstances that we all live through, but there's coming a day when, rather than the storm being another flash of lightning, that flash, as quick as a lightning bolt, boom, we're gone, we're rescued, we're taken out of this world of suffering.

It says here, 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. What does that refer to? That refers to a distinct moment, a time when, boom, the lightning flashes.

It's distinct and you can't miss it. It's unmistakable when this happens for us.

That means that little girl who's battling with cancer, all of a sudden, just boom, in an instant, she just won that battle.

She's with her Lord. And that old woman who's praying, God, why am

I still here? My body's hurting, I just wanna be in heaven. Why am I still praying? Boom, she made it until the coming of the day of the

Lord. She's raptured, she's with Christ. She didn't know she'd make it, but she's home and she never died.

This is what it's referring to. For us, this is a glorious appearing, Christ rapturing us to be with him.

It's amazing, but it's not for all. Keep reading, 25 and following.

Now he's referring not to believers, but those who don't believe. Not to sheep, but to goats.

Not to wheat, but to weeds. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the

Son of Man. That's what we're living in. He's King, he's already come, he's King. It's 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 rained from heaven and destroyed them all.

So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. It's a sobering passage.

Notice that in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot, which is referring to Sodom and Gomorrah, people were going about their lives unhindered.

In fact, enjoying their lives. Finding pleasure in this world, making this world their home and the here and now the thing that they live for.

And some of the things we see are not bad in themselves. You notice, eating and drinking, well, you need that. Marrying and being given in marriage, that's good.

That's upholding God's standard of marriage. Until the day when

Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. In the days of Lot, what are they doing?

They're eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. Notice, though, that their minds and their hearts are not on a coming king, but on themselves in this world.

There's an element of materialism there. They're buying and they're selling. They're serving themselves, in a sense, building their own kingdom.

Until a moment of surprise. They were living ordinary lives.

Ordinary lives. It's just that they were living them for themselves. Until they're surprised by a flood of water that Noah had been preaching about for quite some time.

And they were surprised by a fiery judgment that destroyed the city when they weren't expecting it.

Verse 30, the words of Jesus Christ, quite different than the

Jesus of pop culture, who only loves all the time, but has no wrath against sin.

Verse 30, it says, so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

It's not a fun thing to talk about. As a preacher, this isn't what you get up wanting to preach, fire and brimstone.

But listen, fire and brimstone fell from heaven and destroyed

Sodom and Gomorrah, and we are being told by Jesus Christ himself that so will it be on the days when he is revealed.

So will it be. It's a devastating judgment that takes people by surprise.

Bad news turns into good news here. Verse 31 to 33, 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. Remember Lot's wife, whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

That's good news. And guys, one of the great things about studying through a book of the Bible, passage by passage, is you begin to see the flow of the text and the themes of the text become evident.

Early on in the text, we said that discipleship is a theme and a disciple was someone that left everything and followed

Christ. Peter left everything and followed Christ. The fisherman coming in, called to follow him, says they left everything and followed

Christ. Then Jesus will tell us again and again, unless you leave everything and follow me, you can't have a part in me.

Another time he'll say, unless you hate your father and mother and sister and brother and wife and children, you can have no part in me.

He's not literally teaching you to hate your family, he's saying that your love for me has to be complete.

It has to be total. So great that even the love you have for your family looks like hate compared to how much you love me.

The call of discipleship throughout the book of Luke is a call to leave everything and follow

Christ. And what's encouraging to me is it says right here, on that day, verse 31, this opportunity still remains.

Well, how could that be? I thought you said it'd be like lightning that flashes across the sky and takes believers, so what's left for the unbelievers but certain judgment?

The day of the Lord is not a 24 -hour period. Rather, it's about a seven -year period of increasing struggle and tribulation on this earth.

Daniel chapter nine, verses 24 to 27, talks about a timetable until Messiah comes.

But it only brings us up to the 69th seven -year period, which leaves one week left, a week of judgment, a seven -year period of judgment on earth.

That period of tribulation is what is dealt with in, you know where, the book of Revelation.

These seven years that we read about, what are they like? Well, it begins when

John is called up in the Spirit to look at things from heaven. In Revelation 4, one, he's called up, and then there's a series of judgments poured out on earth.

You follow me? Seven trumpets are blown, and with each trumpet, a devastating thing happens on the earth.

