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JESUS’ SECOND COMING (I)
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11
Matthew 24:1-14

1 Timothy 4

 

“…Take heed that

no man deceive you.”

 

JESUS’ SECOND COMING (I)
 
This lengthy discourse has to do with the end times. It was a response to Jesus’ disciples’ question, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
 
The Lord began by describing the world just before He returns. These are the signs of His coming: (1) Religious signs: false Christs and false prophets; (2) military signs: “wars and rumours of wars,” “nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;” (3) cosmic signs: “famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places, and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.” According to the Rev Dr Timothy Tow, the vision of the first four seals tallies with the signs of Matthew 24:6‑8. He elaborates, “The galloping of the four horsemen of peace, war, pestilence and death would be seen in a circus, going and bobbing round and round (children love to ride these “playhorses”). So, until the Second Coming of Christ, there will be cycles of the same throughout the world. This is not narrowly confined to the last seven years of the so-called Tribulation Week. To be exact, these cycles of peace, war, pestilence and death occur during the time period from Christ’s Ascension to Christ’s Second Advent” (Coming World Events Unveiled, 32).
 
Other signs of the end times are: (4) social signs: persecution of God’s people, and destruction of the family unit, moral corruption; (5) the national sign: Israel will be back in the promised land (the sign of the fig tree in Matt 24:32 cf. Jer 24; Joel 1:6-7; Hosea 9:10; see Isa 11:11-12; note, Israel became a nation again on May 14, 1948), and attacked by the nations; and (6) the evangelistic sign: “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Jesus said, “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”
 
THOUGHT: God blesses those who study prophecy and keep those things written therein (Rev 1:3).
PRAYER: Father, may Thy Holy Spirit help me to understand endtime prophecies.

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