Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

The days are coming when you will long to see one of the Son of Man's days, but you won't experience it. They'll tell you, "Look over here" or "Look over there," but don't follow them, for like lightning that flashes from one horizon to another, so the Son of Man will be in his day.

For just as lightning illuminates every part of the earth from one end of the horizon to the other, so too will the Son of Man shine forth in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And it will be like the days of Noah, when people went about their daily lives eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

Likewise, as it was in the days of Lot; they ate, drank, bought and sold, planted and built until the very day that Lot left Sodom. Fire and sulfur rained down from heaven, destroying everyone. So too will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, if you're on the roof with your belongings inside, don't come down to get them; if you're in a field, don't return home.

Remember Lot's wife who looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. Whoever tries to preserve their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. In that night, two people will be sleeping in one bed; one will be taken away, the other left behind. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken, the other left.

Two men will be working in a field; one will be taken, the other left. Where will it be, Lord? The master replied, "Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."