Readings for today: Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, Luke 21:5-38
Today Jesus gives us a reality check. In this world, we will suffer. There will be trials. There will be tribulation. The culture will reject God. Nations will defy God. Kings and rulers and authorities. Presidents and Congressional Representatives and Supreme Court Justices will go their own way and do what is right in their own eyes. There will be wars. Violence. Natural disasters on a devastating scale. Drought. Famine. Disease will afflict so many. People will embrace injustice. People will love ungodliness. People will chase unrighteousness. They will call good “evil” and evil “good.” And these are just the beginning of the birth pangs of the new age.
In this confusing time, many will claim to speak for Jesus. They will claim to speak for God. They will push their own agendas. They will offer up their own ideas in place of God. They will promote selfishness and pride and narcissism. They will promote unrighteousness and lawlessness and unrestrained freedom. They will sound so good that many will be led astray.
There will be abominations of desolation. Incredible acts of self-worship and idolatry that would make the ancient Canaanites blush. Worship will grow cold. Honoring God will become rare as people choose to do what feels good or what seems right in their own eyes. It will be like the days leading up to Noah. The days when the Judges reigned in Israel. Hatred. Rage. Violence. Pain. Suffering. All will become the norm as the world rebels against the authority of God.
Any of this sound familiar? How are we to respond as Christians? We respond the way Christians have throughout history and throughout the world today. Like my Ethiopian and Ugandan and South Sudanese brothers and sisters. They love unconditionally. They serve sacrificially. They endure to the end. Friends, Jesus couldn’t be more clear. The world will hate us. The world will persecute us. Throw us into prison. Torture us and even kill us. They will restrict our rights. They will label the gospel “hate speech.” They will make faithfulness to the law of God a hate crime. They will drag us into courts. They will put us on trial. They will do all they can to force us to abandon our faith. Things will get so bad even nature itself will feel the effect. The sun will darken. The moon refuse to shine. It will seem like the stars have fallen out of the sky. And just when it seems like we cannot go on, Jesus will appear. He will come on the clouds with glory and power! A trumpet will sound and the angels will gather His family from the four corners of the earth. We do not know exactly when this day will come but we know it draws ever closer. Seemingly with every single breaking news story. Now more than ever, it seems the world stands on the brink.
So again, what’s a Christian to do? Stay wise. Be prepared. Make sure we keep doing the work God assigned to us. Live out the Great Commandment. Care for the least resourced. The hungry and thirsty. The naked and ashamed. The sick and imprisoned. As we care for them, we care for Jesus. Fulfill the Great Commission. Seek the lost. Take the gospel to every tribe, tongue, and nation in the world. This is the work the Master has assigned to us and when He comes again, may He find us faithful!
Readings for tomorrow: Matthew 26:1-5, 14-35, Mark 14:1-2, 10-31, Luke 22:1-38, John 13