Not doom but deliverance

‘In the days after that time of trouble the sun will grow dark, the moon will no longer shine, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers in space will be driven from their courses. Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in the clouds with great power and glory. He will send the angels out to the four corners of the earth to gather God’s chosen people from one end of the world to the other.’
                                                                                                                                                                        (verses 24-27)
Read Mark 13: 14-27

In the Old Testament the prophets announced God’s coming judgment of Israel’s oppressors with frightening images of cosmic collapse. Here Jesus uses the same images to announce to his disciples what God will do in his final act of judgment.

It is right for you to experience trepidation in the light of God’s coming judgment. Jesus’ words remind you that life is fragile and vulnerable, that trouble is never far away, that even the sun and the moon will not shine forever.

Yet Jesus also reminds you that God’s judgment spells not disaster and doom for you but deliverance. Through God’s word and Holy Spirit, God has made you one of his chosen and dearly loved people. And so Jesus is coming ‘with great power and glory’ not to destroy you but to gather you to himself.

Come, Lord Jesus. Come into this weary world, and deliver your chosen people as you have promised. Amen.

by Adam Cooper, in ‘New Strength for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 1998)

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