The Coming Day of the Son of Man (Part 3)

Luke 17:20-37

“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.”

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 the Son of Man be in his day. 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. 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. 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. 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.”

In this devotional series, we have analyzed the Coming Day of the Son of Man and how it relates to the kingdom of God. We began by defining the “kingdom of God” as the rule of God in the hearts of men. Then we studied the two-fold chronology of the kingdom, which the Bible tells us is to be understood as both “already” and “not yet.”  In addition, we learned how a man can enter the kingdom by being born again. Last week, I introduced the first of four characteristics of the coming day of the Son of Man: It will be a day that will be visible to everyone.

The second characteristic of the coming day of the Son of Man is that the day will appear to be normal. Everyone will be going about their daily routines as usual. It will be reminiscent of the days of both Noah and Lot. People will go out to dinner, get married and conduct business. Farmers will plant crops and builders will construct houses. Everything will be going on as if the world were never coming to an end. In fact, people will scoff at those who warn that the end is coming.

2 Peter 3:3-7 states: “First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

Life will be going on as it always has when suddenly Jesus, the Son of Man, will appear in the sky, at which time all work will cease. Everyone will stop what he is doing and look up, similar to the way in which everything stopped and everyone looked up when the Twin Towers fell. Every television program will be interrupted with breaking news. Images of Jesus Christ’s return to the earth will bring great mourning for those who refused to believe because His coming day will mean the time of decision is over. The destiny of every single person will have already been sealed. What will people be able to do when they see the Lord in the sky? Absolutely nothing! Their decisions will already be set in stone.

What will this coming day of the Son of Man be like? Prior to Jesus’ return, life will seem normal. Everyone will be wrapped up in the day’s busyness, just like other days, when all of a sudden, Jesus will appear in the sky and be visible to everyone.

Now let me ask you a question: Have you made your decision about Jesus Christ? Have you made your choice about the Word of God? Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” When the Son of Man appears in the sky, the day of God’s favor will be over; the day of salvation will have passed. Next week, we will continue to look at the characteristics of this coming Day of the Son of Man. Stay tuned. Amen!