Matthew 24
1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day: 21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. 23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
1 John 1
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Revelation 1
20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
In many places in the Bible, Jesus is compared with the sun. Here in Matt 24 we read that a sign of the end-times is that the sun will darken. Does God’s Word still have the same power in your life it had before? Can it still change your life? Does it still convict you of sin, so that you fall down on your face and confess and forsake it? May God’s power abide amongst us to change the lives of our young people, that they may meet with God’s holiness. We cannot be satisfied with anything less, than that the sun shines in our lives in its fullness and changes our lives. It is terrible if we sit under God’s Word and God’s light is clouded and does not have its life-changing power anymore. This is what sin does. It makes you blunt. The cloud of sin separates you from God and eventually you become accustomed to it. Oh, that we may we be diligent to remove sin from our lives.
It is important to walk in the light. In the beginning of the revival God’s light was dwelt upon repeatedly. God’s light is so bright that it illuminates even the roots of the tree. Many don’t like the message of walking in the light and the confession of sin, because they’re harbouring sin in their lives. As soon as a cloud of sin comes between you and God, you immediately see the mistakes of your brother. The moment you don’t walk in the light, darkness enters and it even shows on your face. Even if you put up a smile, it cannot be hidden, but those who walk in the light see past the hypocrisy. If we walk in the light, we have fellowship one with another. It creates a narrow bond of fellowship, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.
Now as the moon reflects the sun, so the church reflects the beauty of Jesus. Paul was very severe with the Corinthian church, because they allowed sin in their midst. Sin mars the reflection of Christ. The church must reflect the beauty, purity and holiness of Jesus. In Rev 1:20, the seven stars are the angels or messengers responsible for the seven churches. In a similar way, preachers must lead the church in God’s ways. You must be a messenger of Christ to purify and sanctify the church and not allow sin in the church. You are ordained to shepherd the flock. When one is lost, you must search and find it, and bring it back to the flock. Husbands are ordained to lead the household (wife and children) in the fear and ways of God. Your first concern must not be your business and money, but to lead your family in the ways of God. You need to instruct and teach them their responsibility before God. Lead them to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you as a husband experience and see the responsibility on your shoulders, you will seek to fulfil it daily, and all other things will become secondary. May this be your daily prayer to be faithful in your responsibility.
In 1John 2:19 we see that it is the spirit of antichrist to simply go your own way and say Jesus is leading you. Many will say, ‘lord, lord’, on the Judgement day, but He will say, ‘I never knew you’, and they will depart in shame. May we be concerned about this one thing, to be ready when He comes.