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4th July 2024
ThursdayReflection
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Ray C. Stedman shares
of 'Authentic Christianity'
'What on earth is going to happen?'
A Thief in the Night Matthew 24:32-44
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"That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come."
How can we be sure all this will happen?
No doubt you have asked that more than once before now.
If you have, you are not the first one to do so.
In fact it would be rather strange if you haven't.
Even Jesus anticipates a certain degree of honest doubt, for at this point in his discourse he breaks off his description of the last days to give three powerful guarantees that all he has said will actually come to pass.
"From the fig tree learn its lesson; as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near."
Everyone knows that when the trees begin to put forth their leaves it is an infallible indication that summer is near.
The trend of world events is the guarantee that he has been telling the truth about the future.
We are now nearing two thousand years of history and each man can judge for himself whether or not the world is approaching these events.
"Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place."
Many have wondered exactly what he meant by these words.
It is almost certain that this is what the Lord meant, for he used the word "generation" in this very sense in the previous chapter, Matthew 23:33-36.
He was speaking in severe and sharp tones to the Pharisees, and he said:
"You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
Truly, I say to you, all this will come upon this generation."
The Lord surely did not mean by this that the Pharisees and their contemporaries would bear the blame for all the injustice of the ages.
No, he meant that Israel was the nation chosen to be the instrument of God to teach the whole world what he is like.
It is the nation which was in view when he uses the term, "this generation."
Throughout twenty centuries of dispersion and persecution a most remarkable demonstration of the truth of the Bible has been the Jewish people and their uncanny ability to survive as an identifiable race.
Despite the long centuries of hardship and cruelty they have proved to be an indestructible people.
That fact constitutes proof that what Jesus predicts will surely come to pass.
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away" (verse 35).
How much value do you give to what he says?
This is the One who came to open blind eyes - and he did!
He declared he would give his life as a ransom for many - and he did!
He said he would rise again from the dead - and he did!
Now he says he will come again - can you believe him?
What is it we count on today as the most dependable thing we know?
Is it not the continuity of events?
We count on tomorrow's sun to rise, on there being a future.
We lay our plans on that basis.
But Jesus says that will stop, will pass away, but his words will not.
His coming, then, is more certain than the most certain thing we know of.
The word by which all things were called into being is the foundation upon which he rests his statement,
"my words will not pass away."
"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
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This is an extremely edited version.
The full article is avaiable on request
Ray Stedman
is one of the twentieth century's foremost pastors and biblical expositors.
His message of Authentic Christianity is shaping the lives of individuals and churches worldwide.
Ray's message now reaches across the globe, for the glory of God and the building up of the body of Christ.
Ray Stedman Ministries
is a channel for sharing the life-changing message of the Bible, the Gospel, and the New Covenant of Jesus Christ - all through the life and teachings of Ray Stedman.
We are stewards of the mysteries of God, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, the most liberating truth in the Bible (Colossians 1:26-27 ).
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