He is coming

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

HE IS COMING

Matt 10:21-23

21 "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

NIV

It seems unnatural the tender relations of a family would be torn apart to the point of having a family member put to death over religious differences. Yet Jesus says this will occur. If we were to do an in depth study of history it would reveal some horrific situations concerning the persecutions of Christians. There were cases recorded of people being burned at the stake, boiled in oil, roasted slowly over coals, covered with pitch then set afire, compelled to drink melted lead, torn apart by beasts of prey and some were crucified. It was said Peter was crucified upside down. History tells us that family members were responsible for some of their torments because of their hatred toward God. Certainly we have nothing like this going on in our country presently. There are people, Christians who are being tormented in some of these same fashions in parts of the world. ISIS has done some of these barbaric acts against believers and we have seen the published videos of such behavior. The other words of Christ also has some ideas that we need to understand. When he tells his disciples they will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. There is several thoughts about what Jesus meant. Our scholars of old cannot agree completely, however they all seem to point to the destruction of Jerusalem which happened somewhere around forty years after these words were spoken. Some would what us to believe the coming of the Son of Man was to mean his ascension. But the verbiage is similar to those words he spoke as recorded by Mark, Luke and even Matthew later on.

Luke 21:25-28

25 "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. 26 Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

NIV

Mark 13:26-27

26 "At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.

NIV

Jesus was not talking about his ascension, but rather his return for his people, that event we call the rapture of the church. How can it be then the disciples will not have finished going to ever town in Israel before he returns in the clouds? This seems to be a conflict and that is why our scholars have to believe he meant an event which occurred in their lifetime. Yet truly can we say that Disciples of Christ have visited every city in Israel? Surely not the twelve, but was Jesus only referring to them, or to all his disciples, which would include throughout all of human time. Has Jesus been preached in every town in Israel? Certainly not during their time, and since the people of Israel were scattered all over the world, and the country or nation of Israel no longer existed for centuries we can be certain this has yet to be fulfilled. It was somewhere between the third and sixth centuries that the religion of Islam controlled the land.  Even after Israel becoming a nation again in the nineteen forties, it is doubtful the gospel has been preached in every town.  This leads us to the idea that we will not accomplish this even in our era of mass communications before Jesus appears in the clouds to call his people home. This does not preclude that ever knee shall bow because all men will have to stand before God and be judged. Then we have to deal with those who never heard the gospel, how can they be judged for not accepting Jesus? We would have to conclude no man is without excuse for what may be known about God can be clearly seen through creation.

Rom 1:18-20

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse .

NIV

Paul goes on in his letter to the Romans

Rom 1:28-32

28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

NIV

It is evident all men were created, knit together in their mother’s womb by God with the knowledge of him within them. This is why they are without excuse even if they have never heard the gospel. So then we have to believe Jesus will return for us even before someone gets to every city in Israel to preach the good news about the kingdom of God. But also we should not forget that it is still possible families will be torn apart because of Jesus. We might not experience being put to death in those horrific ways, yet we can see families being torn apart because of Jesus. There is plenty of discord that occurs and we are told just to be silent, they do not want to hear about Jesus. Some tell us they just don’t believe in God and therefor anything we have to say using scripture or the principles of scripture have no relevance to them. It is sad to see this riff within families, but it happens today in our world. We cannot convince them to believe, they rather like their lives in the darkness of their own minds, although they believe we are in the dark and need their intellectual enlightenment. Not everyone is going to actually hear the gospel before Jesus comes, that is a fact, but that does not relieve us from trying. But it is a fact, not every town will hear the message before the coming of the Son of Man.