THE SIGNS (PART 7)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Immediately after the distress of those days “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’”

Matthew 24:29

But in those days, following that distress, “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’”

Mark 13:24-25

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. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.

Luke 21:25-26

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Jesus, the Savior of the world, exchanged dialogue with four of His hand selected disciples - Peter, Andrew, James, and John - while sitting on the Mount of Olives in plain view of Jerusalem’s holy temple. A majority of this dialogue was delivered by Jesus as He gave a rather long answer to this question posed by His followers:

“Teacher, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”

The disciples were asking about a sign and what they got in response was a series of signs that would signal when Jesus would return to judge the earth and all within it. Some of the signs were found within people as Jesus cautioned His listeners to be on the lookout for people who would emerge, declare themselves to be Messiahs, and seek to deceive the masses. He also warned about people who would persecute anyone who believed in Him and shared sad news that in the time before His return, there would be widespread betrayal and hatred among people, adding that the “love of most would grow cold”. Truly, this was as harrowing as any of the other events Jesus said to watch out for.

There were also signs that involved nations and kingdoms of the world. There would be opposition and conflict that would arise to where nations and kingdoms would war against one another. Some of these conflicts would even impact the divine city of Jerusalem and lead to abominations that would cause desolation for God’s people.

Then there were signs that would be come out of natural causes but lead to great strife for all people of the world. Earthquakes, famines, and breakouts of pestilence were among the threats the people needed to be wary of but Jesus also mentioned a broader category of problems like “fearful events” and “great signs from heaven” that make the imagination run wild when trying to contemplate what might happen. Perhaps we get a glimpse of what Jesus meant when we look at the signs given in our passages today, signs that are a part of this penultimate devotion in this eight devotion series. Look again at our scripture passages for today here:

Immediately after the distress of those days “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’”  Matthew 24:29

But in those days, following that distress, “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’” Mark 13:14-24-25

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. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. Luke 21:25-26

We are a people who always have our eyes fixed on the skies. In fact, our actions, day in and day out, are dictated by the rising and setting of the sun and moon and we marvel at the beauty of the stars which dot the skies and form amazing galaxies millions and millions above the earth. The scriptures tell us that the heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19) and indeed we see this true every day.

This is why these particular signs will end up creating so much fear and terror in people when they occur, so much so that people will pass out according to Luke’s account. Think about how you would respond if the sun suddenly turned dark and stopped lighting the earth. Ditto for the moon. Throw in a multitude of stars falling from the sky and the heavens shaking, and you can see why people would suddenly be frightened to the point of losing consciousness. It’s a totally scary scene and it will happen before Jesus comes back.

It makes sense when you think about it. For Jesus isn’t going to make a subtle entry. He is going to have everyone’s attention when he descends to judge creation. So when these signs we’ve studied over the course of the past week start to occur, there should be no wonder as to what is happening, at least by anyone who follows Jesus and knows the scriptures. They shouldn’t be the ones paralyzed by fear but rather they should adopt a spirit of great joy and rejoicing because the time for them to enter into glory and the promised eternal life through Jesus would be near.

And so the questions become:

Which group will you be a part of when these signs happen?

Will you be a part of the group that faint from their fright, unaware of what is happening or what is coming afterwards?

Or will you be counted among the Christ followers who will welcome and celebrate the signs because they know their Savior was close to coming back and usher them into eternal life.

I don’t know where you stand today in regard to a relationship with Jesus but if you have rejected Him up to this point, I hope this series of devotions will lead you to change direction and graciously accept Jesus’ offer of salvation. All you need to do to gain it is believe, believe in Him as your personal Savior, the One who loved you enough to bear your sin and die in your place. Indeed, by His wounds, you are healed (Isaiah 53:5).

Tomorrow, we finish this series by seeing how the signs covered in this devotion lead to the final majestic holy event as Jesus returns. I hope you’ll come back tomorrow to see how that will look when it happens.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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