The purpose of this study is not to deny Jesus the privilege of coming to this earth again or any other thing he may desire to do, or even to deny a climactic end to our age.  It is to shift our focus away from waiting for a chronologically determined grandstand event as a final solution to this world of woe by showing that all of the verses associated with the traditional advent have as their application one that is either already fulfilled or one that is not applicable.

One of the most fundamentally wrong and therefore insidiously evil-producing concepts around is the dogma of Calvinism, the idea that God knows in detail exactly what will happen and when, indefinitely.  This doctrine is not only unreasonable but is without even a good biblical basis and is contradicted by many scriptures.  This doctrine makes a mockery of any kind of volition or free moral agency, produces fatalism, and precludes any kind of proper understanding of prophecy and what we can expect regarding our time.  It should be unthinkable that God preplanned and set in concrete a series of events culminating in this world of suffering and woe.

Without going into a discussion of God's foreknowledge here, and to help put the following verses into perspective, the following considerations are offered:

• No valid OT prophecy extends beyond the passion play.

• Jesus was the last valid spokesman for God on Earth to this current time.

• Jesus made no prophecy extending beyond the destruction of Jerusalem except a terse referral to the second resurrection in John 5:28,29.

• God has no set chronological agenda.

Traditional ideas about the "2nd coming" are wrong in that they, at best, are based on a misunderstanding of the nature of the Kingship of the heavens, erroneous translations and interpretations, and mistaken applications of the following verses and passages of the Gospels.

The Kingship of the heavens was Jesus' term for peership with himself and empowerment equal to his own.  This term was not a reference to any physical or material real estate or realm, nor was it a reference to a benevolent political system with God at the head, nor was it just a reference to a benign environment filled with love and harmony.

When Jesus talked about coming or passing again he was always doing so before his crucifixion and was referring to his short ministry on earth after his resurrection.

The Greek ERXOMAI in English means: to pass, to come, to go.  Which one of these English words--which can mean the opposite of what is meant--to use must be determined from the context.  This is one of the knottiest problems in any translation of the Gospels.  COMING in Greek is ERXOMENON or ERXOMENOS not PAROUSIA.

Following are all the verses that are generally applicable to the study.

John 4:35,36  "Wouldn't you{pl} say, "Another four months, and then comes the harvest"?  I tell you{pl}, raise your{pl} sights,^[1] and see how the fields are already white for harvest.  And he who is reaping receives his reward, and gathers the fruit of everlasting life, so that sower may rejoice together with reaper."

COMMENTARY – Jesus was the “sower” of the truth about god and who we are, and we can be the “reapers” of his paradigm and truths.  The "fields white for harvest" are not people to be proselytized but are the many facets of God's character, plan, purpose and values that Jesus made plain, and our opportunity to understand and believe the truth about God and reality as Jesus presents it in person.  The reward is life that lasts forever, literally not dying, and entering the Kingship of the heavens.  This passage clearly does not apply to the traditional "2nd coming".

John 5:25-29  "Truly, truly, I say to you{pl}, the time comes, and now is, when the dead will hear from the voice of the Son of God, and those hearing will live.  For even as the Father has the life source in himself, so also he gave the Son to have the life source in himself, and gave him authority and a separation to do because he is the Son of man.  Don't wonder about this; for the time comes when all those in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth; those having done the good, to the resurrection of life, and those having practiced the evil, to the resurrection of judgment."

COMMENTARY - The first part of this passage refers to the resurrection that took place at his death (See Mt 27:51-54).  The "separation" referred to in this passage was finished at the crucifixion and was the separation of the truth about God from false concepts about God, the good doctrines from the evil ones.  This is the authority Jesus had, not as some judge who can consign certain people to hell (See Mt 17:5, Mk 9:7, Lk 9:35).
     The second part refers to the second and final resurrection that will take place at the end of our age, and which Jesus does not associate with any formal advent or "2nd coming".  Such a grandstanding display would be out of character for Jesus, definitely not his style.  Notice the imminency of the first part is contrasted with the second by his use of "and now is".

