In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:

When you walked into church today, you probably noticed some changes in and around the altar area.  It’s pretty hard to miss the large tree on my right.  You may have also seen the wreath and candles down on the floor to my left.  But in addition to those major changes, I hope the color of the paraments caught your attention as well.

For only a few weeks a year, the altar area is decked out in a brilliant blue.  This change not only means the beginning of a new season.  It signals the beginning of a brand new church year.  Blue is the color of Advent.  Blue signifies the sky and hope.

Sometimes people will ask what Advent and the color blue have in common.  During the Advent season, we look forward to the coming of Jesus.  The purpose of Advent is to prepare us for the birth of the Christ-child in Bethlehem.

But Jesus’ birth is not the only “coming” we anticipate.  Jesus did indeed come to earth as a little baby.  As students of God’s Word, we know the rest of the story.  We believe that Jesus will come again.

And that’s where the color blue comes in.  The day will come when people will look up into the bright blue sky and see Jesus descending with the clouds.  Jesus’ second coming gives us hope because at that time he will judge the world and carry us to heaven.

This second Advent, or second coming of Jesus, is the focus of our text for today.  These words of Jesus are a part of a much longer discourse (two whole chapters) in answer to the disciples’ questions (paraphrased), “Lord, what are the signs of the end of the age?  And what sign should we look for in connection with your second coming?”

Even though two thousand years have passed since the disciples raised these issues, even though our perspective may be somewhat different, Jesus’ followers find themselves in basically the same position today.  We know that Jesus came into the world once, but we don’t know when he will come again.

During this season set aside for preparation and anticipation, can you really think of anyone better to address these questions than Jesus himself?  With the same words he used to teach his disciples…

Jesus Prepares Our Hearts For Advent

I.    With an example from past history

II.    With an illustration of present reality

III.    With the anticipation of future glory

Jesus begins by comparing his second coming with an event from the distant past: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark” (37,38).

What is the similarity between these two eras?  They share an attitude of indifference.  At the time of Noah, people were unaware that a cataclysmic flood was coming.  They went about their daily routines.  They ate and drank.  They worked and played.  They did the things that people normally do.

These kinds of activities are not wrong in and of themselves.  People need to eat.  People need to work to make a living.  The examples Jesus gives are some of the same things that we do today.  So what was the problem?

In the busyness of life, in the hustle and bustle of daily activity, the people around Noah forgot something.  They neglected something very important.  They turned their backs on the Lord.  And when God’s watery judgment came, they were caught unprepared.

The NIV translates verse 39 this way: “They knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.”  But did they really know nothing at all?  Did they really have no clue that something was going to happen?  Didn’t some of them wonder why Noah was building a boat that was a football field and a half long?  Maybe that’s why another translation says that “people wouldn’t believe what was going to happen until the flood actually arrived” (The Living Bible).

We can only imagine how people treated Noah as he labored day after day building his ark on dry land.  Maybe some talked about him behind his back.  Maybe a few were bold enough to mock him openly to his face.  What we do know is that no one took Noah or his God very seriously.  This is the where the flood and the second coming of Jesus come together.

Jesus first spoke these words to his disciples in private. Among those sitting at Jesus’ feet was Peter.  This sermon must have made an impression on him because years later Peter made a reference to it in his second letter.

Just before making a connection between the flood and the final judgment, Peter wrote: “You must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.  They will say, ‘Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?  Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation’” (3:3, 4).

Even though Peter wrote those words a long, long time ago, nothing has really changed.  Scoffers are not in short supply today.  They scoff at the notion that Jesus will come again to judge the world.  They scoff at the possibility that God will hold them accountable for their actions.  They scoff at the idea that the Lord will eventually bring this world to an end.  Sadly, the only thing that will stop their scoffing is the sight of Jesus on Judgment Day, and then it will be too late.

This example from past history can teach us a valuable lesson.  It teaches us that many people in the world do not share our beliefs about Jesus’ second coming.  It reminds us that many people live from day to day unconcerned about God’s judgment or the end of the world.  But for us, for people who do believe that Jesus will come again, Jesus uses an illustration that hits very close to home.

The illustration is of a man who owns a house.  As a homeowner, he knows that there is a possibility that a thief could break in.  He even knows that such a burglary attempt would most likely occur sometime during the night.  But what he doesn’t know and what he can’t know is the exact time.  Therefore, the only way he can be sure the house is secure is to be ready at all times.

