Read Matt. 24:1-28
And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. (Mat 24:4) But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Mat 24:13-14) See, I have told you beforehand. (Mat 24:25)
Jesus today gives us a nice laundry list of things to expect before the end of the world. Sandwiched in between we get a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem. So one of the things we should get from this is we will not know when the end will come. We’ll see many signs and indeed many of those signs have been occurring at least since Christ ascended into heaven.
But a number of people think that vs. 14 has yet to be fulfilled. I have good news. The biblical witness of the apostles is that by the time they all passed away, as far as God was concerned, this has occurred. Does that mean we stop? Nope, we have a continuing mandate to disciple all nations until he returns visibly.
We though are called to endure until the end. Don’t think you are going to escape and get raptured. You are already in the tribulation and the reign of Christ which began at his ascension into heaven. Eph. 1 Those who are caught up ala “one taken and the other left” are taken, where the vultures are, to be food for birds. Rev. 19
See Jesus has told us beforehand. We have nothing to worry about. We are simply called to be faithful until the end. How do we do that? We gather with other believers around Word and Sacrament. We live out our lives as followers of Christ in whatever vocations we have. We pray. That’s it. God bless!
Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you that you have told us what will happen before the end. Continually give us your Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Word and your Holy Sacraments that we may endure until you return for us. Amen.