Luke 21:29-33
29Then Jesus told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31So also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. 32Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened. 33Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
A very short meditation on this today. A reminder that by AD 70 Jerusalem had been destroyed and persecution broken out. Everything that Jesus had been saying about the temple and signs in the heavens and on the earth, they had, in fact, all taken place. That generation all saw the signs that he spoke of, and those signs did not read that Jesus had ascended and the world fallen into chaos ( a conclusion that could easily have been reached) but that Jesus had ascended and he reigns and that the kingdom of God is near, even though the world as the Jews new it, had collapsed. A new era had begun. Persecution led to the spread of Christians throughout the world and the role of every Christian is to live the life of a budding tree that signals the coming summer. Challenges, trials, illness and death are all just winters. But summer is coming. The fall of Jerusalem was not the end, it was just a winter.
The COVID 19 pandemic is just a winter, it is a season and as a people of hope we don’t wallow in the current tribulations, but we delight in the coming summer of the fulness of what God has in store for us. My prayer for you is that you will grasp the fact, that though we walk in darkness we have seen a great light.
We need to bring that light and that hope and the peace and that joy into the world, for the kingdom of God is near, it is in us and with us. The challenges you are facing today, are temporal. The hope that you base your life on, is permanent. Christ is the beginning and the end and everything in between. The darkness you face is just a night, therefore be of good courage and fight the good fight of faith that you may finish your course with joy.