And when you blow that seventh trumpet, it's an angel in heaven blowing these trumpets. When the seventh trumpet is blown, seven bowls of wrath are unleashed.

So the last one just unfurls a whole new series of judgments and once that last and seventh bowl of wrath is poured out, seven more judgments are unfolded.

So you have wrath poured out, and Revelation chapter six, don't mistake it, verses 16 and 17, tells us this is the wrath of God.

This is not the wrath of Satan. This is the judgment of God. In fact, it even says it's the wrath of the

Lamb, Jesus Christ. It's judgment being poured out from God in heaven on the earth, but it takes seven years before it's complete.

So why is this good news? In God's justice, he could have wiped out humanity on the day that the church is taken out.

But there's seven years and the same call to discipleship on that day, verse 31, goes out during the day of the

Lord. The time of God's judgment, as harsh and scary as it is, is called the day of the

Lord. Here we see that those who are willing, when they see these things unfold, to leave everything behind and follow

Christ are still welcomed and they preserve their life by clinging to Christ.

The last seven years of judgment on earth are also a final exercise of his mercy.

There's even an angel that flies around proclaiming the eternal gospel, we're told in the book of Revelation. There's still

Bibles on earth. There's two witnesses. There's 144 ,000

Jews who go out into all the earth and they can't be killed until their job is done. So there's witnessing happening.

There's a gospel going forward. In God's mercy, this world is given its final chance and yet most people still love this world and it's a really interesting picture of what's happening here.

Like in the days of Noah, like in the days of Lot, people are clinging to their lives. They're clinging to their stuff and the things that they've built for themselves.

And even while it's being stripped away, one thing at a time. And people they love are dying.

They're still clinging and they're hiding in rocks, begging that those rocks would fall on them so that they could die.

They're suicidal. It's really a terrible picture of still holding on to the world and wanting the world and not wanting

God, even in the midst of everything falling apart. You wonder why would someone continue to cling to a world that can't provide for them eternally when their time is running out and they can see that.

They still hate God. Makes you wonder because it's the same thing that's happening today, just not in that extreme.

People, when they're alone and they're honest with themselves, they're saying,

I'm not satisfied. I don't have peace in my heart. I don't even love my stuff.

I don't even like this world. And yet they cling to the world and reject the lamb of God.

That's the nature of the world we live in. Some who long and wait for his coming and others who try to preserve their life.

In verse 33, whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it. So this section is a picture of a final opportunity even during the day of the

Lord. 34 to 37, I'll preface this part.

You guys know, I'll go on and on. But I will preface this part just wanting to teach you one thing about eschatology.

I believe that the scriptures teach a premillennial view of the end times.

And some of you say, well, what does that mean? There are three views about what's gonna happen.

And when I say views, I mean that different Christians hold different views about what's gonna happen in the future.

And if someone says that Jesus is really not the son of God but is actually the

Archangel Michael, we say, that's a heretic. But if someone disagrees with me about premillennialism versus amillennialism or postmillennialism, we don't say that's a heretic.

We can still fellowship and have differences in views because this is not a primary gospel issue.

But there's three views. Premillennialism is what

I believe and it's the teaching that we are in a period before a millennium.

What's a millennium? A millennium is a 1 ,000 year reign of Christ on this earth.

Before the new heaven and the new earth, a 1 ,000 year reign of Christ. Amillennialism is the belief that there is no millennium.

There is no 1 ,000 year reign of Christ on this earth. But any language about that, which is particularly

Revelation chapter 20, that that's only symbolic, probably for the church age, for the time that we're in now or something like that, but there's no coming 1 ,000 year reign of Christ.

And the third position is called postmillennialism. That idea is that Christ will come back after the millennium.

The church will so improve society and make things so much better for 1 ,000 years that Christ is now welcomed back into his kingdom that the church has built up for him.

As I look at these three options, I wanna say, postmillennialism is way too optimistic.

Look at the world that we live in. Even the places where Christianity has predominated. Now, in a complete apostasy where countries that used to almost all proclaim the name of Christ are now 1 %

Christian, 2 % Christian. Most of Europe is that way. It's far too optimistic.

Amillennialism, I believe, is far too pessimistic. That there is no millennium.

I believe that the scriptures teach that a millennium is coming.