John 6:37,38  "All that my Father gives to me will come to me; and the one coming to me I will in no way cast out.  For I have come out from heaven, not that I may do my will, but the will of the one sending me; and this is the will of the father having sent me, that I should lose none of which he has given me, but elevate his stature at the last day."

COMMENTARY - Again, this passage is not associated in the text with any traditional "2nd coming".

John 11:21-26  Then Martha said to Jesus, "Master, if you were here, my brother would not be dead, because I still know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you."
     Jesus declares to her, "Your brother will rise again."  Martha says to him, "I understand that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."  Jesus said to her, "I AM the resurrection and the life source; the one choosing what he believes within me, though he finished dying, yet shall he live, but anyone living and believing within me in no way shall die ever.  Do you believe this?"

COMMENTARY - Again, this passage is not associated in the text with any traditional "2nd coming" but has the context of immediacy.

John 14:1-4  "Let not your minds be troubled; choose what to believe in God, choose what to believe also in me.  In my Father's realm are many members.  If otherwise, I would have told you{pl}.  I go to prepare a situation for you{pl}, and when I go and prepare a situation for you{pl}, I am coming again and will receive you{pl} to myself, that where I am you{pl} may be also.  And you{pl} know where I go, and you{pl} know the way."

COMMENTARY - These words of Jesus were spoken within 24 hours of his death and simply refer to his passion play, his death and time in the tomb.  The situation that Jesus had set up at this time was his public crucifixion and his resurrection, the final pieces in an ultimate basis for a paradigm shift in our understanding the humanity of God and his values, and our value to him.  When he says, "I am coming again.......," he merely is saying he will be with them again, which he was. There is no sweeping doctrinal meaning here or double application to include some far off advent; he was merely telling them of his resurrection in a different way.

John 14:18-24  "I will not leave you{pl} orphans; I am coming to you{pl}.  Yet a little while, and the world experiences me no more, but you{pl} will experience me; because I live, you{pl} will live also.  In that day you{pl} will know that I am in unity with my Father, and you{pl} with me, and I with you{pl}.  He having my directives and heeding them, that one is the one loving me; and he loving me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him."
     Judas, not Iscariot, says to him, "Master, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not at all to the world?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "If any man loves me, he will heed my message, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.  The one not loving me, heeds not my message; and the EXPRESSION OF REASON which you{pl} hear is not just mine but of the Father having sent me."

COMMENTARY - Again, these words were to apply to some of his disciples--not necessarily all eleven--and spoken less than 24 hours before his death.  The first paragraph simply refers to his passion play, his death and time in the tomb, and his resurrection and return to them.  The phrase, "reveal myself to him", is better applied to the revelation of God's character, purpose, plan and values rather than his physical presence.  The phrase, "we will come to him and make our home with him", is directed to individuals and sensibly means to live in the same realm, as against some kind of physical proximity living together.  It is certainly not connected with the traditional formal, grandiose "2nd coming" with ranks of angels, the grandiloquent Hollywood-style advent event proposed by Christianity.

John 14:27-29  "Peace I leave to you{pl}; my peace I give you{pl}; not as the world gives do I give you{pl}.  Let not your mind be troubled, nor let it be afraid.  You{pl} understood me say to you{pl}, 'I go away, and I come to you{pl}.'  If you{pl} loved me, you{pl} would have rejoiced because I said I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I."

COMMENTARY - Again, these words of Jesus were to apply to some of his disciples and were spoken less than 24 hours before his death and refer to his passion play, his death and time in the tomb, and his resurrection and return to them at that time.

John 16:16  "A little while, and you{pl} won't see me; again a little while, and you{pl} will see me, because I go to the Father."

