All We Need to Know

Daily Reading: Mark 13

Scripture Focus: And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. (Mark 13.26)

Devotional Thought: My daughters are like all other children - they want to know more. I can't blame them. I often find myself in situations where I would love to have a few more details about what is coming.

Jesus' disciples were like that, too. Jesus had told them about the future desecration and destruction of the temple that was to come. What? The temple? For centuries the tabernacle and then the temple had been the center of Jewish worship, the place where God met his people. It had incalculable value to his Jewish disciples and followers. Inconceivably, "There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down" (v. 2).

Jesus disciples wanted to know more! But what they really needed to know was boiled down to one statement: "They will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory."

Many believers have studied end times, the second coming of Jesus, and the events and circumstances surrounding this time period. There has been much speculation over literal versus figurative translations of end times, and it is easy to feel alarmed or frightened over what may happen. We can and should “be on guard,” as Jesus instructs, but he also says, “I have told you all things beforehand,” (v. 23). This does not mean that we will know all of the details in advance, but it does mean that we will know all we need to know. He wants us to trust him for provision and grace even through those frightening times.

And most importantly? Remember that we "will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory!"

-Jenny

Prayer: O Lord, “I want to be ready, I want to be ready, I want to be ready to walk in Jerusalem just like John!” Amen. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 8.1-9

1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!