This summer I spent a month taking a 5,000 mile road trip!

I flew from our home in San Jose, California to our home in Vero Beach, Florida. My wife stayed in San Jose to see our daughter and grandson frequently, and to care for our three cats and our grandson’s hamster.

I drove my car (an Infiniti QX70 nicknamed White Lightning) out of the heat, humidity, and hurricanes of Florida. First, I drove north to Rochester, New York. Next I drove east to visit our son in Manchester, New Hampshire. Then I drove west from Portland, Maine through Rochester, New York and Chicago, Illinois to the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington.

To complete my journey, I drove south through Portland, Oregon and Northern California, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on the way to San Jose.

As I drove alone for 5,000 miles, a number of ideas popped into my head. Now that I’m back in San Jose, I’m turning them into blogs.

When I started from Florida, I knew from the weather radar on my weather app, that I would be driving through a string of severe thunderstorms stretching north along I-95.

As darkness fell, I could see lightning flashing across the sky. I was driving right into it.

I remembered that Jesus warned his disciples not to be deceived by false messiahs and false prophets. He said, “For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and  perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:24).

According to Jesus, how can we keep from being deceived?

“[I]f anyone tells you, ‘There [the messiah] is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here [the messiah] is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.” (Matthew 24:26).

Why not seek the messiah by going into the wilderness or into the inner rooms?

“For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of [Jesus].” (Matthew 24:27).

It occurred to me that the lightning being visible from east to west didn’t mark the actual arrival of Jesus—just that his coming is near.  That Jesus is showing us the Way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24).

Furthermore, Jesus cautioned us: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority” (Acts 1:7; Matthew 24:36).

Therefore the idea that the coming of Jesus is near is often best understood as a spiritual nearness, rather than as a geographical nearness, or as a chronological nearness—as a spiritual presence, rather than as a geographical presence, or as a chronological presence.

After all, Jesus spoke a number of times about the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven with this spiritual emphasis—rather than with a geographic or a chronological emphasis.

For example, in the Gospel of Luke, we learn:

Once on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Luke 17:21).

Indeed, “the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21, note 57).

In the Gospel of Matthew, we learn that Jesus said, “[W]here two or three are gathered in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20).

And so, Jesus promised us: “[S]urely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20).

Furthermore, the main purpose of Jesus’s comment about lightning being visible from east to west is not to specify when and where Jesus will return.

Instead, Jesus is contrasting his coming—including his spiritual nearness and his spiritual presence in our midst and within us—with the deceptions of false messiahs and false prophets.

These false messiahs and false prophets—and their deceptions—are all around us in the darkness that surrounds us.

Similarly, I was surrounded by darkness as I drove north toward the lightning flashing from east to west.

What kinds of great signs and wonders are false messiahs and false prophets performing to deceive us?

Signs and wonders displaying the Power of Money, the Power of Religion, and the Power of the Kingdoms of the World.

If we are tempted by such “idols” we will be deceived. In fact, we will be so badly deceived that we will drive off the road and into the darkness that surrounds us. (Matthew 7:13-14).

How can we discern when we are being deceived?

Jesus said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them.”

What are these bad fruit?

Anything that defiles us such as murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. (Matthew 15:19).

In contrast, good prophets—good shepherds—grow good fruit.

What are these good fruit?

Anything we do for others that we would want them to do for us. Why? For this sums up the ideals of the Law of Moses and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12; 22:37-40).

Good prophets—good shepherds—sacrifice themselves so that others may have life and enjoy life to the full. (John 10:10-11).

Good prophets—good shepherds—are wise people who put the words of Jesus into practice. (Matthew 7:24-25; 8:1-3).

Driving north on I-95, it took me much longer to reach the place the lightning was flashing than I thought it would at first.

How did I know when I had reached the place the lightning flashed?

Partly because I became surrounded by lightning. But mostly because of the blinding downpour of rain!

From the very beginning of the Bible, the spirit of God was “hovering over the water”, saying, “‘Let there be light’ and there was light.” (Genesis 1:1-2).

In Isaiah, the LORD declared:

As the rain and the snow

   come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

   without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

   so that it yields seed for the sower

   and bread for the eater,

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

   It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

   and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

     (Isaiah 55:10-11)

And what is the LORD’s purpose in sending his word like rain coming down from heaven?

So that:

You will go out in joy

   and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills

   will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field

   will clap their hands.

     (Isaiah 55:12)

In the Gospel of John, we learn:

On the last and greatest day of the festival [in the Temple in Jerusalem], Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. (John 7:37-39).

At the very end of the Bible, the book of Revelation confirms that Jesus is showing us the Way to the tree of life:

In the new heaven and the new earth, there will be a new Jerusalem with “the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 21:1-4; 22:1-2; Ezekiel 47:1-12; 48:35).

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To contrast bad shepherds with good shepherds, please read my blog “Timothy: A Good Shepherd”.

To learn how we light the world, not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the LORD, please read my book Lighting the World.