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248. Jesus Talks About How It Will End

Matthew 24:1-35, Mark 13:1-31, Luke 17:20-37, & 21:5-28
Key Verse: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."
Matthew 24:35 and Mark 13:31

It has been a long day of teaching, and crowds and noise and controversy for Jesus and His disciples and now it is time to head back to Bethany for some well-deserved rest. As the group leaves the temple, the disciples marvel at the amazing structure that Herod created. (Here is a really nice video tour of the temple) There was nothing else like it in all Judea!

When Jesus prophecies its destruction, the Disciples probably received His words with a similar incredulity that we may have felt years ago if we had been told that the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City would be destroyed. How could something so massive and sturdy be vulnerable?

The disciples must have continued pondering these things as they left the city and ascended the Mount of Olives in the cool of the evening. Then, finally, away from the crowds, as they must have often done, they knew that it was time to debrief. They approached the Lord, not in disbelief, but in faith, to see if Jesus would say more. "When will these things take place?" Jesus’ response here is called, The Olivet Discourse, because it took place on the Mount of Olives on this evening.

I would rather not spend a lot of time dwelling on the end times and the second coming of Christ in this devotional. So much has been written already and there is a great deal of controversy over how to interpret any of the prophetic texts like this one.  Others include Revelation, Ezekiel and Daniel, and some Epistles, along with other shorter passages which refer to, "The Day of The Lord,” and so forth. I encourage you to study further if this is a topic that interests you. My goal, in this devotional, is to help us get to know Jesus better, as He walked the earth the first time. I will simply make a few points here that will hopefully satisfy your curiosity, but also encourage you to dig deeper in Christ as a result.  

Several times, as Jesus walked with His disciples, He made statements that were meant to prepare His disciples for what was going to happen to Him at the cross, but also assure them of His resurrection. I believe that these passages, about the end times, are meant to achieve a similar purpose, not just for the men sitting around Him in the cool of that evening, but for all of His followers, down through the ages until His return. Some statements may have applied more specifically to the men in front of Him, for example, in just about forty years after this conversation, the temple they were admiring was destroyed, just as Jesus said. But all of His predictions were designed to assure us that God is in control no matter how bad it gets. What we now know will end, but something better is coming.

First of all, He promises that He is coming again for us, but in between now and then, it will get pretty rough, especially for those who follow Him. There will be physical catastrophes, wars, and hardships. His followers will be persecuted. But through it all, Jesus promises to be with us and will help us with what to say. We will have to protect ourselves during times of tribulation and, in the end, when He comes, Jesus will separate His followers from the nonbelievers. There will be false teachers, so we need to be good students of God's Word and spend a lot of time with Jesus, to get to know him. We must stand firm in our faith in Him. He does not promise an easy life, but he reassures us that He is the real deal. These things will happen, but they will also end and pass. He, and we with Him, will endure forever.

Hymn: One Day   (Sorry, no words, but you know this one!)

 "Glorious Day, by Casting Crowns" 

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