The Coming of God's Kingdom
20 Once the Pharisees asked Jesus when God's kingdom would come. He replied, "The coming of God's kingdom is not something you can see just by watching for it carefully.
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People will not say, 'Here it is.' Or, 'There it is.' God's kingdom is among you."
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Then Jesus spoke to his disciples. "The time is coming," he said, "when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man. But you won't see it.
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People will tell you, 'There he is!' Or, 'Here he is!' Don't go running off after them.
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"When the Son of Man comes, he will be like the lightning. It flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.
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But first the Son of Man must suffer many things. He will not be accepted by the people of today.
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"Remember how it was in the days of Noah. It will be the same when the Son of Man comes.
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People were eating and drinking. They were getting married. They were giving their daughters to be married. They did all those things right up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
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"It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking. They were buying and selling. They were planting and building.
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But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven. And all the people were destroyed.
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"It will be just like that on the day the Son of Man is shown to the world.
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Suppose someone is on the roof of his house on that day. And suppose his goods are inside the house. He should not go down to get them. No one in the field should go back for anything either.
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Anyone who tries to keep his life will lose it. Anyone who loses his life will keep it.
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"I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed. One person will be taken and the other left.
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Two women will be grinding grain together. One will be taken and the other left."
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"Where, Lord?" his disciples asked. He replied, "The vultures will gather where there is a dead body."