Good morning,
I was talking to my son Steve earlier this evening as he was describing the beauty of the brilliant moon being swallowed up by the shadow of the earth. He was calling from Florida and had a perfectly clear sky to watch an event that people had been talking about for months. It happened just as the weather experts had predicted. I have been even more interested in all of the questions that people in our church cultures are asking one another about the possibility of the end time prophecies happening any time soon. It’s not just the big moon, its the tightening buildup of armies surrounding Israel, the promises of hate filled leaders who are determined to destroy any nation or people who refuse to follow their religious messianic teachings of their promised messiah and most importantly the warnings of the real Messiah, Jesus, given to his followers almost 2000 years ago. Jesus’ followers in his days on earth were constantly talking about when their promised Messiah would keep his promises of control and power over their enemies. They wanted their Messiah to end their pain and give them a life of freedom and peace. As far as they were concerned, Jesus wasn’t being very helpful at all.
Matthew was one of the gospel writers that wrote down what Jesus had to say to them when they kept asking him for hints so that they could be ready for his return to set up his kingdom. He gave them some general hints like, “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.”(Matt.24:37) It seems that almost every generation since that promise was made have decided that surely the wickedness that he was talking about must be what they were living with during their life time. I know that my grandfather and my father were both convinced that Jesus would come during their life time with this promise in mind. Then Jesus made another point when he said, “So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming.” (Matt. 24:32) Then two verses later he told them again, “You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.” Jesus wasn’t about to give them, or us, a day or an hour or a month or a year. Why not? Jesus knew that there would be thousands of years between his first coming and his second coming. He knew that if we were aware of the date that those who were generations away from his coming would lose the focus that he had in mind for his body, the Church. What our Lord longs for are those who are faithful and sensible servants who are focused on their responsibility of loving and serving and praying for the people that God has put in their lives on a daily basis. He wants us to take care of his sheep and his lambs. He wants us to be focused on his directions as to how we live, not how long we live. Dear Lord, please help us to be watching and waiting and serving wholeheartedly until we hear your voice and see your face.
Matthew 24:45 “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them.
Roy Wisner