COMMENTARY - Again, these words of Jesus were spoken to some of his disciples less than 24 hours before his death.  They clearly refer to his passion play, his death and time in the tomb, and his resurrection and return to them when he says, "because I go to the father."

John 21:21-23  And Peter, seeing this one, says to Jesus, "Master, what about this man?"  Jesus says to him, "If I desire him to remain until I go, what is that to you?  You follow me!"  Therefore this saying went out to the brethren that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus said not to him that he was not to die, but, "If I desire him to remain until I go, what is that to you?"

COMMENTARY - ERXOMAI, usually translated "I come", maybe should be translated "I go", but the context is not clear here.  Regardless, Jesus is not postulating any doctrinal coming or going, and there is nothing in his words having anything to do with living or dying.  Why the "Brethren" put this spin on his words may be because at the time John wrote his Gospel he had outlived most of the other disciples, and had the assurance of not dying.  Probably there was a rumor going around to the effect that he might not die.  The last sentence, John's COMMENTARY, is not implying dying or not dying, but is merely the author recalling Jesus telling Peter to mind his own business.

Matthew 8:11,12  "I tell you{pl}, many will come from east and west and will be with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingship of the heavens.  But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

COMMENTARY - This passage refers to the crucifixion and first resurrection.  The phrase, "sons of the kingdom" may be a metaphor referring to the doctrines and ideas of Jesus (See Mt 11:19 and Lk 7:35 where Jesus refers to deeds as children of wisdom), most of which were certainly either ignored, violated or contaminated by most of the disciples; or the phrase may refer to most of the disciples; or the phrase may refer to the greater population of Israel.  The phrase “outer darkness” would refer to spiritual darkness, as in “your house is left desolate to you.”  The disciples certainly wept and "gnashed their teeth" while Jesus was being tried, crucified and held in the tomb.  It most certainly does not indicate that it refers to literal people being cast into a literal fiery Hell upon a traditional and literal "2nd coming".

Matthew 10:21-23  "But brother will deliver brother to be put to death, and father the child, and children will rise up against parents and put them up for death.  And you{pl} will be hated by all because of my name.  But he enduring to the end, this one shall be saved.  But when they persecute you{pl} in this city, flee to another; for truly I say to you{pl}, in no way will you finish the cities of Israel until the son of man may pass."

COMMENTARY – The book of Matthew of course has many jumbles or pieces of conversation thrown together, and this sounds like one of those cases.  According to the compiler of Matthew this passage is spoken in conjunction with the sending out of the twelve.  It was probably uttered at least two years before the crucifixion and refers to the duration before this "passing" of Jesus, his death.

Matthew 12:28  Lk 11:20  "But if by the finger or TRUE MEANING^[2] of God I cast them out, then the Kingship of God has come upon you{pl}."

COMMENTARY - These verses show that the Kingship of God has already come, and it is not associated with a future traditional "2nd coming".

Matthew 13:47-50  "Again, the Kingship of the heavens is like a net thrown into the sea, and gathering together every kind; then when it was filled, men, drawing it to shore and sitting down, collected those valuable into containers, but the worthless they threw out.  So it will be at the finish of the age.  The doctrines will go out and separate the miserable from the reasonable, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

COMMENTARY - Since the Kingship of the heavens is entered into by understanding all the truth about God (See Jn 17:3), Jesus is hereby proposing that men work with their beliefs in light of the Parousia (the crucifixion and resurrection, the public display of the real god), save or keep those beliefs that are good and reasonable and discard those beliefs that are bad and unreasonable.  The finish of that spiritual age took place at the crucifixion and resurrection and the light from that focal point of history can be used to separate miserable ideas and beliefs from the reasonable, and should be used to consign them to "the furnace of fire."

