Luke
17: 20-37
The Coming of the Kingdom of God
20Once, having been asked by the
Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does
not come with your careful observation, 21nor will people
say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."
22Then he said to his disciples,
"The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but
you will not see it. 23Men will tell you, 'There he is!' or
'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them. 24For 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. 25But first he must suffer many things and
be rejected by this generation.
26"Just as it was in the days of
Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27People
were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the
ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28"It was the same in the days of
Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from
heaven and destroyed them all.
30"It will be just like this on
the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31On that day no one who
is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise,
no one in the field should go back for anything. 32Remember
Lot's wife! 33Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34I tell you, on
that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and
the other left."
37"Where, Lord?" they asked.
He replied, "Where there is a dead body, there
the vultures will gather."
