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(A passage covering the Second Coming of Jesus.
Actually, the passage starts with verse 20. From verses 20 through 21, Jesus responds to the Pharisees about
the timing of the coming of the Kingdom of God. He gives the Pharisees a short answer that would have been
obscure to them.
The Kingdom of God comes in two ways.
The first is when we become born again. We accept Christ
as our King. He then sets up His rule in our hearts and lives. That's the point of the first coming, Jesus answered the Pharisees.
The second is the answer Jesus gave His disciples in the verses you requested
explanation on. They're very disputed verses. It depends on the point of view you take as to when the rapture will happen.
Pre-Tribulation or Post-Tribulation. I believe in a Post-Tribulation rapture. That means the Christians will be caught up
to be with the Lord after the Tribulation to come.
In brief,
Verses 22-24: Jesus is the Son of man who will come the second time so all the earth will see Him. Not a secret coming that
only a few will know about.
Verse 25: This coming was not for then. The Crucifixion had to take place first.
Verses 26-33: The second coming will have the same characteristics that were seen in Noah's time and in the end of Sodom.
With Noah, life was simply progressing as it always had. Nothing unusual seemed to preceed it. For the world, other than
the plagues of the end times, people will still be going about their daily tasks of living. With Sodom, they likewise were
going along like usual. Then suddenly, the judgment fell in a moment.
The call of verses 31-33 are for the Christians to
not set their hearts on this world. Lot's wife looked longingly back and suffered destruction. We as Christians are to look
steadfastly to the King and not set our hearts on the kingdoms of this world.
Verse 33, we must stop living for ourselves,
then we will be delivered. If we set our hearts on the world, we will be like Lot's wife.
Verses 34-36: These verses tell us that on the very day of the coming of the Son of Man (Jesus Christ) in the judgment and
splendor described in these previous verses, the Christians will be separated from among the unbelievers in the world. They
will be about their various tasks of life, like had been described. Only these people were ones who lived for God and were
spared the wrath of God like Noah and Lot were.
Verse 37: This verse is rather cryptic. The question the disciples asked was, "where would they be gathered to?" in essence.
Jesus' answer refers to the battle of Armageddon. Other verses elsewhere give a better understanding of the scene that
is only referred to here. The description Jesus is laying out, is that the Christians will be caught up to be with Him in the air
as He returns to the earth. The nations will have gone up to a place known as Armageddon to fight the Lord at His return.
They will behold the saints gathering with the Lord in the sky (remember that all eyes will see this splendor in verse 24).
We are told that at Armageddon there will be a great feast for the birds of prey when the armies are slain by the Lord at His return.
So we see that the believers will be where the eagles are gathered for the feast.
I hope this helps in your understanding of this passage.
If you have a Bible question you'd like an answer to,
click here!
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 Free to Copy under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND3.0 License by Darrell Farkas
All quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible
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