When?

    It seemed fitting given the state of the world to finish 2015 with Jesus' own words about the end times. Luke records two instances when he spoke of the signs of the end of the age. Luke 17:20-36 we ran through a couple weeks ago but went back to it Tuesday.
    Everyone's main question is "When?" and Jesus' answer is always "Don't worry about it." The main thing is just to be living a Kingdom life now.... and in that way to be ready when He does come.
    His comparison of lightening to his coming is clear as can be.  "Do not go running after [people falsely claiming to be the Christ], for the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other." When He comes we won't be able to miss it! So don't worry about when. Worry about living the life.
   Chapter 21 contains a pretty long discourse about the end. We decided to work our way through the passage looking at his commands to us. How are we supposed to behave at the end? That's the important info if the end is near.
    Vs. 8; Do not follow them. [Again with the false claims!]
     Vs. 9; Do not be frightened. We find this idea both here and in Matthew's version of the discourse. The main thing is for us not to be afraid. The church so needs to hear that today. We appear to be so afraid, almost in a panic mode! If something doesn't change, if a certain person doesn't get elected, if certain immigrants are allowed in, if guns are taken away/allowed to remain, if the world doesn't change.... it's going to hell in a hand-basket! That is absolutely not true! It's going to Glory! We should not be afraid and should be communicating our hope to the world, not our fear!
   Vs 14; Make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. What a beautiful promise that God will defend us, giving us the perfect words and actions.
    Who Jesus is talking to in these difficult passages. In chapter 17 the Pharisees ask him the question and his answer fits them....the Kingdom of God will not be brought about by your external actions, the Kingdom of God is among you.
    Even when Jesus is talking to his disciples it seems the ideas he presents have to do with Jewish prophecies. Luke mentions the church age in 21:24. "Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." See how the time of the Gentiles or the Church Age is interjected into Jewish history?
    Although it's relatively clear in the Old Testament that God is interested in reaching the whole world, the way it happened surprised most everyone. The Messiah was a baby, who grew up and taught and did miracles and then died? The Jews were caught so off guard the majority of them rejected Jesus altogether, and the mystery of the church age as proclaimed by Paul and the other Apostles seemed to be a new revelation. In this passage Luke, who spent years with Paul, is reassuring the Jews that the day of the gentiles will end and God's attention will return to the Jewish nation....but in judgement. As Handel's Messiah quotes the surprising OT passage, "Who can abide the day of His coming?" We think we want Jesus to come back? He'll come back as a refining fire.
    Yet even in the midst of natural disasters, war, signs in the sun, moon and stars, and the earth in anguish and perplexity at all that befalls it, Jesus admonish is "Stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." vs 28. For those who are looking for Jesus, his coming will be Glory.
    Jesus used two examples in chapter 17 of falling judgement; the days of Noah and the days of Lot. In Noah's day the people living near him had plenty of warning. They watched him build the ark. Yet they were "eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark." They didn't care about God's judgement. They were busy. They had their own lives....they thought. "Then the flood came and destroyed them all."
    In Lot's day we don't know of any warning except the angels who came to rescue Lot. Again people were "eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all."
    And Lot's wife, knowing full well judgement was HERE, looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. Even running from the wrath of God, she was so absorbed in her own life that she wanted to hang onto it.
    Sad.  Sadly the story of many.
    The parable of the fig tree is very straightforward. When the tree gets leaves, summer is coming. So when you see these signs happening, you know the end is coming.  The generation that sees the leaves sprout will see the end. Yet it's been more complicated than it appeared. Every generation that has lived has had circumstances they interpreted as signs of the end. Anyone who knew Rasputin during the Russian revolution believed him to be the Anti-Christ, as did many believe of Hitler. For my whole life the 1948 return of Jews to a Jewish State of Israel has been interpreted as the sprouting of the leaves. Yet that generation, too, is almost gone.
    We're left with Jesus' guidelines to help us navigate the confusion: don't be deceived, don't be afraid.
    I have found myself looking back at 1 Peter as the world gets darker around us. Last spring when we were studying Hebrews and Peter terrorism was confined to the Mid-East. Now ISIS has clearly set it's sights on the whole world. Yet the Word for us has not changed.
    "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because you were called to inherit a blessing. For whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened. But in your heart set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the HOPE that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander."1 Peter 3:8-16.
    This does not describe the way the world sees the church today. We have to get it together. We have to hang onto our hope. We have to hold that hope up as a light in a dark world! That's why we're here.