Daily Devotional for Friday 5th July
Signs of the times
Right at the end of yesterday’s passage, Jesus explains that what He had described was ‘telling us everything in advance’ v23, so that we could be prepared. In our day and age, we have all kinds of forecasters. Those who forecast whether interest rates are going up or down, sports pundits predicting the team players and results, others who give tips about the stock market, but then perhaps most familiar of all, the weather forecasters.
Even now, some of the best weather forecastings is to make a judgement about what we see in the sky outside. It was the same in Jesus day, but without readily available calendars, people also used nature as a guide to the change in the seasons. So here we see the use of a fig tree in bud and with its leaves starting to sprout to indicate that spring has arrived and summer is inevitably on its way. I’m sure there were other signs they used to mark the progress of the seasons.
Here Jesus uses this analogy to add context to His signs that the end of time is approaching. Signs we can expect to see in the time before He returns to earth. However, while He warned that these signs would indicate the time of His return was getting nearer, it wasn’t to indicate it was imminent, because only the Father knows the exact timing and we are warned that for many it will come as a surprise.
Jesus is giving us a twofold message. First to understand that no one, other than God the Father, knows the exact day Jesus will return and secondly that what Jesus has told us is true for eternity. ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away’, v31. After all it was the word of God that brought creation into being.
Time to reflect…
We know that Jesus return will come at a time we don’t expect, like a ‘thief in the night’. How prepared would you be if Jesus returned today?
Pause to pray…
Yesterday was the General Election and so today we pray for those who have been elected to serve as MP’s up and down the country. Particularly we pray for those who will be part of the new Government, asking that they will serve the country for the common good and keep their word on the promises they made. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
