Thoughts From Luke - Day 91

                                             Luke 21:5-36

⁵ Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, ⁶ “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”
⁷ “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”
⁸ He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. ⁹ When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”
¹⁰ Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. ¹¹ There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
¹² “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. ¹³ And so you will bear testimony to me. ¹⁴ But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. ¹⁵ For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. ¹⁶ You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. ¹⁷ Everyone will hate you because of me. ¹⁸ But not a hair of your head will perish. ¹⁹ Stand firm, and you will win life.
²⁰ “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. ²¹ Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. ²² For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. ²³ How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. ²⁴ They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
²⁵ “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. ²⁶ People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. ²⁷ At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸ When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
²⁹ He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. ³⁰ When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. ³¹ Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
³² “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³³ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
³⁴ “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. ³⁵ For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶ Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”³⁷ Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, ³⁸ and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple.


              People always want to know what the future will be like. If you have a prophecy series in Sunday School, Sunday Evening Church services, or have a guest speaker come in for a series on it, you can bet it will be highly attended. I just got an invitation in the mail to a cruise conference sponsored by Steeling the Mind, which tells me in the brochure that Christ will come back in 2018. Then there was the book 88 reasons that Jesus will come back in '88 which caused quite a stir, until He didn't. Look at the sales of the Left Behind books - surpassing 65 million copies. The Adventist Church draws people into it's church with prophecy conferences as does Calvary Chapel. As I was growing up I remember the book, The Late Great Planet Earth being a best seller and then there was the terrifying Thief in the Night movie ending with a guillotine that kept me awake with nightmares. It's nice to know we aren't alone in this curiousity as the disciples quizzed Jesus about it just days before He would be crucified. You would think there would be more important immediate questions to ask Him, but then again, they didn't understand that He was going to be leaving them. Still, Jesus honors their request with some details and some instructions which tells me that if Jesus taught about it, Churches that refuse to talk on these passages are probably remiss.

        First of all, some details, and one thing I don't think Jesus does is give them a time sequence as He mixes the near future with the distant future, but He does say what will happen.
     There will be natural disasters the likes of which we haven't seen before - earthquakes, famines, pestilences, signs from Heaven in the sun, moon, and stars including shaking, and roaring and tossing of the ocean. These will be so intense that people will faint in terror and have great apprehension.
     There will be false Messiahs deceiving people to follow them and they will even have some supernatural powers given to them by Satan. Many will be deceived by them.
      There will be increasing persecution of Christians not just by leaders but by the populous. Christians will be imprisoned and put to death. Christians will be hated so much, even their own family members will turn them in.
      There will be an increase in wars around the world.
      Lastly, Israel will be a hotbed of persecution. People will have to flee Jerusalem and run for their lives as gentiles persecute the Jews.
       You can see why many believe that the end is near because the news reports these signs happening throughout the world. It appears, however, that when Christ's return is immenent, there will be an intensity like we hadn't seen before.

       Then Jesus gives some instructions for believers on how to react in these times of trouble.
     First of all He says, "Look up"! We don't need to fear, worry, have anxiety, tremble, quake because we are on the side of the One causing these things to happen. We may not be exempt from let's say dying in an earthquake, but we do know that when our eyes open again we will be in Heaven. What is there to be afraid of when death leads to a better condition than life?
      Secondly, expect people to hate you because you are a Christian. We are to stand firm, don't cower, keep in step with the Spirit and He will tell you how to respond and how to behave. We don't need to be secretive, compromise, be ashamed because we are the ones who are on the right side. We have the truth and we know the Truth who will soon turn the questioning on them.
       Third, He says that we are to live as short-timers. What are you doing this evening that is going to make a difference in eternity. My brother-in-law recently went to be with the Lord. As my sister was watching the NCAA tournaments, she was saddened because she knew that he would have been so excited at how well the Badgers did.  I'm pretty sure he does't care about that stuff now. If I die before my wife I will have to tell her to tell me how The Walking Dead turns out when we meet up in Heaven. Haha. How meaningless compared to eternity.
        Lastly, be informed about prophecy and watch and expect His return at any minute. I mentioned the conference that says He is coming back in '18. They say this because Jerusalem was given back to the Jews in 1948 so the time of the Gentiles must be over. That means the "fig tree" has budded which means the generation (70 years) will not pass away before the Lord returns. I don't know about all that but what if it is true? What would you do differently this year?