”One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?” Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs. You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you.” Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns, but you won’t see it. People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man,’ or ‘Here he is,’ but don’t go out and follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so it will be on the day when the Son of Man comes. But first the Son of Man must suffer terribly and be rejected by this generation. “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all. “And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building— until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return home. Remember what happened to Lot’s wife! If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it. That night two people will be asleep in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.” [(Some manuscripts add this verse) Two men will be working in the field; one will be taken, the other left.] “Where will this happen, Lord?” the disciples asked. Jesus replied, “Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.”“
Luke 17:20-37 NLT
A lot of people want to know when Jesus will return so they can be prepared. But Christ made it clear that we should be prepared every minute. The preparation is living expectantly, obediently, and with hope. The Kingdom of God is living inside of the people of God—it isn’t physical but within us as we do God’s will and are transformed by His Spirit from the inside out. There are signs of the Second Coming (v.37), but our focus should be on humbly following Jesus and living out His mission—even if it means suffering.
The first sign was the suffering of the King for the sin of the world (v.25). We don’t need to live in fear about His Second Coming because it will be obvious (v.24). Christians don’t need to stress over signs; we can focus on following Him, knowing that when He returns we will be “taken up” (or “raptured”) into the clouds to meet Jesus. Don’t cling to your life, but focus on eternity, working even now for the Kingdom to come.
The King is inviting you closer to Himself. Your decisions matter; your focus matters. If we are close to Him, we will long for His coming—because He is our King and Friend. A world of selfishness does not want the return of the King—when all of creation will worship only the Creator. That is the day we long for. Hear His voice and make the choices to be closer to Him, living out the new creation even now.
Does the Second Coming make you anxious or hopeful? Explain. How does knowing Jesus is coming back change the way you life now?
