Things That Happened And Those Still To Come

Signs of the End Times

“Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”

Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”

He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”

Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

“But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. And so you will bear testimony to me. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. Everyone will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. Stand firm, and you will win life.

“When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city.  For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees.When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

“Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:5-36


On this holiest of weeks, we continue to follow the last steps Jesus took before God's plan of redemption is fulfilled on Resurrection Sunday.

Today, the Holy Spirit still leads us to read and meditate on these passages and to, more importantly, take heed.

He is coming back. And it could be sooner than we think.

Scriptures give us narratives of events that already happened (including those pointing to Him prior to His coming). It also records events that happened after it was written (things that were recorded about Him when He walked the earth among us), plus events that the Scripture writers foresaw, including those already happening in our time and those things yet to come.

In this long narrative above, Jesus was explaining plainly to His disciples, things that they needed to hear before He leaves them. He is talking about the coming destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem and also of the destruction, at the end times.

Spend time reading these daily. Get to know Him more and more.

Talk to Him. Listen.

Walk in the Spirit. And do not forsake meeting together and strengthening one another, all the more as we see all these prophetic events that are still to come, being fulfilled right before our very eyes.

Yes, the future may not be looking so great and His warning to us, is not to focus on these and not to be overwhelmed by life and with its pleasures, diversions and intricasies.


Next: The Last Supper

Jesus Gets Fired Up

Jesus Clears the Temple Courts

"On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city." Mark 11:15-19


Continuing in our Holy Week study, the bible records that Jesus then went to the temple and for the first time becomes so fired up that He overturned tables and benches and halted business transactions in the temple courts.

Business

In order to see the whole picture, we need to understand that the Passover feast or the Festival of the Unleavened Bread is a huge thing for the Jewish nation. Jews from all over, travel to Jerusalem at this time to offer at the temple their passover sacrifices. They buy or sell animals to be offered and they exchange foreign money to do their business transactions. And they go into all other sorts of businesses as crowds of people come and have all sorts of needs and wants, opening up all kinds of money making ventures and opportuities.

Not unlike what we have today, it is not hard to see that after hundreds of years, they too have very much commercialized their holy day.

And worst, the scum comes out of the woodworks to make a quick buck, short changing people, making false sales pitches, making up manmade rules and regulations, raising up prices, and making all sorts of trckery such as manipulating unsuspecting people into buying their animals because theirs are not acceptable to offer as a sacrifice or lowballing sellers while jacking up the prices to buyers.

Businessmen will always be businessmen, and so seeing all these face to face, just broke the heart of Jesus. These evil schemers were profiting off of people's beliefs and traditions, their weaknesses, their current conditions and profiting off God and doing it inside the temple grounds during the time of their feast. All these were just too vile, not to overturn.

Redemption Plan

Besides, He has come to become the final Passover sacrifice. And none of these thieves, robbers and scam artists will ever get a piece of Him, who is able to take away the sins of the world, unblemished and without any defect. God is a God of justice and He whipped up swift justice, right there and then.

While the people were amazed, the chief priests and everyone else who profit out of these schemes just wanted to kill Him all the more. Unknown to everyone, all these are just pieces of God's jigsaw puzzle plan of redemption, all waiting to be completed and put together by Resurrection Sunday.


Next: Things Still to Come