Well, how do you know who's right when you have three different views? I'll simply say that if you take the scriptures that refer to the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Israel in their plain, normal, literary way, in a literal way, you arrive at premillennialism.

But if you spiritualize teachings about Israel and the coming kingdom, then you'll arrive at some amillennial or postmillennial position.

And really, those two are just two sides of the same coin. One pessimistic, one optimistic. But this idea that Christ will come in his kingdom and reign for 1 ,000 years is based on taking the text literally.

So when it says that Israel will stretch from the Euphrates River all the way to the

River of Egypt, you look at history and you say, that's never happened before. So how will that promise be fulfilled?

If the scripture says that, how will that happen? It will be fulfilled in the millennium.

When you read Revelation chapter 20, stick with me, I'm almost done with this side rabbit trail.

When you read Revelation chapter 20, and it says that Christ will reign on this earth for 1 ,000 years, and then

Satan will be at loose for one last battle of Armageddon and the great white throne judgment. If you just take that literally in the plain normal way that you would read any other text, you see that there will be a 1 ,000 year reign of Christ on this earth.

So that seems to be the plain teaching of scripture. I don't know how to do it any other way.

So in this final text, verses 34, 35, and you'll notice no 36 and 37.

Notice that in your Bible, you got the ESV. I tell you in that night, 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.

Well, that's an interesting passage for a number of reasons. The first thing is, where Lord is verse 36.

Notice that? Now, if you have an older Bible, you'll see verse 36, but in the modern translations, it's not there.

It's a mystery. Where did verse 36 go? Where, Lord, is that verse?

Well, the answer is, the earliest manuscripts that we have do not have that verse.

So the modern translations rightly leave it out. Say, well, how could that be? Didn't you just destroy the inerrancy of Scripture by saying that?

Listen, God inspired the original autographs that were written in Greek.

Not every English, no English translation or translation into any language is 100 % inerrant.

These that we have are translations of the originals. And yet,

God has so preserved his word through time that we can be very, very confident of what the text says.

So there are Greek manuscripts that are still in existence, more than 5 ,000 copies from the early centuries that scholars can now go back and look at and arrive at a translation that makes sense.

What happened with verse 36? More than likely, over the years, centuries later, somebody was reading

Matthew 24, verses 36 and following, where you have a parallel to this.

And in Luke, it didn't have it. And the scribe who was reading that made an amendation.

He added it there later on. It goes with what was being said.

Look at verse 35. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken, and the other left.

In Matthew, chapter 24, you'll find this sentence. Two men will be in the field.

One will be taken, and the other left. So while Luke did not originally write it that way, it fits with the other synoptic gospel that had similar language.

And so it was added later. But the original version, what we believe to be inspired by God, is what we currently have without verse 36.

Does it change anything? No, it doesn't change a thing, because now it's just, all that was was adding the second example that Luke didn't feel the need to put in there.

So the Bible is still inerrant. The meaning is still completely the same. And now the second mystery.

What does this mean? What does this passage mean? Look at these verses.

Two in a bed, one taken, one left. Two women grinding, one taken, one left.

Two in a bed means it's nighttime. Probably a husband and wife laying next to each other. One taken, one left in the night.

How could you have two grinding at that time? Who grinds at two o 'clock in the morning? Somewhere on earth, it's daytime.

So don't tell me the Bible didn't know that the world was round. Copernicus wasn't the first to figure that out.

There's women grinding at the same time that the men, or that two are laying in the bed.

So what is this talking about? And then this cryptic statement at the end, verse 37. "'Where,

Lord?' he said to them. "'Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.'"

I like that answer, because Jesus is a little bit cryptic here. What is he saying?

It's actually rather simple. If we remove our left -behind sunglasses for a minute.

Taken here refers to being taken away to judgment. The taken in this verse is not those raptured up to heaven, but follow the flow of the text.

A judgment is coming for those who aren't ready for it. And just as a flood comes and takes away the people in the day of Noah, or the people in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah are taken by this flood of fiery judgment, that's how it will be at the coming of the

Son of Man. How do I know that? Well, if you go to Matthew 24 in that parallel passage, it becomes obvious that the taking away is a taking away for judgment.

And then verse 37 simply means, "'Where the corpse is, the vultures will gather.'"

This is a time of judgment. There's gonna be bodies, people dying.