Matthew 16:24-28  Mk 8:34-9:1  Lk 9:23-27  Then calling the crowd near with his disciples, Jesus told them, "If any man would follow after me, let him deny himself and pull up his tethering stake daily and follow me.  For whoever may desire to save his psyche will lose it, but whoever may lose his psyche for my sake and the gospel's, this one will find and save it.  For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and damage his psyche or forfeit his psyche or lose his self-identity?  Or what shall a man give in exchange for his psyche?  For whoever may be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of man also will be ashamed of him when he comes into his glory with the Father and the holy doctrines.  For the Son of man is about to come into the glory of his Father with his doctrines, and then he will reward to each according to his works.  Truly, I say to you{pl}, there are some standing here who will in no way taste death before they see the Kingship of God having come with power and the Son of man come into his Kingship."

COMMENTARY – In the language of the day the Greek word stauros meant a tethering stake, peg or pole—something driven into the ground with which to secure a tent or tether a goat.  It did not have any meaning of being a cross, but as a common everyday word was sometimes used to refer to the cross that was used by the Romans for their execution by what is now known as a crucifixion.  The usage here has nothing to do with the crucifixion but is merely referring to being spiritually or intellectually trammeled or tethered by the traditional paradigm or religion of ones father, family or society—not free to take responsibility for your own belief system.
     Again, the key point to understand about the last sentence is that God and his doctrines came into glory when Jesus was hanging naked on the cross, and that is when the Kingship of God came with power.  In the light of the last sentence of the passage, how can there be any misunderstanding which involves some application in our future?

Matthew 23:29-36  "You{pl} serpents!  You{pl} brood of vipers!  How do you{pl} escape the fate of Gehenna?  Therefore behold, I send you{pl} prophets and wise men and scholars, and some of them you{pl} will kill and crucify, and some of them you{pl} will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from village to village, so that all the righteous blood shed on earth comes upon you{pl}, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you{pl} murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.  Truly, I say to you{pl}, all these things will come upon this generation."

COMMENTARY - The reference to the "fate of Gehenna" should be taken literally as it was the garbage or refuse dump for the city of Jerusalem, and was literally the place that the Romans dumped bodies during the sacking of Jerusalem some 30+ years later.  How can there be any confusion as to time when he says, "all these things will come upon this generation"?

Luke 13:34,35  Mt 23:37-39  "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one killing the prophets and stoning those having been sent to you!  How often I desired to gather your children together in the way a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you wanted it not!  Behold, your house is left to you desolate.  And truly I tell you that in no way will you see me until it comes about when you say, 'Blessed the one coming in the name of the Master!'"

COMMENTARY - When you understand the message of Jesus and understand that the real God is not the God of fixed chronological agendas, then you can see that total and complete salvation for the human race was always imminently available if anyone had ever looked deep into their own hearts and stood up and demanded that God be the way we really need him to be.  Is it possible that over and over in history God had brought certain people to the ultimate choice point, only to have them elect “Adam's choice”, that is to be underlings and inferior?

Matthew 24:3  Mk 13:3,4  Lk 21:7  As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, Peter and James and John and Andrew came up to him and asked him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming into glory and of the close of the age?"

COMMENTARY - In the context of the passage, "when will this be?", the first question part, specifically relates to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple which signaled the end of that political age.
     The Greek word used here for "coming into glory" is "Parousia", which means the coming out, the blossoming forth, the coming into public prominence, being put on full display or the coming into glory.  The "Parousia", for God took place at the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus, which apparently included the resurrection of a multitude of deceased believers who had looked forward to a spiritual climactic event.
     "Close of the age" is really a composite question of two parts, referring to the previous questions.  An "Age" is not a quantitative period of time.  It is a qualitative period of time which begins with an overwhelmingly significant event or series of events which changes irrevocably the pertinent "landscape", whether that be geological, political, spiritual or social.  An "Age" closes with another overwhelmingly significant event which ushers in a new age.  For the Jews the closing of the political age took place with the end of Jerusalem as a center of Jewish government and whatever political authority they had in conjunction with Roman authority.  The closing of the spiritual age, of course, took place at the crucifixion and resurrection, which included the words of Jesus, "It is finished".  The following answers of Jesus given in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 17 & 21 really only refer to these two specific questions.

