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.
"Glorious Day, by Casting Crowns"
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