Scriptures Reading Are My Daily Manna

TUESDAY, 4 APRIL 2023

TEXT: Mark 13:14-27

14. “But be ready to run for it when you see the monster of desecration set up where it should never be. You who can read, make sure you understand what I’m talking about. If you’re living in Judea at the time, run for the hills;

15. if you’re working in the yard, don’t go back to the house to get anything;

16. if you’re out in the field, don’t go back to get your coat.

17. Pregnant and nursing mothers will have it especially hard.

18. Hope and pray this won’t happen in the middle of winter.

19. “These are going to be hard days – nothing like it from the time God made the world right up to the present. And there’ll be nothing like it again.

20. If he let the days of trouble run their course, nobody would make it. But because of God’s chosen people, those he personally chose, he has already intervened.

21. “If anyone tries to flag you down, calling out, ‘Here’s the Messiah!’ or points, ‘There he is!’ don’t fall for it.

22. Fake Messiahs and lying preachers are going to pop up everywhere. Their impressive credentials and dazzling performances will pull the wool over the eyes of even those who ought to know better.

23. So watch out. I’ve given you fair warning.

24. “Following those hard times, Sun will fade out, moon cloud over,

25. Stars fall out of the sky, cosmic powers tremble.

26. “And then they’ll see the Son of Man enter in grand style, his Arrival filling the sky – no one will miss it!

27. He’ll dispatch the angels; they will pull in the chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole.

(The Message Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: SIGNS OF HIS RETURN

Today’s text is the first part of the response in which Jesus pointed out a few signs that will precede His return. It will be “’the abomination that will cause desolation’ standing where it does not belong” (verse 14).

Matthew 24:15 cites it thus: “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel-let the reader understand .” This is believed to have been fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanes (175-164) 400 years after Daniel.

According to Daniel 9:27, a prince will arise within a seven-week period to persecute those who will refuse to worship him and desecrate the temple in the future by setting up an image to be worshipped (2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:14-15).

This seven-week period is the time of the great tribulation that will come upon the earth. The tribulation is described as “days of distress unequalled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now – and never to be equaled again” (verse 19).

The good news, however, is that “at that time people will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory” for our final deliverance.

QUESTION: Will you be among those who will be received when the Son of Man returns?

PRAYER: Pray in accordance with your response to the above question.