Luke 17:22-25  Mt 24:23-28  Mk 13:21-23  And he said to the disciples, "The days will come when you{pl} will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you{pl} will not see.  Then if any one says to you{pl}, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe or go.  For false Christs and false prophets will arise and suggest great omens and portents so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.  Behold, I have told you{pl} all things beforehand.  So, if they say to you{pl}, 'Lo, he is in the wilderness,' do not go out; if they say, 'Look, he is in private rooms,' do not believe.
     "For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will the Son of man be in his day, so also will be the coming into glory of the Son of man.  But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.  Wherever the corpse may be, there the vultures will be gathered together.

COMMENTARY - As for "portents and great omens", during the uprising against Rome Prior to 70 C.E., those inside the city and out believed, when there was no earthly hope of victory, that the "savior messiah" would come and that God would intervene to bless their fanatical rebellion against Rome.  It is noteworthy that there are still those even today that are busy suggesting eschatological schemes for events that they do not understand and that have already taken place.
     By the time Jesus spoke "as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west" the whole nation of Israel was aware of Jesus and at least some of the important issues he raised, and was fairly evenly divided over being for or against him, and every person was shortly given news of his crucifixion.  The vultures gathered around his corpse are those religious and political leaders who demanded and secured his death.

Matthew 24:29-31  Mk 13:24-27  Lk 21:25-28  "Immediately after the affliction of these days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the dynamics of the heavens will be shaken, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting with fear and with apprehension of what is coming on the world; then will appear the sign of the Son of man in the sky.  As these things happen, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.  And then all the tribes of the land will wail, and they will see the Son of man passing against the clouds of the sky with dynamic potency and great glory; and then he will send out his messengers with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the earth to the other."

COMMENTARY - "these days" refer to the present and coming time for Jesus and his followers just prior to his crucifixion, and the geophysical phenomena referred to literally took place when Jesus died on the cross.  The "sign of the Son of man in the sky" was the body of Jesus hanging on the cross sticking up into the sky.
     If nothing more is meant by the first part of the last sentence than this, at least some people of every tribe in Israel mourned the death of Jesus.  The Greek word here is translated in most bibles as "coming" but it means coming or going or passing and is used in a wide variety of situations.  Here it should be translated as "passing" or "passing away" since it applies to the death of Jesus at the crucifixion.  Notice that this is simultaneous with the first resurrection spoken of by Jesus in John 5:25, those resurrected as Jesus died, the "first-fruits" gathered into the Kingship (See Mt 27:51-54).

Matthew 24:36-44  Mk 13:32-37  Lk 17:26-37  "But about that time and situation no one understands, not even the messengers of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.  Like the days of Noah, so will be the coming into glory of the Son of man.  For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were not aware until the flood came and took them all, so also will be the coming into glory of the Son of man.
     "Likewise as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom fire and sulphur rained from heaven and destroyed them all, just like this will it be on the day the Son of man is revealed.  Remember Lot's wife.  Whoever seeks to save his psyche will lose it, but whoever loses his psyche will preserve it.
     "I tell you{pl}, in this time of spiritual darkness there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.  Then two men will be in the field; one is gathered in and one is passed over.  Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is gathered in and one is passed over.
     "Watch therefore, that you{pl} do not realize at what time your Master passes.  Like a man going abroad, leaving his house and giving his servants charge, each with his work, and ordered the doorkeeper that he should watch, you{pl} watch!  Understand that if the housemaster knew in what hour the thief is coming, he would have watched and might not have let his house be broken into.  Watch therefore, for you{pl} do not know when the master of the house passes, at evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning, lest he come suddenly and find you{pl} asleep.  Therefore you{pl} also be ready; for the Son of man passes at a time you{pl} do not expect.  And what I say to you{pl} I say to all: Watch."
     And they said to him, "Where, Master?"  He said to them, "Where the corpse is, there the vultures will be gathered together."

