December 14, 2014 Timed Purpose

Timed Purpose

Matthew 24:9-14 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

YOU say to a friend, “You must trust Jesus for your eternal life. Without Him, you will perish into eternal hell. Confess your sins to Him in prayer and confess Jesus is your risen Lord and Savior. Be saved out of eternal torment into eternal life.”

     “That sounds wonderful,” your friend replies. “But, I hear Christians are beaten, jailed, persecuted and killed. If Jesus is Savior, why would this happen? Is Jesus really Lord?”

     Faithfully you reply, “Yes, these troubles are hard to understand, but 2,000 years ago He prophesied these persecutions would happen. The reason they occur is that God has allowed Satan to do evil against mankind for a time. We don’t understand all of God’s ways, but we do know the Bible repeatedly shows God moves all things to His eternal purpose. The Father even caused His own Son to be killed on a cross to save people from sin’s punishment. The Father awaits the Gospel to be spoken in the entire world. Then He will end all sin, and the saved will live with Him forever.

     “Now, my friend, aren’t you glad He waited until I told you of Jesus?”

LIFE Link: In His time, take time to declare Christ.

    

December 9, 2014 When?

When?

Matthew 24:3-4 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

THIS begins what is known as the “Olivet Discourse”. It is so named because Jesus is with His disciples on the Mount of Olives and a discourse means “dialogue” and “conversation”. Jesus is having a conversation with His disciples about the questions, “When will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

     Yes, this seems like one question, but it’s actually two. The first is, “When will the temple’s destruction occur?” Jesus had just spoken of it. Naturally they wanted to know when such a catastrophic event would occur.

     The disciples’ second question is, “What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?” Wow. That is the BIG question of all disciples of Jesus throughout history, isn’t it?

     From this point we’ll examine in the coming days Jesus’ answer contained in about 100 verses of Matthew 24-25. Several of His teachings here have been grossly misinterpreted through the centuries, causing false teachings of Jesus’ Second Coming. I have even heard some teachers say, “Jesus made a mistake.” as He spoke of the future.

     We will hear Jesus’ words, and we will strive to hear them in His provocative words, “I tell you the truth.” The judgment of Christ and the end of the age is what we must prepare to encounter. This is the future we all have in common. Why would we not be prepared?

     Be of good mind. Seek God’s Word. Diligently read Matthew 24-25 as a disciple who wants to know the answer.

LIFE Link: Seek and know the eternal truth.  

December 8, 2014 New Temple

New Temple

Matthew 24:1-2 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when His disciples came up to him to call His attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” He asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; each one will be thrown down.”

JESUS and His disciples leave the temple where Jesus has pronounced severe judgment on the temple leaders, and the walk toward the Mount of Olives.  

     Their vantage point gives the men a stunning view of the temple still under construction. Some of the temple’s stones are as large as semi-trailers, weighing 100 tons! The structure was a beautiful tribute to man’s creative genius. Jesus’ disciples were very proud of the glorious structure.

     But Jesus draws them away from the world’s temporary beauty to point to God’s eternal glory. When Jesus says that no stone will be left on top of another, the disciples would not believe Him. Surely such a thing could not and will not happen.

     But it did. In 70 AD God caused the Roman army to annihilate Jerusalem and the temple. True to Jesus’ words, no stone was left on another as Rome rampaged through the city.

     To that point the temple was the symbolic home of God. When God’s people rejected and killed His Son, stubbornly refusing to then believe in the risen Christ, God destroyed the worldly temple. Through the Holy Spirit, He sent the Gospel out from Jerusalem to build new temples throughout the world.

     No, these new temples are not magnificent structures of stone. They are glorious structures of God’s new creation. After all, “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)

LIFE Link: Jesus has built you new and glorious.

December 8, 2014 Compassion

Compassion

Matthew 23:37-39 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

JESUS ends this very hard teaching of the “8 Woes” and His condemnation of the Pharisees with the hope He offers to all of us sinners.

     His sermon conclusion begins with His mournful “O Jerusalem”.

God had formed Jerusalem to be His city through King David. Jerusalem was to be a city protecting His people from pagan gods and proclaiming the way of the Holy God.  

     But God’s way became mixed up with man’s way, and the only way out would be for God to bring judgment on His city. Jesus mourns for the city and His people who have killed the prophets He has sent. Jesus laments how He has sent these men to be His hands to gather His people to Himself. But they have refused. Jesus is the Father, the Brother, who longs to be reunited with His family. Yet, they refuse to walk on the way home to Him. Instead, they have walked away to their eternal doom if they do not repent.

     As Jesus ends His words with, “For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” He offers His salvation to His lost people. Jesus points to the final days when repentant Jews and Gentles will confess Him as Lord.

LIFE Link: Jesus is the way home.

December 7, 2014 Right Now

Right Now

Matt 23:34-36 “Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth; all this will come upon this generation.”  

HAVE you ever been angry to say to someone, “I do all I can to help you; yet, you never do what’s right. You are headed for hard times.” This is essentially what Jesus said to the Pharisees. Only His words are much more severe.

     As Jesus said, “I am sending you prophets.” he is saying, “I have given you in the past, in every generation such righteous men as Abel (Genesis 4) to Zechariah (2 Chronicles 24); yet, you have killed, crucified and persecuted them!” (Note that 2 Chronicles was the last written book of the Old Testament. Bible books are not necessarily in chronological order.)

     Jesus’ words, “all this will come upon this generation” should have caused his listeners to shudder in fear. He prophesies that God will release the judgment He has withheld for centuries onto the generations standing before Him.    

     Indeed, we can become smug and self-righteous as a person, church and country when we sin and “get away with it.” But we must trust that God’s justice is sure. He will release His pent-up wrath on the unrighteous.

     We throw out the wrong and have a great appetite for God’s truths. He promises we will be filled when we “hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matt 5:6). Crave right living. Fill up on the truth.

LIFE Link: Live right, right now.