The first breaking of a seal, I'm sorry, earlier I said trumpets, it goes seals, trumpets, bulls.

When that first seal is broken, many people die.

And in some of them, a third of the earth die. Where there's bodies, the vultures gather.

Taken away means taken away for judgment. And Jesus is referring to his coming being a time of judgment on earth that results in dead people and where vultures see the dead bodies, they gather.

That's the meaning of where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

And so here we are, in closing. We await the day of the

Lord. It's the title of my message. So where does it leave us as believers?

It says in 2 Timothy 4 .8, that there is a crown of righteousness awaiting, not just everybody, it says, awaiting those who love his appearing.

There's a crown in heaven waiting for those of us who are waiting. This passage tells believers to be looking for him, to be longing for him, to be putting our hope in him and not this world.

That's what we're called to do, that's kingdom -mindedness. Kingdom -mindedness is killing our sin and forgiving each other, depending on grace, deflecting glory, praising him all day, thanking him.

But it also has this element of forgiveness. Where you're looking for the king, where you wake up saying, is this the day that we're leaving?

Because you live your life differently when you're loving his appearing. When you're looking at the signs of the times in Matthew 24, and you say, that looks a lot like today.

And man, it could be getting close. Look, Gog and Magog, Ezekiel 38, Russia and Iran, they seem like they're partners.

And they're about ready to attack Israel. And all the nations are surrounding

Israel, they hate Israel. That kind of looks like the prophecies that we see in the scriptures. And you don't go that extra step into folly where you say, like Harold Camping did, that it's gonna be on this particular day.

We don't pick dates. What we do is we love his appearing. We look for his appearing.

All of our hope is in the coming king. We don't think that as a church, we're gonna so change the world that we'll usher in our king.

The church is salt and light. We can preserve the culture. We can have a preservative effect on the culture.

And we can shine light on dark places that keep this place, this world tolerable until he comes.

But even so, most people love their sin. They love this world. So it's not the church that will change the world, it's the king himself.

When he comes and all sin is destroyed, and he sets up a kingdom on this planet of righteousness and peace, that is coming, a millennium.

And we'll be here to enjoy it. It's good news. It also leaves us at a place where we recognize from this text, this is a text about judgment, right?

And I would apologize, but I don't wanna apologize. When the text preaches judgment, then

I preach judgment. I just go along with the text. But you can't water this down.

It's dangerous stuff. And so what does that do for us as believers? It says there is wrath coming on people that we love.

What's the answer? What's the remedy? It's Christ. We have the remedy. We preach

Christ. So this week, you're still kingdom -minded. You're praising him wherever you go as you drive along.

But will you preach the gospel to your friend like you really believe that the gospel is about wrath escape?

When you see your friend at work and you're scared to say something, will you remember what

Jesus said? That there's coming a flood like Noah experienced, that the people in Noah's day experienced.

And that Sodom and Gomorrah experienced it. That's what's gonna happen. See, when we study the scriptures like this, it gives us the urgency to preach the gospel and to call people to leave everything and follow

Christ. So that's our commission. That's our charge. To take from the scriptures and let it increase our urgency to preach the gospel.

Let's close in prayer. We'll call the worship team up. Just take a moment. Bow your own head, your own heart.

Close your eyes before the Lord. Think about the word of God and what that would say to you.

Ask him to increase your longing, your waiting for his appearing.

Ask him to make you a preacher of righteousness. Noah was a preacher of righteousness in his day, even though nobody wanted to listen.

At least his family did. There were eight on that ark. Pray that he'll give you boldness to share the gospel, even when the culture doesn't wanna hear it.

Just take a moment on your own. Just take a moment of silence and pray for that boldness, for that urgency.

Lord, make us evangelists. Give us courage.

Lord, help us to love your appearing, to long for your appearing. Your kingdom is about you.

Our hope is not in this world, the pleasures of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth. Our hope is only in a coming king.

Only you can make this world right. The wicked go from bad to worse. They call good evil and evil good.

We need you, Jesus. Come for your church. Even so, Lord Jesus, come.

Until you do, Lord, send us out to live holy lives as we wait for your appearing.

Send us out to preach terms of peace, of the kingdom, repentance and faith,

Acts 20, 21 through 24. Repent and believe.

Teach us to make so bold a call and a charge because,

Jesus, you command repentance and faith. Even so, come,