COMMENTARY - Not the messengers of heaven nor even Jesus himself understood the full ramifications of how much of the character of God would be revealed or how much God would be glorified by his death at Calvary and his resurrection.
     "Eating and drinking" was a figure of speech in the Hebrew culture which means living oblivious to significant events or aspects of the time or situation.  "Marrying and giving in marriage" was a figure of speech in the Hebrew culture which means to go about living or doing business as usual.
     Jesus' use of the word psyche in this passage is a reference to our self-identity and the miserable pattern of our life in this world. Through a natural process as children in this world we build our self-identity upon parents, others and things.  This leaves us with it centered on status symbols, be they tangible or intangible--material possessions, our abilities and accomplishments, relationships, or social standing.  With our minds or spirits focused on the things of this world, we are programmed to see ourselves as mortal with the limited value of these externals rather than children of God (Gods) with unlimited value and potential.
     "Gathered in" refers to being gathered into the Truth or true message of good news given by Jesus, and subsequently gathered into the Kingship of the heavens.

Luke 22:14-18  And when the hour came, he reclined, and the twelve apostles with him.  And he said to them, "I wanted intensely to eat this Passover with you{pl} before I suffer; for I tell you{pl} no longer in any way I eat it until it is done in the Kingship of God."  Taking a cup, and having given thanks, he said, "Take this, and share it among you{pl}; for I tell you{pl} that in no way I drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingship of God comes."

COMMENTARY - Jesus is simply saying here that he will no longer eat or drink until after his resurrection.

Matthew 25:31-34  "When the Son of man comes into his glory, and all the holy doctrines with him, then he will sit on his glorious seat of power, and before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will set the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.  Then will the King say to those at his right hand, 'Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingship prepared for you{pl} from the foundation of the world.'"

COMMENTARY - This parable-prophecy is a reference to the great spiritual glorification of God that happens when Jesus "sits on his glorious seat of power", that is, hangs on the cross, being in the ultimate position of giving a public, tangible, blood-authenticated denial of all the old wrong, ugly concepts of God's character and values.  The cross separates all those, who can see the complete character of God revealed in/by Jesus, as being sheep, and all those who fail to see the paradigm shift as being goats.  This separation is a spiritual/intellectual one and a natural one, God does not "force" it; and it is not meant to be a literally physical/spatial one or even primarily tangible. See Mt 16:27,28 & 19:28-30 regarding the nature of the "seat of power".

Matthew 26:64  Mk 14:62  "But I tell you{pl}, from now on you{pl} will see the Son of man situated to the right of the power of God, and passing with <on or against> the clouds of heaven."

COMMENTARY - "Situated to the right of the power of God " means being committed to be on the correct or plus side.  In ancient Hebrew symbolism the right hand side was correlated with the correct, reasonable or morally defensible side of an issue.  "Passing with <on or against>  the clouds of heaven" is another reference to his death and being stuck up against the clouds of the sky on the pole.

Mark 10:29-31  Mt 19:28-30  Lk 18:29,30  Responding Jesus said, "Truly, I tell you{pl} that those having followed me, in the regeneration when the son of man sits on his glorious seat of power, will also sit on twelve seats of power, separating the twelve tribes of Israel.  And there is no one who forsook houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields, on account of my authority and the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the coming age life of all ages.  But many now first will be last, and the last first."

COMMENTARY - The coming age started at the cross and resurrection, and is the age in which we live.  The seat of power for his followers is their being empowered and safe, and being in a position to share the truth about God and the human race, and thereby extend freedom from danger and dying to anyone else who chooses to believe.

