March 27, 2025 | Be God's Family
Jesus Speaks about the Future
Scripture: Matthew 24:1-25(NIV)
1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
Devotional
The temple in Jerusalem was an impressive structure. The massive stones were 12 feet high, 18 feet wide, and over 37 feet long. These 400-ton white limestone blocks were stacked and interlocked on top of one another to a height of 150 feet. Jesus’ statement that it would be destroyed had to shock His disciples. Yet that is exactly what happened forty years later, when the Romans flattened the pinnacle of Jewish worship.
His statement led to the follow-up question by the disciples, asking if this would be a sign of the end times. Jesus’ words to them are so useful for us:
Watch out for false messiahs.
Beware of false prophets.
Don’t get drawn in by false teachings.
Be leery of false signs and wonders.
Resist false promises.
We live between the times. The Christian era is after the first coming of Christ and before His second coming. Rather than wondering and worrying about when the end will be, Christ calls us to live faithfully for the number of days we have.
James 4:14 says, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
And if the Lord does return before your days are up, Jesus asked a penetrating question: “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).
We don’t know the future.
But we do know who holds the future.
How is Jesus calling you to live in the present?
Poem
If Not For The Lord
Psalm 124
If the Lord had not been on our side—let Israel say—if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away.
Psalm 124: 1-5
If not for the Lord
My attackers would have entrapped me
With their deceit
My enemies would have burned me
With their ire
My foes would have swept me away
With their torrents
My adversaries would have toppled me
With their rammings
If not for the Lord
My temple would be destroyed
Yet
Because My Lord
Cut off their binding strength
Closed their devouring jaws
Set me free to soar
Calmed the waves of my fear
Silenced my accuser
Quenched hell’s fires
Held back the flood waters
Resurrected my dead body
Because My Lord
My temple is rebuilt, restored
