Preparing for Christ

Preparing for Christ
S - Luke 17:22-30 (NASB)
 “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. ²³ They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them. ²⁴ For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. ²⁵ But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. ²⁶ And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: ²⁷ they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. ²⁸ It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; ²⁹ but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire andbrimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. ³⁰ It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.


O - Jesus is describing the coming or second coming of Christ. Though I am not exactly sure that he is not also describing this first coming, the parallels maybe closer than we think.   In the second coming Christ describes that people will be go about their business and like lighting, they won't exactly know where He is coming from, He will be there.   It will be in that moment some will believe or have believed and will receive the second coming of Christ, and others standing right next to them won't.   Such was the case with Matthew the tax collector, Jesus was just walking along and came up to what was likely a group of tax collector and selected Mathew to to come follow Him, and He did.   What is clear from the parable is that in the second coming it will be more like Noah and Sodom and Gomorah,  those that believe and follow will be saved, and those that don't will be completely destroyed.


A - The application for me is to understand that the urgency for understanding who Christ is, is now.  There are many people who know of Him, but not as many that know Him.   The likely tragedy that will be the second coming will be like that of the pharisee's who spent a lifetime following the rules, spent a lifetime of tradition, or even just a lifetime of knowing Christ was a good guy that once lived,  but not being truly yielded to Him.  For when He comes and says ...  get in the ark,   ... turn and run for I am about to destroy this place,  those who have made Him lord will follow His instructions.  Those who only intellectually know of Him may not follow, may still question, and yes even doubt the truth of who He is.  


P - Dear heavenly Father, thank you for today's lesson, may it be sealed to my heart.  I pray Lord that you would continue to guide and mentor, and prepare me for the ministry at hand here in CA.  I pray all this in Jesus Christ name, Amen.