Luke 10:8-12  "Whatever city you{pl} may enter and they receive you{pl}, eat the things being set before you{pl}; and heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The Kingship of God has drawn near to you{pl}.'  But whatever city you{pl} enter and they do not receive you{pl}, going out into its streets, say, 'Even the dust out of your city clinging to us, we brush off against you{pl}; yet know this, that the Kingship of God has drawn near to you{pl}.'  I tell you{pl}, for Sodom in that day, it shall be more tolerable than for that city.  Those hearing you{pl}, hear me, and he rejecting you{pl} rejects me, and he rejecting me rejects the one having sent me."

COMMENTARY - These words were spoken in the context of Jesus literally sending out some of his followers (70, according to Luke) to raise the attention of the people of Israel to be aware of the time of the Messiah and the opening up of the Kingship of the heavens.  They were spoken possibly two years before the crucifixion and resurrection, when the full Kingship of the Heavens was ushered in.

Luke 12:35-40  "Let yourself be dressed and your lamps burning, and be like men awaiting their master when he returns from the feasts, so that knocking, they will open to him at once.  Blessed those servants whom the master, coming, will find watching; truly, I say to you{pl}, he will gird himself and have them to recline, and coming up he will serve them.  If he comes in the second watch, or even comes in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those servants!  But know this, that if the housemaster had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and not let his house be broken into.  You{pl} then be prepared; for the Son of man comes (passes) at a time you{pl} don't expect."

COMMENTARY - The obvious application of this parable-prophecy is to the coming-out of the truth about God revealed at the crucifixion.  Notice that it is the Master who is going to serve the servants in this parable-prophecy.  This was literally fulfilled during the Last Supper.  Jesus was always trying to prepare his followers for something that was imminent, not far distant in the future, because his second coming and the full-blown Kingship were literally imminent.

Luke 17:20,21  Being questioned by the Pharisees about when the Kingship of God comes, he answered them and said, "The Kingship of God does not come with careful watching; nor will they say, 'behold, here it is!' or 'Behold, there!' for behold, the Kingship of God is among you{pl}."

COMMENTARY - The Kingship of God is not a tangible thing to be seen literally with the eyes in watching.  The Kingship of God can be considered to be equivalent to the healing of all reality, with the seed of that possibility inherent in the very person standing there talking to them.

Luke 18:1-8  He also told them a parable, to show that it is always right to pray and not lose heart, saying, "A certain judge was in a city, neither fearing God nor respecting man.  A widow was in that city and she came to him saying, 'Vindicate me from my adversary.'  He would not for a time; but after this he said to himself, 'Even though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will requite her, so that, coming, she does not brow beat me to the end.'"  And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says.  And will in no way God requite his elect, those crying to him day and night, and continue having patience over them?  I tell you{pl}, he will requite them speedily.  However, with the Son of man passing, will he find faith on the earth?  Evidently not!" 

COMMENTARY - In this parable God is not equating but comparing himself favorably to an uncaring judge.  Even the uncaring judge gives justice, though belatedly.  How much more does God desire to vindicate us from our adversary!  In a very real, tangible way our adversary is dying and deterioration and the hostile environment and the oppressive limitations of this world.  But when Jesus gave this analogy he clearly did not think that anyone would believe his message by the time of his death, and no one did.  However, it is recorded that after his resurrection John and Thomas chose to believe, and we must presume that others such as Mary, Martha, and Lazarus also chose to believe.

Luke 23:29-31  But Jesus turning to them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.  For behold, the days will come when they will say, 'Blessed the barren, and the wombs which did not bear and the breasts that did not give suck!'  Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us'; and to the hills, 'Cover us!'  For if they do these things in the tree with sap, what will happen in the dry?"

COMMENTARY - Just as Jesus says for them to weep for themselves and their children, this should be literally applied to that generation in the context of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 C.E., and not be applied in any other way or time.

SUMMARY - Many are waiting for God to come in the clouds.  More than 40 generations have waited in vain because His show is over—He said so.  It is our show now to follow his simple, pleasant instructions on how to enter the Realm of Goodness—Imminent Fulfillment, Immortality, Safety, Equality, Empowerment, Unity and Society!