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Continuing our focus of Luke’s Gospel, this week please read Chapter 21 verses 25-38 every day this week and, if possible, use a different translation each day, asking God to open your eyes to fresh revelation from His Word.
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Luke 21:29-33 (The Message)
‘He told them a story. “Look at a fig tree. Any tree for that matter. When the leaves begin to show, one look tells you that summer is right around the corner. The same here—when you see these things happen, you know God’s kingdom is about here.
Don’t brush this off: I’m not just saying this for some future generation, but for this one, too—these things will happen. Sky and earth will wear out; my words won’t wear out.’
It can be incredibly difficult to accurately assess/judge any prophetic ministry. There have been many instances where I’ve heard a specific prophetic word that applies only to a particular time and instance. For example, if I were to tell someone to be on their guard tonight because they will be involved in a car accident. That will only apply to tonight. There are particular parameters to the message that can only be used for a specific time. If you get through to tomorrow and you’ve not been in a car accident then it’s obvious that the prophetic message was false.
If however, I were to say to you ‘from this point on, be on your guard for any car accidents.’, then perhaps after one week and you were involved in a car accident, then you could say that the prophecy is fulfilled. Does this then mean that you are now exempt from any future accidents? No, of course not. The prophecy could have been for one instance or it could continue to apply for all future accidents.
The same is true for many of the prophecies that Jesus gives in this chapter. When He says that the temple is to be destroyed and that Jerusalem will be overthrown, we know from history that this actually took place in AD70. However, we cannot assume that this is the ONLY time that Jesus is referring to. Just because the prophecy is correct for one moment in time, this doesn’t mean that it is now completely fulfilled. I really like the Message translation of this verse where Jesus says “I’m not JUST saying this for some future generation.”
There is no doubt that all the signs that Jesus is talking about refer to some future event that will herald in His return. He is also saying that there will be things happen that will give an advance notification of that event. To give another example, we read in Genesis that God gave put a rainbow in the sky as a reminder that He wasn’t going to flood the earth again. That reminder wasn’t just for Noah and his family. Every time we see the rainbow in the sky, we too can look back and praise God for His mercy and trust in His perfect judgement.
Recently, we had an earthquake in South Wales that was certainly the worst that I’ve ever experienced. My house shook as if a car had just run into the back of it. What do we think of when we hear of such events? If we take Jesus’ words to heart, we should think of Him and of His impending return. Who knows, this could well be the last one we ever experience before He calls to take us to be with Him. Don’t be fearful when you hear of disasters that are happening in the world. Be happy that it’s not going to be long before He returns. He’s coming soon!
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