_"... Watch out that you are not deceived. ...”(Luke 21: 8)_
Whenever a search for specific signs becomes the primary goal in our study of the end times, we are focusing on the wrong end. Such a misguided focus may drive some toward extremists cult. The best thing is to focus on the risen King Jesus Himself as the goal of God’s plan. We are not the first people to have such a goal. The first generation of Christians dealt with similar challenges. If we read the words of Jesus and Paul, we will discover what happens when we focus on the right end. First, when we focus on the right end, we will be ready for Jesus to return at any time. When Jesus predicted the destruction of the Jewish temple, His first followers asked Him, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” In response, Jesus did provide them with a few signs that would precede the fall of the temple and the end time. At the same time, His closing parable makes it clear that His primary concern was not simply for them to have a detailed understanding of these signs. His desire was for them to be ready for His presence whenever and however these events might happen. (Matthew 24: 3, 42-51) His purpose was not for His disciples to concentrate in the details of the signs but it was to get ready to welcome Him at any time. Secondly, when we focus on the right end, we see our responsibility to proclaim the gospel all the time. After His resurrection, when the disciples demanded details about the end of time, Jesus replied quite curtly. “It is not for you to know times or dates the Father has set by His own authority.” Then He immediately reminded them of their responsibility to share with others what they had seen in Him. (Acts 1: 7,8) Jesus turned their attention from “times or dates” and focused them on His work and on their commission to proclaim the gospel.
Dear friends, let us not focus on the details of how time might end. But let us emphasis on the sufficiency of Jesus, the One through whom God will bring about the end in His own time. The last days are already underway and God’s triumph is sure.
*PRAYER*: Loving Lord, let me not focus on signs and the details of how the end time would be. Let me not break my head calculating the seasons and times when it will occur. But let me have my eyes fixed on Jesus. Let me get ready to welcome Him at anytime when He comes in the mid-air. Amen.
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