The Dark Cloud
Matthew 24:9-14 Then you will be arrested and handed over to be punished and killed. People all over the world will hate you because you believe in me. During that time many believers will lose their faith. They will turn against each other and hate each other. Many false prophets will come and cause many people to believe things that are wrong. There will be so much more evil in the world that the love of most believers will grow cold. But the one who remains faithful to the end will be saved. And the Good News I have shared about God’s kingdom will be told throughout the world. It will be spread to every nation. Then the end will come.
I cannot begin to imagine what it must be like to be martyred for your faith in Jesus. And yet, more people have died for Christ in just the last century than in the 1900 years before that. Just think about that.
There are terrible things happening in this world that we never thought that we’d see in our lifetimes. Wars, terrorism, Christians being beheaded, all sorts of things. And as you watch this stuff on the news each night, it starts to become part of you. Whether you realise it or not, a sense of foreboding, of fear, strikes root in your heart.
So many Christians, people who believe with all their hearts in Jesus, harbour that sense of foreboding and fear, when all along, what’s happening is exactly what Jesus predicted would happen, to usher in the end of this age.
Matthew 24:9-14 Then you will be arrested and handed over to be punished and killed. People all over the world will hate you because you believe in me. During that time many believers will lose their faith. They will turn against each other and hate each other. Many false prophets will come and cause many people to believe things that are wrong. There will be so much more evil in the world that the love of most believers will grow cold. But the one who remains faithful to the end will be saved. And the Good News I have shared about God’s kingdom will be told throughout the world. It will be spread to every nation. Then the end will come.
Yes, it’s terrible. Yes, it is unsettling. But God is in control. Your King reigns. And one day, soon, Jesus will be back to take those who belong to Him to be with Him for all eternity.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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