Part 29

017:022 Then, turning to His disciples, He said, "There will come a time when you will wish you could see a single one of the days of the Son of Man, but will not see one.

017:023 And they will say to you, `See there!' `See here!' Do not start off and go in pursuit.

017:024 For just as the lightning, when it flashes, shines from one part of the horizon to the opposite part, so will the Son of Man be on His day.

017:025 But first He must endure much suffering, and be rejected by the present generation.

017:026 "And as it was in the time of Noah, so will it also be in the time of the Son of Man.

017:027 Men were eating and drinking, taking wives and giving wives, up to the very day on which Noah entered the Ark, and the Deluge came and destroyed them all.

017:028 The same was true in the time of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building;

017:029 but on the day that Lot left Sodom, God rained fire and brimstone from the sky and destroyed them all.

017:030 Exactly so will it be on the day that the veil is lifted from the Son of Man.

017:031 "On that day, if a man is on the roof and his property indoors, let him not go down to fetch it; and, in the same way, he who is in the field, let him not turn back.

017:032 Remember Lot's wife.

017:033 Any man who makes it his object to keep his own life safe, will lose it; but whoever loses his life will preserve it.

017:034 On that night, I tell you, there will be two men in one bed: one will be taken away and the other left behind.

017:035 There will be two women turning the mill together: one will be taken away and the other left behind."

017:036 []

017:037 "Where, Master?" they inquired. "Where the dead body is," He replied, "there also will the vultures flock together."

018:001 He also taught them by a parable that they must always pray and never lose heart.

018:002 "In a certain town," He said, "there was a judge who had no fear of God and no respect for man.

018:003 And in the same town was a widow who repeatedly came and entreated him, saying, "`Give me justice and stop my oppressor.'

018:004 "For a time he would not, but afterwards he said to himself, "`Though I have neither reverence for God nor respect for man,

018:005 yet because she annoys me I will give her justice, to prevent her from constantly coming to pester me.'"

018:006 And the Lord said, "Hear those words of the unjust judge.

018:007 And will not God avenge the wrongs of His own People who cry aloud to Him day and night, although He seems slow in taking action on their behalf?

018:008 Yes, He will soon avenge their wrongs. Yet, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?"

018:009 And to some who relied on themselves as being righteous men, and looked down upon all others, He addressed this parable.

018:010 "Two men went up to the Temple to pray," He said; "one being a Pharisee and the other a tax-gatherer.

018:011 The Pharisee, standing erect, prayed as follows by himself: "`O God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people-- I am not a thief nor a cheat nor an adulterer, nor do I even resemble this tax-gatherer.

018:012 I fast twice a week. I pay the tithe on all my gains.'