Wednesday September 24 When Will Jesus Come? When Jesus said regarding the temple that “ ‘not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down’ ” (Matt. 24:2, NKJV), the disciples were astonished. “ ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ ” (vs. 3, NKJV), they inquired. In their thinking, the destruction of the temple would coincide with the end of history at Jesus’ return. Jesus’ answer skillfully combined the signs for both events: the fall of Jerusalem in a.d. 70 and His second advent, because the disciples were not prepared to grasp the difference between them. It is important for us to understand the nature and purpose of these signs. They were not given for us to determine the date of Jesus’ return, for “ ‘of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only’ ” (vs. 36, NKJV). Rather, the signs show the historical tendency of events in order to alert us that His coming is near, even at the doors. While we should never be date setters, we must never ignore the time we live in either. Read Matthew 24:3–14, 21–26, 29, 37–39 (see also Mark 13 and Luke 21). What picture of the world does Jesus present here? In what ways does it fit the world in which we now live? _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ The most important idea Jesus wanted to impress on the disciples’ minds was that His coming is near. Actually, His entire prophetic sermon addressed the apostles as if they were to be alive when He would come (see Matt. 24:32, 33, 42). In a real sense, from the personal perspective of each of us, the Second Coming is never farther away than a moment after our death. Death is a deep unconscious sleep. We close our eyes in death and, whether one year has passed or one thousand years have passed, the next thing we know is the second coming of Jesus. Thus, the idea of the nearness of Christ’s coming, which Paul, Peter, and James also shared, makes perfect sense. For each of us, individually, His coming is never more than a moment after we die. How does this concept help us understand the “imminence” of Christ’s second coming?
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 05:14:54 +0000
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