Matthew 24:29–51

Be Still: Lord, help my mind not to go into overdrive as it grapples with these mysteries but rather to look up to see your grace. Amen

Read: Matthew 24:29–51

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. (v35)

Encounter: What do these dates have in common? 

365 AD, 500 AD, 1 Jan 1000, 20 Feb 1524, 22 October 1844, 21 May 2011, and 23 Sept 2025

They were all predictions of when the world would end. People were convinced they had read 'the signs' right. All wrong. (And there've been many more.)

It is equally a fruitless endeavour to try and chart, pin down, determine from 'the signs' when Jesus will return after the End Times. For those who waste time trying, it seems Jesus needs a megaphone to repeat:

'But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.' (v36)

The date of Jesus' Second Coming is a profound mystery locked in the heart of God.

Jesus deliberately addresses both near and distant events obliquely through pictures and parables - the fig tree, Noah's flood, men and women at their daily work, an absent landlord and good versus abusive managers. 

His words point both towards the AD 70 disaster (which his listeners or their children would live through) and also the final wrapping up of history. 

Jesus is not setting out to terrify his listeners, then or now. None of his images is about fear. They're about awareness, staying alert, being faithful. He's telling us not to focus obsessively on tomorrow's 'big date' but on today's date and how we are living today in light of future judgment. There is no happy outcome for the manager in the parable who betrays his master's trust, thrives on wickedness, and abuses his fellows.

There's so much we don't know about what's to come (Thank God!)

What we do know – Jesus' return will happen, it will be cosmic, incredibly dramatic, glorious and for those who have rejected Jesus, traumatic. For those who know him - indescribable joy.

Apply: How does knowing Jesus will return, affect your life today?

Devote: Lord, help me to live each day to the full, trusting you for the future.