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That’s the Way the Column Crumbles, 25APR
I feel like I am called to be a messenger to help my friends, AND all and any of you whom I don’t know in person, but know in spirit. I hope to tell the world, and remind myself, to realize that God has a plan all worked out… now and forever… We just want to be ready for forever and know forever is ready for us! Keep God’s love now and God’s love will keep you.
I appreciate that we can be aware, that we are educated about these current and forever plans of God, even if we don’t understand them fully. I appreciate that Jesus’s disciples wrote down revelations of the mysteries of Christ, of God’s plan, and even of the end of time to come. I truly appreciate that I can share about what I have learned…. even if I have barely scratched the surface of understanding…
“To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.” Paul to the Colossians – Paul was very verbose while he was educating… We have the ability to read his collective letters to so many scattered members of faith.
God tells us, thru Jesus instructions, how even the world will end – love will be forever, but the world will not… and that we MUST BE EVER VIGILANT to watch for it.
I love the JOY of the Lord, which keeps me watchful… I know the world is full of evil days, which keeps me watchful… Jesus teaches about the end of times, and to BE WATCHFUL!
Matthew, the scribe, is trying to instruct the newest of Christians who are building communities in the 1st centuries, and Matthew recorded Jesus’s teachings about the end of times… After a round of tough discussions in the temple, it seems the disciples are trying to point out how amazing the buildings are – and Jesus says: it’ll all be gone…
He educates them with a long reaching goal to educate us. War and strife are to be expected – we could say realistically “that’s the way the cookie crumbles” – or Jesus might say: ‘That’s the way the column crumbles…’
“Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
So, two questions and two answers (as Michael Card puts it in his Matthew book) are What? When? Jesus teaches: don’t be confused with evil events that are already in the world, they are just the reality of evil days… the real deal end will be AFTER many false warnings and fakers of the Messiah…. the only prep for when Christ is REALLY coming again is to be WATCHFUL EVERY MOMENT… be in service to God, always…
So, our learning can be gathered from biblical scholars but our understanding must be gathered by ourselves, by our own personal witness. I can only tell you that:
To want to understand Christ is a life-long PASSION.
To know Christ is to know HOPE.
To believe in Christ is to know JOY.
To believe Christ is to have FAITH.
To long for Christ is to LIVE for Christ.
To Love Christ is to LOVE.
LOVE is the BEGINNING and the END.
Jesus said: “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Watching for Christ is both for the here and now AND for the end of the age. The Earth will pass, ‘that’s the way the column crumbles’. The people who watch now will not be forgotten, so don’t forget to watch – keep vigilant in His LOVE always… Love will bring a new forever…
Don’t worry… Love teaches: Be Still, we will Still Be.
LIVE in LOVE…
AMEN
Matthew 24, 25
Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
25 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
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Debbie Upper 