Part 3
Matthew 24 begins innoxiously with the disciples showing Jesus the Temple. Jesus responds with this answer, (Matthew 24:2 NKJV), “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
Jesus’ answer is going to cause these disciples to mentally adjust whatever thinking they were processing. I believe that, we too, in the Church will be adjusting our mental outlook regarding what we will be going through in the coming months.
Whoa! I wonder how the disciples processed Jesus’ response? Well, we don’t have to wonder very much, because, the narrative in Matthew tells us that Jesus, sitting on the Mount of Olives, is approached by His disciples, and they verbalize what they have been processing, having heard His response. (Matthew 24:3-4 NKJV) “They came to him privately, saying, Tell us when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?”
Jesus’ answer has prompted a lot of thought and discussion about end-times.
The disciples questions are probably similar to the same sort of questions many of us may be processing as we contemplate the ‘unprecedented unrest’ in our world [today]. Matthew 24:4-31, provides us with answers to the disciples questions and food for thought for our own questions. In these verses, Jesus foretells of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Interwoven throughout His explanation, He outlines the ‘unrest’ that will accompany this devastating event. [insert mine]
Quoting the Spirit-Filled Life Bible, the commentary says regarding Matthew 24:4-14 (NKJV), “In warning the disciples against false signs, Jesus sketches the prevailing conditions of their present age down to the very end and states their continuing task. There will be religious deception, social and political upheavals, natural calamities, disloyalty, and persecution (all prevalent in our world today)-all of which are precursors of the end times (things we are asking ourselves about). In the midst of the difficulties, the Lord’s followers are to persevere in the spreading of the gospel (Matthew 24:14). (inserts mine).
In Matthew 24:29-51, Jesus instructs His disciples (and now us) about His second coming. His second coming has been alluded too in the previous verses 4-28; but in Matthew 24:29(NKJV), Jesus dramatically states these words: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be ‘shaken‘.” (emphasis mine) (inserts mine)
Let’s think about things being ‘shaken‘. If God began to ‘shake‘ things up today, how would the world respond? how would I respond? how would you respond? how would the Church respond? (emphasis mine)
Would it impact your mentality? Is the Church prepared for such a shaking?
Was,( my, your), the Church’s experience with COVID a ‘time of shaking‘( in my, in your), in the Church’s daily lifestyle? Yes it was! How were you affected? What did you go through mentally? What mentally did you have to adjust too? What did you learn regarding your relationship to the Lord during this ‘time of unprecedented unrest’?
Bear with me, I visualize God shaking things up. I believe Psalm 64, written by David in a time of personal “unrest”, shares his lament before the Lord, and then he is buoyed by what he has envisioned as God’s intervention. I believe the Lord has used this psalm to show me what has been occurring in our nation and what the Lord intends to do in our nation miraculously, intervening, to bring about change and revelation of Himself. There will be a great shaking.
Before the return of Christ, God is going to Sovereignly intervene in the affairs of humanity to make Himself known to the world. Things will be ‘shaken up’. I believe that God’s A.R.R.O.W. will be, A Righteous Revelation Of Wrong-doing. God will expose the darkness (Ephesians 5) that has incarcerated this nation; He will bring judgment where judgment is needed; and at the same time He is going to pour forth His Holy Spirit so that a great revival is going to take place simultaneously and ‘be’ the result of His intervention in this nation and in the world. “…But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:20b-21 NKJV). This is already happening in the world and in places in our nation. There will be signs and wonders. (It is happening now.) Humanity will have no excuse for not believing that God exists and that He loves His creation of mankind, detests sin and will judge it. That is why the message of the gospel is so important. Christ, went to the cross and took the wrath of God against sin (judgement) for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (saved in Christ). (emphasis mine) (inserts mine)
The Epistle to the Hebrews was written to a Hebraic Christian community prior to 70 A.D., before the destruction of Jerusalem. Why was this Epistle written? It appears from the tenor and content of the Epistle that many in the Hebraic Christian community were on the brink of renouncing their Christian faith. Evidently, the ‘unprecedented unrest’ was pressuring them to consider quitting.
Is that possible today? Considering the time in which we are living, if the ‘unrest’ in our nation became such that it was overwhelming to us, might we consider turning away from the Lord?
In John 6, Jesus spoke the crowds and His disciples about Him being the Bread of Heaven. He talked about eating His flesh and drinking His blood (John 6:41-58), John 6:59 NKJV records, “These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.”
How did His disciples respond to these words? Continuing in John 6:60-69(NKJV), the scripture says, “Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying who can understand it?” When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend (cause you to stumble) you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. but there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by the Father. From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ” (insert mine) (emphasis mine)
I contend that the Epistle to the Hebrews is as relevant today for the Christian community as it was then to the Hebraic community.
I contend that there is a truth that the Christian community must hear, process, and mentally adjust too, to go forward in the Lord, especially in times of stress.
Let me say it this way, todays Christian community must adjust themselves mentally to remain steadfast in the midst of ‘unprecedented unrest’.
Remember Jesus’ word to His disciples in John 16:33, NKJV, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (emphasis mine)
What is He referring too? May I state it this way? That night in the Upper Room, He was telling them that things were going to dramatically change; they would experience ‘unprecedented unrest’; but, He also assured them that He had not forgotten them, and that He would care for them, and that the Holy Spirit would come and be their Comforter.
John 14:15-18 NKJV, Jesus tells His disciples in the Upper Room, “If you love Me keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever–the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither see Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” (emphasis mine)
Did the disciples experience stress the night Jesus was betrayed, arrested, processed as a criminal, beat, whipped, scourged, maligned, humiliated, pronounced guilty, struggled up to Calvary and crucified? Absolutely, they scattered. We know John was at the cross. The others fulfilled Jesus’ words to them, when He told them “…that the hour was coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.” John 16:32 NKJV.
And then He speaks these words of encouragement and assurance,
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NKJV. (emphasis mine)
Hebrews 12:25-29 (NKJV) says, “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much-more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice the shook the earth (Exodus 19); but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, ‘Yet once more’, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and fear. For our God is a consuming fire.” (emphasis mine)
There will be a shaking! (emphasis mine)
In the middle of Jesus’ answer to His disciples about their questions regarding the coming destruction of the Temple, His coming, and the end of age, He says, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world (that includes the flood in Noah’s day) , until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” (Matthew 24:21-22 NKJV) (insert mine)
What a promise! We must learn to take refuge in Him, as Noah, and his family took refuge in the ark.
God may ‘rock the boat’, but we have an Ark that rides out the storm.
Why? Christ is our Ark. In fact, He can walk on the water during the storm.
end of Part 3
a brother in Christ, deo
Living Words of Encouragement 