Matthew Chapter 24
This is a rather long chapter where the Lord Jesus expounds on His second coming. He doesn’t tell us the date and time but teaches tell us to watch for signs. As the future unfolds, we will witness:
Unprecedented aggression and hostility in this world.
False Christ and false prophets performing great signs and wonders to deceive people. The depth of these deceptions goes to the extent of affecting true believers of Christ.
We read news of how treacherous and hard are the lives of those to live and grew up in war-torn area. Despite that Jesus went as far as saying that there will be great tribulations, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until time, and there shall never be (Matt 24: 21). How terrifying those days will be!
Yet amid all these, our Lord strengthen us by telling us beforehand so we will remain vigilant. He reassures us He is in control and for our sake He will shorten those days.
Our Lord Jesus teaches us how to watch out for the ends times by drawing examples from nature. He likens it to knowing the arrival of summer based on the changes seen on a fig tree. The branches turning tender and leaves grow.
Changes in a tree does not occur overnight, they are subtle but surely. Likewise, we can tell that the coming of the Lord is near from the gradual changes we witness in world events as mentioned above.
Being sensitive to what’s happening in the world in relation to our faith reminds us to be vigilant and draws us to do more for the Lord before His coming.
The Lord Jesus continues saying that His coming will be sudden, when you least expect it.
Like the days of Noah, the flood came and took them all away. In fact, the flood did not come suddenly, rather Noah took 120 years building the ark and admonishing the people then yet none listened. Therefore, when the flood came, they surprised and destroyed.
As the world is dimming, may we keep the faith, with a good conscious we say “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”
