NOTES: 1] The apocalyptic (revealed) Christ can't be considered in isolation from the earthy One. 2] Heavenly disturbances that usher in the coming of the Cosmic Christ (not just an earthly figure) echo the Hebrew Bible (cf: IS 13:9+; DAN 7:13-14) where God is portrayed as intervening in world events.

WARMING UP:  How often do we look up into the sky, morning, evening, or night? What do we look for?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything this week?

ENTERING INTO THE STORY:

24-27    Do we take any comfort today from such predictions? If it didn't happen in Isaiah's day, or Daniel's, or Jesus', or in the days of the early church, & still hasn't, is it any more likely to happen now or in the future? What of the view that all this happened when Jesus was crucified & raised (cf:.MT 27:45, 51-54, & 28: 1+)? Is that too far from orthodox teaching to be acceptable? Acceptable to whom?

If it has all already happened as some people believe, does that change things at the centre of our faith? Is that 'already fulfilled' view even harder to swallow than traditional belief? If we still hold that 'he shall come again in glory.....', are we as guilty of escapism as those who take that other view are of heresy? How much of what Jesus says here is encouragement to us in difficult times as it was to the earliest Christians - imaginatively true, rather than literally?

28-32   How well do we read 'signs' around us? On earth, as well as in the heavens? What do we read in them? What if we mis-read them? Is what Jesus says about recognizing God's presence & Rule among us now just as valid as it was when he said it? Given the life we lead, & the scarcity of fig trees where most of us live, can we suggest another image (of recognizing God's time when it happens) more appropriate to our own scene? Is there any time that isn't 'God's time'?

Are we prepared to hazard some thoughts about how the earth might 'pass away'? What about cosmic physicists who think of such a thing happening as a result of the collapse of the solar system? Does it matter how it happens, if it happens? Do we ever have to deal with those who still calculate when 'the end of the world' is coming despite what Jesus says here?

33-37   If 'the price of liberty is eternal vigilance', can the price of salvation (in the best & fullest sense of that word) be any less? What is 'salvation', really?  How 'awake' are we to God's coming in some future sense & to God's presence among us right now? Which is more relevant to us? Can we spell out what 'being awake' involves for God's people today? Is looking too much to the future just as escapist as living too much in the past?