Just like the homeowner needs to be vigilant 24/7 to safeguard his belongings, we need to be on constant alert for Jesus’ return.  In three verses, Jesus tells us not once but twice that we don’t know when he will come again.  And in the same three verses Jesus pleads with us to “keep watch” and “be ready” because that’s really the only way to be prepared.

We can understand why Jesus is so adamant about this.  We understand the importance of being prepared for his second coming.  But knowing and doing are two different things.  For example, locking the doors at night is not an assigned task in my household.  Usually the job goes to the last person who goes to bed.

Even if we are able to go for weeks or even months without any problems, inevitably one of us will wake up one morning and find one of the doors unlocked because someone forgot to lock it. That doesn’t mean we want someone to break in and steal everything we own.  It’s simply a case of being careless.  But if something is stolen, carelessness is no excuse.

On a spiritual level, we can see a similar pattern.  I have never heard a Christian say that he/she wants to be unprepared for Jesus’ second coming.  Every one of us wants to be ready.  We want to be prepared for that day.  But again, saying and doing are two different things.

Listen to this statement made by a prominent Christian: “The last days are upon us.  Weigh carefully the times.  Look for him who is above all time, eternal and invisible.”  When do you think those words were written?  In the days of the Y2K panic leading up to the year 2000?  Sometime after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks?  Actually those words came from the pen of a man named Ignatius who in the second century AD.

Ignatius was right back then.  And his words still ring true today.  The last days are upon us.  But as time marches on, as we become farther and farther removed from Jesus’ first coming, there is a danger that we can get careless about the second. 

Without even realizing it, we can be transformed into spiritual zombies.  We get up and go to work and come home and go to bed like the rest of the world.  We can get ourselves so involved in the details of this life that we pay little attention to the life to come.  And when this Bible truth becomes nothing more than a doctrine on paper with no real urgency and no connection to reality, then Satan is well on his way toward destroying another soul.

Are we always prepared?  Is Jesus’ second coming always on our minds?  Do we look forward to it every single day?  The honest answer is “No, not always.”  Sometimes we fall asleep at our post.  Sometimes we allow the urgency of the here and now to take precedence over the importance of the future.  We must confess our sins of spiritual carelessness.  But when we do, when we repent and seek God’s forgiveness, he not only forgives our past sins.  He invites us to anticipate our future glory.

Jesus describes it this way: “Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.  Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left” (40).  There is nothing special about standing in a field.  There is nothing particularly exciting about grinding grain.  When Jesus comes again, people will be doing what people have been doing for thousands of years.  But when Jesus does appear in his glory, things will never be the same again.

When God sent the flood in the days of Noah, many were left behind.  They were left to die in watery graves because of their wickedness and unbelief.  In this respect, the final judgment will be much like the flood.  When Jesus returns, many will be left.  Not left behind to live on earth.  Not left behind to get their spiritual houses in order.  They will be left behind forever.  They will be left to go to eternal punishment in hell.

As intense as that pain and suffering will be, it will matched, it will even be surpassed by the believer’s sense of unbridled joy.  We sang “Rejoice, rejoice, believers” this morning, and we can sing the same song every morning because Jesus is coming back to take us to be with him, to deliver us from this sinful world and to carry us to a new and perfect home in heaven.  Jesus’ first advent guarantees that eternal life is ours right now.  Jesus’ second advent means that eternal glory will be ours forever.

Advent is a season of preparation.  We prepare for the birth of God’s son.  We prepare for his coming again at the end of time.  Maybe we tend to think more about the first Advent because it is more concrete.

The first Advent leads up to and ends at Christmas.  The second Advent has no fixed target date (at least not in our minds).  The first Advent recounts events that happened in the past.  The second Advent points ahead to events that will happen in the future.  The first Advent is a fact of Bible history.  The second Advent remains a piece of to-be-fulfilled prophecy.

Because of this tendency, it is a special blessing to introduce Advent with these words of Jesus because they help us maintain a balanced view of the season.  With these words, Jesus was preparing his disciples for his second coming.  With the same words, Jesus prepares our hearts for Advent.

With both advents in mind this season, we pray: “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.” Amen.